On the enigmatic jumping spider genus Ogdenia Peckham, 1908 (Araneae, Salticidae, Chrysillini).

The monotypic genus Ogdenia Peckham, 1908, is redefined based on the redescription of the holotype of O.mutilla (Peckham & Peckham, 1907), along with the newly discovered male specimens and intraspecific variation from China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. Description, illustrations, and photographs are provided.

Numerical simulation validating of a duck-mouth type marine debris collection device's collection mechanism.

Marine debris (MD) poses a significant threat to global coastal ecosystems around the world, necessitating effective strategies for its collection and removal. As a new type of fixed collection device, the duck-mouth type marine debris collection device (MDCD) consists primarily of two components: a central collection system and floating fences which are positioned at a certain angle and open towards the outer bay located on both sides of it. This paper aims to establish a coupling drift model based on hydrodynamic model to study the performance of duck-mouth type MDCD, verify its effectiveness. Before simulation, the model was fully validated. The results demonstrate that wind has the greatest influence on MD movement, as the direction of the wind directly determines the movement direction of the debris. It was observed that only under onshore wind conditions did the MD move towards the bay when the duck-mouth type MDCD can effectively collect MD, which moves along the barrier net towards the central trash bin and eventually be fully collected.

On fourteen species of Euochin Prószynski, 2018 from China (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryini).

Twelve new species of the jumping spider genus Euochin Prószynski, 2018 from southern China are described: Euochin bethunei sp. nov. (♂ ♀), E. buziji sp. nov. (♂ ♀), E. dongpo sp. nov. (♂ ♀), E. extraculum sp. nov. (♂ ♀), E. lingyi sp. nov. (♂ ♀), E. nanjiabawa sp. nov. (♂ ♀), E. nu sp. nov. (♂ ♀), E. shenjun sp. nov. (♂ ♀), E. tianhe sp. nov. (♂ ♀), E. wanlessi sp. nov. (♂ ♀), E. yangmei sp. nov. (♂ ♀), E. zegangi sp. nov. (♂ ♀). Two new combinations are proposed: Euochin bamianshanensis (Liu, Wang & Peng, 2020) comb. nov. and Euochin longyangensis (Lei & Peng, 2012) comb. nov. (both transferred from Euophrys C. L. Koch, 1834, with redescription and revision of male and female pairing provided for the latter). Diagnostic illustrations and photographs are provided.

Spatiotemporally continuous estimates of daily 1-km PM2.5 concentrations and their long-term exposure in China from 2000 to 2020.

Monitoring long-term variations in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is essential for environmental management and epidemiological studies. While satellite-based statistical/machine-learning methods can be used for estimating high-resolution ground-level PM2.5 concentration data, their applications have been hindered by limited accuracy in daily estimates during years without PM2.5 measurements and massive missing values due to satellite retrieval data. To address these issues, we developed a new spatiotemporal high-resolution PM2.5 hindcast modeling framework to generate the full-coverage, daily, 1-km PM2.5 data for China for the period 2000-2020 with improved accuracy. Our modeling framework incorporated information on changes in observation variables between periods with and without monitoring data and filled gaps in PM2.5 estimates induced by satellite data using imputed high-resolution aerosol data. Compared to previous hindcast studies, our method achieved superior overall cross-validation (CV) R2 and root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.90 and 12.94 µg/m3 and significantly improved the model performance in years without PM2.5 measurements, raising the leave-one-year-out CV R2 [RMSE] to 0.83 [12.10 µg/m3] at a monthly scale (0.65 [23.29 µg/m3] at a daily scale). Our long-term PM2.5 estimates show a sharp decline in PM2.5 exposure in recent years, but the national exposure level in 2020 still exceeded the first annual interim target of the 2021 World Health Organization air quality guidelines. The proposed hindcast framework represents a new strategy to improve air quality hindcast modeling and can be applied to other regions with limited air quality monitoring periods. These high-quality estimates can support both long- and short-term scientific research and environmental management of PM2.5 in China.

hMSCs-derived exosome circCDK13 inhibits liver fibrosis by regulating the expression of MFGE8 through miR-17-5p/KAT2B.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs)-derived exosome circCDK13 on liver fibrosis and its mechanism. METHODS: Exosomes derived from hMSCs were extracted and identified by flow cytometry and osteogenic and adipogenic induction, and the expressions of marker proteins on the surface of exosomes were detected by western blot. Cell proliferation was measured by CCK8 assay, the expression of active markers of HSCs by immunofluorescence, and the expressions of fibrosis-related factors by western blot. A mouse model of liver fibrosis was established by intraperitoneal injection of thioacetamide (TAA). Fibrosis was detected by HE staining, Masson staining, and Sirius red staining. Western blot was utilized to test the expressions of PI3K/AKT and NF-κB pathway related proteins, dual-luciferase reporter assay and RIP assay to validate the binding between circCDK13 and miR-17-5p as well as between miR-17-5p and KAT2B, and ChIP to validate the effect of KAT2B on H3 acetylation and MFGE8 transcription. RESULTS: hMSCs-derived exosomes inhibited liver fibrosis mainly through circCDK13. Dual-luciferase reporter assay and RIP assay demonstrated the binding between circCDK13 and miR-17-5p as well as between miR-17-5p and KAT2B. Further experimental results indicated that circCDK13 mediated liver fibrosis by regulating the miR-17-5p/KAT2B axis, and KAT2B promoted MFGE8 transcription by H3 acetylation. Exo-circCDK13 inhibited PI3K/AKT and NF-κB signaling pathways activation through regulating the miR-17-5p/KAT2B axis. CONCLUSION: hMSCs-derived exosome circCDK13 inhibited liver fibrosis by regulating the expression of MFGE8 through miR-17-5p/KAT2B axis.

Mn-SOD alleviates methotrexate-related hepatocellular injury via GSK-3ß affecting anti-oxidative stress of HO-1 and Drp1. / Mn-SOD通过GSK-3ß影响HO-1和Drp1的抗氧化应激减轻MTXç›¸å ³è‚ç»†èƒžæŸä¼¤.

OBJECTIVES: Methotrexate (MTX) is the most common therapeutic agent that may have the risk of drug-induced liver injury. Its pathogenic mechanism is related to oxidative stress caused by mitochondrial dysfunction. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), including manganese-containing SOD (Mn-SOD), can exert its effect of anti-oxidative stress by scavenging superoxide free radicals. Accordingly, this study is performed to explore the underlying molecular mechanism via observing whether Mn-SOD could affect the damage of MTX to hepatocytes. METHODS: Human hepatocyte cell line L-02 was cultured in vitro and divided into 4 groups, including a blank group with the addition of the same volume of serum-free medium, a MTX group (40 µg/well MTX drug-treatment), a MTX+NC group (40 µg/well MTX drug-treatment+blank plasmid), and a MTX+SOD group (40 µg/well MTX drug-treatment+Mn-SOD plasmid). The levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and microRNA-122 (miR-122) in the supernatant of cell culture were respectively detected by automatic biochemical analytical instrument and real-time RT-PCR to evaluate the degree of hepatocyte damage in each group. MitoSOX fluorescent probe was used to label intracellular superoxide in each group, and cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. Meanwhile, the contents of glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3ß), hemeoxygenase-1 (HO-1), mitochondrial fission-mediated protein of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), and Mn-SOD were detected by Western blotting. RESULTS: Compared with the blank group, the levels of ALT, AST, and miR-122 in the supernatant of hepatocyte culture of the MTX group and MTX+NC group were significantly elevated (all P <0.05), and that in the MTX+SOD group were significantly decreased ( P <0.05) and equivalent to that in the blank group. MitoSOX staining revealed that the MTX group and MTX+NC had the most abundant superoxide; and the amount was significantly reduced in the MTX+SOD group, without a significant difference when compared with the blank group. Furthermore, the results of flow cytometry indicated that compared with the blank group, the MTX group and MTX+NC group showed significantly increased cell apoptosis ( P <0.05); while there was obviously reduced cell apoptosis in the MTX+SOD group than that in the MTX group and MTX+NC group ( P <0.05). According to the results of Western blotting, the blank group and MTX+SOD group had higher expressions of Mn-SOD, p-GSK-3ß, and HO-1; while the MTX group and MTX+NC group exhibited remarkably lower levels of Mn-SOD, p-GSK-3ß, and HO-1 than those in the blank group ( P <0.05). Besides, a completely opposite trend was found in the expression of Drp1, which was highly expressed in the MTX group and MTX+NC group, but lowly expressed in the blank group and the MTX+SOD group. CONCLUSIONS: MTX may induce hepatocyte damage, and one of the mechanisms may be due to the decrease of intracellular Mn-SOD level, which can cause the accumulation of superoxide, affect the levels of HO-1 and Drp1 through GSK-3ß leading to mitochondrial damage and cell apoptosis. High expression of Mn-SOD intracellularly through exogenous introduction can scavenge drug-produced superoxide, affect HO-1 and Drp1 levels through GSK-3ß, activate mitochondria, protect cells against damage from oxidative stress, and inhibit hepatocyte apoptosis eventually. So exogenous introduction of SOD may be a potential therapeutic approach to block or reverse MTX-related hepatocyte injury.

Revision of the genus Charippus Thorell, 1895, with descriptions of eight new species (Araneae, Salticidae, Euophryini).

The euophryine genus Charippus Thorell, 1895 is revised and eight new species are described: Charippus asper Yu, Maddison Zhang, sp. nov. ( ), C. bukittimah Yu, Maddison Zhang, sp. nov. ( ), C. callainus Yu, Maddison Zhang, sp. nov. ( ), C. denjii Yu, Maddison Zhang, sp. nov. ( ), C. heishiding Yu, Maddison Zhang, sp. nov. ( ), C. kubah Yu, Maddison Zhang, sp. nov. ( ), C. minotaurus Yu, Maddison Zhang, sp. nov. ( ) and C. wanlessi Yu, Maddison Zhang, sp. nov. ( ). A new combination for Charippus yunnanensis (Cao Li, 2016) comb. nov. (ex. Cytaea Keyserling, 1882) is proposed, and its female is described for the first time. Diagnostic illustrations and photographs are provided for all known species.

Late Miocene Tarim desert wetting linked with eccentricity minimum and East Asian monsoon weakening.

Periodic wetting is an inherent feature of many monsoon marginal region deserts. Previous studies consistently demonstrate desert wetting during times of Earth's high orbital eccentricity and strong summer monsoon. Here we report the first evidence demonstrating desert wetting during Earth's low orbital eccentricity from the late Miocene strata of the northwestern Tarim Basin of northern China, which is commonly thought to be beyond the range of Asian monsoon precipitation. Using mechanisms for modern Tarim wetting as analogs, we propose that East Asian summer monsoon weakening enhanced westward moisture transport and caused opposite desert wetting pattern to that observed in monsoon marginal region deserts. This inference is supported by our model simulations. This result has far-reaching implications for understanding environmental variations in non-monsoonal deserts in the next few thousands of years under high atmospheric CO2 content and low eccentricity.

microRNA-122 inhibits hepatic stellate cell proliferation and activation in vitro and represses carbon tetrachloride-induced liver cirrhosis in mice.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the roles of microRNA (miR)-122 in the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and liver cirrhosis. METHODS: Rat primary HSCs were incubated with transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-ß), during which miR-122 and EphB2 expression was measured. miR-122 mimic and/or pcDNA3.1 EphB2 was transfected into TGF-ß-induced HSCs. A mouse model of liver cirrhosis was established via an intraperitoneal injection of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), followed by the injection of miR-122 agomir. Levels of serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were measured. Fibronectin (FN), alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), Collagen I, miR-122, and EphB2 expression was evaluated in liver tissues and HSCs. Cell proliferation was measured using CCK-8 assay. Interactions between miR-122 and EphB2 were assessed using dual luciferase reporter assay. RESULTS: miR-122 (0.15-fold) was downregulated and EphB2 (mRNA: 5.06-fold; protein: 2.35-fold) was upregulated after TGF-ß induction of HSCs. Overexpressed miR-122 decreased proliferation and EphB2 (mRNA: 0.46-fold; protein: 0.62-fold), FN (mRNA: 0.45-fold; protein: 0.64-fold), α-SMA (mRNA: 0.48-fold; protein: 0.51-fold), and Collagen I (mRNA: 0.44-fold; protein: 0.51-fold) expression in HSCs, which was abrogated by EphB2 upregulation. miR-122 expression was reduced by 0.21-fold and serum ALT and AST levels were enhanced in mice following 8-week CCl4 induction along with increased expression of FN, α-SMA, and Collagen I in liver tissues, which was blocked by miR-122 overexpression. Moreover, EphB2 was a target gene of miR-122. CONCLUSION: miR-122 curtails HSC proliferation and activation by targeting EphB2 and suppresses liver cirrhosis in mice.

Sensitive electrochemical detection of oxytetracycline based on target triggered CHA and poly adenine assisted probe immobilization.

Here, we developed a homogeneous electrochemical biosensor for the sensitive determination of antibiotic by the CHA reaction and the consecutive adenine mediated probe fixation. The binding of target to the target recognition sequences in the triple-helix DNA can release the trigger. It can initiate the catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) to generate lots of mimic targets, which were labeled with electroactive substance ferrocene (Fc). Because the generated mimic target has consecutive sequence of adenines (PolyA), they can be self-assembled on the AuNPs modified electrode and finally realize electrochemical detection. Under optimal conditions, this developed biosensor achieved a satisfactory limit of detection of 0.089 nM (S/N = 3) and a linear range from 0.1 nM to 100 nM for sensitive detection of oxytetracycline with good specificity. The whole process is carried out in homogeneous solution, not only realizes signal amplification, but also avoids the complex modification process of electrode surface. Compared with some reported electrochemical sensors, the method is easier to operate and has good precision.

Description of two new species of the jumping spider genus Pancorius Simon, 1902 (Araneae: Salticidae) from Southwest China.

Two new species of Pancorius Simon, 1902 are diagnosed, described and illustrated from Southwest China: P. candidus sp. nov. (♂♀) from Yunnan Province and P. wesolowskae sp. nov. (♂♀) from Guizhou Province.

Structure-Induced Method for Circular Cross-Sectional Nanochannel Fabrication.

Nanochannels are key elements in building nano-systems for many applications, such as ion transportation, single molecule manipulation, and protein analysis. Commercially manufacturing of nanosystems lies in the development of a low-cost and concise method for nanochannels fabrication. In the present work, a novel PDMS nanochannels fabrication method was proposed based on PDMS spin-coating on a structure-induced wafer. All the influencing parameters which can affect the shape and size of PDMS nanochannels were optimized by proposed simulation method. The comparison between experiments and simulation showed good agreement and confirmed the developed simulation method. By the optimized conditions, 64 nm wide and 37 nm deep PDMS nanochannels can be fabricated.

A High-Computational Efficiency Human Detection and Flow Estimation Method Based on TOF Measurements.

State-of-the-art human detection methods focus on deep network architectures to achieve higher recognition performance, at the expense of huge computation. However, computational efficiency and real-time performance are also important evaluation indicators. This paper presents a fast real-time human detection and flow estimation method using depth images captured by a top-view TOF camera. The proposed algorithm mainly consists of head detection based on local pooling and searching, classification refinement based on human morphological features, and tracking assignment filter based on dynamic multi-dimensional feature. A depth image dataset record with more than 10k entries and departure events with detailed human location annotations is established. Taking full advantage of the distance information implied in the depth image, we achieve high-accuracy human detection and people counting with accuracy of 97.73% and significantly reduce the running time. Experiments demonstrate that our algorithm can run at 23.10 ms per frame on a CPU platform. In addition, the proposed robust approach is effective in complex situations such as fast walking, occlusion, crowded scenes, etc.