The mechanism of anthracene degradation by tryptophan -2,3-dioxygenase (T23D) in Comamonas testosteroni.

It is well known that anthracene is a persistent organic pollutant. Among the four natural polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) degrading strains, Comamonas testosterone (CT1) was selected as the strain with the highest degradation efficiency. In the present study, prokaryotic transcriptome analysis of CT1 revealed an increase in a gene that encodes tryptophane-2,3-dioxygenase (T23D) in the anthracene and erythromycin groups compared to CK. Compared to the wild-type CT1 strain, anthracene degradation by the CtT23D knockout mutant (CT-M1) was significantly reduced. Compared to Escherichia coli (DH5α), CtT23D transformed DH5α (EC-M1) had a higher degradation efficiency for anthracene. The recombinant protein rT23D oxidized tryptophan at pH 7.0 and 37 °C with an enzyme activity of 2.42 ± 0.06 µmol min-1·mg-1 protein. In addition, gas chromatography-mass (GC-MS) analysis of anthracene degradation by EC-M1 and the purified rT23D revealed that 2-methyl-1-benzofuran-3-carbaldehyde is an anthracene metabolite, suggesting that it is a new pathway.

OsCSN2 orchestrates Oryza sativa L. growth and development through modulation of the GA and BR pathways.

The COP9 signalosome (CSN) is a conserved protein complex found in higher eukaryotes, consisting of eight subunits, and it plays a crucial role in regulating various processes of plant growth and development. Among these subunits, CSN2 is one of the most conserved components within the COP9 signalosome complex. Despite its prior identification in other species, its specific function in Oryza sativa L. (Rice) has remained poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the role of CSN2 in rice using gene editing CRISPR/Cas9 technology and overexpression techniques. We created two types of mutants: the oscsn2 mutant and the OsCSN2-OE mutant, both in the background of rice, and also generated point mutants of OsCSN2 (OsCSN2K64E, OsCSN2K67E, OsCSN2K71E and OsCSN2K104E) to further explore the regulatory function of OsCSN2. Phenotypic observation and gene expression analysis were conducted on plants from the generated mutants, tracking their growth from the seedling to the heading stages. The results showed that the loss and modification of OsCSN2 had limited effects on plant growth and development during the early stages of both the wild-type and mutant plants. However, as the plants grew to 60 days, significant differences emerged. The OsCSN2 point mutants exhibited increased tillering compared to the OsCSN2-OE mutant plants, which were already at the tillering stage. On the other hand, the OsCSN2 point mutant had already progressed to the heading and flowering stages, with the shorter plants. These results, along with functional predictions of the OsCSN2 protein, indicated that changes in the 64th, 67th, 71st, and 104th amino acids of OsCSN2 affected its ubiquitination site, influencing the ubiquitination function of CSN and consequently impacting the degradation of the DELLA protein SLR1. Taken together, it can be speculated that OsCSN2 plays a key role in GA and BR pathways by influencing the functional regulation of the transcription factor SLR1 in CSN, thereby affecting the growth and development of rice and the number of tillers.

Quantitative evaluation on thermal seeing induced 2m ring solar telescope.

Thermal seeing is one of the factors that affect solar telescope observations. A comprehensive analysis method is developed to quantify the thermal seeing effects. A three-dimensional Large Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence model is used to obtain the transient flow fields around the primary mirror, the secondary mirror and the heat-stop. The thermal seeing is calculated based on the stochastic dynamic influence of turbulence on the light rays. The key parameters of the simulation were calibrated by experiments, and the simulation results were validated by empirical formulas. This method has been applied to evaluate the thermal seeing of the 2m Ring Solar Telescope (2m-RST). Error allocation is performed based on the research results to ensure the Observation effect of 2m-RST.

ATL Protein Family: Novel Regulators in Plant Response to Environmental Stresses.

Plants actively develop intricate regulatory mechanisms to counteract the harmful effects of environmental stresses. The ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, a crucial mechanism, employs E3 ligases (E3s) to facilitate the conjugation of ubiquitin to specific target substrates, effectively marking them for proteolytic degradation. E3s play critical roles in many biological processes, including phytohormonal signaling and adaptation to environmental stresses. Arabidopsis Toxicosa en Levadura (ATL) proteins, belonging to a subfamily of RING-H2 E3s, actively modulate diverse physiological processes and plant responses to environmental stresses. Despite studies on the functions of certain ATL family members in rice and Arabidopsis, most ATLs still need more comprehensive study. This review presents an overview of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), specifically focusing on the pivotal role of E3s and associated enzymes in plant development and environmental adaptation. Our study seeks to unveil the active modulation of plant responses to environmental stresses by E3s and ATLs, emphasizing the significance of ATLs within this intricate process. By emphasizing the importance of studying the roles of E3s and ATLs, our review contributes to developing more resilient plant varieties and promoting sustainable agricultural practices while establishing a research roadmap for the future.

High robustness single-shot wavefront sensing method using a near-field profile image and fully-connected retrieval neural network for a high power laser facility.

This paper proposes a single-shot high robustness wavefront sensing method based on deep-learning for wavefront distortion measurement in high power lasers. This method could achieve fast and robust wavefront retrieval by using a single-shot near-field profile image and trained network. The deep-learning network uses fully-skip cross connections to extract and integrate multi-scale feature maps from various layers and stages, which improves the wavefront retrieval speed and enhances the robustness of the method. The numerical simulation proves that the method could directly predict the wavefront distortion of high power lasers with high accuracy. The experiment demonstrates the residual RMS between the method and a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor is less than 0.01 µm. The simulational and experimental results show that the method could accurately predict the incident wavefront distortion in high power lasers, exhibiting high speed and good robustness in wavefront retrieval.

Hybrid ball-hinged secondary mirror assembly for high-precision surface shape maintenance.

As an essential part of optical telescope, the secondary mirror is subject to the influence of ambient temperature, which leads to temperature-induced distortion on the surface shape. A hybrid ball-hinged secondary mirror assembly (HSMA) is proposed to achieve thermal adaptation over a wide range of temperature. Simulation investigation on the temperature-induced surface shape distortion of the HSMA were carried out by using the finite element model. Simulation results show that the change of secondary mirror surface distortions over a wide range of temperature are minimal and negligible. For the wide ambient temperature range from -30°C to 70°C, the PV and RMS values of the maximum residual distortions can reach as small as 16.31 nm and 3.005 nm, respectively. Furthermore, the influence of gravity-induced distortion on the surface shape is also carried out. Both simulation and experiment results show that the HSMA is able to maintain high-precision surface shape of the secondary mirror over a wide range of temperature and at different attitudes from 0 to 90 ∘.

Clinical Study of a Wearable Remote Rehabilitation Training System for Patients With Stroke: Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial.

BACKGROUND: In contrast to the large and increasing number of patients with stroke, clinical rehabilitation resources cannot meet their rehabilitation needs. Especially for those discharged, ways to carry out effective rehabilitation training without the supervision of physicians and receive guidance from physicians remain urgent problems to be solved in clinical rehabilitation and have become a research hot spot at home and abroad. At present, there are many studies on home rehabilitation training based on wearable devices, Kinect, among others, but these have disadvantages (eg, complex systems, high price, and unsatisfactory rehabilitation effects). OBJECTIVE: This study aims to design a remote intelligent rehabilitation training system based on wearable devices and human-computer interaction training tasks, and to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the remote rehabilitation training system for nonphysician-supervised motor rehabilitation training of patients with stroke through a clinical trial study. METHODS: A total of 120 inpatients with stroke having limb motor dysfunction were enrolled via a randomized, parallel-controlled method in the rehabilitation institutions, and a 3-week clinical trial was conducted in the rehabilitation hall with 60 patients in the experimental group and 60 in the control group. The patients in the experimental group used the remote rehabilitation training system for rehabilitation training and routine clinical physical therapy (PT) training and received routine drug treatment every day. The patients in the control group received routine clinical occupational therapy (OT) training and routine clinical PT training and routine drug treatment every day. At the beginning of the training (baseline) and after 3 weeks, the Fugl-Meyer Motor Function Rating scale was scored by rehabilitation physicians, and the results were compared and analyzed. RESULTS: Statistics were performed using SAS software (version 9.4). The total mean Fugl-Meyer score improved by 11.98 (SD 8.46; 95% CI 9.69-14.27) in the control group and 17.56 (SD 11.65; 95% CI 14.37-20.74) in the experimental group, and the difference between the 2 groups was statistically significant (P=.005). Among them, the mean Fugl-Meyer upper extremity score improved by 7.45 (SD 7.24; 95% CI 5.50-9.41) in the control group and 11.28 (SD 8.59; 95% CI 8.93-13.62) in the experimental group, and the difference between the 2 groups was statistically significant (P=.01). The mean Fugl-Meyer lower extremity score improved by 4.53 (SD 4.42; 95% CI 3.33-5.72) in the control group and 6.28 (SD 5.28; 95% CI 4.84-7.72) in the experimental group, and there was no significant difference between the 2 groups (P=.06). The test results showed that the experimental group was better than the control group, and that the patients' motor ability was improved. CONCLUSIONS: The remote rehabilitation training system designed based on wearable devices and human-computer interaction training tasks can replace routine clinical OT training. In the future, through medical device registration certification, the system will be used without the participation of physicians or therapists, such as in rehabilitation training halls, and in remote environments, such as communities and homes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2200061310; https://tinyurl.com/34ka2725.

Critical Role of Monooxygenase in Biodegradation of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene by Buttiauxella sp. S19-1.

2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) is an aromatic pollutant that is difficult to be degraded in the natural environment. The screening of efficient degrading bacteria for bioremediation of TNT has received much attention from scholars. In this paper, transcriptome analysis of the efficient degrading bacterium Buttiauxella sp. S19-1 revealed that the monooxygenase gene (BuMO) was significantly up-regulated during TNT degradation. S-ΔMO (absence of BuMO gene in S19-1 mutant) degraded TNT 1.66-fold less efficiently than strain S19-1 (from 71.2% to 42.9%), and E-MO mutant (Escherichia coli BuMO-expressing strain) increased the efficiency of TNT degradation 1.33-fold (from 52.1% to 69.5%) for 9 h at 180 rpm at 27 °C in LB medium with 1.4 µg·mL-1 TNT. We predicted the structure of BuMO and purified recombinant BuMO (rBuMO). Its specific activity was 1.81 µmol·min-1·mg-1 protein at pH 7.5 and 35 °C. The results of gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis indicated that 4-amino-2,6-dinitrotoluene (ADNT) is a metabolite of TNT biodegradation. We speculate that MO is involved in catalysis in the bacterial degradation pathway of TNT in TNT-polluted environment.

Potential Effects of Metal Oxides on Agricultural Production of Rice: A Mini Review.

The extensive usage of metal oxide nanoparticles has aided in the spread and accumulation of these nanoparticles in the environment, potentially endangering both human health and the agroecological system. This research describes in detail the hazardous and advantageous impacts of common metal oxide nanomaterials, such as iron oxide, copper oxide, and zinc oxide, on the life cycle of rice. In-depth analyses are conducted on the transport patterns of nanoparticles in rice, the plant's reaction to stress, the reduction of heavy metal stress, and the improvement of rice quality by metal oxide nanoparticles, all of which are of significant interest in this subject. It is emphasized that from the perspective of advancing the field of nanoagriculture, the next stage of research should focus more on the molecular mechanisms of the effects of metal oxide nanoparticles on rice and the effects of combined use with other biological media. The limitations of the lack of existing studies on the effects of metal oxide nanomaterials on the entire life cycle of rice have been clearly pointed out.

OsCSN1 regulates the growth of rice seedlings through the GA signaling pathway in blue light.

Blue light can regulate the photomorphogenesis of plants through blue light receptors to influence seedling growth and development. The COP9 signaling complex (CSN), a vital regulator of photomorphogenesis, is a highly conserved protein complex. CSN1 is the largest and most critical subunit in the CSN with a complex N-terminal function that supports most of the functions of CSN1 and is mainly involved in plant growth and development processes. The CSN is also required in the blue light-mediated photomorphogenesis response of seedlings. In this study, the OsCSN1 subunit of Oryza sativa subsp. japonica (rice) was edited and screened, and OsCSN1 deletion mutant, OsCSN1 weak expression mutant and OsCSN1 overexpression mutant were constructed. The mechanism of OsCSN1 and its N-terminal effects on rice seedling growth and development under blue light conditions were investigated. The addition of exogenous hormone gibberellin (GA3) and gibberellin synthesis inhibitor paclobutrazol (PAC) caused aboveground phenotypic and protein (such as CUL4 and SLR1) changes. Blue light regulates the degradation of SLR1 through OsCSN1, which regulates the growth and development of rice seedling height, the first incomplete leaf, and the coleoptile. It is hypothesized that rice affects CRY-COP1 interactions after sensing blue light signals through the cryptochrome, and the nuclear localization of COP1 is regulated by the CSN complex. OsCSN1 is a negative regulator in response to blue light. The core structural domain of action that inhibits the growth of the aboveground part of rice seedlings is located at the N-terminal of OsCSN1. OsCSN1 regulates the nuclear localization of COP1 through the COP9 signaling complex and degrades SLR1 through CUL4-based E3 ligase. Ultimately, it affects the synthesis of the endogenous hormone GA, thereby inhibiting the aboveground growth and development of rice seedlings.

Wearable Intelligent Machine Learning Rehabilitation Assessment for Stroke Patients Compared with Clinician Assessment.

In order to solve the shortcomings of the current clinical scale assessment for stroke patients, such as excessive time consumption, strong subjectivity, and coarse grading, this study designed an intelligent rehabilitation assessment system based on wearable devices and a machine learning algorithm and explored the effectiveness of the system in assessing patients' rehabilitation outcomes. The accuracy and effectiveness of the intelligent rehabilitation assessment system were verified by comparing the consistency and time between the designed intelligent rehabilitation assessment system scores and the clinical Fugl−Meyer assessment (FMA) scores. A total of 120 stroke patients from two hospitals participated as volunteers in the trial study, and statistical analyses of the two assessment methods were performed. The results showed that the R2 of the total score regression analysis for both methods was 0.9667, 95% CI 0.92−0.98, p < 0.001, and the mean of the deviation was 0.30, 95% CI 0.57−1.17. The percentages of deviations/relative deviations falling within the mean ± 1.96 SD of deviations/relative deviations were 92.50% and 95.83%, respectively. The mean time for system assessment was 35.00% less than that for clinician assessment, p < 0.05. Therefore, wearable intelligent machine learning rehabilitation assessment has a strong and significant correlation with clinician assessment, and the time spent is significantly reduced, which provides an accurate, objective, and effective solution for clinical rehabilitation assessment and remote rehabilitation without the presence of physicians.

Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on foreign trade intermodal transport accessibility: Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta region of mainland China.

We address the problem of the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on foreign trade transport by introducing a foreign trade intermodal transport accessibility (FTITA) index. First, we present the definition of FTITA, which combines the convenience of transporting domestic cargoes to overseas regions by an international intermodal transport network and the trade attractiveness of the domestic cargoes in the overseas regions. Second, we analyze the path choice behaviors of domestic shippers and propose the measurement method of the FTITA index. Finally, using the 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region in mainland China as origins and eight overseas regions as destinations, we empirically analyze the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the FTITA. With the empirical study conducted in the prepandemic and postpandemic years, we analyzed the overall trends of the FTITAs from the YRD region to eight overseas regions, spatial patterns of the distributions of the FTITAs in the YRD region, rankings of average FTITA values for the top ten cities in the YRD region, and the FTITAs for different cargoes. The results indicate that the FTITAs of the YRD region in the prepandemic year are significantly higher than those in the postpandemic year. Moreover, in both the prepandemic and postpandemic years, the FTITAs to North America, Japan/South Korea, Europe, and Southeast Asia are significantly higher than those to Oceania, Middle East, South America, and Africa. Through analysis of the spatial patterns of the FTITAs across cities in the YRD region, we find that the cities with high FTITA are mainly close to Shanghai Port and Ningbo Port; the cities with middle-high FTITA are mainly located in southern Zhejiang and the regions along the Yangtze River; the cities with middle-low FTITA are mainly located in northern Jiangsu; and the cities with low FTITA are located in northern Anhui. Furthermore, comparing the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the FTITAs for different cargoes, we observe that COVID-19 has the least impact on foodstuffs and event cargoes. Our findings can guide decision makers in implementing policies for alleviating the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on foreign trade transport and further promoting the sustainable development of port and shipping industries.

Ecological risk assessment and sources identification of heavy metals in surface sediments of a river-reservoir system.

Heavy metal contamination of river water and sediments is a global issue affecting ecological health. To reveal heavy metals' ecological risks and biological toxicity in the middle and lower Han River (MLHR), sediment samples collected in this area were analyzed based on a modified ecological risk assessment method (NIRI) and a biological toxicity assessment method. Also, Spearman correlation analysis and Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) methods were applied to identify the potential sources of heavy metals. The results indicated that the heavy metal content significantly exceeded the background concentrations in Hubei Province. The average potential risk of heavy metals at sampling sites was: Cd > Hg > As > Pb > Cu > Zn. Consequently, high biological toxicity occurred along the MLHR due to the heavy metal enrichment. River damming and water diversion significantly enhanced the hydrologic regime variations and ecological risk in the MLHR. Moreover, two possible pollution sources of the MLHR were identified: one is a combined source of traffic pollution, agricultural pollution, and partial industrial pollution consisting of five heavy metals, Pb, Hg, Zn, Cu, and As, the other is an industrial pollution source dominated by Cd and As. This study provides insights into sediment heavy metal pollution management and ecological risk control in the MLHR and similar rivers worldwide.

Quantitative Evaluation System of Wrist Motor Function for Stroke Patients Based on Force Feedback.

Motor function evaluation is a significant part of post-stroke rehabilitation protocols, and the evaluation of wrist motor function helps provide patients with individualized rehabilitation training programs. However, traditional assessment is coarsely graded, lacks quantitative analysis, and relies heavily on clinical experience. In order to objectively quantify wrist motor dysfunction in stroke patients, a novel quantitative evaluation system based on force feedback and machine learning algorithm was proposed. Sensors embedded in the force-feedback robot record the kinematic and movement data of the subject, and the rehabilitation doctor used an evaluation scale to score the wrist function of the subject. The quantitative evaluation models of wrist motion function based on random forest (RF), support vector machine regression (SVR), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), and back propagation neural network (BPNN) were established, respectively. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed quantitative evaluation system, 25 stroke patients and 10 healthy volunteers were recruited in this study. Experimental results show that the evaluation accuracy of the four models is all above 88%. The accuracy of BPNN model is 94.26%, and the Pearson correlation coefficient between model prediction and clinician scores is 0.964, indicating that the BPNN model can accurately evaluate the wrist motor function for stroke patients. In addition, there was a significant correlation between the prediction score of the quantitative assessment system and the physician scale score (p < 0.05). The proposed system enables quantitative and refined assessment of wrist motor function in stroke patients and has the feasibility of helping rehabilitation physicians in evaluating patients' motor function clinically.

Effects of polystyrene nanoplastics with different functional groups on rice (Oryza sativa L.) seedlings: Combined transcriptome, enzymology, and physiology.

Plastic particles originate from the daily use of plastics and have become a new form of pollutant. However, the effects of nanoplastics (NPs) on higher plants remain largely unclear, thus requiring further research. In this study, rice plants were exposed to polystyrene (PS) NPs with different functional groups to determine their toxicity. The presence of NPs reduced the biomass and photosynthetic capacity of rice. Compared with control (CK), the heights of rice plants exposed to no-modified PS, carboxyl-modified PS (PS-COOH) and amino-modified PS (PS-NH2) groups decreased by 13.59%, 26.61%, and 42.71%, while the dry shoot weight decreased by 47.46%, 50.09%, and 71.04%, respectively. All treatments activated the antioxidant levels of rice and reduced photosynthesis. Transcriptome analysis showed that NPs induced the expression of genes related to antioxidant enzyme activity in rice roots. Rice could partially reduce the xenobiotic toxicity caused by external sources by regulating phenylpropane biosynthesis and the processes involved in cell detoxification. PS mainly affected the process of RNA metabolism, while PS-COOH mainly affected ion transport, and PS-NH2 mainly affected the synthesis of macromolecular protein, which had different effects on rice growth.

Regulatory Mechanism of the Constitutive Photomorphogenesis 9 Signalosome Complex in Response to Abiotic Stress in Plants.

The constitutive photomorphogenesis 9 (COP9) signalosome (CSN) is a highly conserved protein complex that regulates signaling pathways in plants under abiotic stress. We discuss the potential molecular mechanisms of CSN under abiotic stress, including oxidative stress with reactive oxygen species signaling, salt stress with jasmonic acid, gibberellic acid, and abscisic acid signaling, high-temperature stress with auxin signaling, and optical radiation with DNA damage and repair response. We conclude that CSN likely participates in affecting antioxidant biosynthesis and hormone signaling by targeting receptors, kinases, and transcription factors in response to abiotic stress, which potentially provides valuable information for engineering stress-tolerant crops.

Research Progress of UiO-66-Based Electrochemical Biosensors.

UiO-66, as a member of the MOFs families, is widely employed in sensing, drug release, separation, and adsorption due to its large specific surface area, uniform pore size, easy functionalization, and excellent stability. Especially in electrochemical biosensors, UiO-66 has demonstrated excellent adsorption capacity and response signal, which significantly improves the sensitivity and specificity of detection. However, the existing application research remains in its infancy, lacking systematic methods, and recycling utilization and exclusive sensing of UiO-66 still require further improvement. Therefore, one of the present research objectives is to explore the breakthrough point of existing technologies and optimize the performance of UiO-66-based electrochemical biosensors (UiO-66-EBs). In this work, we summarized current experimental methods and detection mechanisms of UiO-66-EBs in environmental detection, food safety, and disease diagnosis, analyzed the existing problems, and proposed some suggestions to provide new ideas for future research.

Quantitative Evaluation System of Upper Limb Motor Function of Stroke Patients Based on Desktop Rehabilitation Robot.

Rehabilitation training and movement evaluation after stroke have become a research hotspot as stroke has become a very common and harmful disease. However, traditional rehabilitation training and evaluation are mainly conducted under the guidance of rehabilitation doctors. The evaluation process is time-consuming and the evaluation results are greatly influenced by doctors. In this study, a desktop upper limb rehabilitation robot was designed and a quantitative evaluation system of upper limb motor function for stroke patients was proposed. The kinematics and dynamics data of stroke patients during active training were collected by sensors. Combined with the scores of patients' upper limb motor function by rehabilitation doctors using the Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT) scale, three different quantitative evaluation models of upper limb motor function based on Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), and Support Vector Regression (SVR) algorithms were established. To verify the effectiveness of the quantitative evaluation system, 10 healthy subjects and 21 stroke patients were recruited for experiments. The experimental results show that the BPNN model has the best evaluation performance among the three quantitative evaluation models. The scoring accuracy of the BPNN model reached up to 87.1%. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between the models' scores and the doctors' scores. The proposed system can help doctors to quantitatively evaluate the upper limb motor function of stroke patients and accurately master the rehabilitation progress of patients.

Remotely monitored Baduanjin exercise in moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients (BROCADE): A study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Baduanjin is a traditional Chinese exercise regimen used to treat various chronic illnesses and is associated with both psychological and physical benefits. However, its benefits for patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are unclear. This study aims to assess the efficacy, safety, and underlying mechanisms of Baduanjin exercise in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD (BROCADE) by remote monitoring. METHODS: This study protocol describes a multicenter, open-label, prospective randomized computed tomography. A total of 150 individuals who meet the inclusion criteria after the screening and consent processes will take part in the study. All participants will be provided routine medication and lifestyle interventions. They will be randomly assigned to a control group, a classical pulmonary rehabilitation group, or a Baduanjin group, which will undergo remotely monitored Baduanjin exercises for a cumulative duration of 1 hour per day, three times per week for 12 weeks. The participants will be followed for 24 weeks. The primary outcomes will be a 6-minutes walking distance and St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire index. The secondary outcomes will be lung function, cross-sectional area of the pectoralis major and subcutaneous fat, modified Medical Research Council score, COPD assessment test questionnaire results, extremity muscle strength, and quality of life. Any adverse events that may occur will be monitored and recorded. RESULTS: This study is ongoing and will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication once completed. CONCLUSION: A novel neutrophil-related inflammatory mechanism will potentially be identified. In addition, the study results will provide a safe, effective, simple and operational Baduanjin exercise protocol for moderate-to-severe COPD patients aimed at improving prognosis and quality of life.