A rapid evaluation method for design strategies of high-rise office buildings achieving nearly zero energy in Guangzhou

The construction of nearly zero energy buildings (NZEB) has achieved dramatical impact on global warming and energy crises. It is still a challenge for designers to derive design strategies on how to achieve NZEB in the early design stage, because a complex modelling process with many input parameters of the current NZEB design and evaluation tool is still unavoidable. This article, therefore, aims to introduce a tool suitable for the rapid and reliable evaluation of NZEB design strategies for high rise office building in the city of Guangzhou in China. Firstly, a high-rise office building with typical geometry features is established by sensitivity analysis and survey, thereby the reference building consumption is obtained. Secondly, comprehensive simulations on cases with various envelope features, air conditioning performances and lighting control methods is carried out. Based on the sensitivity analysis on simulation results, key influencing parameters are selected out, effective strategies which fulfills "Technical standard for nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBTS)" are put forward. Finally, a parametric building energy evaluation model is built by regression analysis on simulation results. Combined with energy efficiency index from "NZEBTS", an evaluation tool is developed to help designer determine NZEB strategies. The results revealed that the most effective strategies to achieve NZEB in Guangzhou are to apply high performance external windows, improve air conditioning systems and utilize intelligent zone-controlled lighting systems, meanwhile, the utilization ratio of renewable energy (eta(s)) should be more than 40% of building total annual energy consumption

Affinities and in-plane stress forces between glycopeptide antibiotics and biomimetic bacterial membranes

Understanding the molecular basis of interactions between antibiotics affecting bacterial cell wall biosynthesis and cellular membranes is important in rational drug design of new drugs to overcome resistance. However, a precise understanding of how bacteriostatic antibiotics effect action often neglects the effect of biophysical forces involved following antibiotic-receptor binding events. We have employed a combination of a label-free binding biosensor (surface plasmon resonance, SPR) and a force biosensor (in-plane stress cantilever), together with model membrane systems to study the complex interplay between glycopeptide antibiotics, their cognate ligands and different model membranes. Bacterial cell wall precursor analogue N-α-Docosanoyl-ε-acetyl-Lys-d-Alanine-d-Alanine (doc-KAA) was inserted into lipid layers comprised of zwitterionic or anionic lipids then exposed to either vancomycin or the membrane-anchored glycopeptide antibiotic teicoplanin. Binding affinities and kinetics of the antibiotics to these model membranes were influenced by electrostatic interactions with the different lipid backgrounds, in addition to ligand affinities. In addition, cantilever sensors coated with model membranes showed that planar surface stress changes were induced by glycopeptide antibiotics adsorption and caused compressive surface stress generation in a ligand-dependent manner

Characterization of Anaerobic Rumen Fungal Community Composition in Yak, Tibetan Sheep and Small Tail Han Sheep Grazing on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

The anaerobic rumen fungal community play a critical role in fibrous material degradation. However, there is a lack of data describing the composition of anaerobic rumen fungal community of full grazing ruminants in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. For this reason, we employed the next-generation sequencing technique to elucidate the rumen fungal structure composition and evaluate the effects of host species on fungal communities. Community comparisons (Bray–Curtis index) between yak and Tibetan sheep revealed that the rumen fungal community was affected by host species (p < 0.05). The alpha diversity indices in the yak were significantly higher than in the Tibetan sheep and Small Tail Han sheep. Neocallimastigomycota was predominant regardless of host species. Within this phylum, unidentified genus of Neocallimastigaceae was the most dominant in all samples, followed by Piromyces and Orpinomyces. Moreover, the shared and unique OTUs in the rumen were identified and most of them belonged to the Orpinomyces. Co-occurrence network analysis identified that each animal species had their own keystone species and most of them were non-dominant flora. Our data indicate that host breeds override living environment as the key factor that determines fungal community in the rumen of grazing ruminants in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Additional file 1: Table S1. of Genetic structure of Mount Huang honey bee (Apis cerana) populations: evidence from microsatellite polymorphism

Allele frequencies, proportion of observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosity of 16 microsatellites loci across seven populations of Mount Huangshan A. cerana, n is the number of individual bees examined. (DOC 218 kb

Nano-seq analysis reveals different functional tendency between exosomes and microvesicles derived from hUMSC

Abstract Background Extracellular vesicles (EVs) from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUMSCs) are widely considered to be the best mediators for cell-free therapy. An understanding of their composition, especially RNA, is particularly important for the safe and precise application of EVs. Up to date, the knowledge of their RNA components is limited to NGS sequencing and cannot provide a comprehensive transcriptomic landscape, especially the long and full-length transcripts. Our study first focused on the transcriptomic profile of hUMSC-EVs based on nanopore sequencing. Methods In this study, different EV subtypes (exosomes and microvesicles) derived from hUMSCs were isolated and identified by density gradient centrifugation. Subsequently, the realistic long transcriptomic profile in different subtypes of hUMSC-EVs was systematically compared by nanopore sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. Results Abundant transcript variants were identified in EVs by nanopore sequencing, 69.34% of which transcripts were fragmented. A series of full-length and long transcripts was also observed and showed a significantly higher proportion of intact or near-complete transcripts in exosomes than that in microvesicles derived from hUMSCs. Although the composition of RNA biotypes transported by different EV subtypes was similar, the distribution of transcripts and genes revealed the inter-heterogeneity and intra-stability between exosomes and microvesicles. Further, 85 different expressed transcripts (56 genes) and 7 fusion genes were identified. Pathway enrichment analysis showed that upregulated-expressed genes in microvesicles were mainly enriched in multiple neurodegenerative diseases, while upregulated-expressed genes in exosomes were mainly enriched in neutrophil extracellular trap formation, suggesting different functional tendencies of EV subtypes. Conclusions This study provides a novel understanding of different types of hUMSC-EVs, which not only suggests different transcriptome sorting mechanisms between exosomes and microvesicles, but also shows that different EV subtypes from the same source have different physiological functions, suggesting distinct clinical application prospects

Volumetric reduction in large cystic jaw lesions postoperative enucleation: a longitudinal clinical study

Abstract Background Enucleation, a surgical procedure, is commonly used to treat large jaw cysts, unicystic ameloblastomas and keratocysts. However, it remains unclear to what extent the jaw bone regenerates after enucleation. We aimed to evaluate the percentage and the survival analysis of jaw bone regeneration, in terms of cavity volume residual (CVR), in patients who underwent enucleation of large jaw cysts, unicystic ameloblastomas and keratocysts. Methods We collected data longitudinally from 75 patients who underwent jaw cystic lesions enucleation at the Stomatological Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, between January 2015 and June 2021. All patients had both preoperative and postoperative cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging data. CBCT images were analyzed using Image J. Changes in the CVR were assessed at various follow-up time points, and the Kaplan-Meier method was utilized to evaluate the CVR over time. Results The patients had a mean age of 31.7 years (range: 5.5–72 years) with 58.66% of them being male. The postoperative CVR was 32.20% at three months, 21.10% at six months, 15.90% at 12 months, and 5.60% at 24 months. The percentage of CVR during follow-up periods for the initial size Quartile (Q)1 (212.54-1569.60 mm3) was substantially lower than those of Q2 and Q3 at and after seven months of follow-up and became statistically significant at the 12-month mark. Conclusion This study demonstrates that spontaneous bone regeneration can occur after enucleation of large jaw cysts, unicystic ameloblastomas and keratocysts, even without the use of filler materials. The initial size of the lesion had a significant impact on the outcome of cystic lesion enucleation over time. To minimize the risks associated with radiation exposure and expenses, we recommend reducing the frequency of CT imaging follow-ups for patients with small initial cavity sizes (ranging from 212.54 to 1569.60 mm3)

Additional file 1 of Nano-seq analysis reveals different functional tendency between exosomes and microvesicles derived from hUMSC

Additional file 1. The identification of exosomes and microvesicles in protein level

Additional file 2 of Nano-seq analysis reveals different functional tendency between exosomes and microvesicles derived from hUMSC

Additional file 2. Characteristic of different expressed transcripts between exosomes and microvesicles