A Chinese cave links climate change, social impacts, and human adaptation over the last 500 years.

The collapse of some pre-historical and historical cultures, including Chinese dynasties were presumably linked to widespread droughts, on the basis of synchronicities of societal crises and proxy-based climate events. Here, we present a comparison of ancient inscriptions in Dayu Cave from Qinling Mountains, central China, which described accurate times and detailed impacts of seven drought events during the period of 1520-1920 CE, with high-resolution speleothem records from the same cave. The comparable results provide unique and robust tests on relationships among speleothem δ(18)O changes, drought events, and societal unrest. With direct historical evidences, our results suggest that droughts and even modest events interrupting otherwise wet intervals can cause serious social crises. Modeling results of speleothem δ(18)O series suggest that future precipitation in central China may be below the average of the past 500 years. As Qinling Mountain is the main recharge area of two large water transfer projects and habitats of many endangered species, it is imperative to explore an adaptive strategy for the decline in precipitation and/or drought events.We gratefully acknowledge the NBRPC (2013CB955902), NSFC (41372192; 41290254; 41230524; 41023006), and the WLF-CAS for funding this research. This study was also partially supported by Taiwan MOST (103-2119-M-002-022) and NTU (101R7625) grants. H.C. and R.L.E. received financial support from the U.S. NSF (EAR-0908792 and EAR-1211299), and S.F.M.B. received support from the Swiss NSF (CRSI22_132646/1).This is the final version. It was first published by NPG at http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150717/srep12284/full/srep12284.html#author-information

A Chinese cave links climate change, social impacts, and human adaptation over the last 500 years

The collapse of some pre-historical and historical cultures, including Chinese dynasties were presumably linked to widespread droughts, on the basis of synchronicities of societal crises and proxy-based climate events. Here, we present a comparison of ancient inscriptions in Dayu Cave from Qinling Mountains, central China, which described accurate times and detailed impacts of seven drought events during the period of 1520–1920 CE, with high-resolution speleothem records from the same cave. The comparable results provide unique and robust tests on relationships among speleothem δ18O changes, drought events, and societal unrest. With direct historical evidences, our results suggest that droughts and even modest events interrupting otherwise wet intervals can cause serious social crises. Modeling results of speleothem δ18O series suggest that future precipitation in central China may be below the average of the past 500 years. As Qinling Mountain is the main recharge area of two large water transfer projects and habitats of many endangered species, it is imperative to explore an adaptive strategy for the decline in precipitation and/or drought events

Amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O thin-film transistors fabricated by microcontact printing

The authors present a facile, low-cost methodology to fabricate high-performance In-Ga-Zn-O (IGZO) bottom contact, bottom gate thin-film transistors (TFTs) by soft lithography. The IGZO channel and indium tin oxide (ITO) source and drain were patterned using microcontact printing of an octadecylphosphonic acid self-assembled monolayer (SAM). A polymer stamp was used for the pattern transfer of the SAMs, which were then used as a chemical protection layer during wet etching. Excellent pattern transfer was obtained with good resolution and sharp step profiles. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicated that the microcontact printed SAMs can be effectively removed from the ITO source/drain surfaces, allowing a high-quality interface to the IGZO channel for good device performance. Scanning electron microscopy cross-sections of the devices indicate a smooth and defect-free transition regions between the source/drain and semiconductor regions. The fabricated TFTs have negligible gate-leakage currents, high average electron mobilities of 10.2 cm²/Vs, and excellent on-off ratios of 2.1 x 10⁸. These results may provide new methodologies for low-cost and large-area integration of IGZO-TFTs for a range of applications including flexible and transparent displays.Copyright 2015 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B and may be found at: http://scitation.aip.org/content/avs/journal/jvst

The Cerebellum Is Related to Cognitive Dysfunction in White Matter Hyperintensities

ObjectiveWhite matter hyperintensities (WMHs) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is frequently presumed to be secondary to cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) and associated with cognitive decline. The cerebellum plays a key role in cognition and has dense connections with other brain regions. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate if cerebellar abnormalities could occur in CSVD patients with WMHs and the possible association with cognitive performances.MethodsA total of 104 right-handed patients with WMHs were divided into the mild WMHs group (n = 39), moderate WMHs group (n = 37), and severe WMHs group (n = 28) according to the Fazekas scale, and 36 healthy controls were matched for sex ratio, age, education years, and acquired resting-state functional MRI. Analysis of voxel-based morphometry of gray matter volume (GMV) and seed-to-whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) was performed from the perspective of the cerebellum, and their correlations with neuropsychological variables were explored.ResultsThe analysis revealed a lower GMV in the bilateral cerebellum lobule VI and decreased FC between the left- and right-sided cerebellar lobule VI with the left anterior cingulate gyri in CSVD patients with WMHs. Both changes in structure and function were correlated with cognitive impairment in patients with WMHs.ConclusionOur study revealed damaged GMV and FC in the cerebellum associated with cognitive impairment. This indicates that the cerebellum may play a key role in the modulation of cognitive function in CSVD patients with WMHs

Antibiotic susceptibility of Escherichia coli isolated from neonates admitted to neonatal intensive care units across China from 2015 to 2020

BackgroundEscherichia coli is one of the most common pathogens causing neonatal infections. Recently, the incidence and drug resistance of E. coli have increased, posing a major threat to neonatal health. The aim of this study was to describe and analyze the antibiotic resistance and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) characteristics of E. coli derived from infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across China.MethodsIn this study, 370 strains of E. coli from neonates were collected. E. coli isolated from these specimens were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing (by broth microdilution method) and MLST.ResultsThe overall resistance rate was 82.68%, with the highest rate of methicillin/sulfamethoxazole (55.68%) followed by cefotaxime (46.22%). Multiple resistance rate was 36.74%, 132 strains (35.68%) had extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) phenotype and 5 strains (1.35%) had insensitivity to the tested carbapenem antibiotics. The resistance of E. coli isolated from different pathogenicity and different sites of infections varied, strains derived from sputum were significantly more resistant to β-lactams and tetracyclines. Currently, the prevalence spectrum in NICUs was dominated by ST1193, ST95, ST73, ST69 and ST131 across China. And the multidrug resistance of ST410 was the most severe. ST410 had the highest resistance rate to cefotaxime (86.67%), and its most common multidrug resistance pattern was β-lactams + aminoglycosides + quinolones + tetracyclines + sulfonamides.ConclusionsSubstantial proportions of neonatal E. coli isolates were severely resistant to commonly administered antibiotics. MLST results can suggest the prevalent characteristics of antibiotic resistance in E. coli with different ST types

Dopamine depletion and subcortical dysfunction disrupt cortical synchronization and metastability affecting cognitive function in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is primarily characterized by the loss of dopaminergic cells and atrophy in subcortical regions. However, the impact of these pathological changes on large‐scale dynamic integration and segregation of the cortex are not well understood. In this study, we investigated the effect of subcortical dysfunction on cortical dynamics and cognition in PD. Spatiotemporal dynamics of the phase interactions of resting‐state blood‐oxygen‐level‐dependent signals in 159 PD patients and 152 normal control (NC) individuals were estimated. The relationships between subcortical atrophy, subcortical–cortical fiber connectivity impairment, cortical synchronization/metastability, and cognitive performance were then assessed. We found that cortical synchronization and metastability in PD patients were significantly decreased. To examine whether this is an effect of dopamine depletion, we investigated 45 PD patients both ON and OFF dopamine replacement therapy, and found that cortical synchronization and metastability are significantly increased in the ON state. The extent of cortical synchronization and metastability in the OFF state reflected cognitive performance and mediates the difference in cognitive performance between the PD and NC groups. Furthermore, both the thalamic volume and thalamocortical fiber connectivity had positive relationships with cortical synchronization and metastability in the dopaminergic OFF state, and mediate the difference in cortical synchronization between the PD and NC groups. In addition, thalamic volume also reflected cognitive performance, and cortical synchronization/metastability mediated the relationship between thalamic volume and cognitive performance in PD patients. Together, these results highlight that subcortical dysfunction and reduced dopamine levels are responsible for decreased cortical synchronization and metastability, further affecting cognitive performance in PD. This might lead to biomarkers being identified that can predict if a patient is at risk of developing dementia

Associations of Educational Attainment, Occupation, Social Class and Major Depressive Disorder among Han Chinese Women

Background The prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) is higher in those with low levels of educational attainment, the unemployed and those with low social status. However the extent to which these factors cause MDD is unclear. Most of the available data comes from studies in developed countries, and these findings may not extrapolate to developing countries. Examining the relationship between MDD and socio economic status in China is likely to add to the debate because of the radical economic and social changes occurring in China over the last 30 years. Principal findings We report results from 3,639 Chinese women with recurrent MDD and 3,800 controls. Highly significant odds ratios (ORs) were observed between MDD and full time employment (OR = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.25–0.46, logP = 78), social status (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.77–0.87, logP = 13.3) and education attainment (OR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.86–0.90, logP = 6.8). We found a monotonic relationship between increasing age and increasing levels of educational attainment. Those with only primary school education have significantly more episodes of MDD (mean 6.5, P-value = 0.009) and have a clinically more severe disorder, while those with higher educational attainment are likely to manifest more comorbid anxiety disorders. Conclusions In China lower socioeconomic position is associated with increased rates of MDD, as it is elsewhere in the world. Significantly more episodes of MDD occur among those with lower educational attainment (rather than longer episodes of disease), consistent with the hypothesis that the lower socioeconomic position increases the likelihood of developing MDD. The phenomenology of MDD varies according to the degree of educational attainment: higher educational attainment not only appears to protect against MDD but alters its presentation, to a more anxious phenotype