Investigation of Spatial and Temporal Trends in Water Quality in Daya Bay, South China Sea

The objective is to identify the spatial and temporal variability of the hydrochemical quality of the water column in a subtropical coastal system, Daya Bay, China. Water samples were collected in four seasons at 12 monitoring sites. The Southeast Asian monsoons, northeasterly from October to the next April and southwesterly from May to September have also an important influence on water quality in Daya Bay. In the spatial pattern, two groups have been identified, with the help of multidimensional scaling analysis and cluster analysis. Cluster I consisted of the sites S3, S8, S10 and S11 in the west and north coastal parts of Daya Bay. Cluster I is mainly related to anthropogenic activities such as fish-farming. Cluster II consisted of the rest of the stations in the center, east and south parts of Daya Bay. Cluster II is mainly related to seawater exchange from South China Sea

Association of inpatient use of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers with mortality among patients with hypertension hospitalized with COVID-19

Rationale: Use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) is a major concern for clinicians treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients with hypertension. Objective: To determine the association between in-hospital use of ACEI/ARB and all-cause mortality in COVID-19 patients with hypertension. Methods and Results: This retrospective, multi-center study included 1128 adult patients with hypertension diagnosed with COVID-19, including 188 taking ACEI/ARB (ACEI/ARB group; median age 64 [IQR 55-68] years; 53.2% men) and 940 without using ACEI/ARB (non-ACEI/ARB group; median age 64 [IQR 57-69]; 53.5% men), who were admitted to nine hospitals in Hubei Province, China from December 31, 2019 to February 20, 2020. Unadjusted mortality rate was lower in the ACEI/ARB group versus the non-ACEI/ARB group (3.7% vs. 9.8%; P = 0.01). In mixed-effect Cox model treating site as a random effect, after adjusting for age, gender, comorbidities, and in-hospital medications, the detected risk for all-cause mortality was lower in the ACEI/ARB group versus the non-ACEI/ARB group (adjusted HR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.19-0.92; P =0.03). In a propensity score-matched analysis followed by adjusting imbalanced variables in mixed-effect Cox model, the results consistently demonstrated lower risk of COVID-19 mortality in patients who received ACEI/ARB versus those who did not receive ACEI/ARB (adjusted HR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.15-0.89; P = 0.03). Further subgroup propensity score-matched analysis indicated that, compared to use of other antihypertensive drugs, ACEI/ARB was also associated with decreased mortality (adjusted HR, 0.30; 95%CI, 0.12-0.70; P = 0.01) in COVID-19 patients with hypertension. Conclusions: Among hospitalized COVID-19 patients with hypertension, inpatient use of ACEI/ARB was associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality compared with ACEI/ARB non-users. While study interpretation needs to consider the potential for residual confounders, it is unlikely that in-hospital use of ACEI/ARB was associated with an increased mortality risk

6G Network AI Architecture for Everyone-Centric Customized Services

Mobile communication standards were developed for enhancing transmission and network performance by using more radio resources and improving spectrum and energy efficiency. How to effectively address diverse user requirements and guarantee everyone's Quality of Experience (QoE) remains an open problem. The Sixth Generation (6G) mobile systems will solve this problem by utilizing heterogenous network resources and pervasive intelligence to support everyone-centric customized services anywhere and anytime. In this article, we first coin the concept of Service Requirement Zone (SRZ) on the user side to characterize and visualize the integrated service requirements and preferences of specific tasks of individual users. On the system side, we further introduce the concept of User Satisfaction Ratio (USR) to evaluate the system's overall service ability of satisfying a variety of tasks with different SRZs. Then, we propose a network Artificial Intelligence (AI) architecture with integrated network resources and pervasive AI capabilities for supporting customized services with guaranteed QoEs. Finally, extensive simulations show that the proposed network AI architecture can consistently offer a higher USR performance than the cloud AI and edge AI architectures with respect to different task scheduling algorithms, random service requirements, and dynamic network conditions

Variants of OTOF and PJVK Genes in Chinese Patients with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder

BACKGROUND: Mutations in OTOF and PJVK genes cause DFNB9 and DFNB59 types of hearing loss, respectively. The patients carrying pathogenic mutations in either of these genes may show the typical phenotype of auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD). The aim of the present study was to identify OTOF and PJVK mutations in sporadic ANSD patients. METHODS AND FINDINGS: A total of 76 unrelated Chinese non-syndromic ANSD patients were sequenced on the gene OTOF and PJVK exon by exon. Variants were valued in 105 controls with normal hearing to verify the carrying rate. We identified one pathogenic mutation (c.1194T>A) and three novel, possibly pathogenic, variants (c.3570+2T>C, c.4023+1 G>A, and c.1102G>A) in the OTOF gene, and one novel, possibly pathogenic, variant (c.548G>A) in PJVK. Moreover, we found three novel missense mutations within the exons of OTOF. CONCLUSIONS: As we identified 4 and 1 possible pathogenic variants of the OTOF gene and the PJVK gene, respectively, we believe that screening in these genes are important in sporadic ANSD patients. The pathogenicity of these novel mutations needs further study because of their single heterozygous nature. Knowledge on the mutation spectra of these genes in Chinese would be beneficial in understanding the genetic character of this worldwide disease

Genome-Wide Analysis of Small RNA and Novel MicroRNA Discovery in Human Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Based on Extensive Sequencing Approach

BACKGROUND:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been proved to play an important role in various cellular processes and function as tumor suppressors or oncogenes in cancers including leukemia. The identification of a large number of novel miRNAs and other small regulatory RNAs will provide valuable insights into the roles they play in tumorgenesis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:To gain further understanding of the role of miRNAs relevant to acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), we employed the sequencing-by-synthesis (SBS) strategy to sequence small RNA libraries prepared from ALL patients and normal donors. In total we identified 159 novel miRNAs and 116 novel miRNA*s from both libraries. Among the 159 novel miRNAs, 42 were identified with high stringency in our data set. Furthermore, we demonstrated the different expression patterns of 20 newly identified and several known miRNAs between ALL patients and normal donors, suggesting these miRNAs may be associated with ALL and could constitute an ALL-specific miRNA signature. Interestingly, GO "biological process" classifications revealed that a set of significantly abnormally expressed miRNAs are associated with disease relapse, which implies that these dysregulated miRNAs might promote the progression of ALL by regulating genes involved in the pathway of the disease development. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE:The study presents a comprehensive picture of the expression of small RNAs in human acute lymphoblastic leukemia and highlights novel and known miRNAs differentially expressed between ALL patients and normal donors. To our knowledge, this is the first study to look at genome-wide known and novel miRNA expression patterns in in human acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Our data revealed that these deregulated miRNAs may be associated with ALL or the onset of relapse

Search for Supersymmetry with Gauge-Mediated Breaking in Diphoton Events with Missing Transverse Energy at CDF II

accepted to Phys. Rev. LettWe present the results of a search for supersymmetry with gauge-mediated breaking and \NONE\to\gamma\Gravitino in the $\gamma\gamma$+missing transverse energy final state. In 2.6$\pm$0.2 \invfb of $p{\bar p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$$=$1.96 TeV recorded by the CDF II detector we observe no candidate events, consistent with a standard model background expectation of 1.4$\pm$0.4 events. We set limits on the cross section at the 95% C.L. and place the world's best limit of 149\gevc on the \none mass at $\tau_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0}$$We present the results of a search for supersymmetry with gauge-mediated breaking and χ˜10→γG˜ in the γγ+missing transverse energy final state. In 2.6±0.2  fb-1 of pp̅ collisions at √s=1.96  TeV recorded by the CDF II detector we observe no candidate events, consistent with a standard model background expectation of 1.4±0.4 events. We set limits on the cross section at the 95% C.L. and place the world’s best limit of 149  GeV/c2 on the χ˜10 mass at τχ˜10≪1  ns. We also exclude regions in the χ˜10 mass-lifetime plane for τχ˜10≲2  ns.Peer reviewe

Measurements of branching fraction ratios and CP asymmetries in B+/- ->D_CP K+/- decays in hadron collisions

We reconstruct B+/- -> D K+/- decays in a data sample collected by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron collider corresponding to 1 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We select decay modes where the D meson decays to either K- pi+ (flavor eigenstate) or K- K+, pi- pi+ (CP-even eigenstates), and measure the direct CP asymmetry A_CP+ = 0.39 +/- 0.17(stat) +/- 0.04(syst), and the double ratio of CP-even to flavor eigenstate branching fractions R_CP+ = 1.30 +/- 0.24(stat) +/- 0.12(syst). These measurements will improve the determination of the CKM angle gamma. They are performed here for the first time using data from hadron collisions.We reconstruct B±→DK± decays in a data sample collected by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron collider corresponding to 1  fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We select decay modes where the D meson decays to either K-π+ (flavor eigenstate) or K-K+, π-π+ (CP-even eigenstates), and measure the direct CP asymmetry ACP+=0.39±0.17(stat)±0.04(syst), and the double ratio of CP-even to flavor eigenstate branching fractions RCP+=1.30±0.24(stat)±0.12(syst). These measurements will improve the determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa angle γ. They are performed here for the first time using data from hadron collisions.Peer reviewe

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