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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with senile plaques (SP) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in the brain. With aging of the population, AD has become the most common form of dementia. However, the mechanisms leading to AD are still under investigation, and there are currently no specific drugs for its treatment. Therefore, further study on the pathogenesis of AD to develop new drugs for AD treatment remains a top priority. Several studies have suggested that intracellular calcium homeostasis is dysregulated in AD, and this has been implicated in the deposition of amyloid β (Aβ), hyperphosphorylation of tau protein, abnormal synaptic plasticity, and apoptosis, all of which are involved in the occurrence and development of AD. In addition, some based on pathways linking calcium homeostasis and AD have achieved results in AD treatment. This review comprehensively explores the relationship between calcium homeostasis and the pathogenesis of AD to provide a theoretical basis for the future exploration of AD and the development of novel therapeutic drugs.

Agriculture is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing carbon emissions in this sector is essential for mitigating global warming. To achieve China’s targets of carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, promoting low-carbon agricultural technology (LCAT) is fundamental. This study examines the impact of farmers’ risk perception on LCAT adoption behavior and its productivity effects with the Ordered Probit regression method, using micro survey data from 531 farmers in Shaanxi Province, China. The results show that farmers with stronger risk perceptions were more likely to adopt LCAT, based on their loss aversion characteristics. Additionally, farmers’ perceptions of yield, market, and climate risks positively influence the adoption of LCAT, with market risk perception having the strongest effect. Adopting LCAT has significant production and spillover effects, improving the output rate of farmers’ operating farmland and neighboring plots by 2.4% and 1.2%, respectively, for each additional measure adopted. This study contributes to the perception and loss aversion literature by examining farmers’ adoption of low-carbon agricultural practices. This study sheds light on the importance of risk perception in the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and can inform policies aimed at promoting the adoption of LCAT for achieving sustainable agriculture and mitigating climate change, highlighting the crucial role of sustainable environmental management in the agricultural sector.

Understanding the mechanisms, intensity, and spatio-temporal heterogeneity of the impacts of urbanization and eco-environmental quality on carbon storage is crucial for achieving carbon neutrality goals. This study constructed a multiscale spatio-temporal analysis framework using multi-source remote sensing data, the InVEST model, and the multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) model. Then, the effects of multiple factors on regional carbon storage were assessed in an empirical study involving 199 counties in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. The results showed that the carbon storage loss in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from 2010 to 2018 was 58.87 Tg C, with an annual relative loss rate of 0.16%. The MGWR model used in this study explained more than 98% of the spatial variation in regional carbon storage. In contrast, the impacts of various urbanization and eco-environmental indicators on regional carbon storage varied with the spatial and temporal variation. Overall, urban land structure and vegetation growth strongly influenced regional carbon storage resulting from urbanization and eco-environmental quality, respectively. In addition, based on an analysis of spatial context, MGWR suggests that the northwestern mountains in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region have a greater potential to store more carbon than the other regions. This study also details the impact of future sustainable land use on regional carbon storage. Our findings can provide a scientific reference for formulating relevant carbon storage conservation policies.

Illicium difengpi is a critically endangered plant endemic to the karst mountains of Guangxi, China. Because of its medicinal and ecological values, many efforts were made on assessing the medicinal usage, natural history, ex-situ conservation, and stress tolerance of I. difengpi . Due to its extensive genome, whole genome sequencing has not been completed, and there has been limited research on its population genetics. Using genotyping-by-sequencing, we analyzed the single nucleotide polymorphism of 43 samples from 13 different sites, encompassing all the natural habitats of the species. The results showed that I. difengpi has low genetic diversity, which is exemplified by low heterozygosity, polymorphism information content, nucleotide diversity, and small effective population size (80–90). Also, the fixation index indicated that most subpopulations were highly differentiated, presumably due to their geographic isolation. This is a warning that I. difengpi is in real and immediate danger of extinction. Moreover, evolutionary relationship, principal component analysis, and Admixture all suggest that there is an obvious correlation between the geographic and genetic characteristics of I. difengpi . According to our results we suggest conservation strategies to safeguard its sustainability in the future.

The thermal decomposition performance of ammonium perchlorate (AP) is a key factor in regulating the combustion of composite solid propellants, and its catalytic decomposition process is considered a typical multiphase catalytic process. The exposure of catalytic centers during multiphase catalysis is a key factor affecting catalytic performance. In response to the problem of low atomic utilization efficiency of traditional metal oxide catalysts, this study successfully prepared nitrogen-doped carbon-supported single-atom cobalt catalyst (SACo-PC-X) using the “zinc volatilization pore formation and nitrogen anchoring” method with inexpensive biomass as the precursor. Aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy, together with XPS and XRD analyses, suggests that Co species are predominantly stabilized in an atomically dispersed Co-Nx configuration. This catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic performance for the thermal decomposition of AP, significantly reducing its high-temperature decomposition temperature from 433.5 °C to 322.7 °C (The cobalt content in the system is less than 0.2%). Gas studies have shown that Co-Nx sites efficiently accelerate the oxidation process of NH3 by promoting electron transfer, resulting in a significant increase in the proportion of N2O gas. This work not only provides an efficient and stable new catalyst for AP decomposition, but also offers new ideas for designing energetic material decomposition catalysts at the atomic level.

This study aimed to prepare superhydrophobic coatings that could be used for practical applications. Nanocomposites of polyacrylate containing silica nanoparticles were prepared by dispersing silica sol in a polyacrylate solution. Superhydrophobicity was attainable for nanocomposite coatings with a filler percentage of only 15 wt%. Reducing the loading of silica nanoparticles not only minimized the costs but also simplified the preparation. The superhydrophobic coatings with water contact angle as high as 155.4° and contact angle hysteresis of 5.6° exhibited good self-cleaning property. The superhydrophobic nanocomposite coatings also displayed good mechanical properties and excellent thermal stabilities that favor indoor and outdoor applications. The superhydrophobic nanocomposite coatings can be used on various substrate surfaces, including glass plates, polymethyl methacrylate plates, polycarbonate plates, and aluminum sheets. Given their large-scale and low-cost fabrication, superhydrophobic coatings show great promise in practical applications in a broad range of fields.

Zanthoxylum nitidum (Roxb.) DC. ( Z. nitidum ) is a type of Chinese Dao-di herb, also called Liangmianzhen, which is widely used to treat arthralgia, rheumatic arthralgia, and stomach pain. However, genomic resources for Z. nitidum are still scarce. This study provides transcriptomic resources for Z. nitidum by applying single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology. In total, 456,109 circular consensus sequencing (CCS) reads were generated with a mean length of 2,216 bp from Z. nitidum roots, old stems, young branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Of these total reads, 353,932 were full-length nonchimeric (FLNC) reads with an average length of 1,996 bp. A total of 16,163 transcripts with a mean length of 1,171 bp were acquired. Of these transcripts, 14,231 (88%) were successfully annotated using public databases. Across all the 16,163 transcripts, we identified 6,255 long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and 22,780 simple sequence repeats (SSRs). Furthermore, 3,482 transcription factors were identified. Among the SSR loci, 1–3 nucleotide repeats were dominant, occupying 99.36% of the total SSR loci, with mono-, di-, and tri-nucleotide repeats accounting for 61.80%, 19.89%, and 5.02% of the total SSR loci, respectively. A total of 36 out of 100 randomly selected primer pairs were verified to be positive, 20 of which showed polymorphism. These findings enrich the genetic resources available for facilitating future studies and research on relevant topics such as population genetics in Z. nitidum .

In this study, the superhydrophobic composite coatings for self-cleaning were fabricated by mixing fluorine resin and two kinds of nanoparticles of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and SiO2. When the mass ratio of CNTs to SiO2 is 2:3 and the added amount of nanoparticles is 75 wt. %, the superhydrophobic composite coatings with a water contact angle of 156.8° show the best self-cleaning property and 3.6° of contact angle hysteresis. Furthermore, the superhydrophobic composite coatings demonstrate good properties such as chemical resistance, thermal stability, and mechanical stability. The superhydrophobic composite coatings could be used for oil/water separation and could be applied to various substrate surfaces such as glass plates, cloth, board, steel plate, PVC plate, and so on. The superhydrophobic composite coatings show practical value in many fields because of their low cost and large area preparation.

This study was carried out to evaluate the utilization probability of the fibrous root part (FRP) of Bletilla striata, which was usually discarded and harvesting pseudobulb part (PSP). The chemical composition, total phenolic content, DPPH radical scavenging activity, Ferric-reducing antioxidant power and tyrosinase inhibition activity were compared between FRP and PSP. Antioxidant and pro-oxidant effect as well as antitumor effect of the extract of FRP and PSP were analyzed by in vitro cell system as well. Thin layer chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography analysis indicated that the chemical compositions in the two parts were similar, but the content in FRP was much higher than PSP. Meanwhile, the FRP extracts showed higher phenolic content, stronger DPPH scavenging activity, Ferric-reducing antioxidant capacity and tyrosinase inhibition activity. Sub-fraction analysis revealed that the distribution characteristic of phenolic components and other active constituents in FRP and PSP were consistent, and mainly deposited in chloroform and acetoacetate fractions. Especially, the chloroform sub-fraction (sch) of FRP showed extraordinary DPPH scavenging activity and tyrosinase inhibition activity, with IC50 0.848 mg/L and 4.3 mg/L, respectively. Besides, tyrosinase inhibition activity was even stronger than the positive compound arbutin (31.8 mg/L). Moreover, In vitro cell system analysis confirmed that FRP extract exerts comparable activity with PSP, especially, the sub-fraction sch of FRP showed better antioxidant activity at low dosage and stronger per-oxidant activity at high dosage, and both sch of FRP and PSP can dose-dependent induce HepG2 cells apoptosis, which implied tumor therapeutic effect. Considering that an additional 0.3 kg FRP would be obtained when producing 1.0 kg PSP, our work demonstrated that FRP is very potential to be used together with PSP.

Background Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in infants in both developed and developing countries. To our knowledge, only a few studies have been reported the clinical features, treatment and outcomes of the GBS disease in China. The severity of neonatal GBS disease in China remains unclear. Population-based surveillance in China is therefore required. Methods We retrospectively collected data of <3 months old infants with culture-positive GBS in sterile samples from three large urban tertiary hospitals in South China from Jan 2011 to Dec 2014. The GBS isolates and their antibiotic susceptibility were routinely identified in clinical laboratories in participating hospitals. Serotyping and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) were also conducted for further analysis of the neonatal GBS disease. Results Total 70 cases of culture-confirmed invasive GBS infection were identified from 127,206 live births born in studying hospitals, giving an overall incidence of 0.55 per 1000 live births (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.44–0.69). They consisted of 49 with early-onset disease (EOD, 0.39 per 1000 live births (95% CI 0.29–0.51)) and 21 with late-onset disease (LOD, 0.17 per 1000 live births (95% CI 0.11–0.25)). The incidence of EOD increased significantly over the studying period. Five infants (4 EOD and 1 LOD) died before discharge giving a mortality rate of 7.1% and five infants (7.1%, 2 EOD and 3 LOD) had neurological sequelae. Within 68 GBS isolates from GBS cases who born in the studying hospitals or elsewhere, serotype III accounted for 77.9%, followed by Ib (14.7%), V (4.4%), and Ia (2.9%). MLST analysis revealed the presence of 13 different sequence types among the 68 GBS isolates and ST-17 was the most frequent sequence type (63.2%). All isolates were susceptible to penicillin, ceftriaxone, vancomycin and linezolid, while 57.4% and 51.5% were resistant to erythromycin and clindamycin, respectively. Conclusions This study gains the insight into the spectrum of GBS infection in south China which will facilitate the development of the guidance for reasonable antibiotics usage and will provide evidence for the implementation of potential GBS vaccines in the future.