Spatial congruency or discrepancy? Exploring the spatiotemporal dynamics of built-up expansion patterns and flood risk.

Most coastal cities have been experiencing unprecedented urbanization-induced flood risk, climatic events, and haphazard anthropogenic activities, jeopardizing residents' lives and building environments. Despite mounting flood-related studies, analyzing the correlation between the spatiotemporal dynamics of Built-up Expansion patterns (BE) and flood risk remains unknown and holds divergent perspectives. In this context, the coastal city of Alexandria, Egypt, characterized by multiple urban patterns and experiencing heavy rainfall annually, was selected as a testbed. Our method defined the spatiotemporal rates of BE from 1995 to 2023, quantified flood risk spatially, and finally investigated the correlation between BE and flood risk through spatial and statistical analysis. Our results show the built-up area occupied 30.32 % of the total city area till 2023, and the infilling pattern dominated the BE growth by 45.21 % of the total built-up area, followed by leapfrogging and edge expansion by 33.25 % and 21.55 %, respectively. The unplanned-infilling pattern is predominantly highly correlated with the flood-vulnerable peaks (correlation coefficient (rk) = 0.975, p-value < 0.05) and lowers dramatically towards planned-infilling regions with flood protections. Meanwhile, a spatial mismatch exists between high-risk peaks and leapfrogging and edge expansion (rk = 0.118 and 0.662, respectively, with a p-value < 0.01), indicating that controlling the built-up amount is inadequate for mitigating flood risk. Porosity-based urban configuration and spatial distribution of built-up patches in harmony with nature-based solutions are recommended for shaping flood-resilient and effective urban planning.

Morphometric similarity network alterations in COVID-19 survivors correlate with behavioral features and transcriptional signatures.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the differences in the cortical morphometric similarity network (MSN) between COVID-19 survivors and healthy controls, and the correlation between these differences and behavioralfeatures and transcriptional signatures. MATERIALS & METHODS: 39 COVID-19 survivors and 39 age-, sex- and education years-matched healthy controls (HCs) were included. All participants underwent MRI and behavioral assessments (PCL-17, GAD-7, PHQ-9). MSN analysis was used to compute COVID-19 survivors vs. HCs differences across brain regions. Correlation analysis was used to determine the associations between regional MSN differences and behavioral assessments, and determine the spatial similarities between regional MSN differences and risk genes transcriptional activity. RESULTS: COVID-19 survivors exhibited decreased regional MSN in insula, precuneus, transverse temporal, entorhinal, para-hippocampal, rostral middle frontal and supramarginal cortices, and increased regional MSN in pars triangularis, lateral orbitofrontal, superior frontal, superior parietal, postcentral, and inferior temporal cortices. Regional MSN value of lateral orbitofrontal cortex was positively associated with GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scores, and rostral middle frontal was negatively related to PHQ-9 scores. The analysis of spatial similarities showed that seven risk genes (MFGE8, MOB2, NUP62, PMPCA, SDSL, TMEM178B, and ZBTB11) were related to regional MSN values. CONCLUSION: The MSN differences were associated with behavioral and transcriptional signatures, early psychological counseling or intervention may be required to COVID-19 survivors. Our study provided a new insight into understanding the altered coordination of structure in COVID-19 and may offer a new endophenotype to further investigate the brain substrate.

Assessing the effectiveness of nature-based solutions-strengthened urban planning mechanisms in forming flood-resilient cities.

Cities have experienced rapid urbanization-induced harsh climatic events, especially flooding, inevitably resulting in negative and irreversible consequences for urban resilience and endangering residents' lives. Numerous studies have analyzed the effects of anthropogenic practices (land use changes and urbanization) on flood forecasting. However, non-structural mitigation's effectiveness, like Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), has yet to receive adequate attention, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which have become increasingly significant and indispensable for operationalizing cities efficiently. Therefore, our study investigated the predictive influence of incorporating one of the most common NBS strategies called low-impact development tools (LID) (such as rain gardens, bio-retention cells, green roofs, infiltration trenches, permeable pavement, and vegetative swale) during the urban planning of Alexandria, Egypt, which experiences the harshest rainfall annually and includes various urban patterns. City characteristics-dependent 14 LID scenarios were simulated with recurrence intervals ranging from 2 to 100 years using the LID Treatment Train Tool (LID TTT), depending on calibrated data from 2015 to 2020, by the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency index and deterministic coefficient, and root-mean-square error with values of 0.97, 0.91, and 0.31, respectively. Our findings confirmed the significant effectiveness of combined LID tools on total flood runoff volume reduction by 73.7%, revealing that different urban patterns can be used in flood-prone cities, provided LID tools are considered in city planning besides grey infrastructure to achieve optimal mitigation. These results, which combined multiple disciplines and were not explicitly mentioned in similar studies in developing countries, may assist municipalities' policymakers in planning flood-resistant, sustainable cities.

Expressions of miR-203a and its target genes in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and their clinical significance / 中国肿瘤生物治疗杂志

@#[摘 要] 目的：探讨肝细胞癌（HCC）患者血清及癌组织中miR-203a和其靶基因的表达及其与患者临床病理特征和预后的关系。方法：利用生物信息学方法从TargetScan、miRDB和PicTar网站预测HCC组织中miR-203a的靶基因，通过双荧光素酶报告基因实验进行验证。选取2018年1月至2019年6月在常州市金坛区第二人民医院手术切除的96例HCC患者的癌和癌旁组织标本、血清和临床资料，以及90例健康体检者的血清作为对照。qPCR法检测血清miR-203a水平，以及HCC组织和癌旁组织中miR-203a及其靶基因表达，比较分析不同临床病理特征HCC患者miR-203a及其靶基因表达。随访3年，采用Kaplan-Meier法进行生存（OS）分析。结果：从数据库筛选出HCC中miR-203a相关的靶基因共10个，包括APC、CDK6、GATA6、HOXD3、IGF1R、IGFBP5、KCNE2、PAQR3、PRMT5和SOSC3。HCC组织中miR-203a和APC、PAQR3 mRNA表达水平均显著低于癌旁组织（均P<0.01），CDK6、GATA6、HOXD3、IGF1R、IGFBP5、KCNE2、PRMT5和SOSC3 mRNA表达水平均显著高于癌旁组织（均P<0.01）；血清miR-203a、HCC组织miR-203a及其靶基因表达均与患者肿瘤临床分期、分化程度、肝功能分级、OS率有关（均P<0.01）。结论：HCC组织中miR-203a呈低表达，miR-203a及靶基因表达均与患者肿瘤临床分期、分化程度、肝功能及远期OS率有关。

Spatial congruency or mismatch? Analyzing the COVID-19 potential infection risk and urban density as businesses reopen.

Countries worldwide are reopening their businesses despite the continuing COVID-19 crisis and the emergence of new variants. In this context, knowing whether the reopening of businesses at various locations exposes higher risk to the public is essential. Whether urban density correlates with the potential infection risk as concluded by previous studies of the COVID-19 pandemic remains unknown. In this study, taking the Macau Peninsula as a testbed, we first identified business locations for daily activities according to the latest point of interest (POI) data and generated the potential risk surface for COVID-19 infection. Then, using the cellular phone network and urban footprint data, we further analyzed the spatial relationship between COVID-19 potential risk and urban density of population and morphology through visual analytics. Results show that while some degree of spatial congruency exists between medium-risk peaks and urban density hotspots, apparent spatial mismatch exists for high-risk peaks, indicating that the traditional planning control based on urban density is inadequate for mitigating public health risks. POI-based spatial layout and configuration better reflecting business services and associated human activities are recommended in future planning and policy-making for more resilient cities in the post-pandemic era.

Recent Insights on Catalyst Layers for Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells.

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) performance have significantly improved in the last decade (>1 W cm-2 ), and is now comparable with that of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). At high current densities, issues in the catalyst layer (CL, composed of catalyst and ionomer), like oxygen transfer, water balance, and microstructural evolution, play important roles in the performance. In addition, CLs for AEMFCs have different requirements than for PEMFCs, such as chemical/physical stability, reaction mechanism, and mass transfer, because of different conductive media and pH environment. The anion exchange ionomer (AEI), which is the soluble or dispersed analogue of the anion exchange membrane (AEM), is required for hydroxide transport in the CL and is normally handled separately with the electrocatalyst during the electrode fabrication process. The importance of the AEI-catalyst interface in maximizing the utilization of electrocatalyst and fuel/oxygen transfer process must be carefully investigated. This review briefly covers new concepts in the complex AEMFC catalyst layer, before a detailed discussion on advances in CLs based on the design of AEIs and electrocatalysts. The importance of the structure-function relationship is highlighted with the aim of directing the further development of CLs for high-performance AEMFC.

Low-Spin-State Hematite with Superior Adsorption of Anionic Contaminations for Water Purification.

Hematite attracts intensive interest as an adsorbent for water purification, but the oversized dimension and inherent high-spin Fe(III) restrict its adsorption capability and kinetics. Herein a spatial-confinement strategy is reported that synthesizes ultrafine α-Fe2 O3 benefiting from nanogrids constructed by predeposition of TiO2 nanodots in the MCM-41 channel, and that tunes the spin-state of Fe(III) from high-spin to low-spin induced by the strong guest-host interaction between the ultrafine Fe2 O3 with SiO2 (MCM-41). The low-spin Fe(III) endorses strong bonding with anionic adsorbates, and significantly facilitates the electrons transfer from Fe2 O3 to SiO2 to form a highly positive charged surface, and thereby shows superior electrostatic multilayer adsorption performance to different kinds of anionic contaminations. Specifically, the maximum uptake, adsorption rate, and distribution coefficient (Kd ) for Rose Bengal dye reach as high as 1810 mg g-1 , 1644 g (g min)-1 , and 2.2 × 106 L kg-1 , which are more than 8, 230, and 3700 times higher than those of commercial activated carbon, respectively. It also shows outstanding purification performance for real field water. It is demonstrated that a strong guest-host interaction can alter the spin-state of transition metal oxides, which may pave a new way to improve their performance in adsorption and other applications like catalysis.

Regulating the Spin State of FeIII by Atomically Anchoring on Ultrathin Titanium Dioxide for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysis.

Ferric oxides and (oxy)hydroxides, although plentiful and low-cost, are rarely considered for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) owing to the too high spin state (eg filling ca. 2.0) suppressing the bonding strength with reaction intermediates. Now, a facile adsorption-oxidation strategy is used to anchor FeIII atomically on an ultrathin TiO2 nanobelt to synergistically lower the spin state (eg filling ca. 1.08) to enhance the adsorption with oxygen-containing intermediates and improve the electro-conductibility for lower ohmic loss. The electronic structure of the catalyst is predicted by DFT calculation and perfectly confirmed by experimental results. The catalyst exhibits superior performance for OER with overpotential 270 mV @10 mA cm-2 and 376 mV @100 mA cm-2 in alkaline solution, which is much better than IrO2 /C and RuO2 /C and is the best iron-based OER catalyst free of active metals such as Ni, Co, or precious metals.

Changes in spatio-temporal patterns of urban forest and its above-ground carbon storage: Implication for urban CO2 emissions mitigation under China's rapid urban expansion and greening.

BACKGROUND: Understanding spatio-temporal dynamics of UF and its above-ground carbon storage (CS) is important for mitigating urban CO2 emissions under China's rapid urban expansion and greening. METHODS: In our study, vegetation index (VI) data obtained from TM image and CS derived from field-based surveys were amalgamated to develop a regression model to predict spatio-temporal patterns of CS. VI correction model was established by normalizing previous imagery (1984, 1995, and 2005) to 2014 image data. RESULTS: NDVI is better than other VIs for predicting urban forest CS. Both UF area and its CS increased gradually from 1984 to 2014, especially in outer rings of the city. CS showed a definite decreasing trend from outer rings to downtown. Due to urban greening policies, landscape patches of UF or CS recently became larger and more aggregated. The CS by UF class distribution was skewed toward low values in all the years, but the skew gradually decreased over time. It was estimated that the average annual increase of CS by UF could offset 3.9% of the average annual increase in urban carbon emissions. CONCLUSIONS: Our study proposes that spatio-temporal changes in UF patterns dramatically affected the amount of CS and carbon capture. The increase in UF coverage and quality would mitigate more urban carbon emissions, especially in outer rings.

Iron phosphide encapsulated in P-doped graphitic carbon as efficient and stable electrocatalyst for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions.

The development of durable and efficient non-noble electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is highly desirable but challenging for the commercialization of renewable energy systems. Herein, a facile strategy is developed for the synthesis of iron phosphide (FeP) nanoparticles protected with an overcoat of "multifunctional" P-doped graphitic carbon as a cost-effective electrocatalyst. The key point is the utilization of MOF-derived iron nanoparticles embedded in graphitic carbon (Fe@GC), which are synthesized via the pyrolysis of the Fe-MIL-88 template and subsequent phosphorization of Fe and simultaneous doping of P in carbon. Compared to the direct phosphorization of Fe-MIL-88, resulting in Fe2P on amorphous carbon (Fe2P@APC), this strategy gives easier access to phosphorization and P doping through pyrolysis temperature regulation. High-temperature pyrolysis can also yield the graphitic carbon encapsulated nanoparticle structure (FeP@GPC), which increases conductivity and prevents agglomeration as well as dissolution under harsh operating conditions, and thus contributes to enhanced activity and long-time stability. The optimized FeP@GPC exhibits superior activity compared to Fe2P/FeP@GPC and Fe2P@APC, which is attributed to the modified electronic structure of FeP due to its greater P proportion than Fe2P together with the strong synergy between the nanoparticles and graphitic carbon. In detail, FeP@GPC exhibits an ultralow overpotential of 72 mV and 278 mV to achieve the current density of 10 mA cm-2 for the HER in acid and OER in alkaline media, respectively, together with negligible degradation after 20 h, which ranks among the best Fe-based electrocatalysts.

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii Infection among HIV/AIDS Patients in Eastern China.

Toxoplasmosis, a neglected tropical disease caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, occurs throughout the world. Human T. gondii infection is asymptomatic in 80% of the population; however, the infection is life-threatening and causes substantial neurologic damage in immunocompromised patients such as HIV-infected persons. The major purpose of this study was to investigate the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in subjects infected with HIV/AIDS in eastern China. Our findings showed 9.7% prevalence of anti-T. gondii IgG antibody in HIV/AIDS patients, which was higher than in intravenous drug users (2.2%) and healthy controls (4.7%), while no significant difference was observed in the seroprevalence of anti-Toxoplasma IgM antibody among all participants (P>0.05). Among all HIV/AIDS patients, 15 men (7.7%) and 10 women (15.9%) were positive for anti-T. gondii IgG antibody; however, no significant difference was detected in the seroprevalence of anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibody between males and females. The frequency of anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibody was 8.0%, 13.2%, 5.5%, and 0% in patients with normal immune function (CD4(+) T-lymphocyte count ≥500 cells/ml), immunocompromised patients (cell count ≥200 and <500 cells/ml), severely immunocompromised patients (cell count ≥50 and <200 cells/ml), and advanced AIDS patients, respectively (cell count <50 cells/ml), while only 3 immunocompromised patients were positive for anti-T. gondii IgM antibody. The results indicate a high seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in HIV/AIDS patients in eastern China, and a preventive therapy for toxoplasmosis may be given to HIV/AIDS patients based on CD4(+) T lymphocyte count.

[Serological investigation on Toxoplasma gondii infection in dialysis patients with renal insufficiency].

A total of 205 dialysis patients with renal insufficiency were selected as an experiment group, and 360 healthy people were selected as a control group. The specific IgG antibodies of Toxoplasma gondii of the objects in the 2 groups were detected by ELISA. The positive rates of the experiment and control groups were 27. 3% and 3. 6% ,respectively, with a significant difference between them (P < 0.05). Among the dialysis patients with renal insufficiency, the positive rates of the patients with or without a history of blood transfusion were 31.2% and 19.2% , respectively, and there was a significant difference between them (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the infection rate of T. gondii in dialysis patients with renal insufficiency is higher than that of common people, and dialysis and/or blood transfusion may be potential risk(s) for Toxoplasma gondii infection.