[Impact of Accelerated Electrification Under the Low Carbon Path in Dongguan City on the Coordinated Emission Reduction of CO2 and Pollutants].

Cities are the center of energy consumption. Electrification integrates urban energy structure and achieves the efficient use of clean energy. Exploring the urban impact of accelerated electrification under the low-carbon path is crucial to reducing urban pollution and carbon. Based on the Long-range Energy Alternative Planning System(LEAP-DG), this study set up three scenarios, including the baseline, low-carbon, and accelerated electrification scenarios, to evaluate the emission reduction potential of electrification under different power structures, quantify the contribution of key sectors, and discuss the coordinated emission reduction effect of Dongguan, a typical manufacturing city in Guangdong. The results showed that accelerated electrification under the low-carbon path would reduce the emission intensity of power pollutants, and in 2050, Dongguan will further reduce CO2, NOx, VOC, and CO by 7.35×106, 1.28×104, 1.62×104, and 8.13×104 t; SO2 and PM2.5 emission reductions on the consumption side and increased emissions on the production side had been balanced. Accelerated electrification in the industrial and transportation sectors would reduce CO2 and air pollutant emissions at the same time, and the transportation sector would benefit from the high conversion efficiency of fuel vehicles and electric vehicles, reducing CO2, CO, VOC, and NOx by 5.42×106, 7.76×104, 1.43×104, and 1.06×104 t, respectively, in 2050. In the building sector with high electrification rates, coal power was higher in extra electricity, increasing CO2 and pollutant emissions. Under the optimization of power supply structure, cities can reasonably adjust the electrification of different departments to achieve targeted pollution prevention and control.

An Efficient IAKF Approach for Indoor Positioning Drift Correction.

In this study, an indoor positioning shift correction architecture was developed with an improved adaptive Kalman filter (IAKF) algorithm for the people interference condition. Indoor positioning systems (IPSs) use ultra-wideband (UWB) communication technology. Triangulation positioning algorithms are generally employed for determining the position of a target. However, environmental communication factors and different network topologies produce localization drift errors in IPSs. Therefore, the drift error of real-time positioning points under various environmental factors and the correction of the localization drift error are discussed. For localization drift error, four algorithms were simulated and analyzed: movement average (MA), least square (LS), Kalman filter (KF), and IAKF. Finally, the IAKF algorithm was implemented and verified on the UWB indoor positioning system. The measurement results showed that the drift errors improved by 60% and 74.15% in environments with and without surrounding crowds, respectively. Thus, the coordinates of real-time positioning points are closer to those of actual targets.

[Nonlinear Response Relationship Between Ozone and Precursor Emissions in the Pearl River Delta Region Under Different Transmission Channels].

With the rapid development of urbanization, ozone (O3) pollution is an ongoing occurrence in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region in China. The effective control of O3 pollution is a great challenge owing to the nonlinear relationship between O3 and precursor emissions and the effect of meteorological conditions. Based on the regional air quality model CAMx-OSAT (ozone source apportionment technology), O3 formation regimes were determined, and inter-city transportation across PRD was quantified under different transmission channels. The results showed that spatial differences were observed for the O3 formation regimes under different transmission channels. The VOCs-sensitive regime was mainly located in the central areas of the PRD region, and the NOx-sensitive regime was distributed in the suburban areas of the PRD regions under calm wind conditions. When the northeast wind was prevailing, the polluted air mass of the urban agglomeration was transmitted southwesterly downward, resulting in the downwind areas being transformed to VOCs-sensitive; the upwind areas were still NOx-sensitive. Under the southeast wind, the VOCs-sensitive regime had a banding distribution along the southeast-northwest direction, and the remaining areas were NOx-sensitive. With the influence of transmission channels, downwind cities were significantly affected by the transmission of upwind urban agglomerations (41%-87%), whereas the local formation was the main contributor under the calm wind conditions (60%-87%). To explore the relationship between O3 and precursor emissions, a series of sensitivity tests were designed. The results showed that maximized areas (20%-36%) with reductions in O3 can be achieved by reducing VOCs and NOx in the corresponding sensitive regimes, and the maximized level with the reduction in O3 can be fulfilled by reducing VOCs in the VOCs-sensitive regime. For the typical city Jiangmen, the area that met the standard increased the most under the calm wind (11%) and southeast wind (8%) conditions when VOCs and NOx were reduced in the corresponding sensitive regimes. Additionally, under northeast wind conditions, reducing VOCs in the VOCs-sensitive regime can more effectively control O3, as the area up to the standard increased by 140%.

Hydroxychloroquine Increased Anxiety-Like Behaviors and Disrupted the Expression of Some Related Genes in the Mouse Brain.

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), which has been proposed as a therapeutic or prophylactic drug for COVID-19, has been administered to thousands of individuals with varying efficacy; however, our understanding of its adverse effects is insufficient. It was reported that HCQ induced psychiatric symptoms in a few patients with autoimmune diseases, but it is still uncertain whether HCQ poses a risk to mental health. Therefore, in this study, we treated healthy mice with two different doses of HCQ that are comparable to clinically administered doses for 7 days. Psychiatric-like behaviors and the expression of related molecules in the brain were evaluated at two time points, i.e., 24 h and 10 days after drug administration. We found that HCQ increased anxiety behavior at both 24 h and 10 days. Furthermore, HCQ decreased the mRNA expression of interleukin-1beta, corticotropin-releasing hormone (Crh), a serotonin transporter (Slc6a4), and a microglia maker (Aif1) in the hippocampus and decreased the mRNA expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) in both the hippocampus and amygdala. Lots of these behavioral and molecular changes were sustained beyond 10 days after drug administration, and some of them were dose-dependent. Although this animal study does not prove that HCQ has a similar effect in humans, it indicates that HCQ poses a significant risk to mental health and suggests that further clinical investigation is essential. According to our data, we recommend that HCQ be carefully used as a prophylactic drug in people who are susceptible to mental disorders.

[Characteristics and Meteorological Factors of Complex Nonattainment Pollution of Atmospheric Photochemical Oxidant (Ox) and PM2.5 in the Pearl River Delta Region, China].

Based on the atmospheric pollutant data from twelve monitoring sites in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Pearl River Delta Regional Air Quality Monitoring Network, the mass concentration trends of atmospheric photochemical oxidants (Ox, NO2+O3) and PM2.5 during 2013-2017 were studied. The complex nonattainment pollution of Ox and PM2.5 is defined as the daily average mass concentration of NO2 and PM2.5 and daily maximum 8 h average (O3 MDA8) mass concentration of O3 simultaneously that exceeds the Chinese grade Ⅱ national air quality standard. The characteristics and meteorological factors that influence the complex nonattainment pollution of Ox and PM2.5 at different types of areas were analyzed. The results indicate that from 2013 to 2017, the annual average mass concentration of PM2.5 in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region decreased from (44±7) µg·m-3 to (32±4) µg·m-3, which met the annual standard for three consecutive years. The annual average mass concentration of Ox decreased from (127±14) µg·m-3 in 2013 to (114±12) µg·m-3 in 2016 and then showed a general rebound trend to (129±13) µg·m-3 in 2017 when O3 concentrations increased significantly (10 µg·m-3). The proportion of pollution processes with O3 as the primary pollutant increased from 33% in 2013 to 78% in 2017, and the regional characteristics of simultaneous pollution in multiple cities have been highlighted. The complex nonattainment pollution of Ox and PM2.5 occurred 60 times during the study period, primarily in urban sites (78%) and suburban sites (22%). The largest number of days of complex nonattainment pollution occurred in autumn (52%) because of strong solar radiation that was conducive to ozone formation, and consequently, the high oxidization of the atmosphere promoted the secondary generation of PM2.5. The weather conditions that caused the complex nonattainment pollution in the PRD mainly include outflow-high-pressures (43%), subtropical-high-pressures(30%), and tropical-depressions (27%). In terms of specific meteorological conditions, when the temperature was in the range of 20-25℃ and relative humidity was in the range of 60%-75%, the proportion of complex nonattainment pollution was the highest (22%). When O3 pollution was substantial, the high relative humidity and low wind speed during the nighttime caused the concentration of NO2 and PM2.5 to rise significantly, and then the high temperatures during the day aggravated the complex nonattainment pollution.

All-Solid-State Rechargeable Lithium Metal Battery with a Prussian Blue Cathode Prepared by a Nonvacuum Coating Technology.

A Prussian blue LiFeFe(CN)6 thin-film cathode is fabricated by a nonvacuum coating technology without post-annealing process. The thin film of the solid electrolyte lithium phosphorus oxynitride (LiPON) is deposited onto the cathode by using radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. Then, the lithium metal anode is deposited on the LiPON film by the thermal evaporation method to fabricate the all-solid-state LiFeFe(CN)6/LiPON/Li battery with a thickness of 16 µm and a size of ∼10 cm2. Electrochemical properties of LiFeFe(CN)6/LiPON/Li battery are first investigated at various temperatures from -30 to 80 °C. Our results demonstrated that the all-solid-state LiFeFe(CN)6/LiPON/Li battery exhibits a discharge capacity of 82.5 mA h/g for the third cycle at 60 °C and shows stable cyclic performance within 200 cycles. These results provide the feasibility to assemble an all-solid-state lithium-ion battery by combining nonvacuum and vacuum techniques through an environmentally friendly process at low temperature.

Assistive Control System for Upper Limb Rehabilitation Robot.

This paper presents an assistive control system with a special kinematic structure of an upper limb rehabilitation robot embedded with force/torque sensors. A dynamic human model integrated with sensing torque is used to simulate human interaction under three rehabilitation modes: active mode, assistive mode, and passive mode. The hereby proposed rehabilitation robot, called NTUH-ARM, provides 7 degree-of- freedom (DOF) motion and runs subject to an inherent mapping between the 7 DOFs of the robot arm and the 4 DOFs of the human arm. The Lyapunov theory is used to analyze the stability of the proposed controller design. Clinical trials have been conducted with six patients, one of which acts as a control. The results of these experiments are positive and STREAM assessment by physical therapists also reveals promising results.

Sodium salicylate suppresses GABAergic inhibitory activity in neurons of rodent dorsal raphe nucleus.

Sodium salicylate (NaSal), a tinnitus inducing agent, can activate serotonergic (5-HTergic) neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) and can increase serotonin (5-HT) level in the inferior colliculus and the auditory cortex in rodents. To explore the underlying neural mechanisms, we first examined effects of NaSal on neuronal intrinsic properties and the inhibitory synaptic transmissions in DRN slices of rats by using whole-cell patch-clamp technique. We found that NaSal hyperpolarized the resting membrane potential, decreased the input resistance, and suppressed spontaneous and current-evoked firing in GABAergic neurons, but not in 5-HTergic neurons. In addition, NaSal reduced GABAergic spontaneous and miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents in 5-HTergic neurons. We next examined whether the observed depression of GABAergic activity would cause an increase in the excitability of 5-HTergic neurons using optogenetic technique in DRN slices of the transgenic mouse with channelrhodopsin-2 expressed in GABAergic neurons. When the GABAergic inhibition was enhanced by optical stimulation to GABAergic neurons in mouse DRN, NaSal significantly depolarized the resting membrane potential, increased the input resistance and increased current-evoked firing of 5-HTergic neurons. However, NaSal would fail to increase the excitability of 5-HTergic neurons when the GABAergic synaptic transmission was blocked by picrotoxin, a GABA receptor antagonist. Our results indicate that NaSal suppresses the GABAergic activities to raise the excitability of local 5-HTergic neural circuits in the DRN, which may contribute to the elevated 5-HT level by NaSal in the brain.

[Risk factors associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a comparison between urban and rural populations in Chengdu].

OBJECTIVE: To determine risk factors associated with the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in urban and rural populations in Chengdu. METHODS: A multistage random cluster sampling method was adopted to select participants from four communities in Chengdu. All residents aged 40-70 yr. were eligible to participate in this study, which involved a questionnaire survey, physical examination and portable spirometry. Those with airflow limitations were also given post-bronchodilator testing 15 min after inhalation of a dose of 200 microg salbutamol. We defined a forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) of less than 70% as COPD. Logistic regression models were performed to identify risk factors of COPD. RESULTS: Of a total of 1931 eligible participants, 1579 (81.77%) completed the questionnaire and spirometry. About 8.35% were identified with COPD: 7.69% in urban vs. 12.37% in rural (P<0.05). The prevalence of COPD increased with age (P<0.05) in the male and total populations. Rural COPD patients had a higher level of smoking rate and use of coal as fuel for cooking than their urban counterparts (P<0.05). But rural COPD patients had a lower level of BMI, waist circumference, literacy, and average household income per capita than their urban counterparts (P<0.05). The multivariate analysis showed that tobacco smoking index (pack-year), education, age and BMI were predictors of COPD for male patients; whereas, coal fuel usage, income and BMI were predictors of COPD for female patients. CONCLUSION: COPD prevalence is higher in rural areas than in urban Chengdu. Major risk factors of COPD include smoking, coal fuels and BMI.

Prognostic value of caveolin-1 in genitourinary cancer: a meta-analysis.

We aimed to obtain the most comprehensive picture to date of the prognostic value of caveolin-1 (Cav-1) in genitourinary carcinoma by meta-analyzing all eligible studies in PubMed and EMBASE. Data on patient clinical characteristics, cancer-specific survival (CSS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were extracted. The meta-analysis included 6 articles on prostate cancer, 5 on renal cancer, 1 on bladder cancer and 1 on transition cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract. Two studies examining the association of ELISA-measured Cav-1 levels in serum with RFS in 621 patients with prostate cancer gave a combined hazard ratio (HR) of 1.25 (95% CI 0.36 to 4.36). The other 4 studies on prostate cancer examined the association of immunohistochemically determined Cav-1 levels in cancerous tissue with RFS and gave a combined HR of 1.83 (95% CI 1.36 to 2.47). Three studies on renal cancer examining the association of Cav-1 levels with CSS gave a multivariate HR of 1.98 (95% CI 1.35 to 2.90). The single studies on bladder carcinoma and upper urinary tract carcinoma gave, respectively, a multivariate HR of 2.28 (95% CI 1.09 to 4.74) for the relationship of Cav-1 levels to DFS, and a multivariate HR of 5.08 (95% CI 1.799 to 14.342) for the relationship of Cav-1 levels to CSS. This meta-analysis of available evidence suggests that elevated Cav-1 levels in serum can predict poor survival in patients with genitourinary cancer, which may help identify high-risk patients earlier and guide clinical decision-making.

[Levels of serum lipids in rural populations with diabetes and pre-diabetes in Chengdu].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the serum lipid levels in rural residents with diabetes and pre-diabetes conditions in Chengdu. METHODS: Random cluster sampling method was employed to select participants of 35-70 year-old rural residents in Chengdu. The participants (n=971) were given standard 75 g oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) and divided into five groups: impaired fasting glucose (IFG) group, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) group, IFG and IGT (IFG+ IGT) group, diabetes mellitus (DM) group and normal glucose tolerance (NGT) group. Their serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) were measured. RESULTS: The age-adjusted standardized prevalence of DM and pre-diabetes in rural residents in Chengdu were 12.8% and 34.5%, respectively, without significant gender differences. IGT was the most common type of abnormal glucose metabolism in pre-diabetes. High serum TG and LDL-c and low serum HDL-c were found in 45.9%, 30.6% and 9.9% participants with DM, respectively. High serum LDL-c and TG and low serum HDL-c were found in 38.1%, 30.6% and 7.6% of participants with IGR. Participants with DM or/and IGR had higher levels of LDL-c and TG and lower levels of HDL-c than those in the NGT group. CONCLUSION: Pre-diabetes and diabetes are prevalent in rural residents in Chengdu, which are usually accompanied with various degrees of dyslipidemia.

Juvenile stress affects anxiety-like behavior and limbic monoamines in adult rats.

Epidemiological evidence suggests that childhood and adolescent maltreatment is a major risk factor for mood disorders in adulthood. However, the mechanisms underlying the manifestation of mental disorders during adulthood are not well understood. Using a recently developed rat model for assessing chronic variable stress (CVS) during early adolescence (juvenility), we investigated the long-term effects of juvenile CVS on emotional and cognitive function and on monoaminergic activities in the limbic areas. During juvenility (postnatal days 27-33), rats in the stress group were exposed to variable stressors every other day for a week. Four weeks later, anhedonia was tested in the sucrose test, anxiety-like behaviors were assessed in the elevated plus-maze (EPM) and open field (OF) tests, and cortically mediated cognitive function was evaluated during an attentional set-shifting task (AST). After the behavioral tests, the rats were decapitated to determine limbic monoamine and metabolite levels. Adult rats stressed during juvenility exhibited higher anxiety-like behaviors, as evidenced by reduced locomotion and rearing behavior in the OF and fewer entries into the open arms in the EPM. There were no differences between the stressed rats and the controls in depressive-like anhedonia during the sucrose preference test or in cognitive function during the AST test in adulthood. In addition, the previously stressed rats exhibited increased dopamine (DA) and decreased 5-HIAA in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and decreased noradrenaline in the amygdala compared with controls. Furthermore, DA levels in the mPFC were correlated with adult anxious behaviors in the OF. These results suggest that juvenile stress induces long-term changes in the expression of anxiety-like behaviors and limbic monoaminergic activity in adult rats.

Microarray analysis of transcriptome of medulla identifies potential biomarkers for Parkinson's disease.

To complement the molecular pathways contributing to Parkinson's disease (PD) and identify potential biomarkers, gene expression profiles of two regions of the medulla were compared between PD patients and control. GSE19587 containing two groups of gene expression profiles [6 dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMNV) samples from PD patients and 5 from controls, 6 inferior olivary nucleus (ION) samples from PD patients and 5 from controls] was downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus. As a result, a total of 1569 and 1647 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were, respectively, screened in DMNV and ION with limma package of R. The functional enrichment analysis by DAVID server (the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery) indicated that the above DEGs may be involved in the following processes, such as regulation of cell proliferation, positive regulation of macromolecule metabolic process, and regulation of apoptosis. Further analysis showed that there were 365 common DEGs presented in both regions (DMNV and ION), which may be further regulated by eight clusters of microRNAs retrieved with WebGestalt. The genes in the common DEGs-miRNAs regulatory network were enriched in regulation of apoptosis process via DAVID analysis. These findings could not only advance the understandings about the pathogenesis of PD, but also suggest potential biomarkers for this disease.

Corticotropin-releasing factor in the norepinephrine nucleus, locus coeruleus, facilitates behavioral flexibility.

Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), the stress-related neuropeptide, acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain norepinephrine nucleus, locus coeruleus (LC), to activate this system during stress. CRF shifts the mode of LC discharge from a phasic to a high tonic state that is thought to promote behavioral flexibility. To investigate this, the effects of CRF administered either intracerebroventricularly (30-300 ng, i.c.v.) or directly into the LC (intra-LC; 2-20 ng) were examined in a rat model of attentional set shifting. CRF differentially affected components of the task depending on dose and route of administration. Intracerebroventricular CRF impaired intradimensional set shifting, reversal learning, and extradimensional set shifting (EDS) at different doses. In contrast, intra-LC CRF did not impair any aspect of the task. The highest dose of CRF (20 ng) facilitated reversal learning and the lowest dose (2 ng) improved EDS. The dose-response relationship for CRF on EDS performance resembled an inverted U-shaped curve with the highest dose having no effect. Intra-LC CRF also elicited c-fos expression in prefrontal cortical neurons with an inverted U-shaped dose-response relationship. The number of c-fos profiles was positively correlated with EDS performance. Given that CRF excites LC neurons, the ability of intra-LC CRF to activate prefrontal cortical neurons and facilitate EDS is consistent with findings implicating LC-norepinephrine projections to medial prefrontal cortex in this process. Importantly, the results suggest that CRF release in the LC during stress facilitates shifting of attention between diverse stimuli in a dynamic environment so that the organism can adapt an optimal strategy for coping with the challenge.

[Effects of predator stress on the expression of cAMP responsive element binding protein in hippocampus: experiment with rats].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the neurobiological basis involved in the pathogenesis of the lasting emotionality and cognitive impairment following severe psychological stress. METHODS: Ninety-six male Wistar rats were divided randomly into 2 equal groups: group of predator stress (Group PS) put into a cage in the experimental box singly to be exposed to a cat in the box but outside the cage for 23-57 min until tremor, polypnea, and nares flaring appeared for 6 min so as to establish predator stress models, and control group, put into the cage without non-injurious exposure of cat. 1, 12, and 24 hours later 8 rats from each group were killed with the hippocampus taken out. Western blotting was used to detect the protein expressions of cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB), phosphorylated CREB (pCREB) and CREB binding protein (CBP). Twelve hours after the experiment 24 rats from each group were killed with their brains taken out to obtain serial coronary sections. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the positive immunoreactivities of CREB, pCREB, and CBP. RESULTS: Immunohistochemistry revealed that the absorbance (A) value of CREB-in the tissues of hippocampus and frontal cortex 12h after the cat exposure of Group PS were 0.55 +/- 0.13 and 0.88 +/- 0.20 respectively, both significantly lower than those of the control group (1.78 +/- 0.40 and 1.18 +/- 0.26 respectively, both P < 0.01), the A values of. pCREB in the hippocampus and frontal cortex of Group PS were 1.51 +/- 0.34 and 1.07 +/- 0.24 respectively, both significantly higher than those of the control group (0.47 +/- 0.11 and 0.48 +/- 0.11 respectively, both P < 0.01), and the A values of CBP in the hippocampus and frontal cortex of Group PS were 1.01 +/- 0.23 and 0.81 +/- 0.18 respectively, both significantly higher than those of the control group (0.52 +/- 0.12 and 0.29 +/- 0.07 respectively, both P < 0.01). Western blotting showed that the CREB protein expression levels 1 h and 24 h after the cat exposure of Group PS were 2.82 +/- 0.65 and 5.12 +/- 1.13 respectively, both significantly lower than those of the control group (11.86 +/- 2.47 and 10.56 +/- 2.38 respectively, both P < 0.01), the CBP protein expression levels 1 h and 24 h after the cat exposure of Group PS were 1.77 +/- 0.39 and 2.44 +/- 0.55 respectively, both significantly higher than those of the control group (1.06 +/- 0.24 and 0.86 +/- 0.20 respectively, both P < 0.01), and the pCREB protein expression levels 1 h and 12 h after the cat exposure of Group PS were 2.56 +/- 0.59 and 1.93 +/- 0.41 respectively, both significantly higher than those of the control group (1.04 +/- 0.22 and 0.96 +/- 0.21 respectively, both P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The dysfunction of CREB signaling in the central nervous system, especially in the hippocampal formation after predation stress may play an important role in the long-term neuropsychological sequelae following severe stress.