Stability Analysis of Train Movement with Uncertain Factors

We propose a new traffic model which is based on the traditional OV (optimal velocity) car-following model. Here, some realistic factors are regarded as uncertain quantity, such as the headway distance. Our aim is to analyze and discuss the stability of car-following model under the constraint of uncertain factors. Then, according to the principle of expected value in fuzzy theory, an improved OV traffic model is constructed. Simulation results show that our proposed model can avoid collisions effectively under uncertain environment, and its stability can also be improved. Moreover, we discuss its stability as some parameters change, such as the relaxation time

High-Salt Diet Has a Certain Impact on Protein Digestion and Gut Microbiota: A Sequencing and Proteome Combined Study

High-salt diet has been considered to cause health problems, but it is still less known how high-salt diet affects gut microbiota, protein digestion, and passage in the digestive tract. In this study, C57BL/6J mice were fed low- or high-salt diets (0.25 vs. 3.15% NaCl) for 8 weeks, and then gut contents and feces were collected. Fecal microbiota was identified by sequencing the V4 region of 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Proteins and digested products of duodenal, jejunal, cecal, and colonic contents were identified by LC-MS-MS. The results indicated that the high-salt diet increased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio, the abundances of genera Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcus (P < 0.05), but decreased the abundance of Lactobacillus (P < 0.05). LC-MS-MS revealed a dynamic change of proteins from the diet, host, and gut microbiota alongside the digestive tract. For dietary proteins, high-salt diet seemed not influence its protein digestion and absorption. For host proteins, 20 proteins of lower abundance were identified in the high-salt diet group in duodenal contents, which were involved in digestive enzymes and pancreatic secretion. However, no significant differentially expressed proteins were detected in jejunal, cecal, and colonic contents. For bacterial proteins, proteins secreted by gut microbiota were involved in energy metabolism, sodium transport, and protein folding. Five proteins (cytidylate kinase, trigger factor, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, transporter, and undecaprenyl-diphosphatase) had a higher abundance in the high-salt diet group than those in the low-salt group, while two proteins (acetylglutamate kinase and PBSX phage manganese-containing catalase) were over-expressed in the low-salt diet group than in the high-salt group. Consequently, high-salt diet may alter the composition of gut microbiota and has a certain impact on protein digestion

Artificial intelligence and bioinformatics analyze markers of children's transcriptional genome to predict autism spectrum disorder

IntroductionAutism spectrum disorder (ASD), characterized by difficulties in social interaction and communication as well as restricted interests and repetitive behaviors, is extremely challenging to diagnose in toddlers. Early diagnosis and intervention are crucial however.MethodsIn this study, we developed a machine learning classification model based on mRNA expression data from the peripheral blood of 128 toddlers with ASD and 126 controls. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between ASD and controls were identified.ResultsWe identified genes such as UBE4B, SPATA2 and RBM3 as DEGs, mainly involved in immune-related pathways. 21 genes were screened as key biomarkers using LASSO regression, yielding an accuracy of 86%. A neural network model based on these 21 genes achieved an AUC of 0.88.DiscussionOur findings suggest that the identified neurotransmitters and 21 immune-related biomarkers may facilitate the early diagnosis of ASD. The mRNA expression profile sheds light on the biological underpinnings of ASD in toddlers and potential biomarkers for early identification. Nevertheless, larger samples are needed to validate these biomarkers

Direct and indirect effects of climate on richness drive the latitudinal diversity gradient in forest trees

Data accessibility statement: Full census data are available upon reasonable request from the ForestGEO data portal, http://ctfs.si.edu/datarequest/ We thank Margie Mayfield, three anonymous reviewers and Jacob Weiner for constructive comments on the manuscript. This study was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0506100), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31622014 and 31570426), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (17lgzd24) to CC. XW was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB3103). DS was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (grant no. 16-26369S). Yves Rosseel provided us valuable suggestions on using the lavaan package conducting SEM analyses. Funding and citation information for each forest plot is available in the Supplementary Information Text 1.Peer reviewedPostprin

Closely-related taxa influence woody species discrimination via DNA barcoding: evidence from global forest dynamics plots

To determine how well DNA barcodes from the chloroplast region perform in forest dynamics plots (FDPs) from global CTFS-ForestGEO network, we analyzed DNA barcoding sequences of 1277 plant species from a wide phylogenetic range (3 FDPs in tropics, 5 in subtropics and 5 in temperate zone) and compared the rates of species discrimination (RSD). We quantified RSD by two DNA barcode combinations (rbcL + matK and rbcL + matK + trnH-psbA) using a monophyly-based method (GARLI). We defined two indexes of closely-related taxa (G[subscript]m/G[subscript]t and S/G ratios) and correlated these ratios with RSD. The combination of rbcL + matK averagely discriminated 88.65%, 83.84% and 72.51% at the local, regional and global scales, respectively. An additional locus trnH-psbA increased RSD by 2.87%, 1.49% and 3.58% correspondingly. RSD varied along a latitudinal gradient and were negatively correlated with ratios of closely-related taxa. Successes of species discrimination generally depend on scales in global FDPs. We suggested that the combination of rbcL + matK + trnH-psbA is currently applicable for DNA barcoding-based phylogenetic studies on forest communities.Supplementary information accompanies this paper at http://www.nature.com/srep. This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by Nature Publishing Group. The published article can be found at: http://www.nature.com/articles/srep1512

Discussion on High-yield Cultivation and Assembling and Supporting Technology of Selenium-enriched Rice and Rapeseed Rotation in Taoyuan County

Taoyuan County is a large grain and rapeseed production county. Taking advantage of the resource advantage of soil rich in selenium in Taoyuan County, it promotes high-yield cultivation and assembly technology of selenium-rich rice and rapeseed rotation in one-season rice area, optimizing the aggregate structure of the soil, improving the soil ecology and reducing the content of heavy metals in the soil, laying the foundation for the continuous increase in agricultural efficiency and farmers’ income. Through rice and rapeseed rotation, the overwintering base of rice field borers are reduced, and the incidence of pests and diseases in the coming year is effectively reduced. The popularization of assembling and supporting technologies for rice-rapeseed rotation cropping and the promotion of high-quality varieties and planting techniques can increase the farmers' income significantly. This paper will describe the methods and technologies in detail from three aspects: the assembling and supporting methods of selenium-enriched rice and rapeseed rotation high-yield cultivation, main points of the supporting technology for the rice selenium-enriched cultivation and main points of supporting technology for the rapeseed selenium-enriched cultivation

The Application of Ultraviolet Treatment to Prolong the Shelf Life of Chilled Beef

This study simulated the storage conditions of chilled beef at retail or at home, and the sterilization and preservation effects of short-time ultraviolet irradiation were studied. The conditions of different irradiation distances (6 cm, 9 cm, and 12 cm) and irradiation times (6 s, 10 s, and 14 s) of ultraviolet (UV) sterilization in chilled beef were optimized, so as to maximally reduce the initial bacterial count, but not affect the quality of the chilled beef. Then, the preservation effect on the chilled beef after the optimized UV sterilization treatment during 0 ± 0.2 °C storage was investigated. The results showed that UV irradiation with parameters of 6 cm and 14 s formed the optimal UV sterilization conditions for the chilled beef, maximally reducing the number of microorganisms by 0.8 log CFU/g without affecting lipid oxidation or color change. The 6 cm and 14 s UV sterilization treatment of the chilled beef was able to reduce the initial microbial count, control the bacterial growth, and delay the increase in the TVB-N values during storage. Compared with the control group, the total bacterial count decreased by 0.56–1.51 log CFU/g and the TVB-N value decreased by 0.20–5.02 mg N/100 g in the UV-treated group. It was found that the TBARS value of the UV treatment group increased during late storage; on days 9–15 of storage, the TBARS values of the treatment group were 0.063–0.12 mg MDA/kg higher than those of the control group. However, UV treatment had no adverse impact on the pH, color, or sensory quality of chilled beef. These results prove that UV treatment can effectively reduce the microbial count on the surface of beef and improve its microbial safety, thus maintaining the quality of beef and prolonging its shelf life. This study could provide a theoretical basis for the preservation technology of chilled beef in small-space storage equipment

Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in an endemic species Styrax odoratissimus (Styracaceae) in subtropical forests

Styrax odoratissimus, a small tree with limited distribution range, has been seriously threatened due to human activities. The information on population ecology and genetic diversity are in need for the conservation of the species and its relatives. Here, we developed ten polymorphic microsatellite markers and test them on two distant populations. The total number of alleles per locus ranged from 5 to 15. The observed and unbiased expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.190 to 0.921 and 0.191 to 0.850, respectively. Cross-species amplification was successfully tested in five loci for Styrax dasyanthus

Involvement of CCN1 Protein and TLR2/4 Signaling Pathways in Intestinal Epithelial Cells Response to Listeria monocytogenes

CCN1 is well studied in terms of its functions in injury repair, cell adhesion survival and apoptosis, bacterial clearance and mediation of inflammation-related pathways, such as the TLR2/4 pathways. However, the role of CCN1 protein and its interaction with TLR2/4 pathways in intestinal epithelial cells was not elucidated after Listeria monocytogenes infection. The results of this study confirm that L. monocytogenes infection induced intestinal inflammation and increased the protein expression of CCN1, TLR2, TLR4 and p38, which followed a similar tendency in the expression of genes related to the TLR2/4 pathways. In addition, organoids infected by L. monocytogenes showed a significant increase in the expression of CCN1 and the activation of TLR2/4 pathways. Furthermore, pre-treatment with CCN1 protein to organoids infected by L. monocytogenes could increase the related genes of TLR2/4 pathways and up-regulate the expression of TNF, and increase the count of pathogens in organoids, which indicates that the interaction between the CCN1 protein and TLR2/4 signaling pathways in intestinal epithelial cells occurred after L. monocytogenes infection. This study will provide a novel insight of the role of CCN1 protein after L. monocytogenes infection in the intestine