The Impact of Climate Change on Glacial Lake Outburst Floods

Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF) hazards in alpine areas are increasing. The effects of climate change on GLOF hazards are unclear. This study examined 37 glacial lakes and climate data from 15 meteorological stations and explored the correlation between climate variations at different temporal scales. The results indicate that 19 GLOFs hazards occurred in El Niño (warm) years, 8 GLOFs hazards occurred in La Niña (cold) years, 3 GLOFs hazards occurred in cold/warm or warm/cold transition years, and 7 GLOFs hazards occurred in normal years. The higher the fluctuations, the higher the probability of GLOF hazards. Climatic conditions can be divided into three categories: extreme temperature and precipitation, as represented by the Guangxie Co GLOF; extreme precipitation, as represented by the Poge Co GLOF; and extreme temperature, as represented by the Tsho Ga GLOF

Complete mitochondrial genome of the Yangtze grenadier anchovy, Coilia Brachygnathus (Clupeiformes: Engraulidae) from the upper Yangtze River

The Yangtze grenadier anchovy, Coilia brachygnathus, is a commercial fishery species in the middle and lower Yangtze River of China. Here, we describe a complete mitochondrial genome from the newly found population of C. brachygnahus in the upper Yangtze River. It was 16,857 bp in size and encodes for 2 rRNAs, 22 tRNAs, 13 protein-coding genes as well as a D-loop control region. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed the evolutionary relationship of the C. brachygnathus in the upper Yangtze to other five species of the genus Coillia. The mitochondrial genome would help to elucidate the origin of the new population of C. brachygnathus

Complete mitochondrial genome of Odontobutis potamophila (Teleostei, Perciformes, Odontobutidae) from the newly found population of the Upper Yangtze River

The Odontobutis potamophila is endemic commercial fishery species to China and distributed mainly in middle and lower Yangtze River of China. Here, we describe a complete mitochondrial genome from the newly found population of O. potamophila in the Three Gorges Reservoir where located in the upper Yangtze River. It was 16,939 bp in size and encodes for two rRNAs, 22 tRNAs, 13 protein-coding genes, and a D-loop control region. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed the evolutionary relationship of the O. potamophila in the upper Yangtze to other five species of the genus Odontobutis. The mitochondrial genome would help to elucidate the origin of the new population of O. potamophila

Catheter ablation for treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation and heart failure: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abstract Background There is a little evidence for the effects of catheter ablation (CA) on hard endpoints in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF). Methods PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) enrolling patients with AF and HF who were assigned to CA, rate control or medical rhythm control groups. This meta-analysis was performed by using random-effect models. Results Seven RCTs enrolling 856 participants were included in this meta-analysis. CA reduced the risks of all-cause mortality (risk ratio [RR] 0.52, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.76), HF readmission (RR 0.58, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.66) and the composite of all-cause mortality and HF readmission (RR 0.55, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.66) when compared with control. But there was no significant difference in cerebrovascular accident (RR 0.56, 95% CI 0.23 to 1.36) between two groups. Compared with control, CA was associated with improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction (mean difference [MD] 7.57, 95% CI 3.72 to 11.41), left ventricular end systolic volume (MD -14.51, 95% CI -26.84 to − 2.07), and left ventricular end diastolic volume (MD -3.78, 95% CI -18.51 to 10.96). Patients undergoing CA exhibited increased peak oxygen consumption (MD 3.16, 95% CI 1.09 to 5.23), longer 6-min walk test distance (MD 26.67, 95% CI 12.07 to 41.27), and reduced Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire scores (MD -9.49, 95% CI -14.64 to − 4.34) than those in control group. Compared with control, CA was associated with improved New York Heart Association class (MD -0.74, 95% CI -0.83 to − 0.64) and lower B-type natriuretic peptide levels (MD -105.96, 95% CI -230.56 to 19.64). Conclusions CA was associated with improved survival, morphologic changes, functional capacity and quality of life relative to control. CA should be considered in patients with AF and HF

Apln-CreERT:mT/mG reporter mice as a tool for sprouting angiogenesis study

Abstract Background Angiogenesis is defined as a new blood vessel sprouting from pre-existing vessels, and the sprouting angiogenesis is the start phase of angiogenesis, which is critical for both physiological and pathological processes, such as embryonic development, organ growth, wound healing, tumor growth, diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. Better understanding of the mechanisms of sprout angiogenesis will provide a rationale for the treatments of these angiogenesis related diseases. Methods mT/mG tool mice are crossed with Apln-CreERT mice to generate Apln-CreERT: mT/mG mice, then we used neonatal retinal angiogenesis model to observe the angiogenic pattern of Apln-CreERT:mT/mG mice compared with Cdh5-CreERT:mT/mG mice. FACS analysis was used to sort eGFP and tdTomato endothelial cells (ECs) for measuring Apelin and Cdh5 expression. Retinal sprouting angiogenesis pattern was also observed at different neonatal time when induced by tamoxifen and at hypoxia condition, as well as in vivo tumor in real-time angiogenesis in a dorsal skinfold window chamber in Apln-CreERT:mT/mG mice. Results Apln-CreERT:mT/mG mice exhibited eGFP signal only in the sprouting angiogenesis, with less eGFP expression in the retinal “optic nerve” area than in that of Cdh5-CreERT: mT/mG mice, which might be due to relative mature vessels in the “optic nerve” area. The ECs sorted by FACS confirmed that the Apelin expression level was higher in eGFP ECs than tdTomato ECs of “optic nerve” area. Further we found that GFP-labeled sprouting angiogenesis decreased gradually following tamoxifen administration from P5-P7, but increased significantly during hypoxia in Apln-CreERT:mT/mG mice. At last, using Apln-CreERT:mT/mG mice we found tumor sprouting angiogenesis in dorsal skinfold, but not in the normal skinfold tissue. Conclusions Apln-CreERT:mT/mG mouse line is a useful tool to differentiate sprouting angiogenesis from whole blood vessels in the investigation of retinal and tumor sprouting angiogenesis in vivo

Uncertainty assessment of source attribution of PM2.5 and its water-soluble organic carbon content using different biomass burning tracers in positive matrix factorization analysis - a case study in Beijing, China

Daily PM2.5 samples were collected at an urban site in Beijing during four one-month periods in 2009-2010, with each period in a different season. Samples were subject to chemical analysis for various chemical components including major water-soluble ions, organic carbon (OC) and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), element carbon (EC), trace elements, anhydrosugar levoglucosan (LG), and mannosan (MN). Three sets of source profiles of PM2.5 were first identified through positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis using single or combined biomass tracers non-sea salt potassium (nss-K+), LG, and a combination of nss-K+ and LG. The six major source factors of PM2.5 included secondary inorganic aerosol, industrial pollution, soil dust, biomass burning, traffic emission, and coal burning, which were estimated to contribute 31 +/- 37%, 39 +/- 28%, 14 +/- 14%, 7 +/- 7%, 5 +/- 6%, and 4 +/- 8%, respectively, to PM2.5 mass if using the nss-K+ source profiles, 22 +/- 19%, 29 +/- 17%, 20 +/- 20%, 13 +/- 13%, 12 +/- 10%, and 4 +/- 6%, respectively, if using the LG source profiles, and 21 +/- 17%, 31 +/- 18%, 19 +/- 19%, 11 +/- 12%, 14 +/- 11%, and 4 +/- 6%, respectively, if using the combined nss-K+ and LG source profiles. The uncertainties in the estimation of biomass burning contributions to WSOC due to the different choices of biomass burning tracers were around 3% annually and up to 24% seasonally in terms of absolute percentage contributions, or on a factor of 1.7 annually and up to a factor of 33 seasonally in terms of the actual concentrations. The uncertainty from the major source (e.g. industrial pollution) was on a factor of 1.9 annually and up to a factor of 2.5 seasonally in the estimated WSOC concentrations. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Special Scientific Research Funds for Environment Protection Commonwealth Section [200809143]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [41175131]; Special Scientific Research Funds for National Basic Research Program of China [2013FY112700]SCI(E)[email protected]; [email protected] A326-33554

Food Chain Length Associated with Environmental Factors Affected by Large Dam along the Yangtze River

Food chain length (FCL) is a critical measure of food web complexity that influences the community structure and ecosystem function. The FCL of large subtropical rivers affected by dams and the decisive factors are far beyond clear. In this study, we used stable isotope technology to estimate the FCL of fish in different reaches of the main stream in the Yangtze River and explored the key factors that determined the FCL. The results showed that FCL varied widely among the studied areas with a mean of 4.09 (ranging from 3.69 to 4.31). The variation of FCL among river sections in the upstream of the dam was greater than that in the downstream. Regression analysis and model selection results revealed that the FCL had a significant positive correlation with ecosystem size as well as resource availability, and FCL variation was largely explained by ecosystem size, which represented 72% of the model weight. In summary, our results suggested that ecosystem size plays a key role in determining the FCL in large subtropical rivers and large ecosystems tend to have a longer food chain. Additionally, the construction of the Three Gorges Dam has been speculated to increase the FCL in the impoundment river sections

Detection and Correction of Abnormal IoT Data from Tea Plantations Based on Deep Learning

This paper proposes a data anomaly detection and correction algorithm for the tea plantation IoT system based on deep learning, aiming at the multi-cause and multi-feature characteristics of abnormal data. The algorithm is based on the Z-score standardization of the original data and the determination of sliding window size according to the sampling frequency. First, we construct a convolutional neural network (CNN) model to extract abnormal data. Second, based on the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm, the Gaussian radial basis function (RBF) and one-to-one (OVO) multiclassification method are used to classify the abnormal data. Then, after extracting the time points of abnormal data, a long short-term memory network is established for prediction with multifactor historical data. The predicted values are used to replace and correct the abnormal data. When multiple consecutive abnormal values are detected, a faulty sensor judgment is given, and the specific faulty sensor location is output. The results show that the accuracy rate and micro-specificity of abnormal data detection for the CNN-SVM model are 3–4% and 20–30% higher than those of the traditional CNN model, respectively. The anomaly detection and correction algorithm for tea plantation data established in this paper provides accurate performance

N-acetylcysteine prevents oxidized low-density lipoprotein-induced reduction of MG53 and enhances MG53 protective effect on bone marrow stem cells

MG53 is an important membrane repair protein and partially protects bone marrow multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPCs) against oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL). The present study was to test the hypothesis that the limited protective effect of MG53 on MAPCs was due to ox-LDL-induced reduction of MG53. MAPCs were cultured with and without ox-LDL (0-20 μg/mL) for up to 48 hours with or without MG53 and antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Serum MG53 level was measured in ox-LDL-treated mice with or without NAC treatment. Ox-LDL induced significant membrane damage and substantially impaired MAPC survival with selective inhibition of Akt phosphorylation. NAC treatment effectively prevented ox-LDL-induced reduction of Akt phosphorylation without protecting MAPCs against ox-LDL. While having no effect on Akt phosphorylation, MG53 significantly decreased ox-LDL-induced membrane damage and partially improved the survival, proliferation and apoptosis of MAPCs in vitro. Ox-LDL significantly decreased MG53 level in vitro and serum MG53 level in vivo without changing MG53 clearance. NAC treatment prevented ox-LDL-induced MG53 reduction both in vitro and in vivo. Combined NAC and MG53 treatment significantly improved MAPC survival against ox-LDL. These data suggested that NAC enhanced the protective effect of MG53 on MAPCs against ox-LDL through preventing ox-LDL-induced reduction of MG53.status: publishe