OoD-Control: Generalizing Control in Unseen Environments.

Generalizing out-of-distribution (OoD) is critical but challenging in real applications such as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight control. Previous machine learning-based control has shown promise in dealing with complex real-world environments but suffers huge performance degradation facing OoD scenarios, posing risks to the stability and safety of UAVs. In this paper, we found that the introduced random noises during training surprisingly yield theoretically guaranteed performances via a proposed functional optimization framework. More encouragingly, this framework does not involve common Lyapunov assumptions used in this field, making it more widely applicable. With this framework, the upperbound for control error is induced. We also proved that the induced random noises can lead to lower OoD control errors. Based on our theoretical analysis, we further propose OoD-Control to generalize control in unseen environments. Numerical experiments demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm, surpassing previous state-of-the-art by 65% under challenging unseen environments. We further extend to outdoor real-world experiments and found that the control error is reduced by 50% approximately. Our code is available athttps://github.com/Ulricall/OoD-Control.

Effects of WeChat follow-up management on the psychological distress, care burden, and quality of life of parents of infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia: a retrospective cohort study.

Objective: The objective was to explore the impact of WeChat follow-up management on the psychological distress, care burden, and quality of life of parents of infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) receiving in-home care. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study. A total of 101 parents of infants with BPD who were followed up from January 2016 to January 2022 were included in this study. According to different follow-up methods, these patients were classified into the WeChat group and the routine group. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI), and WHOQOL-BREF were used. The data on the psychological distress, care burden, and quality of life of the parents in the two groups were analyzed and compared at discharge and at the 3-month follow-up. Results: There was no significant difference in the DASS-21 and ZBI scores at discharge between the parents in the two groups. During the 3-month follow-up, the scores of the DASS-21 anxiety and stress subscale and the ZBI of parents in the WeChat group were significantly lower than those of parents in the routine group (P < 0.05); however, there was no significant difference in the depression subscale score between the two groups (P > 0.05). A comparison of the WHOQOL-BREF score between the two groups showed that the total quality of life score in the WeChat group was significantly higher than that in the routine group (P < 0.05). The scores of the psychological and social relationship fields in the WeChat group were significantly higher than those in the routine group (P < 0.05). The incidence of adverse events during follow-up was significantly lower in the WeChat group than in the routine group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: WeChat follow-up management is helpful to decrease the anxiety and stress, reduce the care burden, and improve the quality of life of parents of infants with BPD receiving in-home care.

Production of high-density metastable argon atoms with periodic fast pulsed DC discharge.

Optically pumped metastable rare gas laser (OPRGL), as a potential high-energy laser has attracted much attention. During extensive research on OPRGL, the realization of volume discharge with high-metastable density has always been a priority and is essential to the efficient lasing of OPRGL. A large-volume plasma of He/Ar with high metastable density at atmospheric pressure can be generated by applying peaking capacitors near the electrodes. In this article, 0.8 cm3 of He/Ar plasma at a pressure of 900 mBar, with a peak value of metastable argon density higher than 1014 cm-3 was realized. The metastable density was measured by absorption spectroscopy based on the absorption bandwidths acquired at a pressure range of 400-900 mbar where a probe beam at a weak line with wavelength 772.38 nm was applied. Furthermore, the high metastable density was verified by the laterally-observed laser-induced fluorescence, as well as the laser oscillation of 100 mW under a longitudinal pumping with a short gain length of 8 mm.

Field traffic-induced soil compaction under moderate machine-field conditions affects soil properties and maize yield on sandy loam soil.

Soil compaction due to field trafficking involves a complex interplay of machine-soil properties. In contrast to previous studies simulating worst field scenarios, this two-year field experiment investigated the effects of traffic-induced compaction involving moderate machine operational specifications (axle load, 3.16 Mg; mean ground contact pressure, 77.5 kPa) and lower field moisture contents (< field capacity) at the time of trafficking on soil physical properties, spatial root distribution, and corresponding maize growth and grain yield in sandy loam soil. Two compaction levels, i.e. two (C2) and six (C6) vehicle passes, were compared with a control (C0). Two maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars, i.e. ZD-958 and XY-335, were used. Results showed topsoil (< 30 cm) compaction with increases in bulk density (BD) and penetration resistance (PR) up to 16.42% and 127.76%, respectively, in the 10-20 cm soil layer in 2017. Field trafficking resulted in a shallower and stronger hardpan. An increased number of traffic passes (C6) aggravated the effects, and the carryover effect was found. Higher BD and PR impaired root proliferation in deeper layers of topsoil (10-30 cm) and promoted shallow horizontal root distribution. However, XY-335, compared with ZD-958, showed deeper root distribution under compaction. Compaction-induced reductions in root biomass and length densities were respectively up to 41% and 36% in 10-20 cm and 58% and 42% in the 20-30 cm soil layer. Consequent yield penalties (7.6%-15.5%) underscore the detriments of compaction, even only in topsoil. In crux, despite their low magnitude, the negative impacts of field trafficking under moderate machine-field conditions after just two years of annual trafficking foreground the challenge of soil compaction.

Quantifying knowledge from the perspective of information structurization.

Scientific literature, as the major medium that carries knowledge between scientists, exhibits explosive growth in the last century. Despite the frequent use of many tangible measures, to quantify the influence of literature from different perspectives, it remains unclear how knowledge is embodied and measured among tremendous scientific productivity, as knowledge underlying scientific literature is abstract and difficult to concretize. In this regard, there has laid a vacancy in the theoretical embodiment of knowledge for their evaluation and excavation. Here, for the first time, we quantify the knowledge from the perspective of information structurization and define a new measure of knowledge quantification index (KQI) that leverages the extent of disorder difference caused by hierarchical structure in the citation network to represent knowledge production in the literature. Built upon 214 million articles, published from 1800 to 2021, KQI is demonstrated for mining influential classics and laureates that are omitted by traditional metrics, thanks to in-depth utilization of structure. Due to the additivity of entropy and the interconnectivity of the network, KQI assembles numerous scientific impact metrics into one and gains interpretability and resistance to manipulation. In addition, KQI explores a new perspective regarding knowledge measurement through entropy and structure, utilizing structure rather than semantics to avoid ambiguity and attain applicability.

Constructing the active surface soil layer with ZVI-biochar amendment for simultaneous immobilization of As and Zn in both contaminated soil and groundwater: Continuous versus intermittent infiltration mode.

In this study, the zero valent iron-biochar composite (ZVI-BC) was applied to construct an active surface soil layer for the simultaneous remediation of As-Zn contaminated soil and groundwater, focusing on the influence of the infiltration mode of pumped-up groundwater into soil. The active surface soil treated more contaminated groundwater for As (4.45-5.46 L kg-1 soil) than that for Zn (2.52-3.13 L kg-1 soil) under both continuous and intermittent infiltration modes, with about 98% As and 95% Zn removed from groundwater and retained in the soil. As(V) precipitated with Fe(III) due to ZVI oxidation, which was responsible for the As immobilization. The soil under the intermittent infiltration mode was enriched by the Sphingomonas with arsenate reductase gene, which promoted more reduction of As(V) into As(III) and facilitated coprecipitation of As(III) with Fe(III). The Mn oxide determined the sorption of Zn in the active soil layer, where the Hyphomicrobium, one type of manganese oxidizing bacteria, was much higher under the continuous infiltration mode, which accounted for the more Zn immobilization. After the remediation, both As and Zn immobilized in the active surface soil showed high stability, with the average downward migration rate of only 0.207-0.368 cm year-1 within 20-year rainfall exposure. Our findings indicate that this active surface soil layer is applicable for simultaneous immobilization of As and Zn in both contaminated soil and groundwater, and the groundwater intermittent infiltration could be a better option considering the remediation effectiveness, the immobilization mechanism, the long-term stability, and the energetic efficiency.

Roles of soil active constituents in the degradation of sulfamethoxazole by biochar/persulfate: Contrasting effects of iron minerals and organic matter.

The biochar/persulfate (BC/PS) has been extensively applied in the degradation of organic contaminants in the aqueous solutions. However, much less work has been done on the degradation of organic contaminants in soil by BC/PS, especially on the unclear roles of soil active constituents in the degradation. This study was conducted to investigate the degradation of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) in two soils through PS oxidation activated by biochar. Biochar was produced via the pyrolysis of peanut shell at 400 °C and 700 °C, which was denoted as BC400 and BC700, respectively. Two soils used were red soil and paddy soil, mainly differing in iron minerals and organic matter. Both biochar promoted SMX degradation (42.6 %-90.7 %) in two soils, compared to PS alone (20.9 %-41.7 %). In BC400/PS system, the free radicals were the dominant reactive species for SMX degradation, while the electron transfer pathway played a vital role in the SMX degradation by BC700/PS. Higher SMX degradation was observed in red soil (41.7 %-97.8 %) than that in paddy soil (20.3 %-94.8 %), which was ascribed to the promotion of iron minerals in red soil yet the inhibition of organic matter in paddy soil. Specifically, the reaction between ≡Fe(III)/≡Fe(II) and PS on the surface of iron minerals in red soil generated more SO4•- and •OH, resulting in the enhanced SMX degradation. However, the consumption of free radicals and suppression of electron transfer pathway by organic matter in paddy soil inhibited SMX degradation. As the comparative carbonaceous materials to biochar, graphite exerted no obvious degradation effect, whereas activated carbon exhibited the comparable promoting efficacy to BC700. Both biochar, especially BC700, significantly (p < 0.05) alleviated the adverse effects of PS treatment on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) growth. Overall, this study demonstrates that biochar/persulfate was effective in SMX degradation in soil and the degradation was affected by soil iron minerals and organic matter, which should be paid more attention in the persulfate remediation of organic contaminated soils at a specific site.

Scientific X-ray: Scanning and quantifying the idea evolution of scientific publications.

The rapid development of modern science nowadays makes it rather challenging to pick out valuable ideas from massive scientific literature. Existing widely-adopted citation-based metrics are not adequate for measuring how well the idea presented by a single publication is developed and whether it is worth following. Here, inspired by traditional X-ray imaging, which returns internal structure imaging of real objects along with corresponding structure analysis, we propose Scientific X-ray, a framework that quantifies the development degree and development potential for any scientific idea through an assembly of 'X-ray' scanning, visualization and parsing operated on the citation network associated with a target publication. We pick all 71,431 scientific articles of citation counts over 1,000 as high-impact target publications among totally 204,664,199 publications that cover 16 disciplines spanning from 1800 to 2021. Our proposed Scientific X-ray reproduces how an idea evolves from the very original target publication all the way to the up to date status via an extracted 'idea tree' that attempts to preserve the most representative idea flow structure underneath each citation network. Interestingly, we observe that while the citation counts of publications may increase unlimitedly, the maximum valid idea inheritance of those target publications, i.e., the valid depth of the idea tree, cannot exceed a limit of six hops, and the idea evolution structure of any arbitrary publication unexceptionally falls into six fixed patterns. Combined with a development potential index that we further design based on the extracted idea tree, Scientific X-ray can vividly tell how further a given idea presented by a given publication can still go from any well-established starting point. Scientific X-ray successfully identifies 40 out of 49 topics of Nobel prize as high-potential topics by their prize-winning papers in an average of nine years before the prizes are released. Various trials on articles of diverse topics also confirm the power of Scientific X-ray in digging out influential/promising ideas. Scientific X-ray is user-friendly to researchers with any level of expertise, thus providing important basis for grasping research trends, helping scientific policy-making and even promoting social development.

Adjusting sowing date improves the photosynthetic capacity and grain yield by optimizing temperature condition around flowering of summer maize in the North China Plain.

Adjusting the sowing date to optimize temperature conditions is a helpful strategy for mitigating the adverse impact of high temperature on summer maize growth in the North China Plain (NCP). However, the physiological processes of variation in summer maize yield with sowing date-associated changes in temperature conditions around flowering remain to be poorly understood. In this study, field experiments with two maize varieties and three sowing dates (early sowing date, SD1, 21 May; conventional sowing date, SD2, 10 June; delay sowing date, SD3, 30 June) were conducted at Xinxiang of Henan Province in 2019 and 2020. Early sowing markedly decreased the daily mean temperature (T mean), maximum temperature (T max), and minimum temperature (T min) during pre-silking, while delay sowing markedly decreased those temperatures during post-silking. Under these temperature conditions, both varieties under SD1 at 12-leaf stage (V12) and silking stage (R1) while under SD3 at R1 and milking stage (R3) possessed significantly lower malondialdehyde (MDA) content in leaf due to higher activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) compared to SD2. Therefore, SD1 at V12 and R1 stages and SD3 at R1 and R3 stages for both varieties showed significantly higher photosynthetic capacity, including higher SPAD, F v /F m, P n, T r, and G s, which promoted greater pre-silking dry matter (DM) accumulation for SD1 to increase the kernel number, and promoted greater post-silking DM accumulation for SD3 to increase the kernel weight, eventually increased the grain yield of SD1 and SD3 compared to SD2. Results of regression analysis demonstrated that T mean, T max, and T min values from V12 to R1 stages lower than 26.6, 32.5, and 20.3°C are necessary for improving the kernel number, while T mean, T max, T min, and accumulated temperature (AT) values from R1 to R3 stages lower than 23.2, 28.9, 17.3, and 288.6°C are necessary for improving the kernel weight. Overall, optimal temperature conditions around flowering can be obtained by early (21 May) or delay (30 June) sowing to improve the kernel number or kernel weight due to improved photosynthetic capacity, eventually increasing the grain yield of summer maize in the NCP.

Dynamics of laser produced plasma from foam targets for future nanolithography devices and X-ray sources.

Foam targets are expected to be more efficient candidates than solid targets for laser produced plasma (LPP) for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and X-ray radiation sources due to the expected plasma conditions that can be optimized regarding plasma opacities, volumetrics heating effects, and the produced ions debris characteristics. In this paper, a comparison of ion dynamics between low-density foam and solid Ni plasma was systematically investigated at CMUXE. The foam Ni target (density 0.6 g/cm3) and solid Ni target (density 8.9 g/cm3) were irradiated with 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser in vacuum. A Faraday cup (FC) was used to record the ion flux and time-of-flight (TOF) signals. A lower and wider TOF signal was observed for foam Ni plasma on the time scale. The average ion energy and peak of the TOF signal of solid Ni plasma were much higher than that of the foam Ni plasma. However, the total charge values between foam and solid Ni plasma were comparable indicating a more volumetric absorption of laser energy for foam Ni. The average ion energy and peak of the TOF signal of solid Ni showed a stronger angular and laser energy dependence than that of foam Ni. The plume shape of the solid Ni plasma appeared as an oblong ellipse at each time, while that of foam Ni plasma tended to be more circular, especially at early times. The results of mass ablation rate were consistent with the FC signals and showed a more intense plasma shielding for solid Ni.

Can we 'feel' the temperature of knowledge? Modelling scientific popularity dynamics via thermodynamics.

Just like everything in nature, scientific topics flourish and perish. While existing literature well captures article's life-cycle via citation patterns, little is known about how scientific popularity and impact evolves for a specific topic. It would be most intuitive if we could 'feel' topic's activity just as we perceive the weather by temperature. Here, we conceive knowledge temperature to quantify topic overall popularity and impact through citation network dynamics. Knowledge temperature includes 2 parts. One part depicts lasting impact by assessing knowledge accumulation with an analogy between topic evolution and isobaric expansion. The other part gauges temporal changes in knowledge structure, an embodiment of short-term popularity, through the rate of entropy change with internal energy, 2 thermodynamic variables approximated via node degree and edge number. Our analysis of representative topics with size ranging from 1000 to over 30000 articles reveals that the key to flourishing is topics' ability in accumulating useful information for future knowledge generation. Topics particularly experience temperature surges when their knowledge structure is altered by influential articles. The spike is especially obvious when there appears a single non-trivial novel research focus or merging in topic structure. Overall, knowledge temperature manifests topics' distinct evolutionary cycles.

Characteristics of laser induced discharge tin plasma and its extreme ultraviolet radiation.

In this paper, a CO2 laser induced discharge plasma extreme ultraviolet (EUV) source experimental device was established. The optical emission spectroscopy was used to diagnose the characteristics of the plasma, and the evolution of electron temperature and electron density with time was obtained. The influence of discharge voltage on plasma parameters was analyzed and discussed. The EUV radiation characteristics of the plasma were investigated by self-made grazing incidence EUV spectrometer. The EUV radiation intensity and conversion efficiency were discussed.

Growth Stages Classification of Potato Crop Based on Analysis of Spectral Response and Variables Optimization.

Potato is the world's fourth-largest food crop, following rice, wheat, and maize. Unlike other crops, it is a typical root crop with a special growth cycle pattern and underground tubers, which makes it harder to track the progress of potatoes and to provide automated crop management. The classification of growth stages has great significance for right time management in the potato field. This paper aims to study how to classify the growth stage of potato crops accurately on the basis of spectroscopy technology. To develop a classification model that monitors the growth stage of potato crops, the field experiments were conducted at the tillering stage (S1), tuber formation stage (S2), tuber bulking stage (S3), and tuber maturation stage (S4), respectively. After spectral data pre-processing, the dynamic changes in chlorophyll content and spectral response during growth were analyzed. A classification model was then established using the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm based on spectral bands and the wavelet coefficients obtained from the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) of reflectance spectra. The spectral variables, which include sensitive spectral bands and feature wavelet coefficients, were optimized using three selection algorithms to improve the classification performance of the model. The selection algorithms include correlation analysis (CA), the successive projection algorithm (SPA), and the random frog (RF) algorithm. The model results were used to compare the performance of various methods. The CWT-SPA-SVM model exhibited excellent performance. The classification accuracies on the training set (Atrain) and the test set (Atest) were respectively 100% and 97.37%, demonstrating the good classification capability of the model. The difference between the Atrain and accuracy of cross-validation (Acv) was 1%, which showed that the model has good stability. Therefore, the CWT-SPA-SVM model can be used to classify the growth stages of potato crops accurately. This study provides an important support method for the classification of growth stages in the potato field.

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) Analysis of the Volatile Oil of Cichorium Glandulosum Boiss et Huet and its Effects on Carbon Tetrachloride-Induced Liver Fibrosis in Rats.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to use gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to identify the chemical constituents of volatile oil extracted by steam distillation from Cichorium glandulosum Boiss et Huet (CG), a traditional Uyghur medicine, and to investigate its effects on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced hepatic fibrosis in rats. MATERIAL AND METHODS Sprague-Dawley rats (n=60) included six groups: the control group (n=10), untreated model group (n=10), the volatile oil of CG high-dose group (0.15 ml/kg) (n=10), the volatile oil of CG medium-dose group (0.10 ml/kg) (N=10), the volatile oil of CG low-dose group (0.05 ml/kg) (n=10), and the silybin-treated group (0.20 ml/kg) (n=10). Rats given the essential oil extract of CG by intragastric administration, and then subcutaneously injected with a solution of CCl4 in olive oil to create the rat model of hepatic fibrosis. Serum samples were analyzed for markers of liver function, including aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), malondialdehyde (MDA), hydroxyproline (Hyp), γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and albumin (Alb). Histology and immunohistochemistry were performed on rat liver tissue. RESULTS Thirty-eight compounds were identified from the volatile oil of CG (total, 98.058%), with terpenoids, including citronellol, being the most abundant. In the animal model of liver fibrosis, all doses of volatile oil of CG significantly reduced the serum levels of AST, ALT, MDA, Hyp, γ-GT, LDH, ALP, and Alb. CONCLUSIONS GC-MS identified the components of the volatile oil of CG, which included citronellol. Treatment with volatile oil of CG reduced liver fibrosis in a rat model.

Subsoiling practices change root distribution and increase post-anthesis dry matter accumulation and yield in summer maize.

Subsoiling is an important management practice for improving maize yield, especially for maize planted at high plant density. However, the affected physiological processes have yet to be specifically identified. In this study, field experiments with two soil tillage (CK: no-tillage, SS: subsoiling) and three planting densities (low: 45000 plants ha-1, medium: 67500plants ha-1, and high: 90000 plants ha-1) were conducted from 2010 to 2012 at Xinxiang, Henan province. Yield, canopy function, and root system were investigated to determine the associated physiological processes for improving maize production affected by soil tillage and plant density. Subsoiling significantly increased the grain yield of the low-, medium-, and high-planting densities by 6.21%, 8.92%, and 10.09%, respectively. Yield increase in the SS plots was mainly attributed to greater post-anthesis DMA and improved grain filling compared to CK plots. Greater green leaf area, leaf net photosynthetic rate, FV/Fm and ΦPSII in the SS plots were mainly contributed to enhanced dry matter production post-anthesis. This is mainly because subsoiling increased density of root dry weight in deep soil and root bleeding sap amount due to decreased the bulk density of the 0-30 cm soil profile layer. Density of root dry weight at 10-50 cm depth with SS increased by 40.68%, 32.17%, and 20.14% at low, medium, and high planting densities compared to CK, respectively, while the root bleeding sap amount increased by 17.41%, 15.82%, and 20.91%. These results indicate that subsoiling could change the root distribution and improve soil layer environment for root growth, thus maintaining a higher canopy photosynthetic capacity post-anthesis and in turn promoting DMA and yield, particularly at higher planting densities.

Parabolic cell for low-background Raman analysis of gas samples.

A compact Raman system constructed by a parabolic sample cell and an imaging spectrograph, which has good capability for enhancing a Raman signal and compressing a continuous background, has been put forward. In the Raman spectra of ambient air acquired by this system, the signal level of N2 was enhanced up to 14 times compared with free space, and the related signal to background ratio was increased nearly to 96. With an integration time of 10 s, the rotational fine structure of O2 and N2 were clearly recognized. Besides, a standard analytic gas mixture consisting of H2, CO2, and CO was also tested, and the 3σ LODs of 68 ppm for H2, 54 ppm for CO2 and 116 ppm for CO were obtained.

Perfect narrow band absorber for sensing applications.

We design and numerically investigate a perfect narrow band absorber based on a metal-metal-dielectric-metal structure which consists of periodic metallic nanoribbon arrays. The absorber presents an ultra narrow absorption band of 1.11 nm with a nearly perfect absorption of over 99.9% in the infrared region. For oblique incidence, the absorber shows an absorption more than 95% for a wide range of incident angles from 0 to 50°. Structure parameters to the influence of the performance are investigated. The structure shows high sensing performance with a high sensitivity of 1170 nm/RIU and a large figure of merit of 1054. The proposed structure has great potential as a biosensor.

Comparative study on the antioxidant activities of extracts of Coreopsis tinctoria flowering tops from Kunlun Mountains, Xinjiang, north-western China.

Coreopsis tinctoria flowering tops (CTFs) from the Kunlun Mountains in Xinjing (north-western China) have been used for tea production for about a century. This study aims to assess the antioxidant activities and total phenolic, flavonoid and proanthocyanidin contents of various solvent extracts of CTF. CTF was extracted using n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, 75% aqueous ethanol (AEE) and water. The antioxidant activities of the CTF extracts were investigated through DPPH, ABTS, *OH, *O2(-), total antioxidant capacity and reducing power assays. The results showed that n-butanol extract showed the highest contents of total phenols and flavonoids, with DPPH, ABTS and *OH radical-scavenging activities with IC50 values of 134, 90.72 and 13.8 µg mL(-1), respectively. The AEE demonstrated the strongest DPPH and ABTS radical-scavenging activities, with IC50 values of 103 and 75.16 µg mL(-1), respectively. Given its high antioxidant effect, CTF is a good source of natural antioxidants or functional food materials.

Chemical composition, N-nitrosamine inhibition and antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of essential oil from Coreopsis tinctoria flowering tops.

Coreopsis tinctoria flowering (CTF) tops from the Kunlun Mountains in Xinjing (north-western China) have been used for tea production for about a century. This study was to assess antioxidant, nitrite-scavenging and N-nitrosamine inhibitory and antimicrobial activities of the essential oil extracted from CTF tops. The essential oil was extracted through hydrodistillation and its chemical compositions were analysed by GC-MS. Seventy compounds of the oil were identified, representing 81.87% of total oil. The antioxidant capacities of the oil with IC50 values for scavenging DPPH and ABTS were 287.66 ± 12.60 and 1.251 ± 0.127 µg mL(- 1), respectively. The nitrite-scavenging and N-nitrosamine inhibitory activities (IC50) were 0.3912 ± 0.0127 and 0.6564 ± 0.036 µg mL(- 1), respectively. The oil has a certain antimicrobial capacity, but its capacity was weaker than that of penicillinG (24 µg mL(- 1)). The oil showed antioxidant and antimicrobial capacities and had a stronger nitrite-scavenging and N-nitrosamine inhibitory properties.

Genetic variants associated with susceptibility to psychosis in late-onset Alzheimer's disease families.

Psychotic symptoms are frequent in late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) patients. Although the risk for psychosis in LOAD is genetically mediated, no genes have been identified. To identify loci potentially containing genetic variants associated with risk of psychosis in LOAD, a total of 263 families from the National Institute of Aging-LOAD cohort were classified into psychotic (LOAD+P, n = 215) and nonpsychotic (LOAD-P, n = 48) families based on the presence/absence of psychosis during the course of LOAD. The LOAD+P families yielded strong evidence of linkage on chromosome 19q13 (two-point [2-pt] ​logarithm of odds [LOD] = 3.8, rs2285513 and multipoint LOD = 2.7, rs541169). Joint linkage and association in 19q13 region detected strong association with rs2945988 (p = 8.7 × 10(-7)). Linkage results for the LOAD-P families yielded nonsignificant 19q13 LOD scores. Several 19q13 single-nucleotide polymorphisms generalized the association of LOAD+P in a Caribbean Hispanic (CH) cohort, and the strongest signal was rs10410711 (pmeta = 5.1 × 10(-5)). A variant located 24 kb upstream of rs10410711 and rs10421862 was strongly associated with LOAD+P (pmeta = 1.0 × 10(-5)) in a meta-analysis of the CH cohort and an additional non-Hispanic Caucasian dataset. Identified variants rs2945988 and rs10421862 affect brain gene expression levels. Our results suggest that genetic variants in genes on 19q13, some of which are involved in brain development and neurodegeneration, may influence the susceptibility to psychosis in LOAD patients.