Numerical study of the upwelling and downwelling effects of artificial reefs along tidal cycles in the Pearl River Estuary.

Artificial reefs (ARs) are a preferred option for managers due to their distinctive hydrodynamic properties, which support a highly productive local ecosystem. However, the hydrodynamics characteristics of ARs in natural marine environments have not been conducted. Being the first to explore the spatiotemporal characteristic of flow fields around ARs along tidal cycles in marine environments, this study redefined the upwelling and downwelling of ARs, based on natural vertical velocities, and separated the upwelling into co-direction upwelling and re-direction upwelling, and the downwelling into co-direction downwelling and re-direction downwelling. This study simulated the flow field in the Wanshan ARs area of the Pearl River Estuary along the tidal cycles using the MIKE3-FM. Numerical simulations revealed that (1) co-direction upwelling and co-direction downwelling were the dominant components of the vertical flow field effects of ARs; (2) the areas sum of upwelling and downwelling were largest in the medium water column, with about 1.6 and 1.03 times as large as the bottom and surface water column, respectively, while the fluxes sum of the upwelling and downwelling were largest in bottom water column, with approximately 1.3 and 2.2 times larger than those in the middle and surface water columns; (3) the area and volume of the upwelling and downwelling gradually decreased along neap-spring tide, exhibited significantly negative correlations with current speeds; while the upwelling flux and downwelling flux gradually increased along neap-spring tide; exhibited a significantly positive correlation with current speed; (4) the effects of tide to upwelling and downwelling of AR are forced by the northward velocity of current speed, the net flux of upwelling and downwelling showed a significant positive correlation with the northward velocity of current speed (r = 0.94). These results could provide a reference for assessing the flow field effect of ARs and a guide for the configuration and management of ARs.

Microbial nitrogen removal in reef-building corals: A light-sensitive process.

Scleractinian corals are the main framework-building groups in tropical coral reefs. In the coral holobiont, nitrogen-cycling mediated by microbes is fundamental for sustaining the coral reef ecosystems. However, little direct evidence characterizing the activities of microbial nitrogen removal via complete denitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) in stony corals has been presented. In this study, multiple incubation experiments using 15N-tracer were conducted to identify and characterize N2 production by denitrification and anammox in the stony coral Pocillopora damicornis. The rates of denitrification and anammox were recorded up to 0.765 ± 0.162 and 0.078 ± 0.009 nmol N2 cm-2 h-1 respectively. Denitrification contributed the majority (∼90%) of N2 production by microbial nitrogen removal in stony corals. The microbial nitrogen removal activities showed diel rhythms, which might correspond to photosynthetic oxygen production. The N2 production rates of anammox and denitrification increased with incubation time. To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to confirm and characterize the activities of complete denitrification and anammox in stony corals via stable isotope techniques. This study extends the understanding on nitrogen-cycling in coral reefs and how it participates in corals' resilience to environmental stressors.

Forefronts and hotspots evolution of the nanomaterial application in anti-tumor immunotherapy: a scientometric analysis.

BACKGROUND: Tumor immunotherapy can not only eliminate the primary lesion, but also produce long-term immune memory, effectively inhibiting tumor metastasis and recurrence. However, immunotherapy also showed plenty of limitations in clinical practice. In recent years, the combination of nanomaterials and immunotherapy has brought new light for completely eliminating tumors with its fabulous anti-tumor effects and negligible side effects. METHODS: The Core Collection of Web of Science (WOSCC) was used to retrieve and obtain relevant literatures on antitumor nano-immunotherapy since the establishment of the WOSCC. Bibliometrix, VOSviewer, CiteSpace, GraphPad Prism, and Excel were adopted to perform statistical analysis and visualization. The annual output, active institutions, core journals, main authors, keywords, major countries, key documents, and impact factor of the included journals were evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 443 related studies were enrolled from 2004 to 2022, and the annual growth rate of articles reached an astonishing 16.85%. The leading countries in terms of number of publications were China and the United States. Journal of Controlled Release, Biomaterials, Acta Biomaterialia, Theranostics, Advanced Materials, and ACS Nano were core journals publishing high-quality literature on the latest advances in the field. Articles focused on dendritic cells and drug delivery accounted for a large percentage in this field. Key words such as regulatory T cells, tumor microenvironment, immune checkpoint blockade, drug delivery, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, tumor-associated macrophages were among the hottest themes with high maturity. Dendritic cells, vaccine, and T cells tend to become the popular and emerging research topics in the future. CONCLUSIONS: The combined treatment of nanomaterials and antitumor immunotherapy, namely antitumor nano-immunotherapy has been paid increasing attention. Antitumor nano-immunotherapy is undergoing a transition from simple to complex, from phenotype to mechanism.

Realization and Control of Robotic Injection Prototype With Instantaneous Remote Center of Motion Mechanism.

OBJECTIVE: Although there have been studies conducted on the instantaneous remote center of motion (RCM) mechanism, the general closed-loop control method has not been studied. Thus, this article fills that gap and employs the advantages of this mechanism to develop a novel injection system. METHODS: The injection prototype involves the instantaneous RCM mechanism, insertion unit and injection unit. The RCM system is investigated in the presence of time-varying axial stiffness of the screw drive and underactuated case. For safe interaction, compliance control is designed in the insertion system. The stability of all separate systems is investigated with the bounded parameter variation rate. The injection prototype and a robot end-effector were then combined to perform injection. RESULTS: Our RCM prototype can achieve a large workspace, and its control effectiveness was verified by multiple frameworks and comparison with previous studies. Compliance-controlled insertion can achieve accurate depth regulation and zero-impedance control for manually operating the needle. With the help of three-dimensional reconstruction and hand/eye calibration, the manipulator can guide the injection prototype to a proper pose for injection of a face model. CONCLUSION: The injection prototype was successfully designed. The effectiveness of the whole control system was verified by simulations and experiments. The particular robotic injection task can be performed by the prototype. SIGNIFICANCE: This article provides alternative schemes for developing an instantaneous RCM system, screw drive-based surgical tool, and robotic insertion with small needles.

Inoculation with plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria improves seagrass Thalassia hemprichii photosynthesis performance and shifts rhizosphere microbiome.

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) inoculation is a crucial strategy for maintaining the sustainability of agriculture and presents a promising solution for seagrass ecological restoration in the face of disturbances. However, the possible roles and functions of PGPRs in the seagrass rhizosphere remain unclear. Here, we isolated rhizosphere bacterial strains from both reef and coastal regions and screened two PGPR isolates regarding their in vivo functional traits. Subsequently, we conducted microcosm experiments to elucidate how PGPR inoculation affected seagrass photosynthesis and shape within each rhizosphere microbiome. Both screened PGPR strains, Raoultella terrigena NXT28 and Bacillus aryabhattai XT37, excelled at expressing a specific subset of plant-beneficial functions and increased the photosynthetic rates of the seagrass host. PGPR inoculation not only decreased the abundance of sulfur-cycling bacteria, it also improved the abundance of putative iron-cycling bacteria in the seagrass rhizosphere. Strain XT37 successfully colonized the seagrass rhizosphere and displayed a leading role in microbial network structure. As a nitrogen-fixing bacteria, NXT28 showed potential to change the microbial nitrogen cycle with denitrification in the rhizosphere and alter dissimilatory and assimilatory nitrate reduction in bulk sediment. These findings have implications for the development of eco-friendly strategies aimed at exploiting microbial communities to confer sulfide tolerance in coastal seagrass ecosystem.

Validation of quercetin in the treatment of colon cancer with diabetes via network pharmacology, molecular dynamics simulations, and in vitro experiments.

This study built a prognostic model for CRC-diabetes and analyzed whether quercetin could be used for CRC-diabetes treatment through a network of pharmacology, molecular dynamics simulation, bioinformatics, and in vitro experiments. First, multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression was used to construct the prognosis modelof CRC-diabetes. Then, the intersection of quercetin target genes with CRC-diabetes genes was used to find the potential target for quercetin in the treatment of CRC-diabetes. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations were used to screen the potential targets for quercetin in the treatment of CRC-diabetes. Finally, we verified the target and pathway of quercetin in the treatment of CRC-diabetes through in vitro experiments. Through molecular docking, seven proteins (HMOX1, ACE, MYC, MMP9, PLAU, MMP3, and MMP1) were selected as potential targets of quercetin. We conducted molecular dynamics simulations of quercetin and the above proteins, respectively, and found that the binding structure of quercetin with MMP9 and PLAU was relatively stable. Finally, according to the results of Western blot results, it was confirmed that quercetin could interact with MMP9. The experimental results show that quercetin may affect the JNK pathway, glycolysis, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) to treat CRC-diabetes. Based on the TCGA, TTD, DrugBank, and other databases, a prediction model that can effectively predict the prognosis of colon cancer patients with diabetes was constructed. According to experiment results, quercetin can regulate the expression of MMP9. By acting on the JNK pathway, glycolysis, and EMT, it can treat colon cancer patients with diabetes.

Effects of artificial reef and fishing moratorium on trophic structure of biological community in the Pearl River Estuary marine ranch based on stable isotopes.

Deployment of artificial reefs (ARs) has become popular technique to create new hard-bottom habitats, increase biodiversity and richness for fisheries. We compared the faunal community structure and food web structure associated with before and after fishing moratorium between ARs and non-ARs in Wanshan Island, Pearl River Estuary using stable isotope techniques. Community composition showed higher differences between ARs and non-ARs. The range of δ13C and δ15N of different functional groups can distinguish the pelagic and benthic trophic pathways of the food web in reef-or-not area before and after fishing moratorium. The isotopic niches of entire faunal, as well as individual functional groups, overlapped less between ARs and non-ARs in Wanshan Island, which makes the isotopic functional indices non-equivalent. The total convex hull area (TA) of ARs was larger than that of non-ARs, indicating that nutrient pathways of ARs were more diverse. Overall, however, these results suggest that trophic structure was convergence between ARs and non-ARs, and differences before and after fishing moratorium, possibly due to seasonal differences. Finally, it was shown that the construction of ARs had a weak effect on the restoration of fishery resources in this area, which might be related to lack of further management, or even similar community composition to non-ARs areas.

Seagrass Thalassia hemprichii and associated bacteria co-response to the synergistic stress of ocean warming and ocean acidification.

Seagrass meadows play vital ecological roles in the marine ecosystem. Global climate change poses considerable threats to seagrass survival. However, it is unclear how seagrass and its associated bacteria will respond under future complex climate change scenarios. This study explored the effects of ocean warming (+2 °C) and ocean acidification (-0.4 units) on seagrass physiological indexes and bacterial communities (sediment and rhizosphere bacteria) of the seagrass Thalassia hemprichii during an experimental exposure of 30 days. Results demonstrated that the synergistic effect of ocean warming and ocean acidification differed from that of one single factor on seagrass and the associated bacterial community. The seagrass showed a weak resistance to ocean warming and ocean acidification, which manifested through the increase in the activity of typical oxidoreductase enzymes. Moreover, the synergistic effect of ocean warming and ocean acidification caused a significant decrease in seagrass's chlorophyll content. Although the bacterial community diversity exhibited higher resistance to ocean warming and ocean acidification, further bacterial functional analysis revealed the synergistic effect of ocean warming and ocean acidification led to significant increases in SOX-related genes abundance which potentially supported the seagrass in resisting climate stress by producing sulfates and oxidizing hydrogen sulfide. More stable bacterial communities were detected in the seagrass rhizosphere under combined ocean warming and ocean acidification. While for one single environmental stress, simpler networks were detected in the rhizosphere. In addition, the observed significant correlations between several modules of the bacterial community and the physiological indexes of the seagrass indicate the possible intimate interaction between seagrass and bacteria under ocean warming and ocean acidification. This study extends our understanding regarding the role of seagrass associated bacterial communities and sheds light on both the prediction and preservation of the seagrass meadow ecosystems in response to global climate change.

Evaluation of the Different Nutritional and Environmental Parameters on Microbial Pyrene Degradation by Mangrove Culturable Bacteria.

Mangrove ecosystems play curial roles in providing many ecological services and alleviating global climate change. However, they are in decline globally, mainly threatened by human activities and global warming, and organic pollutants, especially PAHs, are among the crucial reasons. Microbial remediation is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way of alleviating PAH contamination. Therefore, understanding the effects of environmental and nutritional parameters on the biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is significant for the bioremediation of PAH contamination. In the present study, five bacterial strains, designated as Bp1 (Genus Rhodococcus), Sp8 (Genus Nitratireductor), Sp13 (Genus Marinobacter), Sp23 (Genus Pseudonocardia), and Sp24 (Genus Mycolicibacterium), have been isolated from mangrove sediment and their ring hydroxylating dioxygenase (RHD) genes have been successfully amplified. Afterward, their degradation abilities were comprehensively evaluated under normal cultural (monoculture and co-culture) and different nutritional (tryptone, yeast extract, peptone, glucose, sucrose, and NPK fertilizer) and environmental (cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)) parameters, as well with different co-contaminants (phenanthrene and naphthalene) and heavy metals (Cd2+, Cu2+, Fe3+, Ni2+, Mg2+, Mn2+, and Co2+). The results showed that strain Sp24 had the highest pyrene degradation rate (85%) in the monoculture experiment after being cultured for 15 days. Adding nitrogen- and carbon-rich sources, including tryptone, peptone, and yeast extract, generally endorsed pyrene degradation. In contrast, the effects of carbon sources (glucose and sucrose) on pyrene degradation were distinct for different bacterial strains. Furthermore, the addition of NPK fertilizer, SDS, Tween-80, phenanthrene, and naphthalene enhanced the bacterial abilities of pyrene removal significantly (p < 0.05). Heavy metals significantly reduced all bacterial isolates' degradation potentials (p < 0.05). The bacterial consortia containing high bio-surfactant-producing strains showed substantially higher pyrene degradation. Moreover, the consortia of three and five bacterial strains showed more degradation efficiency than those of two bacterial strains. These results provide helpful microbial resources for mangrove ecological remediation and insight into optimized culture strategies for the microbial degradation of PAHs.

Immunoglobulin a vasculitis with testicular/epididymal involvement in children: A retrospective study of a ten-year period.

The clinical characteristics and risk factors for testicular/epididymal involvement in 73 children with immunoglobulin A vasculitis (IgAV) who were admitted to our hospital between January 2012 and November 2022 were reviewed. The demographic data, laboratory parameters, and follow-up data of the patients were compared to those of 146 males without testicular/epididymal involvement. A logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the variables associated with testicular/epididymal involvement. The prevalence of testicular/epididymal involvement among male patients with IgAV was 1.3% (73/5,556). Increased blood flow in the testes and/or epididymis on ultrasound was found in 71 patients. The remaining two patients underwent surgical exploration for loss or reduction of testicular blood flow. One patient underwent orchiectomy for intraoperative confirmation of complete right testicular infarction. Pathological findings revealed IgA immune complex deposition in the testis. Patient age (odds ratio [OR] = 0.792; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.682-0.919, p = 0.002), platelet count (OR = 1.011; 95% CI: 1.002-1.020, p = 0.013), and immunoglobulin M (IgM) levels (OR = 0.236; 95% CI: 0.091-0.608, p = 0.003) were strongly associated with the occurrence of testicular/epididymal involvement in IgAV. Therefore, young age, increased platelet count, and low IgM levels in patients with IgAV are potential risk factors for testicular/epididymal involvement. Doppler ultrasound can help differentiate IgAV from acute scrotum. Most patients with testicular/epididymal involvement have good prognoses, although serious complications such as testicular infarction may occur.

The effect of acute toxicity from tributyltin on Liza haematocheila liver: Energy metabolic disturbance, oxidative stress, and apoptosis.

Tributyltin (TBT), a highly toxic and persistent organic pollutant, is widely distributed in coastal waters. Liza haematocheila (L. haematocheila) is one of bony fish distributing coincident with TBT, and exposure risk of TBT to this fish is unknown. In this study, L. haematocheila was exposed to TBT of 0, 3.4, 6.8, and 17.2 µg/L for 48 h to explore hepatic response mechanism. Our results showed that Sn content in livers increased after 48 h of exposure. HSI and histological changes indicated that TBT suppressed liver development of L. haematocheila. TBT reduced ATPase activities. The increased RB in blood and the reduced TBC were measured after exposure to TBT. T-AOC and antioxidant enzymes SOD, CAT, and GPx activities were inhibited while MDA content was increased. Liver cells showed apoptosis characteristics after TBT exposure. Furthermore, transcriptome analysis of livers was performed and the results showed energy metabolism-related GO term (such as ATPase complex and ATPase dependent transmembrance transport complex), oxidative stress-related GO term (such as Celllular response to oxidative stress and Antioxidant activity), and apoptosis-related GO term (such as Regulation of cysteine-type endopeptidase activity involved in apoptosic signaling pathway). Moreover, we found six energy metabolism-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) including three up-regulated DEGs (atnb233, cftr, and prkag2) and three down-regulated DEGs (acss1, abcd2, and smarcb1); five oxidative stress-related DEGs including one up-regulated DEG (mmp9) and four down-regulated DEG (prdx5, hsp90, hsp98, and gstf9); as well as six apoptosis-related DEGs including five up-regulated DEGs (casp8, cyc, apaf1, hccs, and dapk3) and one down-regulated DEG (bcl2l1). Our transcriptome data above further confirmed that acute stress of TBT led energy metabolic disturbance, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in L. haematocheila livers.

The risk factors and predictive modeling of mortality in patients with mental disorders combined with severe pneumonia.

Background: We explored clinical characteristics and risk factors for mortality in patients with mental disorders combined with severe pneumonia and developed predictive models. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 161 patients with mental disorders combined with severe pneumonia in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a psychiatric hospital from May 2020 to February 2023, and divided them into two groups according to whether they died or not, and analyzed their basic characteristics, laboratory results and treatments, etc. We analyzed the risk factors of patients' deaths using logistics regression, established a prediction model, and drew a dynamic nomogram based on the results of the regression analysis. Based on the results of regression analysis, a prediction model was established and a dynamic nomogram was drawn. Results: The non-survivor group and the survivor group of patients with mental disorders combined with severe pneumonia were statistically different in terms of age, type of primary mental illness, whether or not they were intubated, whether or not they had been bedridden for a long period in the past, and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scale, procalcitonin (PCT), albumin (ALB), hemoglobin (Hb), etc. Logistics regression analysis revealed the following: MoCA scale (OR = 0.932, 95% CI:0.872-0.997), age (OR = 1.077, 95%CI:1.029-1.128), PCT (OR = 1.078, 95% CI:10.006-10.155), ALB (OR = 0.971, 95%CI:0.893-1.056), Hb (OR = 0.971, 95% CI: 0.942-0.986) were statistically significant. The ROC curve showed that the model predicted patient death with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.827 with a sensitivity of 73.4% and a specificity of 80.4%. Conclusion: Low MoCA score, age, PCT, and low Hb are independent risk factors for death in patients with mental disorders with severe pneumonia, and the prediction model constructed using these factors showed good predictive efficacy.

A novel signature based on CeRNA and immune status predicts prognostic risk and drug sensitivity in gastric cancer patients.

Background: At present, there is increasing evidence that both competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) and immune status in the tumor microenvironment (TME) can affect the progression of gastric cancer (GC), and are closely related to the prognosis of patients. However, few studies have linked the two to jointly determine the prognosis of patients with GC. This study aimed to develop a combined prognostic model based on ceRNAs and immune biomarkers. Methods: First, the gene expression profiles and clinical information were downloaded from TCGA and GEO databases. Then two ceRNA networks were constructed on the basis of circRNA. Afterwards, the key genes were screened by univariate Cox regression analysis and Lasso regression analysis, and the ceRNA-related prognostic model was constructed by multivariate Cox regression analysis. Next, CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE algorithms were utilized to obtain the immune cell infiltration abundance and stromal/immune score in TME. Furthermore, the correlation between ceRNAs and immunity was found out through co-expression analysis, and another immune-related prognosis model was established. Finally, combining these two models, a comprehensive prognostic model was built and visualized with a nomogram. Results: The (circRNA, lncRNA)-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network of GC was constructed. The predictive power of ceRNA-related and immune-related prognosis models was moderate. Co-expression analysis showed that the ceRNA network was correlated with immunity. The integrated model of combined ceRNAs and immunity in the TCGA training set, the AUC values of 1, 3, and 5-year survival rates were 0.78, 0.76, and 0.78, respectively; in the independent external validation set GSE62254, they were 0.81, 0.79, and 0.78 respectively; in GSE15459, they were 0.84, 0.88 and 0.89 respectively. Besides, the prognostic score of the comprehensive model can predict chemotherapeutic drug resistance. Moreover, we found that plasma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) and infiltrating immune cells (mast cells) are worthy of further investigation as independent prognostic factors. Conclusions: Two ceRNA regulatory networks were constructed based on circRNA. At the same time, a comprehensive prognosis model was established, which has a high clinical significance for prognosis prediction and chemotherapy drug selection of GC patients.

Impacts of conventional and biodegradable microplastics on juvenile Lates calcarifer: Bioaccumulation, antioxidant response, microbiome, and proteome alteration.

Discarded plastic bag is a main component of marine debris, posing potential threats to marine biota. This study was conducted to assess the potential effects of microplastics on juvenile Lates calcarifer. Fish were exposed via diet to two microplastic types from conventional polyethylene (PE) and biodegradable (Bio) plastic bags for 21 days. Antioxidative enzymes activity, intestinal microbiome and proteome were determined. PE and Bio microplastics were found to accumulate in gastrointestinal tracts, and no mortality was observed. Microplastics exposure did not induce significant antioxidant response except for the glutathione reductase (GR) modulation. Intestinal microbiome diversity decreased significantly in PE group based on Simpson index. Both types of microplastics induced proteome modulation by down-regulating proteins associated with immune homeostasis. Bio microplastics maintained higher intestinal microbial diversity and induced more proteins alteration than PE microplastics. This study provides toxicological insights into the impacts of conventional and biodegradable microplastics on juvenile L. calcarifer.

Temporal and spatial comparison of food web structure in marine pastures in the Pearl River Estuary: Implications for sustainable fisheries management.

The biological and ecological integrity of marine ecosystems in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) has been compromised due to overfishing and water pollution. Fishing moratorium and artificial reef construction have been implemented in Wanshan and Miaowan for resource protection and restoration. Therefore, food web structure and trophic pathways of Wanshan, Miaowan, and Wailingding in different temporal and spatial situation will be determined using the Ecopath model, as well as the keystone species affecting these ecosystems, which can provide a basis for fishery management. The results showed that the energy transfer efficiency of IV and V trophic levels (TL) was higher than that of II and III-TL before and after fishing moratorium, and the energy transfer efficiency of artificial reefs II and III-TL was only slightly higher than that of nonartificial reefs in Wanshan. In addition, the mean values of ecosystem property indicators (consumption, respiration flow, total system throughput, and total biomass) after the fishing moratorium were significantly higher than those before the fishing moratorium. The average value of the ecosystem attribute indicators (consumption, respiration flow, total system throughput, and total biomass) of artificial reefs is lower than those of nonartificial reef areas, which may be related to the differences in community composition between artificial reefs and non-artificial reefs. Finally, Nemipterus japonicus and Gastrophysus spadiceus are keystone species that distinguish the Wanshan and Miaowan artificial reefs from other areas. Overall, the fishing moratorium has a positive effect on the short-term restoration of fishery resources, mainly restoring short-life cycle organisms. However, the construction of artificial reefs will be more conducive to the persistence of ecosystem restoration. In addition, reasonable proliferation, release and fishing of N. japonicus and G. spadiceus will be beneficial to the sustainable utilization of fishery resources.

3D surface reconstruction of transparent objects using laser scanning with a four-layers refinement process.

Acquiring the 3D geometry of objects has been an active research topic, wherein the reconstruction of transparent objects poses a great challenge. In this paper, we present a fully automatic approach for reconstructing the exterior surface of a complex transparent scene. Through scanning a line laser by a galvo-mirror, images of the scene are captured from two viewing directions. Due to the light transmission inside the transparent object, the captured feature points and the calibrated laser plane can produce large number of 3D point candidates with large incorrect points through direct triangulation. Various situations of laser transmission inside the transparent object are analyzed and the reconstructed 3D laser point candidates are classified into two types: first-reflection points and non-first-reflection points. The first-reflection points means the first reflected laser points on the front surface of measured objects. Then, a novel four-layers refinement process is proposed to extract the first-reflection points step by step from the 3D point candidates through optical geometric constraints, including (1) Layer-1 : fake points removed by single camera, (2) Layer-2 : ambiguity points removed by the dual-camera joint constraint, (3) Layer-3 : retrieve the missing first-reflection exterior surface points by fusion and (4) Layer-4 : severe ambiguity points removed by contour-continuity. Besides, a novel calibration model about this imaging system is proposed for 3D point candidates reconstruction through triangulation. Compared with traditional laser scanning method, we pulled in the viewing angle information of the second camera and a novel four-layers refinement process is adopted for reconstruction of transparent objects. Various experiments on real objects demonstrate that proposed method can successfully extract the first-reflection points from the candidates and recover the complex shapes of transparent and semitransparent objects.

Development and Validation of a Pyroptosis-Related Signature for Predicting Prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has emerged as a primary health problem and threat to global mortality, especially in China. Since pyroptosis as a new field for HCC prognosis is not well studied, it is important to open a specific prognostic model. In this study, consensus clustering method for 42 pyroptosis-related genes to classify 374 HCC patients in the TCGA database. After cox regression analysis of the differentially expressed genes between the two clusters, LASSO-Cox analysis was then performed to construct a pyroptosis-related prognostic model with 11 genes including MMP1, KPNA2, LPCAT1, NEIL3, CDCA8, SLC2A1, PSRC1, CBX2, HAVCR1, G6PD, MEX3A. The ICGC dataset was served as the validation cohort. Patients in the high-risk group had significantly lower overall survival (OS) rates than those in the low-risk group (p < 0.05). COX regression analysis showed that our model could be used as an independent prognostic factor to predict prognosis of patients and was significantly correlated with clinicopathological characteristics. Nomogram showing the stability of the model predicting the 1, 3, 5 year survival probability of patients. In addition, based on the risk model, ssGSEA analysis revealed significant differences in the level of immune cell infiltration and activation of immune-related functional pathways between high and low-risk groups, and patients with the high-risk score may benefit more from treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Furthermore, patients in the high-risk group were more tend to develop chemoresistance. Overall, we identified a novel pyroptosis-related risk signature for prognosis prediction in HCC patients and revealed the overall immune response intensity of the tumor microenvironment. All these findings make the pyroptosis signature shed light upon a latent therapeutic strategy aimed at the treatment and prevention of cancers.

Biochar Addition Altered Bacterial Community and Improved Photosynthetic Rate of Seagrass: A Mesocosm Study of Seagrass Thalassia hemprichii.

Seagrass meadows, as typical "blue carbon" ecosystems, play critical ecological roles in the marine ecosystem and decline every year. The application of biochar in soil has been proposed as a potential soil amendment to improve soil quality and mitigate global climate change. The effects of biochar on soil bacterial activities are integrally linked to the potential of biochar in achieving these benefits. However, biochar has been rarely applied in marine ecosystems. Whether the application of biochar could work on the seagrass ecosystem remained unknown. In this study, we investigated the responses of sediment and rhizosphere bacterial communities of seagrass Thalassia hemprichii to the biochar addition derived from maize at ratios of 5% by dry weight in the soil during a one-month incubation. Results indicated that the biochar addition significantly changed the sedimental environment with increasing pH, total phosphorus, and total kalium while total nitrogen decreased. Biochar addition significantly altered both the rhizosphere and sediment bacterial community compositions. The significant changes in rhizosphere bacterial community composition occurred after 30days of incubation, while the significant variations in sediment bacterial community composition distinctly delayed than in sediment occurred on the 14th day. Biochar application improved nitrification and denitrification, which may accelerate nitrogen cycling. As a stabilizer to communities, biochar addition decreased the importance of deterministic selection in sediment and changed the bacterial co-occurrence pattern. The biochar addition may promote seagrass photosynthesis and growth by altering the bacterial community compositions and improving nutrient circulation in the seagrass ecosystem, contributing to the seagrass health improvement. This study provided a theoretical basis for applying biochar to the seagrass ecosystem and shed light on the feasible application of biochar in the marine ecosystem. Graphical Abstract.

Insight into Bacterial Community Responses to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and the Degradation Potentials of Three Bacterial Isolates in Seagrass Halophila ovalis Sediments.

Seagrass meadows constitute a prestigious ecosystem in the marine environment, providing valuable ecological and commercial services. Among the various causes, pollutions are considered one of the significant reasons for seagrass decline globally. This study investigates the impacts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons mixture (pyrene, phenanthrene, and fluorene) on bacterial communities in Halophila ovalis sediments. The seagrass sediment bacterial microbiome was evaluated in a batch culture experiment by Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Culture-able bacterial strains were isolated and characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The results demonstrated an excellent alpha diversity in the original sediments with a Shannon index of (8.078) compared to the subsequent control group (5.908) and PAH-treated group (PAH-T) (4.916). Three phyla, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes, were detected in high abundance in the control and PAH-T groups. However, a significant difference (P < 0.05) was observed at the genus level between control and PAH-T group bacterial consortia. Pseudomonas, Mycobacterium, Idiomarina, Hydrogenophaga, Alteromonas, Sphingobacterium, and several others were highly abundant in PAH-T groups. Most of the culture-able isolates recovered in this study showed the closest resemblance to previously identified hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria. Among the three strains, Mix-16 (Citricoccus yambaruensis) and Mix-20 (Gordonia rubripertincta) showed a higher degradation of PAHs than Mix-19 (Isoptericola halotolerans) in the monoculture experiment. The most increased degradation of PAHs was recorded in the co-culture experiment. The present work revealed that PAHs could act as environmental stress and can influence bacterial community succession. Moreover, the co-culture strategy significantly enhanced the biodegradation of PAHs.

Diversity and abundance of diazotrophic communities of seagrass Halophila ovalis based on genomic and transcript level in Daya Bay, South China Sea.

Seagrass ecosystems are among the most productive marine ecosystems, and diazotrophic communities play a crucial role in sustaining the productivity and stability of such ecosystems by introducing fixed nitrogen. However, information concerning both total and active diazotrophic groups existing in different compartments of seagrass is lacking. This study comprehensively investigated the diversity, structure, and abundance of diazotrophic communities in different parts of the seagrass Halophila ovalis at the DNA and RNA level from clone libraries and real-time quantitative PCR. Our results indicated that nearly one-third of existing nitrogen-fixing bacteria were active, and their abundance might be controlled by nitrogen to phosphorus ratio (N:P). Deltaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria were dominant groups among the total and active diazotrophic communities in all samples. These two groups accounted for 82.21% and 70.96% at the DNA and RNA levels, respectively. The genus Pseudomonas and sulfate-reducing bacteria (genera: Desulfosarcina, Desulfobulbus, Desulfocapsa, and Desulfopila) constituted the significant fraction of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the seagrass ecosystem, playing an additional role in denitrification and sulfate reduction, respectively. Moreover, the abundance of the nitrogenase gene, nifH, was highest in seawater and lowest in rhizosphere sediments from all samples. This study highlighted the role of diazotropic communities in the subtropical seagrass ecosystem.