The Promise of Beijing: Evaluating the Impact of the 2008 Olympic Games on Air Quality

To prepare for the 2008 Olympic Games, China adopted a number of radical measures to improve air quality. Using officially reported air pollution index (API) from 2000 to 2009, we show that these measures improved the API of Beijing during and after the Games, but 60% of the effect faded away by the end of October 2009. Since the credibility of API data has been questioned, an objective and indirect measure of air quality at a high spatial resolution – aerosol optimal depth (AOD), derived using the data from the NASA satellites – was analyzed and compared with the API trend. The analysis confirms that the improvement was real but temporary and most improvement was attributable to plant closure and traffic control. Our results suggest that it is possible to achieve real environmental improvement in an authoritarian regime but the magnitude of the effect and how long it lasts depend on the political motivation behind the policy interventions.

The matching rule of Panum’s limiting case and its influencing factors

IntroductionPanum’s limiting case is one of the typical configurations of monocular occlusion region. The matching rule of Panum’s limiting case is the key to understanding how monocular occlusion region produces stereopsis. There are currently two main views on the matching rule of Panum’s limiting case, namely double fusion and uniqueness constraint. This paper further discusses its matching mechanism on the basis of previous studies.MethodsIn this study, fold line Panum’s stimuli were used to study the matching rule of Panum’s limiting case. In Experiment 1, fixation position was adopted to present the stimulus in a short time to explore the matching rules in Panum’s limiting case. In Experiment 2, the effect of fixation position on Panum’s limiting case matching results was further investigated.ResultsThe results of Experiment 1 show that when stimuli are presented in a short period of time, the reported result that a single feature in one eye may be matched alternately with two features in the other eye. This matching rule is called “fast alternative matching” in this article. The results of Experiment 2 results show that the position of the fixation could affect the matching result of participants.ConclusionIn conclusion, the matching rule of Panum’s limiting case is fast alternative matching, and the matching result is related to the attention state of the participant. These results not only provide a new perspective for matching rules in Panum’s limiting case, but also show that depth perception results in stereopsis can be influenced by top-down cognitive processing. This study provides a theoretical basis for studying the formation of stereopsis in the monocular region to a certain extent. In summary, the matching rule of Panum’s limiting case is fast alternative matching. In previous studies, the perceived result of double fusion may be caused by fast alternative matching. Also, the matching results are related to the participant’s state of attention, which suggests that the depth perception results of stereopsis are influenced by top-down cognitive processing

Significance of fatty liver index to detect prevalent ischemic heart disease: evidence from national health and nutrition examination survey 1999–2016

BackgroundNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) contributes to the development of ischemic heart disease via multiple mechanisms. Fatty liver index (FLI) has been proposed as an accurate, convenient, and economic surrogate of the severity of NAFLD. Our present study aims to assess the association between FLI and the prevalent IHD and to evaluate the potential value of FLI to refine the detection of prevalent IHD in the general population.MethodsOur work recruited 32,938 subjects from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2016. IHD was diagnosed according to the subjects’ self-report. FLI was determined based on triglycerides, BMI, γ-glutamyltransferase, and waist circumference.Results2,370 (7.20%) subjects were diagnosed with IHD. After adjustment of age, sex, race, current smoking, current drinking, PIR, BMI, WC, TC, TG, GGT, Scr, FPG, SBP, anti-hypertensive therapy, anti-diabetic therapy, and lipid-lowering therapy, one standard deviation increase of FLI resulted in a 27.0% increment of the risk of prevalent IHD. In the quartile analysis, we observed a 1.684 times risk of prevalent IHD when comparing the fourth quartile with the first quartile, and there was a trend towards higher risk across the quartiles. The smooth curve fitting displayed a linear relationship between FLI and the presence of IHD without any threshold or saturation effect. Subgroup analysis revealed a robust association in conventional cardiovascular subpopulations, and the association could be more prominent in female subjects and diabetes patients. ROC analysis demonstrated an incremental value of FLI for detecting prevalent IHD after introducing it to conventional cardiovascular risk factors (AUC: 0.823 vs. 0.859, P for comparison <0.001). Also, results from reclassification analysis implicated that more IHD patients could be correctly identified by introducing FLI into conventional cardiovascular risk factors (continuous net reclassification index: 0.633, P < 0.001; integrated discrimination index: 0.034, P < 0.001).ConclusionThe current analysis revealed a positive and linear relationship between FLI and the prevalent IHD. Furthermore, our findings suggest the incremental value of FLI to refine the detection of prevalent IHD in the general population

Characterization of the Differential Aroma Compounds among 10 Different Kinds of Premium Soy Sauce

Investigation of the aroma differences among different kinds of soy sauces is beneficial for controlling their flavor quality and processing improvement from the perspectives of raw materials and brewing techniques. The aroma compounds in ten premium soy sauces (CB, HT1, HT2, LH, LJJ1, LJJ2, QH, XH1, XH2, WZ) were qualitative and quantitative analyzed by solid phase extraction and solid-phase microextraction combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The contributions of aroma compounds to the aroma characteristics of premium soy sauce was determined by sensory evaluation, calculation of aroma activity value (OAV) and partial least squares regression analysis (PLSR). A total of 86 volatile compounds were identified in 10 premium soy sauces, 44 of them were both detected in 10 soy sauce. The 30 aroma compounds with OAV≥1 were detected, the 5-ethyl-4-hydroxy-2-methyl-3(2H)-furanone showed the highest OAV (373~4698), followed by 4-methoxy-2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furanone (0~1473). WZ soy sauce had a strong smoky aroma due to the highest variety of phenolic and ketone compounds. The overall aroma profile of CB soy sauce was the weakest with the lowest concentration of ethanol (25.775 μg/L), but the highest content of pyrazine compounds (182.796 μg/L), of which 2,6-dimethylpyrazine was 66.256 μg/L. XH1 soy sauce had a strong sauce aroma and alcoholic notes, due to the highest ethanol content (147.257 μg/L) and higher phenolic content, for example the concentration of 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (18240.479 μg/L) was the highest. XH2 soy sauce had a strong malty aroma. The content of 2-methyl-1-propanol (51.223 μg/L) and 2,3-butanediol (57921.798 μg/L) in LH soy sauce was the highest among others. The content of 1-octen-3-ol (61.219 μg/L) in HT1 soy sauce was the highest. Combination of OAV and PLSR analysis confirmed the ethyl acetate, 3-hydroxy-2-butanone, 2,3-butanediol, 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine, 4-methoxy-2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furanone, 4-ethylguaiacol and 4-ethylphenol were the key aroma-active components that contribute to the aroma differences among 10 kinds of premium soy sauce

Impacts of climate change, population growth, and power sector decarbonization on urban building energy use

Climate, technologies, and socio-economic changes will influence future building energy use in cities. However, current low-resolution regional and state-level analyses are insufficient to reliably assist city-level decision-making. Here we estimate mid-century hourly building energy consumption in 277 U.S. urban areas using a bottom-up approach. The projected future climate change results in heterogeneous changes in energy use intensity (EUI) among urban areas, particularly under higher warming scenarios, with on average 10.1–37.7% increases in the frequency of peak building electricity EUI but over 110% increases in some cities. For each 1 °C of warming, the mean city-scale space-conditioning EUI experiences an average increase/decrease of ~14%/ ~ 10% for space cooling/heating. Heterogeneous city-scale building source energy use changes are primarily driven by population and power sector changes, on average ranging from –9% to 40% with consistent south–north gradients under different scenarios. Across the scenarios considered here, the changes in city-scale building source energy use, when averaged over all urban areas, are as follows: –2.5% to –2.0% due to climate change, 7.3% to 52.2% due to population growth, and –17.1% to –8.9% due to power sector decarbonization. Our findings underscore the necessity of considering intercity heterogeneity when developing sustainable and resilient urban energy systems.<br/

The Atypical Effective Connectivity of Right Temporoparietal Junction in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Multi-Site Study

Social function impairment is the core deficit of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although many studies have investigated ASD through a variety of neuroimaging tools, its brain mechanism of social function remains unclear due to its complex and heterogeneous symptoms. The present study aimed to use resting-state functional magnetic imaging data to explore effective connectivity between the right temporoparietal junction (RTPJ), one of the key brain regions associated with social impairment of individuals with ASD, and the whole brain to further deepen our understanding of the neuropathological mechanism of ASD. This study involved 1,454 participants from 23 sites from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) public dataset, which included 618 individuals with ASD and 836 with typical development (TD). First, a voxel-wise Granger causality analysis (GCA) was conducted with the RTPJ selected as the region of interest (ROI) to investigate the differences in effective connectivity between the ASD and TD groups in every site. Next, to obtain further accurate and representative results, an image-based meta-analysis was implemented to further analyze the GCA results of each site. Our results demonstrated abnormal causal connectivity between the RTPJ and the widely distributed brain regions and that the connectivity has been associated with social impairment in individuals with ASD. The current study could help to further elucidate the pathological mechanisms of ASD and provides a new perspective for future research

Evaluation of a computer-aided diagnostic model for corneal diseases by analyzing in vivo confocal microscopy images

ObjectiveIn order to automatically and rapidly recognize the layers of corneal images using in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) and classify them into normal and abnormal images, a computer-aided diagnostic model was developed and tested based on deep learning to reduce physicians’ workload.MethodsA total of 19,612 corneal images were retrospectively collected from 423 patients who underwent IVCM between January 2021 and August 2022 from Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University (Wuhan, China) and Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University (Wuhan, China). Images were then reviewed and categorized by three corneal specialists before training and testing the models, including the layer recognition model (epithelium, bowman’s membrane, stroma, and endothelium) and diagnostic model, to identify the layers of corneal images and distinguish normal images from abnormal images. Totally, 580 database-independent IVCM images were used in a human-machine competition to assess the speed and accuracy of image recognition by 4 ophthalmologists and artificial intelligence (AI). To evaluate the efficacy of the model, 8 trainees were employed to recognize these 580 images both with and without model assistance, and the results of the two evaluations were analyzed to explore the effects of model assistance.ResultsThe accuracy of the model reached 0.914, 0.957, 0.967, and 0.950 for the recognition of 4 layers of epithelium, bowman’s membrane, stroma, and endothelium in the internal test dataset, respectively, and it was 0.961, 0.932, 0.945, and 0.959 for the recognition of normal/abnormal images at each layer, respectively. In the external test dataset, the accuracy of the recognition of corneal layers was 0.960, 0.965, 0.966, and 0.964, respectively, and the accuracy of normal/abnormal image recognition was 0.983, 0.972, 0.940, and 0.982, respectively. In the human-machine competition, the model achieved an accuracy of 0.929, which was similar to that of specialists and higher than that of senior physicians, and the recognition speed was 237 times faster than that of specialists. With model assistance, the accuracy of trainees increased from 0.712 to 0.886.ConclusionA computer-aided diagnostic model was developed for IVCM images based on deep learning, which rapidly recognized the layers of corneal images and classified them as normal and abnormal. This model can increase the efficacy of clinical diagnosis and assist physicians in training and learning for clinical purposes

Genetic Polymorphisms in CYP2E1: Association with Schizophrenia Susceptibility and Risperidone Response in the Chinese Han Population

CYP2E1 is a member of the cytochrome P450 superfamily, which is involved in the metabolism and activation of both endobiotics and xenobiotics. The genetic polymorphisms of CYP2E1 gene (Chromosome 10q26.3, Accession Number NC_000010.10) are reported to be related to the development of several mental diseases and to be involved in the clinical efficacy of some psychiatric medications. We investigated the possible association of CYP2E1 polymorphisms with susceptibility to schizophrenia in the Chinese Han Population as well as the relationship with response to risperidone in schizophrenia patients.In a case-control study, we identified 11 polymorphisms in the 5' flanking region of CYP2E1 in 228 schizophrenia patients and 384 healthy controls of Chinese Han origin. From among the cases, we chose 130 patients who had undergone 8 weeks of risperidone monotherapy to examine the relationship between their response to risperidone and CYP2E1 polymorphisms. Clinical efficacy was assessed using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS).Statistically significant differences in allele or genotype frequencies were found between cases and controls at rs8192766 (genotype p = 0.0048, permutation p = 0.0483) and rs2070673 (allele: p = 0.0018, permutation p = 0.0199, OR = 1.4528 95%CI = 1.1487-1.8374; genotype: p = 0.0020, permutation p = 0.0225). In addition, a GTCAC haplotype containing 5 SNPs (rs3813867, rs2031920, rs2031921, rs3813870 and rs2031922) was observed to be significantly associated with schizophrenia (p = 7.47E-12, permutation p<0.0001). However, no association was found between CYP2E1 polymorphisms/haplotypes and risperidone response.Our results suggest that CYP2E1 may be a potential risk gene for schizophrenia in the Chinese Han population. However, polymorphisms of the CYP2E1 gene may not contribute significantly to individual differences in the therapeutic efficacy of risperidone. Further studies in larger groups are warranted to confirm our results

Comparative Physiological and Transcriptome Analysis Provide Insights into the Response of Cenococcum geophilum, an Ectomycorrhizal Fungus to Cadmium Stress

Cadmium (Cd) displays strong toxicity, high mobility, and cannot be degraded, which poses a serious threat to the environment. Cenococcum geophilum (C. geophilum) is one of the most common ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECMF) in the natural environment. In this study, three Cd sensitive and three Cd tolerant strains of C. geophilum were used to analyze the physiological and molecular responses to Cd exposure. The results showed that Cd inhibited the growth of all strains of C. geophilum but had a less toxic effect on the tolerant strains, which may be correlated to a lower content of Cd and higher activity of antioxidant enzymes in the mycelia of tolerant strains. Comparative transcriptomic analysis was used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of four selected C. geophilum strains after 2 mg/L Cd treatment. The results showed that the defense response of C. geophilum strain to Cd may be closely related to the differential expression of functional genes involved in cell membrane ion transport, macromolecular compound metabolism, and redox pathways. The results were further confirmed by RT-qPCR analysis. Collectively, this study provides useful information for elucidation of the Cd tolerance mechanism of ECMF