Prevalence characteristics of cervical human papillomavirus infection in Chengdu and Aba District, Sichuan Province, China.

PURPOSE: The genotype distribution of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection varies greatly in different regions. This study aims to determine the prevalence and type-specific distribution of HPV among females from Chengdu and Aba in Sichuan Province, which differ in geographical location, economic status, and living habits. These can serve as evidence of epidemic patterns for future design and implementation of vaccination and screening programs. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 144 113 women who underwent cervical screening at Chengdu Women's and Children's Central Hospital from January 2015 to September 2020. Meanwhile, 1799 samples from February 2018 to December 2021 were collected from Aba Maternal and Child Health Hospital. HPV DNA genotype testing was performed using real-time PCR. The overall prevalence, annual trend, age-specific prevalence, and type distribution were analyzed. RESULTS: The overall HPV prevalence was 22.51% in Chengdu. During 2015-2020, the highest prevalence rate was observed in 2018. Age-specific HPV distribution displayed a bimodal distribution among women aged ≤25 or ≥46 years old. The top three prevalent genotypes were HPV52, -16, and -58. Although the total prevalence of HPV in Aba was 14.23%, there was an upward trend from 2018 to 2021. However, no significant differences were identified in HPV infection rate across all age groups. HPV52, -53, and -16 were the major genotypes. Furthermore, single-type HPV infections and high-risk HPV infections were identified as the most common infection types in both regions. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate the overall prevalence of HPV was still high in Chengdu and Aba. The age-specific prevalence distribution demonstrated different patterns. Non-vaccine-covered HR-HPV53, -51and LR-HPV81, -CP8304 were frequently detected, which was worth significant clinical attention. In summary, regional HPV screening provides valuable clinical guidance for cervical cancer prevention and vaccine selection in Western China.

The haplotype-resolved genome of diploid Chrysanthemum indicum unveils new acacetin synthases genes and their evolutionary history.

Acacetin, a flavonoid compound, possesses a wide range of pharmacological effects, including antimicrobial, immune regulation, and anticancer effects. Some key steps in its biosynthetic pathway were largely unknown in flowering plants. Here, we present the first haplotype-resolved genome of Chrysanthemum indicum, whose dried flowers contain abundant flavonoids and have been utilized as traditional Chinese medicine. Various phylogenetic analyses revealed almost equal proportion of three tree topologies among three Chrysanthemum species (C. indicum, C. nankingense, and C. lavandulifolium), indicating that frequent gene flow among Chrysanthemum species or incomplete lineage sorting due to rapid speciation might contribute to conflict topologies. The expanded gene families in C. indicum were associated with oxidative functions. Through comprehensive candidate gene screening, we identified five flavonoid O-methyltransferase (FOMT) candidates, which were highly expressed in flowers and whose expressional levels were significantly correlated with the content of acacetin. Further experiments validated two FOMTs (CI02A009970 and CI03A006662) were capable of catalyzing the conversion of apigenin into acacetin, and these two genes are possibly responsible acacetin accumulation in disc florets and young leaves, respectively. Furthermore, combined analyses of ancestral chromosome reconstruction and phylogenetic trees revealed the distinct evolutionary fates of the two validated FOMT genes. Our study provides new insights into the biosynthetic pathway of flavonoid compounds in the Asteraceae family and offers a model for tracing the origin and evolutionary routes of single genes. These findings will facilitate in vitro biosynthetic production of flavonoid compounds through cellular and metabolic engineering and expedite molecular breeding of C. indicum cultivars.

A Universal Strategy to Construct High-Performance Homo- and Heterogeneous Microgel Assembly Bioinks.

Three dimensional (3D) extrusion bioprinting aims to replicate the complex architectures and functions of natural tissues and organs. However, the conventional hydrogel and new-emerging microgel bioinks are both difficult in achieving simultaneously high shape-fidelity and good maintenance of cell viability/function, leading to limited amount of qualified hydrogel/microgel bioinks. Herein, a universal strategy is reported to construct high-performance microgel assembly (MA) bioinks by using epigallocatechin gallate-modified hyaluronic acid (HA-EGCG) as coating agent and phenylboronic acid grafted hyaluronic acid (HA-PBA) as assembling agent. HA-EGCG can spontaneously form uniform coating on the microgel surface via mussel-inspired chemistry, while HA-PBA quickly forms dynamic phenylborate bonds with HA-EGCG, conferring the as-prepared MA bioinks with excellent rheological properties, self-healing, and tissue-adhesion. More importantly, this strategy is applicable to various microgel materials, enabling the preparation of homo- and heterogeneous MA (homo-MA and hetero-MA) bioinks and the hierarchical printing of complicated structures with high fidelity by integration of different microgels containing multiple materials/cells in spatial and compositional levels. It further demonstrates the printing of breast cancer organoid in vitro using homo-MA and hetero-MA bioinks and its preliminary application for drug testing. This universal strategy offers a new solution to construct high-performance bioinks for extrusion bioprinting.

The Discovery of Weddellamycin, a Tricyclic Polyene Macrolactam Antibiotic from an Antarctic Deep-Sea-Derived Streptomyces sp. DSS69, by Heterologous Expression.

Polyene macrolactams are a special group of natural products with great diversity, unique structural features, and a wide range of biological activities. Herein, a cryptic gene cluster for the biosynthesis of putative macrolactams was disclosed from a sponge-associated bacterium, Streptomyces sp. DSS69, by genome mining. Cloning and heterologous expression of the whole biosynthetic gene cluster led to the discovery of weddellamycin, a polyene macrolactam bearing a 23/5/6 ring skeleton. A negative regulator, WdlO, and two positive regulators, WdlA and WdlB, involved in the regulation of weddellamycin production were unraveled. The fermentation titer of weddellamycin was significantly improved by overexpression of wdlA and wdlB and deletion of wdlO. Notably, weddellamycin showed remarkable antibacterial activity against various Gram-positive bacteria including MRSA, with MIC values of 0.10-0.83 µg/mL, and antifungal activity against Candida albicans, with an MIC value of 3.33 µg/mL. Weddellamycin also displayed cytotoxicity against several cancer cell lines, with IC50 values ranging from 2.07 to 11.50 µM.

Prevalence and genotype distribution of HPV infections among women in Chengdu,China.

BACKGROUND: Human papilloma virus (HPV) infection among female is the cause of cervical cancer and genital warts. In China, the HPV vaccination rate and the target population screening rate among females are low, and the aims of this study on the genotype distribution and prevalence of HPV infection were to provide more targeted strategies for the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer and HPV-related diseases. METHODS: Polymerase chain reaction-reverse dot blot (PCR-RDB) was adopted for HPV genotyping test, the prevalence and 23 genotypes distribution of HPV infections among 181,705 women in Chengdu from 2013 to 2020 were analysed. RESULTS: The overall prevalence rate of HPV infection among 181,705 cases was 23.28%, the prevalence of HR-HPV at the age group < 20 years, 60-69 years and ≥ 70 years were higher than the overall prevalence.The prevalence of HPV showed a bimodal U-shaped curve with age; the first and second peak common occurred among females < 20 years old (42.97%) and 60-69 years old (37.56%), respectively.The top five genotypes of HPV infection among females in Chengdu were HPV52/16/58/81/53. Single infection (73.26%) was the main HPV infection pattern, followed by double infection (19.17%) and multiple infection (7.57%), the infection rate of HPV showed a gradual declined as the patterns of HPV coinfections increased, low-risk and high-risk coinfection was higher in low-risk HPV infection (43.68%) and lower in high-risk HPV infection (13.59%). The prevalence of genotypes - 6 and - 81 infection was the second highest at the age group of 20 and 40-59, respectively, while the prevalence of HPV16 was the highest at the age group of ≥ 70 among 23 genotypes among the 181,705 women. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of HPV infections among women in Chengdu is higher than domestic certain developed citys, among the five vaccines available, nonavalent vaccine is more suitable for Chengdu females. For young females prioritizing vaccination is essential in the current context.Double screening for HPV DNA is important in middle-aged women (30-49 years), and screening should not be lacking in older women (> 65 years). Additionally,for patients with genital warts, it is necessary to screen for high-risk HPV infection and provide appropriate management and treatment. Given the limitations of this study, future HPV research should aim to achieve full coverage of the target population, and our studies should also include cellular or pathological data of HPV-positive cases, vaccination rates, and various lifestyle details.

Ultrahigh Lithium Selective Transport in Two-Dimensional Confined Ice.

Inspired by selective ion transport in biological membrane proteins, researchers developed artificial ion channels that sieve monovalent cations, catering to the increasing lithium demand. In this work, we engineered an ion transport channel based on the confined ice within two-dimensional (2D) capillaries and found that the permselectivity of monovalent cations depends on the anisotropy of the confined ice. Particularly, the 2D confined ice showed an anomalous lithium selective transport along the (002) direction in the vermiculite capillary, with the Li+/Na+ and Li+/K+ permselectivity reaching up to 556 ± 86 and 901 ± 172, respectively, superior to most ion-selective channels. However, the 2D confined ice along the (100) direction showed less Li+ permselectivity. Additionally, the anisotropy of 2D confined ice can be tuned by adjusting the interlayer spacing. By providing insights into the ion transport in the 2D confined ice, our work may inspire more design of monovalent ion-selective channels for efficient lithium separation.

Natural capital accounting of land resources based on ecological footprint and ecosystem services value.

Land resources are the material basis for human survival and development. Rapid economic development in the past has resulted in the over-utilization of land, and the undervaluation of land in market transactions has further exacerbated the loss of land benefits. This calls for monitoring the quantity and quality of land and reversing the undervaluation of land to reduce the waste of land resources. Based on this, a scientific natural capital accounting system of land resources should be established to understand the quantity and value of land resources in time. In order to provide a comprehensive evaluation of land utilization, this paper introduces the idea of compiling the land resources balance sheet. First, the physical quantity of land is calculated through the ecological footprint method improved by net primary productivity. Second, the value quantity of land is calculated through the equivalent factor method which is improved by the biologically productive land area obtained above, and then using ArcGIS to further demonstrate spatial and temporal changes in land resources. Taking the relevant data of Chongqing from 2000 to 2020 as an example, the land status is comprehensively evaluated from multiple perspectives, including quantity, value and spatial distribution. The results show that: (1) Under the dual impact of changes in the physical quantity and the unit price of land, the value quantity of land assets and equity in Chongqing realized 5.9 times and 5.1 times growth respectively during the study period. (2) Grassland was the most productive land type in Chongqing. Over a long time period, Chongqing prioritized the development of animal husbandry, placing too much emphasis on the production function of grassland and neglecting ecological protection, which was caused by an imbalance in the pasture area. In 2020, grassland utilization exceeded 40.9 % of the carrying capacity. (3) The value quantity of land in Chongqing existed in a spatial distribution pattern that was high in the southeast and northeast and low in the center and west, and there was a great imbalance in its growth rate among regions. The research results are helpful to the rational utilization and standardized transaction of land resources in Chongqing, and provide references for the inclusion of land resources in the management of state-owned assets.

Extraordinary preservation of gene collinearity over three hundred million years revealed in homosporous lycophytes.

Homosporous lycophytes (Lycopodiaceae) are a deeply diverged lineage in the plant tree of life, having split from heterosporous lycophytes (Selaginella and Isoetes) ~400 Mya. Compared to the heterosporous lineage, Lycopodiaceae has markedly larger genome sizes and remains the last major plant clade for which no chromosome-level assembly has been available. Here, we present chromosomal genome assemblies for two homosporous lycophyte species, the allotetraploid Huperzia asiatica and the diploid Diphasiastrum complanatum. Remarkably, despite that the two species diverged ~350 Mya, around 30% of the genes are still in syntenic blocks. Furthermore, both genomes had undergone independent whole genome duplications, and the resulting intragenomic syntenies have likewise been preserved relatively well. Such slow genome evolution over deep time is in stark contrast to heterosporous lycophytes and is correlated with a decelerated rate of nucleotide substitution. Together, the genomes of H. asiatica and D. complanatum not only fill a crucial gap in the plant genomic landscape but also highlight a potentially meaningful genomic contrast between homosporous and heterosporous species.

Modeling the power system resilience in China under different natural disasters.

A good understanding of the power system resilience is necessary for optimizing the investment strategies and supporting the emergency rescue, but the existing quantitative estimation results based on real outage events are still lacked due to the data limitations. Therefore, this study first establishes a unified framework to measure the power system resilience under different natural disasters, by integrating the electricity performance curve with the dynamic inoperability input-output model. Then, a database of 285 Chinese historical big power outage events caused by natural disasters is established, and the city-level power system resilience values are estimated. Finally, a benefit analysis is conducted for improving the power system resilience. Our major findings are that: (1) Electricity system recoveries quickest from hail (23.05 h), while restores slowest from snowstorm (117.31 h). (2) China's city electricity system is the most resilient to the thunderstorm, while is the least resilient to the earthquake. (3) Enhancing the power system resilience will significantly reduce the requirements for rescue resources, and the saved emergency rescue cost ranges from 0.57 million yuan to 12.08 million yuan with 1% reduction of initial inoperability.

Diel dynamics of multi-omics in elkhorn fern provide new insights into weak CAM photosynthesis.

Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) has high water-use efficiency (WUE) and is widely recognized to have evolved from C3 photosynthesis. Different plant lineages have convergently evolved CAM, but the molecular mechanism that underlies C3-to-CAM evolution remains to be clarified. Platycerium bifurcatum (elkhorn fern) provides an opportunity to study the molecular changes underlying the transition from C3 to CAM photosynthesis because both modes of photosynthesis occur in this species, with sporotrophophyll leaves (SLs) and cover leaves (CLs) performing C3 and weak CAM photosynthesis, respectively. Here, we report that the physiological and biochemical attributes of CAM in weak CAM-performing CLs differed from those in strong CAM species. We investigated the diel dynamics of the metabolome, proteome, and transcriptome in these dimorphic leaves within the same genetic background and under identical environmental conditions. We found that multi-omic diel dynamics in P. bifurcatum exhibit both tissue and diel effects. Our analysis revealed temporal rewiring of biochemistry relevant to the energy-producing pathway (TCA cycle), CAM pathway, and stomatal movement in CLs compared with SLs. We also confirmed that PHOSPHOENOLPYRUVATE CARBOXYLASE KINASE (PPCK) exhibits convergence in gene expression among highly divergent CAM lineages. Gene regulatory network analysis identified candidate transcription factors regulating the CAM pathway and stomatal movement. Taken together, our results provide new insights into weak CAM photosynthesis and new avenues for CAM bioengineering.

Development of multidimensional water poverty in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China.

As a basic natural and strategic resource, water is of great significance to the sustainable development of economies and societies. Owing to population growth, industrialization, the acceleration of urbanization, and global warming, water poverty is gradually increasing in some parts of the world. Effectively assessing water poverty from different dimensions is still a serious challenge for global water resources planning. This paper establishes a framework of multidimensional water poverty (MWP) from six dimensions: water management, water technology, water assets, water welfare, water resources, and water environment. The measurement model of MWP is built based on the Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN), and the Spatial Correlation Analysis tool is used to visualize the spatial effects of MWP. The Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) was used as a case study and the main factors affecting the MWP of the YREB were determined by the Geodetector. When analyzing the results the following observations were made: (1) In terms of time distribution, the level of MWP in the YREB has gradually increased, and the poverty gap between the upper reaches, as well as the middle and lower reaches, shows an increasing trend. (2) With respect to spatial distribution, there is a continuously increasing agglomeration effect that shows a gradient-increasing distribution pattern of "West-Central-East." (3) The MWP in the YREB is mainly affected by these indicators in the three dimensions consisting of water resources, water technology, and water management. Specifically, R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP, the proportion of water-saving irrigation area in the cultivable land area, the urban daily wastewater treatment capacity, the land surface water resources per capita, and the groundwater resources per capita play an important role in the MWP. Based on the above findings, targeted policy recommendations are proposed to alleviate the MWP in the YREB.

Evaluate cities' urban water resources system resilience along a river and identify its critical driving factors.

The emergence of a series of problems, such as serious water environment pollution and flood disasters, leads to an increase in an urban water resources system's vulnerability and pressure. In order to alleviate an urban water resources crisis, calculating the water resources system resilience (WRSR) and identifying its impact factors are essential. This paper constructed a resilience evaluation framework of the "Economy-Social Development-Infrastructure-Water Resources-Ecological Environment" water resources system from three stages, i.e. resistance, restoration and adaptability. Then, taking 21 cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt's lower reaches (YREB's lower reaches) as an example, we scientifically measured the WRSR by using the Projection Pursuit Evaluation Model of Real Coding based on the Accelerating Genetic Algorithm (RAGA-PP) and analyzed its driving factors with Geographic Detectors (GD). (1) From 2010 to 2018, the overall level of the WRSR along the YREB's lower reaches was low, and it was characterized by attenuation from central cities to marginal cities; Suzhou had the highest average WRSR (0.656), while Chizhou had the lowest (0.207). (2) From stage characteristics, compared with 2010, resistance and restoration of most cities along the YREB's lower reaches showed an upward trend in 2018; however, the adaptability level of some cities was still low. From the perspective of sub-system resilience, resilience levels of different sub-systems in each urban water resources system (UWRS) were different. (3) For impact factors, average factor interpretations of per capita GDP, average wages of employees and affected areas of floods, geological disasters and typhoons were largest. Based on this, this paper provides relevant suggestions for improving the WRSR along the YREB's lower reaches to improve ability of UWRS to resist external risks.

Spatial-temporal variation and driving factors decomposition of agricultural grey water footprint in China.

The management of agricultural water pollution is crucial to alleviate the water crisis and promote regional sustainable development. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the spatial-temporal variation characteristics of the agricultural grey water footprint (GWF) and accurately identify its main influencing factors, aiming at formulating differentiated regional management strategies. Based on this, the agricultural GWFs of 31 provincial regions in China from 2011 to 2019 were firstly calculated, and then the spatial-temporal variation characteristics of agricultural GWF were analyzed using the ArcGIS software and Standard Deviational Ellipse (SDE) method. Finally, the Generalized Divisia Index Method (GDIM) was creatively introduced to decompose the factors of agricultural GWF change and their respective contributions at the national and provincial levels. The main results are as follow: (1) Agricultural GWF in China decreased on the whole and showed significant provincial differences. Among them, the agricultural GWF of Henan Province was the largest while that of Shanghai City was the smallest. Compared with 2011, most provinces saw a decrease in agricultural GWF in 2019 while Yunnan, Tibet, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang Provinces achieved growth. (2) Areas with higher agricultural GDP generally had higher agricultural GWF. The spatial distribution of agricultural GWF and breeding GWF generally tended to be consistent, with the lower value in northwest and southeast of China and higher value in the northeast and southwest of China. Meanwhile, the mean center of SDE of agricultural GWF was located in Henan Province from 2011 to 2018, and shifted to Shaanxi Province in 2019, showing a slight northwest shift. (3) Agricultural GWF intensity and agricultural GDP had the largest restraining effect and driving effect on agricultural GWF growth, respectively. Additionally, China has achieved decoupling between agricultural GWF and agricultural GDP, reflecting that the patterns of agricultural production and consumption have become more sustainable. The findings of this study can provide important decision-making insights for agricultural water pollution management and industry adjustment.

Socio-economic driving forces of PM2.5 emission in China: a global meta-frontier-production-theoretical decomposition analysis.

PM2.5 is a bad output of China's improved industrialization and rapid economic development, which seriously threatens people's health and greatly hinders the sustainable economic development. Studying the socio-economic driving factors of PM2.5 emissions is of great significance for reducing air pollution and realizing green development. Therefore, based on the simultaneous consideration of space technology differences and time technology progress, this paper constructs an index decomposition analysis-production-theoretical decomposition analysis decomposition model under the global meta-frontier-production theory. Then, we decompose the PM2.5 emission concentration of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2018 into nine driving factors and discuss the impact of different factors from the national, regional, and provincial levels. The results reveal that economic activity is still the main factor to promote the increase of PM2.5 emission, but its effect decreases, while the inhibitory effect of catch-up effect on PM2.5 concentration increases gradually. In addition, economic activities have the greatest impact on the East China, while the time catch-up effect has a more significant impact on the Central and Western China. Moreover, the influence of energy intensity effect, space technology catch-up effect, and time technology catch-up effect is gradually increasing, which have become important factors to inhibit the PM2.5 emission. Based on the above results, we put forward relevant policy suggestions.

The influence of carbon emission disclosure on enterprise value under ownership heterogeneity: evidence from the heavily polluting corporations.

Under the background that China puts forth the goals of "Emission Peak" and "Carbon Neutrality", heavily polluting corporations as the main source of carbon emissions, whether the restriction of carbon emission disclosure could promote the transformation and upgrading of heavily polluting corporations to raise their value, is a problem worthy of in-depth study. This paper selected listed companies in heavily pollution industries from 2009 to 2019 as the research samples, and analyzed the impact of carbon emission disclosure on short-term and long-term performance based on the perspective of ownership structure heterogeneity. This paper also discussed the moderating effect of carbon emission disclosure on state-owned enterprises and private enterprises taking into account government environmental regulations, media evaluation, and corporate image management based on the Gatekeeper Theory. Firstly, this paper found that in the short term, the improvement of carbon emission disclosure level will inhibit the value growth of enterprises in the initial stage, but will promote the value growth to a certain extent. In the long run, carbon emission disclosure plays a positive role in promoting enterprise value. Secondly, the government environmental regulation, media evaluation, and corporate image management produced different moderating effects under the difference in ownership structure. For state-owned enterprises, the higher the level of government environmental regulations and media evaluation, the more significant is the short-term and long-term value effect. While the higher the level of corporate image management, the more significant is the short-term value effect, however, the long-term value effect is not significant. For private enterprises, government environmental regulations, media evaluation, and corporate image management have no significant moderating effects. Based on the above findings, this paper presents countermeasures and suggestions for the high-quality development of enterprises from the perspectives of government management and enterprise operations.

Identifying the decoupling pathways of water resource liability and economic growth: a case study of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China.

Identifying the high-quality economic growth pathways under the requirements of water conservation and water pollution reduction is pivotal to realize regional sustainable development. Combined with the theory of resource and environmental value, sustainable development, and environmental accounting, this paper innovatively introduces water resource liability (WRL) to measure water environmental pressure. This study takes the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) as the research area and firstly conducts a spatial-temporal analysis of the WRL change in this region from 2013 to 2018. Then, the Tapio decoupling model is used to analyze the decoupling states and the decoupling stabilities between WRL and economic growth in the 11 provincial areas and 3 sub-regions of the YREB. Finally, the main internal factors affecting the decoupling states are identified from the perspective of decoupling decomposition. The main results show that: (1) The WRL of the YREB increases from 173.36 billion CNY in 2013 to 201.62 billion CNY in 2018, with an increase of 16.3%, showing an upward trend of fluctuation. The WRL of the lower reaches of the YREB is generally higher than those of the upper and middle reaches of the YREB from both the provincial and sub-regional levels. Chongqing has the lowest WRL with an average value of 7.03 billion CNY, while Shanghai has the highest with the average of 28.74 billion CNY. (2) The decoupling state between WRL and economic growth in the YREB is generally stable. The decoupling state of the downstream is better than that of the upper and middle reaches, and the decoupling stability index is 0.59, which is the most stable. (3) The internal influencing factors between WRL and economic development in the YREB include structural effect, technological effect, and silence effect, among which technological effect with the worst decoupling stability is the main driving factor. The findings of this study are crucial for policy makers to formulate targeted policies to decouple WRL from economic growth and to realize sustainable development in the YREB.

Study on the Failure Mechanism and Permeability Characteristics of Gas Containing Sandstone Intercalated Coal.

The deformation failure mechanism and permeability characteristics of loaded coal sandstone samples under triaxial stress loading were analyzed based on the experimental platform of the coal-rock fluid solid coupling triaxial servo system. The results show that the stress-strain curve of coal intercalated sandstone can be divided into five stages: compaction closure, elastic deformation, stable fracture expansion, unstable fracture expansion, and post-peak strain softening. With the increase of confining pressure, the peak strength and residual strength of the sample increase linearly with the confining pressure. The permeability of the sample decreases slowly with the increase of axial strain, increases rapidly after reaching the stage of unstable fracture propagation, and changes in "V" shape. The relationship between initial permeability and confining pressure can be fitted with exponential function. Based on the fracture volumetric strain model, the progressive failure mechanism of damage expansion of coal mixed sandstone is discussed. The fracture volume strain of each sample under different stress states is given, and the failure mode and crack distribution characteristics of the sample are obtained. The research results can provide reference for reasonable, safe, and efficient coal mining and gas disaster control.

Temporal and spatial analysis of the ecosystem service values in the Three Gorges Reservoir area of China based on land use change.

The Three Gorges Reservoir area (TGRA) has complex geological conditions and a fragile ecological environment. The construction of the Three Gorges Project triggered ecological and environmental issues and social disputes, which have attracted considerable attention in recent years. However, how the temporal and spatial characteristics of ecosystem service value (ESV) in the TGRA changed in each stage of the Three Gorges Project with the implementation of ecological restoration plans remains ambiguous. Based on four periods of land use data from 2000 to 2018, the changes in land use were investigated, and the ESVs were estimated. Then, the spatial distribution and dynamic changes in ecosystem services were analysed. The results showed that grassland and construction land were the land use types that had the greatest reductions and increases in area over time, respectively. The conversion of cropland to forestland, grassland and construction land represented the most important land type changes. In the past 18 years, because of an increase in forestland and water area, the ESVs increased by 2.7 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 3.46%. The conversion of cropland to forestland had the largest contribution rate to the increase in ESV. The ESV was higher in the northeast and lower in the southwest, and its changes had a significant positive autocorrelation in terms of the spatial distribution. The hot spots of ESV change were mainly distributed in the main stream of the Yangtze River and the reservoir area. This research provides a reference for land resource allocation and experience for the ecological environment protection and sustainable development of the Yangtze River Basin.

Elucidating competing strategic behaviors using prospect theory, system dynamics, and evolutionary game: a case of transjurisdictional water pollution problem in China.

Water is a critical natural resource for socio-economic and environmental systems. In transjurisdictional river basins, when basin-wide water pollution management scheme is absent, stakeholders tend to adopt utility-maximizing behavior based on incomplete information. Such a scenario could lead to a free-riding problem. This paper attempts to elucidate the strategic behavior of riparian regions using prospect theory, evolutionary game, and system dynamics. The evolution of riparian regions' strategic behaviors is explained, and the impacts of different factors on their strategic selections are simulated. The results showed that the prospective value of factors and stakeholders' attitude to risk are a key for resolving transjurisdictional river water pollution problems. Improving the subjective judgment of the probability of water pollution, raising awareness, strengthening the penalties in "polluter pays" schemes, abandoning segmented river basin management, and building a basin-wide water management system are vital for maintaining the ecological integrity of any transjurisdictional river basin and accelerate the sustainable development of its riparian regions.

Multiplex detection of meningitis and encephalitis pathogens: A study from laboratory to clinic.

Introduction: Infectious meningitis and encephalitis (ME) are life-threatening conditions are caused by various pathogens. Conventional laboratory tests with low sensitivity and specificity cannot help with early diagnosis. Methods: A prospective study using the novel multiplex PCR detection for 18 pathogens of ME (MME-18) was conducted to investigate the clinical utilization and the epidemiology characteristics of ME in southwestern China. Patients with suspected intracranial infection were recruited between May and October 2019 at West China Hospital of Sichuan University. The MME-18 was used to detect cerebrospinal fluid, and conventional experiments including cryptococcal capsular antigen detection, GeneXpert, real-time PCR, and clinical feedback were used to verify the result of MME-18. Results: Among 581 tested patients, 139 eligible individuals were enrolled in the study. Among them, Mycobacterium tuberculosis was the most common pathogen in mono-infection. Viruses and Cryptococcus neoformans were also frequently detected. Of 139 infected patients, 12 cases were diagnosed by MME-18 only, 57 patients by conventional testing only, and 70 cases by both comparator tests and MME-18. There were 96.3% (79/82) diagnoses made by MME-18 had a favorable outcome, and two of twelve diagnoses, made solely by MME-18, had a likely unclear clinical significance. Discussion: The MME-18 showed satisfactory consistency with expert clinical consensus for patients presenting with ME. Combined with conventional testing and clinical suspicion, MME-18 may help clinicians with the early identification of pathogens.