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Background This study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI), Systemic Immunoinflammatory Index (SII), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer ( EOC). Also, to explore the predictive value of a new scoring system combining PNI and SII (coPNI-SII) in patients with EOC. Methods In this study, 154 patients with EOC were analyzed and classified according to the best cut-off values for SII, PNI, PLR, and NLR. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to analyze the correlation of variables. The Kaplan–Meier survival curve and log-rank test were used to investigate the relationship between inflammatory indicators and overall survival (OS), which was then followed by a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. All patients were categorized into three groups based on PNI-SII scores. The coPNI-SII score ranged from 1 to 3 as follows: score of 1, high PNI (≥ 48.98) and low SII(< 998.87); score of 2, high PNI and high SII or low PNI and low SII; score of 3, low PNI and high SII. To assess the prognostic value of coPNI-SII in patients with EOC. Results The areas under the ROC curves for SII, PNI, PLR, NLR, and coPNI-SII were 0.814, 0.814, 0.780, 0.769, and 0.860, respectively. The optimal cut-off values for SII, PNI, PLR, and NLR were 998.87, 48.98, 217.63, and 2.61, respectively. The Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that the OS of the patients in the high PNI group, low SII group, low NLR group, and low PLR group was significantly higher than that of the patients in the low PNI group, high SII group,high NLR group, and high PLR group ( p  < 0.01). SII ( P  = 0.034), PNI ( P  = 0.013), FIGO staging ( P  = 0.009), ascites ( P  = 0.003), CA199 ( P  = 0.003), HE4 ( P  = 0.028), residual lesions ( P  = 0.022), and margins of incision ( P  < 0.001) were found to be significant prognostic indicators of OS by multifactorial Cox regression analysis. There was a significant inverse relationship between the PNI and SII (r = -0.484; P  < 0.01). EOC patients with a coPNI-SII score of 1 had a higher 5-year OS rate ( P  < 0.05) than EOC patients with a coPNI-SII score of 2 or 3. When taking into account both the SII and PNI, the predictive value rose. Conclusion Interestingly, we found that low preoperative PNI and high SII were strong indicators of poor prognosis in patients with EOC. The combination of SII and PNI can enhance the accuracy of prognosis.

This study investigated the effect of a low protein (LP) diet on growth performance, nitrogen emission, carcass traits, meat quality, and gut microbiota in finishing pigs. Fifty-four barrows (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire) were randomly assigned to three treatments with six replicates (pens) of three pigs each. The pigs were fed with either high protein (HP, 16% CP), medium protein (MP, 12% CP), and LP diets (10% CP), respectively. The LP diets did not influence the growth performance, but significantly decreased the plasma urea nitrogen contents and fecal nitrogen emission ( P < 0.05). The LP diet significantly decreased the plasma contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and increased the plasma glutathione (GSH) contents ( P < 0.05). The LP diets significantly increased the backfat thickness at the first and last ribs, L * (lightness) value of meat color, and muscle fiber density in the longissimus dorsi ( P < 0.05). The messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of fatty acid synthetase ( FAS ), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma ( PPAR γ), leptin , and acetyl-CoA carboxylase ( ACC ) was significantly downregulated, while that of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 ( CPT 1) and myosin heavy chain ( MYHC ) IIx in the longissimus Dorsi muscle was significantly upregulated by LP diets ( P < 0.05). The 16S sequencing analysis showed that the abundance of unidentified Bacteria at the phylum level, and Halanaerobium and Butyricicoccus at at the genus level in the colonic digesta were significantly decreased by LP diet ( P < 0.05). The LP diet significantly decreased the observed species of α-diversity in both ileal and colonic microbiota ( P < 0.05). Spearman correlation analysis identified a significant positive correlation between the abundance of the ileal genera Streptococcus and L * value at 24 and 48 h, and a significant negative correlation between unidentified_ Ruminococcasceae in both ileum and colon with L * value at 24 h ( P < 0.05). Collectively, the LP diet supplemented with lysine, methionine, threonine, and tryptophan could reduce the fecal nitrogen emission without affecting growth performance and improve meat quality by regulating the antioxidant capacity and gene expression involved in fat metabolism as well as modulating the gut microbiota composition in finishing pigs.

The beneficial function of fermented feed in livestock industry has been widely investigated. However, little is known about the effects of fermented feed on different weaned-day piglets. This study aimed to investigate the effects of fermented diet on the growth performance, intestinal function, and microbiota of piglets weaned at the age of 21 and 28 days. The results found that weaning on day 21 significantly increased ( p < 0.05) average daily gain (ADG), and average daily feed intake (ADFI) (calculated based on wet weight and dry matter), while reduced ( p < 0.05) feed to gain ratio (F:G), the activities of trypsin and lipase of jejunum and the villus height of ileum, compared with 28-days weaning. The protein levels of Occludin, Claudin-1, and ZO-1 of ileum in the groups weaning on day 21 were less ( p < 0.05) than the groups weaning on day 28. Moreover, dietary supplementation with fermented diet upregulated ( p < 0.05) the Occludin, Claudin-1, and ZO-1 proteins of ileum, compared with the groups treated with control diet both weaning on day 21 and 28. In addition, dietary supplementation with fermented diet decreased ( p < 0.05) the relative abundance of Clostridia (class) and increased ( p < 0.05) the Bacteroidia (class) level of cecal microbiota, compared with the groups treated with control diet both weaning on day 21 and 28. However, supplementation with fermented diet did not affect the concentrations of short-chain fatty acids in the cecum ( p > 0.05). Therefore, our data suggest that the feed digestibility is improved in piglets weaned at 21 days, but intestinal barrier function is weaker than in piglets weaned at 28 days. However, compared with feeding control diet, supplementation with fermented diet both improved the feed conversion and intestinal barrier function of weaned piglets by modulating intestinal microbiota.

Semiconductor minerals are widely present on the surface of Earth, but their roles in the process of peptide formation from amino acids are less studied, especially the role of different crystal facets in the origin of life. In this research, High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), thermogravimetric analysis (TA/DTA), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and simulation calculations were used to study the condensation of glycine on the surface of anatase with (001) crystal facets and ordinary anatase as well as the reaction mechanism. Combined with TA/DTA and heating experiments (80–130 °C), it was found that anatase with (001) crystal facets and ordinary anatase could both catalyze the condensation of glycine to form corresponding oligopeptides (mainly DKP, Gly2 and Gly3). Anatase with (001) crystal facets shows better catalytic effect, which can reduce the condensation temperature of glycine to 90 °C. With the increase in temperature, the condensation efficiency of anatase with (001) crystal facets for Gly2 is relatively higher, and the maximum yield is about 0.20 mg/m2. The condensation efficiency of ordinary anatase for Gly3 is relatively higher, and the maximum yield is about 0.28 mg/m2. The results of FTIR and simulation calculation show that the electron density of the carboxyl group changes after glycine is adsorbed on the surface of anatase, which is easily subject to the nucleophilic attack of amino groups to promote the condensation reaction. These results can provide reference for the research of condensation of small biomolecules on semiconductor mineral surfaces in the origin of life.

There is an increasing demand for remote monitoring and management of agricultural machinery operation in conservation tillage. Considering the problems of large errors in detecting operation quality parameters, such as tillage depth and corn straw cover rate, in complex farmland environments, this paper proposes a tillage depth measurement method based on the dual attitude compound of a tractor body and three-point hitch mechanism with lower pull rod and an online measurement method based on K-means clustering of the corn straw cover rate on farmland surface. An operation monitoring terminal was developed for the remote collection of quality parameters of conservation tillage field operation. A remote monitoring system of agricultural machinery operation was constructed and applied over a large area. The field tests showed that the static mean error and root-mean-square error of this method were 0.16 and 0.67 cm for uphill and 0.36 and 0.57 cm for downhill, respectively. For the 28 and 33 cm tillage depth tests, the mean dynamic measurement errors of this method were 0.55 and 0.61 cm, and the root means square errors were 0.64 and 0.73 cm, respectively, and the coefficient of variation of tillage depth did not exceed 3%. The correlation coefficient between the corn straw cover rate detection algorithm based on K-means clustering and the manual image marking method reached 0.92, with an average error of 9.69%, and the accuracy filled the demand for straw cover rate detection. The detection accuracy of tillage depth and straw cover rate was high and thus provides an effective means of information technology support for the quality monitoring and production management of conservation tillage farming operations.

This study investigated the factors affecting bacterial diversity in purplish and calcareous soils under the same vegetation type. The results showed that obvious differences in pH, water content, total phosphorus (TP), free iron oxide (Fed) and amorphous iron oxide (Feox) existed between the two soils. The bacterial Shannon indexes of the two soils varied significantly, and Shannon index of purplish soil were higher than that of calcareous soils. The co-occurring network structures in two soil bacterial communities showed obvious variations, with higher edge counts, average degrees and clustering coefficients in calcareous soils than that in purple soils. The key species group identified in the two soils was Acidobacteria; belonging to the family Thermoanaerobaculaceae in purplish soil, and to the family Vicinamibacterales in calcareous soil. Also, the results of multivariate stepwise linear regression showed that Feox was a significant explanatory factor for changes in bacterial diversity (68.8%, P < 0.01) compared to other physical and chemical factors. Overall, our study indicated that soil parent material may be an important factor influencing soil bacterial communities.

Key ecological function areas play a crucial role in safeguarding and rehabilitating ecosystems and mitigating regional ecological degradation. Unraveling the interconnectedness between land use/cover (LULC) transformation and the ecosystem service value (ESV) in these regions is of profound importance for sustainable development. In this paper, the LULC response in the Tumen River Basin (TRB) to an assessment of ESV from 2000 to 2020 was explored. An advanced equivalent factor that incorporates both biomass and socioeconomic factors was used to evaluate the ESV of the TRB. Taking the potential impact of factors such as temperature (TEM), precipitation (PRE), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), digital elevation model (DEM), soil organic matter content (SOMC), and human activity intensity of land surface (HAILS) into account, the patch-generating land use simulation model (PLUS) was used to simulate and predict the spatial evolution of the ESV under different land resource management strategies in 2030. The results indicate an increasing trend in the total ESV in the study area from 2000 to 2020, with forested land accounting for nearly 94% of the total ESV for the TRB. HAILS, DEM, and NDVI were identified as the main factors affecting the spatial differentiation of ESV. A negative correlation (−0.65) was found between ESV and the landscape shape ndex (LSI), indicating that more irregularly shaped landscapes have a lower ESV. Positive correlations were observed between the Shannon’s Diversity Index (SHDI) (0.72) and the Aggregation Index (AI) (0.60), suggesting that more diverse and interconnected landscapes have a higher ESV. The PLUS simulation results provide valuable data-based support for achieving planning objectives under different land resource management strategies. Specifically, these findings can serve as a reference for the integrated planning of land resources and environmental protection, promoting the sustainable development of ecological functional areas along the northeast border of China.

In this commentary, I interpret Xinying Yin and Gayle Ann Buck’s collaborative action research from a social–cultural perspective. Classroom implementation of formative assessment is viewed as interaction between this assessment method and the local learning culture. I first identify Yin and Buck’s definition of the formative assessment, and then analyze the role of formative assessment in the change of local learning culture. Based on the practice of Yin and Buck I emphasize the significance of their “bottom up” strategy to the teachers’ epistemological change. I believe that this strategy may provide practicable solutions to current Chinese educational problems as well as a means for science educators to shift toward systematic professional development.

As a result of a deep burial depth (> 6.5 km), the depositional history of the Early to Middle Ordovician carbonate platform in the Shuntuoguole Low Uplift (Tarim Basin, NW China) has been difficult to unravel, leading to problems in understanding the controls of the facies distribution, particularly in terms of petroleum exploration. Integrated with geophysical surveys, detailed sedimentological observations document the platform evolution and show that a carbonate ramp system developed in the Shuntuoguole Low Uplift during the Early-Middle Ordovician, with twelve lithofacies types arranged into two facies associations, including peritidal to semi-restricted subtidal and open-marine subtidal facies. Based on the tempo-spatial distribution of lithofacies, seven third-order depositional sequences are identified, each composed of a transgressive lower package and a regressive upper part. Their sequence boundaries are commonly characterised by a transitional zone with no obvious subaerial exposure features. The correlation of relative sea-level (or accommodation space) changes derived from the vertical stacking pattern of facies with the global sea-level curve of Haq and Schutter (2008) and sea-level oscillations of coeval successions worldwide suggests that eustatic sea-level fluctuations were the overriding factor controlling the development and evolution of this carbonate ramp during the Early-Middle Ordovician. Meanwhile, regional or local tectonic subsidence and environmental factors (e.g. palaeoclimate and prevailing wind) also exerted an influence on the depositional processes of the Shuntuoguole Low Uplift over this time interval.

For the purpose of relieving the time cost and inconformity in annotation, the authors use an articulatory features based mispronunciation detection system to give an Top-N feedback and use this feedback to assist manual annotation. As a result, the consistency rate of phoneme labels in proposed system increases from 80.7% to 92.48%. In addition, the time cost for annotating each sentence reduce from 10 to 3 minutes. The results indicate that proposed automatic annotation system is practical, and there is also a room for further improvement.