The extreme Arctic warm anomaly in November 2020

In November 2020, the eastern Arctic experienced an extensive extreme warm anomaly (i.e., the second strongest case since 1979), which was followed by extreme cold conditions over East Asia in early winter. The observed Arctic warm anomaly in November 2020 was able to extend upwards to the upper troposphere, characterized as a deep Arctic warm anomaly. In autumn 2020, substantial Arctic sea-ice loss that exceeded the record held since 1979, accompanied by increased upward turbulent heat flux, was able to strongly warm the Arctic. Furthermore, there was abundant northward moisture transport into the Arctic from the North Atlantic, which was the strongest in the past four decades. This extreme moisture intrusion was able to enhance the downward longwave radiation and strongly contribute to the warm conditions in the Arctic. Further analysis indicated that the remote moisture intrusion into the Arctic was promoted by the large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns, such as the wave train propagating from the midlatitude North Atlantic to the Arctic. This process may have been linked to the warmer sea surface temperature in the midlatitude North Atlantic.publishedVersio

Sgrgan: sketch-guided restoration for traditional Chinese landscape paintings

Abstract Image restoration is a prominent field of research in computer vision. Restoring broken paintings, especially ancient Chinese artworks, is a significant challenge for current restoration models. The difficulty lies in realistically reinstating the intricate and delicate textures inherent in the original pieces. This process requires preserving the unique style and artistic characteristics of the ancient Chinese paintings. To enhance the effectiveness of restoring and preserving traditional Chinese paintings, this paper presents a framework called Sketch-Guided Restoration Generative Adversarial Network, termd SGRGAN. The framework employs sketch images as structural priors, providing essential information for the restoration process. Additionally, a novel Focal block is proposed to enhance the fusion and interaction of textural and structural elements. It is noteworthy that a BiSCCFormer block, incorporating a Bi-level routing attention mechanism, is devised to comprehensively grasp the structural and semantic details of the image, including its contours and layout. Extensive experiments and ablation studies on MaskCLP and Mural datasets demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over previous state-of-the-art methods. Specifically, the model demonstrates outstanding visual fidelity, particularly in the restoration of landscape paintings. This further underscores its efficacy and universality in the realm of cultural heritage preservation and restoration

Fecal metabolomics combined with 16S rRNA gene sequencing to analyze the effect of Jiaotai pill intervention in type 2 diabetes mellitus rats

The occurrence and development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are closely related to gut microbiota. Jiaotai pill (JTP) is used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus, with definite efficacy in clinical practice. However, it is not clear whether the therapeutic effect is produced by regulating the changes in gut microbiota and its metabolism. In this study, T2DM rat models were established by a high-fat diet and low-dose streptozotocin (STZ). Based on the pharmacodynamic evaluation, the mechanism of JTP in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus was investigated by fecal metabolism and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The results showed that JTP decreased blood glucose (FBG, HbA1c) and blood lipid (TC, TG, and LDL) levels and alleviated insulin resistance (FINS, IL-10) in T2DM rats. 16S rRNA gene sequencing results revealed that JTP increased microbiota diversity and reversed the disorder of gut microbiota in T2DM rats, and therefore achieved the therapeutic effect in T2DM. JTP regulated 13 differential flora, which were Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Eubacteriaceae, Prevotellaceae, Ruminococcaceae, Clostridium_IV, Clostridium_XlVa, Eubacterium, Fusicatenibacter, Romboutsia, and Roseburia. Metabolomics analysis showed that JTP interfered with 13 biomarkers to play a therapeutic role in type 2 diabetes mellitus. They were L-Valine, Choline, L-Aspartic acid, Serotonin, L-Lysine, L-Histidine, 3-Hydroxybutyric acid, Pyruvic acid, N-Acetylornithine, Arachidonic acid, L-Tryptophan, L-Alanine, and L-Methionine. KEGG metabolic pathway analysis of the above differential metabolites and gut microbiota by using the MetaboAnalyst database and Picrust software. It was found that JTP treated type 2 diabetes mellitus by affecting metabolic pathways such as amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, and lipid metabolism. Spearman correlation analysis revealed high correlations for 7 pharmacological indicators, 12 biomarkers, and 11 gut microbiota. In this study, the therapeutic effect and potential mechanism of JTP on type 2 diabetes mellitus were preliminarily demonstrated by gut microbiota and metabolomics, which could provide a theoretical basis for the treatment of T2DM with JTP

Evaluation System Transformation of Multi-Scale Cultivated Land Quality and Analysis of Its Spatio-Temporal Variability

To master the transformation method and spatio-temporal variation characteristics of cultivated land quality at multiple scales, this paper constructed three spatial scales (Laixi city, Qingdao city, and Shandong province) and two temporal scales (the second survey (2007) and the third survey (2020)), and used a linear model to transform the evaluation system. Descriptive statistics, area statistics, spatial distribution, and aggregation analysis were used to explore the spatial scale variability, and the dynamic variation characteristics were analyzed. The results showed that (1) the R2 of scale transformation models are more than 0.826, which has a simple structure and strong universality; (2) with the administrative scale increases, the evaluation units’ number decreases, the spatial distribution is generally similar but progressively approximate, the high and low land levels gradually change to medium-level land, and the spatial aggregation degree is county-scale > provincial-scale > city-scale, with significant scale effect; and (3) in the past ten years, the average grade has increased from 6.26 to 6.13 in Laixi city, but still has much room for development. This study puts forward a method of spatio-temporal scale transformation and scale effect analysis for cultivated land quality, which has positive significance for improving the evaluation system, promoting land protection, and regional sustainable development

Well-defined in-textile photolithography towards permeable textile electronics

Abstract Textile-based wearable electronics have attracted intensive research interest due to their excellent flexibility and breathability inherent in the unique three-dimensional porous structures. However, one of the challenges lies in achieving highly conductive patterns with high precision and robustness without sacrificing the wearing comfort. Herein, we developed a universal and robust in-textile photolithography strategy for precise and uniform metal patterning on porous textile architectures. The as-fabricated metal patterns realized a high precision of sub-100 µm with desirable mechanical stability, washability, and permeability. Moreover, such controllable coating permeated inside the textile scaffold contributes to the significant performance enhancement of miniaturized devices and electronics integration through both sides of the textiles. As a proof-of-concept, a fully integrated in-textiles system for multiplexed sweat sensing was demonstrated. The proposed method opens up new possibilities for constructing multifunctional textile-based flexible electronics with reliable performance and wearing comfort