Explore the vast range of titles available.

Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum is one of the most severe diseases of Hevea brasiliensis . However, research on the diversity and geographical distribution of Colletotrichum remains limited in China. In this study, we investigated the phylogenetic diversity of Colletotrichum isolates associated with symptomatic tissues of H . brasiliensis from four provinces of China (Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan). Based on multi-locus phylogenetic analyses and phenotypic characteristics, five species were distinguished, including two known species ( C . fructicola , C . siamense ), one novel species of C . gloeosporioides species complex ( C . ledongense ), and two novel species of C . acutatum species complex ( C . bannanense and C . australisinense ). Of these, C . siamense and C . australisinense have been recognized as major causative agents of anthracnose of H . brasiliensis .

Brown carbon (BrC) draws increasing attention due to its effects on climate and other environmental factors. In China, household coal burned for heating and cooking purposes releases huge amounts of carbonaceous particles every year; however, BrC emissions have rarely been estimated in a persuasive manner due to the unavailable emission characteristics. Here, seven coals jointly covering geological maturity from low to high were burned in four typical stoves as both chunk and briquette styles. The optical integrating sphere (IS) method was applied to measure the emission factors (EFs) of BrC and black carbon (BC) via an iterative process using the different spectral dependence of light absorption for BrC and BC and using humic acid sodium salt (HASS) and carbon black (CarB) as reference materials. The following results have been found: (i) the average EFs of BrC for anthracite coal chunks and briquettes are 1.08 ± 0.80 and 1.52 ± 0.16 g kg−1, respectively, and those for bituminous coal chunks and briquettes are 8.59 ± 2.70 and 4.01 ± 2.19 g kg−1, respectively, reflecting a more significant decline in BrC EFs for bituminous coals than for anthracites due to briquetting. (ii) The BrC EF peaks at the middle of coal's geological maturity, displaying a bell-shaped curve between EF and volatile matter (Vdaf). (iii) The calculated BrC emissions from China's residential coal burning amounted to 592 Gg (1 Gg  =  109 g) in 2013, which is nearly half of China's total BC emissions. (iv) The absorption Ångström exponents (AAEs) of all coal briquettes are higher than those of coal chunks, indicating that the measure of coal briquetting increases the BrC ∕ BC emission ratio and thus offsets some of the climate cooling effect of briquetting. (v) In the scenario of current household coal burning in China, solar light absorption by BrC (350–850 nm in this study) accounts for more than a quarter (0.265) of the total absorption. This implies the significance of BrC to climate modeling.

Sauce-flavor Daqu is the solid-state fermentation starter for sauce-flavor Baijiu. Its microbial community influences flavor formation, yet links between community change, process conditions, and flavor development during high-temperature fermentation remain unclear. We investigated Daqu fermentation by integrating high-throughput sequencing, monitoring of physicochemical parameters, and analysis of volatile compounds. Fermentation temperature showed three phases: rapid rise, fluctuating plateau, and gradual decline. High temperatures were associated with increased thermophilic microbes such as Bacillus and Thermoascus and with higher levels of reducing sugars and amino acid nitrogen; amylase, protease, and other hydrolase activities were detected. Bacterial composition varied more than fungal composition; Firmicutes and Ascomycota were the dominant phyla, and Bacillus and Thermoascus were abundant genera. Canonical correspondence analysis associated reducing sugars, acidity, and moisture with early community shifts, and amino acid nitrogen with later shifts; reducing sugars and moisture showed the strongest associations. Filamentous fungi and Bacillus correlated with pyrazine-type compounds. These results link microbial composition, process parameters, and flavor profiles, and may inform the standardization and mechanization of Daqu production.

Short-term load forecasting is important for proxy electricity purchasing in the electricity spot trading market. In this paper, a model SFPFMformer for short-term power load forecasting is proposed to address the issue of balancing accuracy and timeliness. In SFPFMformer, the random forest algorithm is applied to select the most important attributes, which reduces redundant attributes and improves performance and efficiency; then, multiple timescale segmentation is used to extract load data features from multiple time dimensions to learn feature representations at different levels. In addition, fusion time location encoding is adopted in Transformer to ensure that the model can accurately capture time-position information. Finally, we utilize a depthwise separable convolution block to extract features from power load data, which efficiently captures the pattern of change in load. We conducted extensive experiment on real datasets, and the experimental results show that in 4 h prediction, the RMSE, MAE, and MAPE of our model are 1128.69, 803.91, and 2.63%, respectively. For 24 h forecast, the RMSE, MAE and MAPE of our model are 1190.51, 897.26, and 2.97%, respectively. Compared with existing methods, such as Informer, Autoformer, ETSformer, LSTM, and Seq2seq, our model has better precision and time performance for short-term power load forecasting for proxy spot trading.

Core loss is one of the significant factors affecting the high power density of permanent magnet machines; thus, it is necessary to consider core loss in machine design. This paper presents a novel method for calculating the core loss of permanent magnet synchronous machines under space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) excitation, taking magnetic saturation and cross coupling into account. In order to accurately obtain the direct and quadrature (d-q) axis, current in the given load condition, the permanent magnet motor model under SVPWM excitation has been modified, so as to consider the influence of magnetic saturation and cross coupling effects on the d-q axis flux-linkage. Based on the magnetic field distribution caused by permanent magnet and armature reactions, the stator core loss can be calculated with the core loss analytical model, corresponding to the rotational magnetic field. In this study, the method has been applied to analyze core loss in an interior permanent magnet synchronous machine, and has been validated by the experimental results. The influence of pole/slot number combinations on core loss in the same on-load condition is also investigated. This study provides a potential method to guide motor design optimization.

Dextranase, a hydrolase that specifically hydrolyzes α-1,6-glucosidic bonds, has been used in the pharmaceutical, food, and biotechnology industries. In this study, the strain of Catenovulum agarivorans MNH15 was screened from marine samples. When the temperature, initial pH, NaCl concentration, and inducer concentration were 30 °C, 8.0, 5 g/L, and 8 g/L, respectively, it yielded more dextranase. The molecular weight of the dextranase was approximately 110 kDa. The maximum enzyme activity was achieved at 40 °C and a pH of 8.0. The enzyme was stable at 30 °C and a pH of 5–9. The metal ion Sr2+ enhanced its activity, whereas NH4+, Co2+, Cu2+, and Li+ had the opposite effect. The dextranase effectively inhibited the formation of biofilm by Streptococcus mutans. Moreover, sodium fluoride, xylitol, and sodium benzoate, all used in dental care products, had no significant effect on dextranase activity. In addition, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) showed that dextran was mainly hydrolyzed to glucose, maltose, and maltoheptaose. The results indicated that dextranase has high application potential in dental products such as toothpaste and mouthwash.

Fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO) was the first m6A demethylase identified, which is responsible for eliminating m6A modifications in target RNAs. While it is well-established that numerous cytosolic and nuclear proteins undergo O-GlcNAcylation, the possibility of FTO being O-GlcNAcylated and its functional implications remain unclear. This study found that a negative correlation between FTO expression and O-GlcNAcylation in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The decreased O-GlcNAcylation on FTO can result in diminished m6A modification of SRY-related high mobility group box 4 (SOX4). This led to the promotion of cell apoptosis and inhibition of cell proliferation in MDS/AML. The O-GlcNAcylation of FTO stabilized SOX4 transcripts in an m6A-dependent manner, resulting in increased AKT and MAPK phosphorylation and decreased cell apoptosis. Inhibiting FTO O-GlcNAcylation significantly slowed AML progression in vitro, a finding supported by clinical data in MDS/AML patients. In conclusion, our study highlights the crucial role of FTO O-GlcNAcylation in RNA m6A methylation and the progression of MDS/AML, thereby providing a potential therapeutic avenue for these formidable diseases.

Background Peanut meal, a high-protein agricultural by-product, faces challenges as animal feed due to anti-nutritional factors, poor protein digestibility, aflatoxin contamination, and imbalanced amino acids. Microbial fermentation is one of the most effective methods to reduce anti-nutritional factors and enhance the nutritional value of peanut meal. Compared to single-strain fermentation, microbial-enzyme co-fermentation exhibits enhanced degradation efficiency, accelerates nutrient release, improves product safety by reducing mycotoxins and anti-nutritional factors, enhances sensory properties, and increases fermentation consistency and stability. However, research on microbial-enzyme co-fermentation of peanut meal remains limited, particularly regarding the co-fermentation of Weizmannia coagulans and Bacillus subtilis with enzyme preparations, which has yet to be systematically investigated. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate and optimize the use of Weizmannia coagulans for microbial-enzyme co-fermentation to enhance the nutritional quality and reduce anti-nutritional factors in peanut meal. Results Peanut meal fermentation with Weizmannia coagulans BC01, Bacillus subtilis BS27, and the synergistic enzyme system (acid protease and hemicellulose) was optimized through single factor experiments and response surface methodology. This process led to significant reductions in crude fiber (from 7.05 to 2.88%) and anti-nutritional factors, with trypsin inhibitors decreasing from 0.30 to 0.03% and phytic acid from 1.43 to 0.35%. Aflatoxin B1 was reduced from 43.87 µg/kg to 6.20 µg/kg. Nutritional quality improved markedly, with flavonoid content increasing from 1.2 to 3.01%, reducing sugars increasing from 0.7 to 7.02%, and total acids increasing from 1.65 to 5.92%. Protein composition and digestibility were markedly improved, with crude protein, acid-soluble protein, and small peptide contents increasing by 18.2%, 546%, and 447%, respectively. Additionally, the degree of protein hydrolysis and in vitro digestibility rose to 40.77% and 68.91%, respectively. Total amino acid content increased by 14.3%, contributing to a more balanced amino acid profile. Conclusion The study indicates that microbial-enzyme co-fermentation involving W. coagulans effectively reduces anti-nutritional factors in peanut meal while enhancing its nutritional value. These findings provide a sustainable approach to transforming peanut meal into high-value animal feed, offering a practical solution to address the protein feed supply gap. Further validation via animal trials is necessary to evaluate its efficacy as a replacement for conventional protein feed sources.

Clostridium butyricum is a strictly anaerobic probiotic widely used in food, medicine, and agriculture. However, its industrial application is limited by low fermentation yields and cultivation difficulties. In this study, a novel strain, C. butyricum CB-a, was isolated from free-range chicken feces and exhibited notable probiotic traits. It maintained 25.0% and 32.5% survival rates after 2-h exposure to simulated gastric and intestinal juices, respectively, and over 42.0% survival in 0.2%-0.5% bile salt solutions. Moreover, it showed clear antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. To enhance biomass production, one-factor and orthogonal optimization experiments were conducted. Glucose was selected as the optimal carbon source, and soy peptone, yeast extract, and peptone as key nitrogen sources. The optimized medium, combined with suitable pH (6.0), inoculum ratio (3%), and temperature (34 °C), enabled a viable cell count of 4.56 × 10⁹ CFU/mL after 24 h. Although this value is slightly below the conventional high-density threshold, it represents a substantial increase compared to previous C. butyricum reports. This study provides a practical and economical strategy for cultivating C. butyricum with industrial potential and lays the groundwork for its future probiotic application.