Visualized Analysis of Research Progress on Soil Aggregates

[Objectives] This study was conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of the research status of fields related to soil aggregates.[Methods] The academic papers published from 2001 to 2020 in the field of soil aggregates were searched in the CNKI database serving as the statistical source using the subject terms "soil" and "aggregate" under advanced search, and visually analyzed by bibliometric statistical methods, from the perspectives of the annual number of published papers, the number of papers published by authors, and highly cited papers.[Results] The trend of the number of published papers in the past 20 years was mainly divided into three stages:2001-2007,2008-2016, and 2017-2020.There were 192 first authors in the literature related to soil aggregates.The authors with the top 3 published papers were Wang Erli, Zhang Zhengxiong, Li Yangbing, and Yang Yonghui(tied for third).Three highly cited papers were published in journals related to “ecology”,and the top 10 most cited papers focused on the “formation and stability” of soil aggregates and the relationship between gaaregates and soil organic matter and biochar. [Conclusions]The study can provide reference for further research on soil aggregates

Rational Design of Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Dots for Inhibiting <i>β</i>-Amyloid Aggregation

The fibrillization and abnormal aggregation of β-amyloid (Aβ) peptides are commonly recognized risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain, and require an effective strategy to inhibit the Aβ deposition and treat AD. Herein, we designed and synthesized nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) as an Aβ-targeted probe, which exhibits the capacity of inhibiting the 1–42 Aβ (Aβ1–42) self-assembly in vitro. The N-CDs exhibited orange emission with an emission wavelength of 570 nm, which demonstrates their excellent optical properties with excitation-independent behavior. Meanwhile, the N-CDs have spherical morphologies with an average size of 2.2 nm, whose surface enriches the amino, carboxyl, and hydroxyl groups. These preparties are conducive to improving their biological water solubility and provide a large number of chemical bonds for further interaction with proteins. Contrary to this, the kinetic process, size evolutions, and morphologies changes of Aβ1–42 were inhibited in the presence of N-CDs in the determination of a thioflavin T assay, dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscope, etc. Finally, the safety application of N-CDs on Aβ1–42-induced cytotoxicity was further demonstrated via in vitro cytotoxicity experiments. This work demonstrates the effective outcome of suppressing Aβ aggregation, which provides a new view into the high-efficiency and low-cytotoxicity strategy in AD theranostics

Rational Design of Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Dots for Inhibiting &beta;-Amyloid Aggregation

The fibrillization and abnormal aggregation of &beta;-amyloid (A&beta;) peptides are commonly recognized risk factors for Alzheimer&rsquo;s disease (AD) brain, and require an effective strategy to inhibit the A&beta; deposition and treat AD. Herein, we designed and synthesized nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) as an A&beta;-targeted probe, which exhibits the capacity of inhibiting the 1&ndash;42 A&beta; (A&beta;1&ndash;42) self-assembly in vitro. The N-CDs exhibited orange emission with an emission wavelength of 570 nm, which demonstrates their excellent optical properties with excitation-independent behavior. Meanwhile, the N-CDs have spherical morphologies with an average size of 2.2 nm, whose surface enriches the amino, carboxyl, and hydroxyl groups. These preparties are conducive to improving their biological water solubility and provide a large number of chemical bonds for further interaction with proteins. Contrary to this, the kinetic process, size evolutions, and morphologies changes of A&beta;1&ndash;42 were inhibited in the presence of N-CDs in the determination of a thioflavin T assay, dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscope, etc. Finally, the safety application of N-CDs on A&beta;1&ndash;42-induced cytotoxicity was further demonstrated via in vitro cytotoxicity experiments. This work demonstrates the effective outcome of suppressing A&beta; aggregation, which provides a new view into the high-efficiency and low-cytotoxicity strategy in AD theranostics

The metabolic syndrome among postmenopausal women in rural Canton: prevalence, associated factors, and the optimal obesity and atherogenic indices.

OBJECTIVES: This research aimed to (i) determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components; (ii) assess factors associated with MetS, and (iii) define optimal ethnic-specific cutoffs of obesity- and atherogenic-based markers to predict MetS among postmenopausal women in rural Canton. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The Rural Canton Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders Study, a population based cross-sectional study, was conducted during 2011-2012 in Canton. In person interviews, blood glucose and lipid measurements were completed for 4,706 postmenopausal women who did not receive hormone replacement therapy. MetS was diagnosed using criteria of the Joint-Interim-Statement (JIS), the International-Diabetes-Federation (IDF) and the Modified-Third-Adult-Treatment-Panel (M-ATPIII). Age-standardized prevalence of MetS was 38.4%, 28.8%, and 37.1% according to JIS, IDF, and M-ATPIII criteria, respectively. Excellent agreement was observed between three definitions (κ ≥ 0.79), in particular between JIS and ATPIII (κ = 0.98, 95%CI: 0.97-0.98). Factors positively associated with MetS were living in Southern Canton, personal income, current smoking, higher BMI, and family history of cardiovascular disease. However, regular leisure-time physical activity can have protective effects. The optimal cutoff values for waist-circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio(WHtR), BMI, HDL-cholesterol to total cholesterol ratio (HDL/TC), HDL-cholesterol to LDL-cholesterol ratio (HDL/LDL), and triglyceride to HDL-cholesterol ratio (TG/HDL) that predicted the presence of MetS were 79.5 cm, 0.86, 0.53, 22.47 kg/m(2), 0.33, 0.68, and 0.88, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of MetS among postmenopausal women in rural Canton. Our findings contribute to help selecting Cantonese-specific markers to predict MetS and support the need to establish educational program for promoting healthy-lifestyles among this population

Inflammatory ocular events after inactivated COVID-19 vaccination

To report potential vaccine-induced inflammatory ocular adverse events following inactivated COVID-19 vaccination. Retrospective study of patients with uveitis and other ocular complications following inactivated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination at a tertiary referral center between May 2021 and August 2021. Data collection consisted of demographic and clinical data. The study included 8 eyes of 5 patients (4 females, 1 male), with a mean age of 37.2 ± 12.5 years (range 28–59 years). Mean time between vaccination and ocular complications onset was 13.2 ± 11.9 days (range 3–30 days), including two patients after the first dose of the vaccine and 3 patients after the second dose. The cases reported were three anterior uveitis, one herpetic keratitis and iridocyclitis, and one posterior uveitis. Patients received treatment with local and/or systemic steroids and all the patients had good visual outcomes. Ocular inflammatory events may occur after vaccination with possible gender preponderance. However, they are rare and manageable. Overall, the efficacy and safety of vaccination should be emphasized