iATMEcell: identification of abnormal tumor microenvironment cells to predict the clinical outcomes in cancer based on cell-cell crosstalk network.

Interactions between Tumor microenvironment (TME) cells shape the unique growth environment, sustaining tumor growth and causing the immune escape of tumor cells. Nonetheless, no studies have reported a systematic analysis of cellular interactions in the identification of cancer-related TME cells. Here, we proposed a novel network-based computational method, named as iATMEcell, to identify the abnormal TME cells associated with the biological outcome of interest based on a cell-cell crosstalk network. In the method, iATMEcell first manually collected TME cell types from multiple published studies and obtained their corresponding gene signatures. Then, a weighted cell-cell crosstalk network was constructed in the context of a specific cancer bulk tissue transcriptome data, where the weight between cells reflects both their biological function similarity and the transcriptional dysregulated activities of gene signatures shared by them. Finally, it used a network propagation algorithm to identify significantly dysregulated TME cells. Using the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma training set and two independent validation sets, we illustrated that iATMEcell could identify significant abnormal cells associated with patient survival and immunotherapy response. iATMEcell was further applied to a pan-cancer analysis, which revealed that four common abnormal immune cells play important roles in the patient prognosis across multiple cancer types. Collectively, we demonstrated that iATMEcell could identify potentially abnormal TME cells based on a cell-cell crosstalk network, which provided a new insight into understanding the effect of TME cells in cancer. iATMEcell is developed as an R package, which is freely available on GitHub (https://github.com/hanjunwei-lab/iATMEcell).

High-Density Au Anchored to Ti3C2-Based Colorimetric-Fluorescence Dual-Mode Lateral Flow Immunoassay for All-Domain-Enhanced Performance and Signal Intercalibration.

In this work, a novel MXene-Au nanoparticle (Ti3C2@Au) was synthesized with a high molar extinction coefficient, strong fluorescence quenching ability, ultrahigh antibody affinity, high stability, and good dispersibility, and it was used to develop a colorimetric-fluorescence dual-mode lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA). The detection limits of this method for the detection of dexamethasone in milk, beef, and pork were 0.0018, 0.12, and 0.084 µg/kg in the "turn-off" mode (colorimetric signal), and 0.0013, 0.080, and 0.070 µg/kg in the "turn-on" mode (fluorescent signal), respectively, which was up to 231-fold more sensitive compared with that of the reported LFIAs. The recovery rates ranged from 81.1-113.7%, and 89.2-115.4%, with the coefficients of variation ranging from 1.4-15.0%, and 1.9-14.8%, respectively. The results of the LC-MS/MS confirmation test on 30 real samples had a good correlation with that of our established method (R2 > 0.97). This work not only developed novel nanocarriers for antibody-based LFIA but also ensured high-performance detection.

A novel pathway mutation perturbation score predicts the clinical outcomes of immunotherapy.

The link between tumor genetic variations and immunotherapy benefits has been widely recognized. Recent studies suggested that the key biological pathways activated by accumulated genetic mutations may act as an effective biomarker for predicting the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy. Here, we developed a novel individual Pathway Mutation Perturbation (iPMP) method that measures the pathway mutation perturbation level by combining evidence of the cumulative effect of mutated genes with the position of mutated genes in the pathways. In iPMP, somatic mutations on a single sample were first mapped to genes in a single pathway to infer the pathway mutation perturbation score (PMPscore), and then, an integrated PMPscore profile was produced, which can be used in place of the original mutation dataset to identify associations with clinical outcomes. To illustrate the effect of iPMP, we applied it to a melanoma cohort treated with ICIs and identified seven significant perturbation pathways, which jointly constructed a pathway-based signature. With the signature, patients were classified into two subgroups with significant distinctive overall survival and objective response rate to immunotherapy. Moreover, the pathway-based signature was consistently validated in two independent melanoma cohorts. We further applied iPMP to two non-small cell lung cancer cohorts and also obtained good performance. Altogether, the iPMP method could be used to identify the significant mutation perturbation pathways for constructing the pathway-based biomarker to predict the clinical outcomes of immunotherapy. The iPMP method has been implemented as a freely available R-based package (https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=PMAPscore).

Two new guaiane-type sesquiterpenes from Curcuma wenyujin.

Two new guaiane-type sesquiterpenes, wenyujinolides A (1) and B (2), were isolated from the ethanol extract of Curcuma wenyujin, together with 10 known compounds. Their structures were established by extensive spectroscopic methods (IR, ESIMS, HRESIMS, ECD, 1D and 2D NMR) and comparison of their NMR data with literatures. Compounds 1 and 2 were evaluated for the inhibition of NO production in LPS induced RAW 264.7 macrophages.

Multiplexed SELEX for Sulfonamide Antibiotics Yielding a Group-Specific DNA Aptamer for Biosensors.

The widespread use of sulfonamide (SA) antibiotics in animal husbandry has led to residues of SAs in the environment, causing adverse effects to the ecosystem and a risk of bacterial resistance, which is a potential threat to public health. Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop simple, high-throughput methods that can detect multiple SAs simultaneously. In this study, we isolated aptamers with different specificities based on a multi-SA systematic evolution of ligands by the exponential enrichment (SELEX) strategy using a mixture of sulfadimethoxine (SDM), sulfaquinoxaline (SQX), and sulfamethoxazole (SMZ). Three aptamers were obtained, and one of them showed a similar binding to all tested SAs, with dissociation constant (Kd) ranging from 0.22 to 0.63 µM. For the other two aptamers, one is specific for SQX, and the other is specific for SDM and sulfaclozine. A label-free detection method based on the broad-specificity aptamer was developed for the simultaneous detection of six SAs, with detection of limits ranging from 0.14 to 0.71 µM in a lake water sample. The aptasensor has no binding for other broad-spectrum antibiotics such as ß-lactam antibiotics, quinolones, tetracyclines, and chloramphenicol. This work provides a promising biosensor for rapid, multiresidue, and high-throughput detection of SAs, as well as a shortcut for the preparation of different specific recognition elements required for the detection of broad-spectrum antibiotics.

CNA2Subpathway: identification of dysregulated subpathway driven by copy number alterations in cancer.

Biological pathways reflect the key cellular mechanisms that dictate disease states, drug response and altered cellular function. The local areas of pathways are defined as subpathways (SPs), whose dysfunction has been reported to be associated with the occurrence and development of cancer. With the development of high-throughput sequencing technology, identifying dysfunctional SPs by using multi-omics data has become possible. Moreover, the SPs are not isolated in the biological system but interact with each other. Here, we propose a network-based calculated method, CNA2Subpathway, to identify dysfunctional SPs is driven by somatic copy number alterations (CNAs) in cancer through integrating pathway topology information, multi-omics data and SP crosstalk. This provides a novel way of SP analysis by using the SP interactions in the system biological level. Using data sets from breast cancer and head and neck cancer, we validate the effectiveness of CNA2Subpathway in identifying cancer-relevant SPs driven by the somatic CNAs, which are also shown to be associated with cancer immune and prognosis of patients. We further compare our results with five pathway or SP analysis methods based on CNA and gene expression data without considering SP crosstalk. With these analyses, we show that CNA2Subpathway could help to uncover dysfunctional SPs underlying cancer via the use of SP crosstalk. CNA2Subpathway is developed as an R-based tool, which is freely available on GitHub (https://github.com/hanjunwei-lab/CNA2Subpathway).

DRviaSPCN: a software package for drug repurposing in cancer via a subpathway crosstalk network.

SUMMARY: Drug repurposing is an approach used to discover new indications for existing drugs. Recently, several computational approaches have been developed for drug repurposing in cancer. Nevertheless, no approaches have reported a systematic analysis of pathway crosstalk. Pathway crosstalk, which refers to the phenomenon of interaction or cooperation between pathways, is a critical aspect of tumor pathways that allows cancer cells to survive and acquire resistance to drug therapy. Here, we innovatively developed a system biology R-based software package, DRviaSPCN, to repurpose drugs for cancer via a subpathway (SP) crosstalk network. This package provides a novel approach to prioritize cancer candidate drugs by considering drug-induced SPs and their crosstalk effects. The operation modes mainly include construction of the SP network and calculation of the centrality scores of SPs to reflect the influence of SP crosstalk, calculation of enrichment scores of drug- and disease-induced dysfunctional SPs and weighted them by the centrality scores of SPs, evaluation of the drug-disease reverse association at the weighted SP level, identification of cancer candidate drugs and visualization of the results. Its capabilities enable DRviaSPCN to find cancer candidate drugs, which will complement the recent tools which did not consider crosstalk among pathways/SPs. DRviaSPCN may help to facilitate the development of drug discovery. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The package is implemented in R and available under GPL-2 license from the CRAN website (https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=DRviaSPCN). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Cytokines and chemokines involved in HLA-B27-positive ankylosing spondylitis-associated acute anterior uveitis.

Purpose: Acute anterior uveitis (AAU) is the most common extra-articular symptom of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). This study aims to reveal the cytokines and chemokines involved in the immunopathogenesis of human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-B27+ AS-associated AAU. Methods: Twenty-one HLA-B27+ AS-associated AAU patients and 21 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited for this study. Serum cytokine concentrations in all 42 subjects were determined by the Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) electrochemiluminescence method. In each sample, 34 cytokines, 10 chemokines, eight angiogenesis mediators, and four vascular injury mediators were measured. The differences in cytokine and chemokine concentrations were compared between the two groups. Results: Concentrations of serum IL-3, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-17D, IL-22, IP10/CXCL10, MIP-3α/CCL20, sFlt-1/VEGFR-1, CRP, and MCP-4/CCL13 were significantly higher in patients with HL-B27+ AS-associated AAU than in HCs (p < 0.05). In contrast, concentrations of serum IL-4, IL-8, MIP-1α/CCL3, Eotaxin-3/CCL26, PlGF, VEGF-C, and VEGF-D were significantly lower in patients with HL-B27+ AS-associated AAU than in HCs (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Significant differences were detected in the levels of several cytokines and chemokines in the serum of HLA-B27+ AS-associated AAU compared with HCs. Some novel differential cytokines and chemokines that have not been reported in other kinds of uveitis were also identified. These results reveal the underlying pathogenesis of HLA-B27+ AS-associated AAU and could potentially aid in clinical diagnosis.

Crystal Engineering of TiO2 for Enhanced Catalytic Oxidation of 1,2-Dichloroethane on a Pt/TiO2 Catalyst.

Crystal engineering of metal oxide supports represents an emerging strategy to improve the catalytic performance of noble metal catalysts in catalytic oxidation of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs). Herein, Pt catalysts on a TiO2 support with different crystal phases (rutile, anatase, and mixed phase (P25)) were prepared for catalytic oxidation of 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE). The Pt catalyst on P25-TiO2 (Pt/TiO2-P) showed optimal activity, selectivity, and stability, even under high-space velocity and humidity conditions. Due to the strong interaction between Pt and P25-TiO2 originating from the more lattice defects of TiO2, the Pt/TiO2-P catalyst possessed stable Pt0 and Pt2+ species during DCE oxidation and superior redox property, resulting in high activity and stability. Furthermore, the Pt/TiO2-P catalyst possessed abundant hydroxyl groups, which prompted the removal of chlorine species in the form of HCl and significantly decreased the selectivity of vinyl chloride (VC) as the main byproduct. On the other hand, the Pt/TiO2-P catalyst exhibited a different reaction path, in which the hydroxyl groups on its surface activated DCE to form VC and enolic species, besides the lattice oxygen of TiO2 for the Pt catalysts on rutile and anatase TiO2. This work provides guidance for the rational design of catalysts for CVOCs.

Herbicide propisochlor exposure induces intestinal barrier impairment, microbiota dysbiosis and gut pyroptosis.

Propisochlor is a chloroacetamide herbicide causing liver toxicity and suppressing immunity in human and animal. Although the herbicide has been used for years, the effects of propisochlor on intestinal health remain poorly understood. Hence, the impacts of propisochlor in intestinal health and gut microbiota were analyzed by using molecular approach and bacterial 16S rRNA sequencing. The result showed that the intake of propisochlor in mice impaired gut morphology, reduced expression of tight junction proteins, decreased thickness of mucus layer and activated pyroptosis signaling. Moreover, the exposure of propisochlor in mice led to significant alterations in gut microbial diversity and composition, including an increase of Bacteroidetes and a decrease of Firmicutes. The gut microbiota, such as Parabacteroides, Parasutterella, and Bacteroides, demonstrated a strong negative correlation with the intestinal health. These findings suggested that gut microbiota could play a critical role in the propisochlor-induced pyroptosis.

Identification of comutation in signaling pathways to predict the clinical outcomes of immunotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Immune checkpoint blockades (ICBs) have emerged as a promising treatment for cancer. Recently, tumour mutational burden (TMB) and neoantigen load (NAL) have been proposed to be potential biomarkers to predict the efficacy of ICB; however, they were limited by difficulties in defining the cut-off values and inconsistent detection platforms. Therefore, it is critical to identify more effective predictive biomarkers for screening patients who will potentially benefit from immunotherapy. In this study, we aimed to identify comutated signaling pathways to predict the clinical outcomes of immunotherapy. METHODS: Here, we comprehensively analysed the signaling pathway mutation status of 9763 samples across 33 different cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) by mapping the somatic mutations to the pathways. We then explored the comutated pathways that were associated with increased TMB and NAL by using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and multiple linear regressions. RESULTS: Our results revealed that comutation of the Spliceosome (Sp) pathway and Hedgehog (He) signaling pathway (defined as SpHe-comut+) could be used as a predictor of increased TMB and NAL and was associated with increased levels of immune-related signatures. In seven independent immunotherapy cohorts, we validated that SpHe-comut+ patients exhibited a longer overall survival (OS) or progression-free survival (PFS) and a higher objective response rate (ORR) than SpHe-comut- patients. Moreover, a combination of SpHe-comut status with PD-L1 expression further improved the predictive value for ICB therapy. CONCLUSION: Overall, SpHe-comut+ was demonstrated to be an effective predictor of immunotherapeutic benefit in seven independent immunotherapy cohorts and may serve as a potential and convenient biomarker for the clinical application of ICB therapy.

The benefit of exercise rehabilitation guided by 6-minute walk test on lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 in patients with coronary heart disease undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: a prospective randomized controlled study.

BACKGROUND: Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) has been taken as a biomarker of inflammation in patients with acute coronary diseases. Regular exercise rehabilitation could attenuate inflammation and promote the rehabilitation of coronary heart disease (CHD). The level of Lp-PLA2 is negatively correlated with 6-min walk test (6-MWT). The exercise prescription of appropriate intensity is the basis of exercise rehabilitation. 6-MWT is associated with maximal oxygen consumption, and can be used to determine the intensity of exercise prescription guiding patients how to do exercise rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to observe the benefit of 6-MWT guided exercise rehabilitation on the level of Lp-PLA2 in patients with CHD undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS: We prospectively, consecutively enrolled 100 patients between Dec 2018 and Dec 2020 in the fourth ward of the Department of Cardiology, Yuebei People's Hospital Affiliated to Shantou University. Eligible patients were 1:1 divided into Group A, with no exercise rehabilitation, and Group B, with regular exercise rehabilitation, using random number table method of simple randomization allocation. Clinical data such as general information, the profile of lipids and the level of Lp-PLA2 were collected at baseline and at 12-week follow-up. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences of the percentages of gender, hypertension, type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), the profile of lipids and level of Lp-PLA2 between the groups at baseline (P > 0.05). The level of Lp-PLA2 decreased at 12-week follow-up, moreover, the decline of the Lp-PLA2 level in Group B was more significant than that in Group A (t = 2.875, P = 0.005). Multivariate linear regression analysis indicated that exercise rehabilitation was independently correlated with the level of Lp-PLA2 (ß' = - 0.258, t = - 2.542, P = 0.013). CONCLUSION: Exercise rehabilitation for 12 weeks guided by 6-MWT can further reduce the level of LP-PLA2 in patients with CHD undergoing PCI. Trial registration This trial was registered on the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR2100048124, registered 3 July 2021- Retrospectively registered. The study protocol adheres to the CONSORT guidelines.

Unraveling land system vulnerability to rapid urbanization: An indicator-based vulnerability assessment for Wuhan, China.

Rapid urbanization induced by land use change poses a great threat to the structure and function of land system. There is an urgent need to profile the components underlying the vulnerability of land system and the areas that are most vulnerable to land use change. In this study, we attempt to integrate indices associated with land system vulnerability and assess the influence of urbanization on the urban environment for the case study area of Wuhan city in China. The paper aims to (1) establish a conceptual model to explore the formation mechanism of the vulnerability coupling source-pathway-receptor-consequence (SPRC) model and IPCC vulnerability definition; (2) provide an indicator system of land system vulnerability assessment based on ecological and socioeconomic dimensions; (3) analyze the spatio-temporal variations of exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity and vulnerability. Results shed light on the spatio-temporal dynamics of components and vulnerability in rapid urbanization areas as follows: (1) land use intensity, ecological land area, three key ecosystem services (including haze regulation, flood regulation, biodiversity) and economical capacity constitute the indicator system of land system vulnerability assessment, (2) seven central districts are more exposed and sensitive to rapid urbanization than other districts and the areas of the lowest adaptive capacity are mainly located in the urban-rural fringe regions with lower ecological function and moderate economic development, (3) the most vulnerable areas mainly concentrate in central areas, while the slightly vulnerable areas are in the suburban areas. Meanwhile, the vulnerability of the urban-rural fringe region shows the fastest growing tendency, (4) the spatial-temporal distributions of vulnerability display certain relevance with that of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. This study not only contributes to promoting a general methodology to assess vulnerability in rapid urbanization area but also provides information for land use planning and policy formulation that can be used by cities in order to mitigate the vulnerability of urban ecosystem.

Problem Characteristics and Dynamic Search Balance-Based Artificial Bee Colony for the Optimization of Two-Tiered WSN Lifetime with Relay Nodes Deployment.

Lifetime optimization is one of the key issues among the many challenges of wireless sensor networks. The introduction of a small number of high-performance relay nodes can effectively improve the quality of the network services. However, how to deploy these nodes reasonably to fully enhance the network lifetime becomes a very difficult problem. In this study, a modified and enhanced Artificial Bee Colony is proposed to maximize the lifetime of a two-tiered wireless sensor network by optimal deployment of relay nodes. First, the dimension of the problem is introduced into the candidate search equation and the local search is adjusted according to the fitness of the problem and number of iterations, which helps to balance the exploration and exploitation ability of the algorithm. Second, in order to prevent the algorithm from falling into local convergence, a dynamic search balance strategy is proposed instead of the scout bee phase in the original Artificial Bee Colony. Then, a feasible solution formation method is proposed to ensure that the relay nodes can form the upper-layer backbone of the network. Finally, we employ this algorithm on a test dataset obtained from the literature. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm for two-tiered wireless sensor network lifetime optimization can obtain higher and stable average network lifetime and more reasonable relay node deployment compared to other classical and state-of-the-art algorithms, verifying the competitive performance of the proposed algorithm.

Multiplex optical bioassays for food safety analysis: Toward on-site detection.

Food safety analysis plays a significant role in controlling food contamination and supervision. In recent years, multiplex optical bioassays (MOBAs) have been widely applied to analyze multiple hazards due to their efficiency and low cost. However, due to the challenges such as multiplexing capacity, poor sensitivity, and bulky instrumentation, the further application of traditional MOBAs in food screening has been limited. In this review, effective strategies regarding food safety MOBAs are summarized, such as spatial-resolution modes performed in multi-T lines/dots strips or arrays of strip/microplate/microfluidic chip/SPR chip and signal-resolution modes employing distinguishable colorimetric/luminescence/fluorescence/surface plasma resonance/surface-enhanced Raman spectrum as signal tags. Following this, new trends on how to design engineered sensor architecture and exploit distinguishable signal reporters, how to improve both multiplexing capacity and sensitivity, and how to integrate these formats into smartphones so as to be mobile are summarized systematically. Typically, in the case of enhancing multiplexing capacity and detection throughput, microfluidic array chips with multichannel architecture would be a favorable approach to overcome the spatial and physical limitations of immunochromatographic assay (ICA) test strips. Moreover, noble metal nanoparticles and single-excitation, multiple-emission luminescence nanomaterials hold great potential in developing ultrasensitive MOBAs. Finally, the exploitation of innovative multiplexing strategy hybridized with powerful and widely available smartphones opens new perspectives to MOBAs. In future, the MOBAs should be more sensitive, have higher multiplexing capacity, and easier instrumentation.

Untargeted metabolomics by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for food authentication: A review.

Food fraud is currently a growing global concern with far-reaching consequences. Food authenticity attributes, including biological identity, geographical origin, agricultural production, and processing technology, are susceptible to food fraud. Metabolic markers and their corresponding authentication methods are considered as a promising choice for food authentication. However, few metabolic markers were available to develop robust analytical methods for food authentication in routine control. Untargeted metabolomics by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is increasingly used to discover metabolic markers. This review summarizes the general workflow, recent applications, advantages, advances, limitations, and future needs of untargeted metabolomics by LC-MS for identifying metabolic markers in food authentication. In conclusion, untargeted metabolomics by LC-MS shows great efficiency to discover the metabolic markers for the authenticity assessment of biological identity, geographical origin, agricultural production, processing technology, freshness, cause of animals' death, and so on, through three main steps, namely, data acquisition, biomarker discovery, and biomarker validation. The application prospects of the selected markers by untargeted metabolomics require to be valued, and the selected markers need to be eventually applicable at targeted analysis assessing the authenticity of unknown food samples.

Continuity and change: Violations of private patriarchal practices and domestic violence against rural wives in China.

We investigated how violations of private patriarchal practices affect physical, psychological, and sexual violence against rural wives. The sample was drawn from nationally representative data from the third wave survey on the Social Status of Women in China. We found that (1) women making a similar income or more than their husbands were more likely to experience psychological and physical violence, respectively; (2) the wife's migration experience increased her risk of psychological and sexual violence; (3) husband doing more housework decreased the odds of psychological violence, and equal distribution of housework reduced the likelihood of physical and psychological violence; (4) infertility or having given birth to only daughters was not associated with any form of violence; and (5) equal marital power decreased the wife's likelihood to suffer three forms of violence. A balanced conjugal power structure may effectively prevent domestic violence against wives in societies with traditional and modern influences.

Immunochromatographic assays based on three kinds of nanoparticles for the rapid and highly sensitive detection of tylosin and tilmicosin in eggs.

Three kinds of immunochromatographic assays (ICAs) are proposed for the highly sensitive and rapid determination  of tylosin (TYL) and tilmicosin (TIM) in eggs based on colloidal gold (CG), latex microsphere (LM), and time-resolved fluorescent microsphere (TRFM). Three types of ICAs could tolerate the egg matrix via simple sample pretreatment and demonstrated high sensitivity for TYL and TIM with cut-off values of 6/6/3 µg/kg and 14/14/6 µg/kg, respectively. Furthermore, in a single-blind parallel study 20 egg samples were analyzed  by the three developed ICAs and confirmed by LC-MS/MS. The  results showed good consistency, and there were no false positive and false negative results in our three ICAs. Consequently, the proposed three ICAs offered rapid, highly sensitive, reliable, and selectable testing platforms for screening veterinary medicine or other small molecule contaminants.

Effects of land use transition on ecological vulnerability in poverty-stricken mountainous areas of China: A complex network approach.

Poverty-stricken mountainous areas are often subject to ecological vulnerability, and land use transition is a major factor affecting that vulnerability. Land use transition forms a complex network comprised of different land use types which interact with each other and respond to external environment processes, resulting in dynamics. This study develops complex network approach with cascade failure model to quantitatively explore the effects of land use transition on ecological vulnerability from the holistic and dynamic perspective. The study analyzes the characteristics of land use transition, identifying key transition types and simulating their impact on ecological vulnerability in 16 poverty-stricken mountainous counties in western Hubei Province, China, with the following findings. (1) The heterogeneity of change in agricultural land and construction land is significant; from 1990 to 2015, a short-term increase in the amount of agricultural land is followed by a gradual reduction, while the amount of construction land increased continuously. (2) Agricultural land is the dominant output land type, exported mainly to construction land and water area, and construction land is the dominant input land type, imported mainly from agricultural land. Sparse woods, woods, and dryland are the key land use types in the study area. (3) the critical points for maintaining resilience of ecosystem are 80% or higher for cultivated land and 80% or higher for woodland. (4) For the tolerance parameter α, 20% increase in cultivated land and a 10% increase in woodland would enhance ecosystem resilience and reduce its damage degree to corresponding land use transition. These findings are important points of reference for the sustainable management of poverty-stricken mountainous counties in western Hubei Province and in China more generally. They also have policy implications for land resources, especially in terms of the alleviation of poverty and the coordination between ecological protection and economic development.

Open Surface Droplet Microfluidic Magnetosensor for Microcystin-LR Monitoring in Reservoir.

Establishing rapid, simple, and in situ detection of microcystin-LR (MC-LR) in drinking water sources is of significant importance for human health. To ease the situation that current methods cannot address, an open surface droplet microfluidic magnetosensor was designed and validated to quantify MC-LR in reservoir water, which is capable of (1) MC-LR isolation via MC-LR antibody-conjugated magnetic beads, (2) parallel and multistep analytical procedures in 15-array power-free and reusable active droplet microfluidic chips, (3) immunoassay incubation and fluorescence excitation within a miniaturized multifunctional 3D-printing optosensing accessory, and (4) signal read-out and data analysis by a user-friendly Android app. The proposed smartphone-based fluorimetric magnetosensor exhibited a low limit of detection of 1.2 × 10-5 µg/L in the range of 10-4 µg/L to 100 µg/L. This integrated and high throughput platform was utilized to draw an MC-LR contamination map for six reservoirs distributed in the Pearl River delta, Guangdong Province. It promises to be a simple and successful quantification method for MC-LR field detection, bringing many benefits to rapid on-site screening.