Description: A novel correction method for self-absorption effects is proposed for extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) detected in the fluorescence mode on multilayer samples. The effects of refraction and multiple reflection at the interfaces are fully considered in this correction method. The correction is performed in k -space before any further data analysis, and it can be applied to single-layer or multilayer samples with flat surfaces and without thickness limit when the model parameters for the samples are known. The validity of this method is verified by the fluorescence EXAFS data collected for a Cr/C multilayer sample measured at different experimental geometries.

Description: Journal of the American Chemical Society DOI: 10.1021/ja5004747

Description: The Snail family member snail encodes a zinc finger-containing transcriptional factor that is involved in heart formation. Yet, little is known about how Snail regulates heart development. Here, we identified that one of the duplicated snail genes, snai1b, was expressed in the heart region of zebrafish embryos. Depletion of Snai1b function dramatically reduced expression of α5 integrin, disrupted Fibronectin layer in the heart region, especially at the midline, and prevented migration of cardiac precursors, resulting in defects in cardiac morphology and function in zebrafish embryos. Injection of α5β1 protein rescued the Fibronectin layer and then the myocardial precursor migration in snai1b knockdown embryos. The results provide the molecular mechanism how Snail controls the morphogenesis of heart during embryonic development. Scientific Reports 4 doi: 10.1038/srep04470

Description: As transport sector takes a big share of the whole energy consumption in China, it is crucial to predict its energy demand. To forecast China's transport energy demand, group method of data handling (GMDH) was introduced. The model can help policymakers’ select influential variables and build prediction models automatically. Furthermore, it can reduce the negative impact of the noise in the Chinese statistical data. To produce comparable results, four of the six data sets used in this paper contain the same variables as in previously published research. Artificial neural networks (ANN), GMDH, multiple linear regression (MLR), and support vector machine (SVM) models were trained using fivefold cross-validation. The performance of these models was measured in terms of coefficient of determination and root mean square error. Results showed that GMDH achieved better performance than the other models. Finally, projections were made with two scenarios. Both of the projected results showed that the energy demands peak in certain years and then decrease gradually. This study suggests that GDP is not the essential variable, while urbanization rate is an important variable to forecast the transport energy demand in China. It also suggests that Chinese government needs to prepare for the development and deployment of transport energy. To forecast China's transport energy demand, group method of data handling (GMDH) was introduced. Projections were made with two scenarios. Both of the projected results showed that the energy demands peak in certain years and then decrease gradually.

Description: Double infections of Wolbachia and Spiroplasma are frequent in natural populations of Tetranychus truncatus , a polyphagous mite species that has been a dominant species in China since 2009. However, little is known about the causes and ecological importance of such coexistences. In this study, we established T. truncatus strains with different infection types and then inferred the impact of the two endosymbionts on host reproduction and fitness. Double infection induced cytoplasmic incompatibility, which was demonstrated by reduction in egg hatchability of incompatible crosses. However, doubly infected females produced more eggs relative to other strains. Wolbachia and Spiroplasma did not affect host survival, whereas doubly infected females and males developed faster than other strains. Such reproduction and fitness benefits provided by double infections may be associated with the lower densities of each symbiont, and the quantitative results also confirmed competition between Wolbachia and Spiroplasma in doubly infected females. These symbiont-conferred beneficial effects maintain stable prevalence of the symbionts and also help drive T. truncatus outbreaks in combination with other environmental factors. The symbiont-conferred beneficial effects on spider mite Tetranychus truncatus maintain stable prevalence of the symbionts and also help drive spider mite outbreaks in combination with other environmental factors.

Description: Novel schizophrenia risk factor pathways regulate FEZ1 to advance oligodendroglia development Novel schizophrenia risk factor pathways regulate FEZ1 to advance oligodendroglia development, Published online: 18 December 2017; doi:10.1038/s41398-017-0028-z Novel schizophrenia risk factor pathways regulate FEZ1 to advance oligodendroglia development

Description: A new naphthoquinone, 6-hydroxy- α -dunnione ( 1 ) and a new binaphthoquinone, methyl 1,1′,4,4′-tetrahydro-3-hydroxy-1,1′,4,4′-tetraoxo[2,2′-binaphthalene]-3′-carboxylate ( 2 ), along with ten known compounds, including naphthoquinones, anthraquinones, and phenylethanoid glucosides, were isolated from the roots of Didymocarpus hedyotideus Chun . Their structures were identified by spectroscopic analyses, particularly 1D- and 2D-NMR spectroscopy. The cytotoxic activities of the two new naphthoquinones were also evaluated.

Description: Symmetry, Vol. 9, Pages 169: An Extended VIKOR Method Using Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets and Combination Weights for Supplier Selection Symmetry doi: 10.3390/sym9090169 Authors: Jiansen Zhao Xiao-Yue You Hu-Chen Liu Song-Man Wu Supplier selection is a complex multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem, which considers a number of alternative suppliers as well as conflicting and noncommensurable criteria. Considering the fact that it is difficult to precisely determine criteria weights and the ratings of alternatives on each criterion in real-life situations, the VIKOR (VIsekriterijumska optimizacija i KOmpromisno Resenje) method has been modified for intuitionistic fuzzy data in this study for supplier evaluation and selection. Further, we take into account both subjective and objective weights of criteria in the decision-making process, as most supplier selection approaches consider only subjective criteria weights. Finally, two supplier selection examples are provided to illustrate the proposed intuitionistic fuzzy hybrid VIKOR (IFH-VIKOR) method, and its merits are highlighted by comparing it with other relevant approaches.

Description: IJERPH, Vol. 14, Pages 934: Identifying Key Performance Indicators for Holistic Hospital Management with a Modified DEMATEL Approach International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph14080934 Authors: Sheng-Li Si Xiao-Yue You Hu-Chen Liu Jia Huang Performance analysis is an important way for hospitals to achieve higher efficiency and effectiveness in providing services to their customers. The performance of the healthcare system can be measured by many indicators, but it is difficult to improve them simultaneously due to the limited resources. A feasible way is to identify the central and influential indicators to improve healthcare performance in a stepwise manner. In this paper, we propose a hybrid multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) approach to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) for holistic hospital management. First, through integrating evidential reasoning approach and interval 2-tuple linguistic variables, various assessments of performance indicators provided by healthcare experts are modeled. Then, the decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique is adopted to build an interactive network and visualize the causal relationships between the performance indicators. Finally, an empirical case study is provided to demonstrate the proposed approach for improving the efficiency of healthcare management. The results show that “accidents/adverse events”, “nosocomial infection”, ‘‘incidents/errors”, “number of operations/procedures” are significant influential indicators. Also, the indicators of “length of stay”, “bed occupancy” and “financial measures” play important roles in performance evaluation of the healthcare organization. The proposed decision making approach could be considered as a reference for healthcare administrators to enhance the performance of their healthcare institutions.

Description: Background: Nilaparvata lugens (the brown planthopper, BPH) and Laodelphax striatellus (the small brown planthopper, SBPH) are two of the most important pests of rice. Up to now, there was only one mitochondrial genome of rice planthopper has been sequenced and very few dependable information of mitochondria could be used for research on population genetics, phylogeographics and phylogenetic evolution of these pests. To get more valuable information from the mitochondria, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genomes of BPH and SBPH. These two planthoppers were infected with two different functional Wolbachia (intracellular endosymbiont) strains (wLug and wStri). Since both mitochondria and Wolbachia are transmitted by cytoplasmic inheritance and it was difficult to separate them when purified the Wolbachia particles, concomitantly sequencing the genome of Wolbachia using next generation sequencing method, we also got nearly complete mitochondrial genome sequences of these two rice planthoppers. After gap closing, we present high quality and reliable complete mitochondrial genomes of these two planthoppers. Results: The mitogenomes of N. lugens (BPH) and L. striatellus (SBPH) are 17, 619 bp and 16, 431 bp long with A + T contents of 76.95 % and 77.17 %, respectively. Both species have typical circular mitochondrial genomes that encode the complete set of 37 genes which are usually found in metazoans. However, the BPH mitogenome also possesses two additional copies of the trnC gene. In both mitochondrial genomes, the lengths of the atp8 gene were conspicuously shorter than that of all other known insect mitochondrial genomes (99 bp for BPH, 102 bp for SBPH). Two rearrangement regions (trnC-trnW and nad6-trnP-trnT) of mitochondrial genomes differing from other known insect were found in these two distantly related planthoppers revealed that the gene order of mitochondria might conserved in Delphacidae. The large non-coding fragment (the A+T-rich region) putatively corresponding responsible for the control of replication and transcription of mitochondria contained a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs) block in different natural individuals of these two planthoppers. Comparison with a previously sequenced individual of SBPH revealed that the mitochondrial genetic variation within a species exists not only in the sequence and secondary structure of genes, but also in the gene order (the different location of trnH gene). Conclusion: The mitochondrial genome arrangement pattern found in planthoppers was involved in rearrangements of both tRNA genes and protein-coding genes (PCGs). Different species from different genera of Delphacidae possessing the same mitochondrial gene rearrangement suggests that gene rearrangements of mitochondrial genome probably occurred before the differentiation of this family. After comparatively analyzing the gene order of different species of Hemiptera, we propose that except for some specific taxonomical group (e.g. the whiteflies) the gene order might have diversified in family level of this order. The VNTRs detected in the control region might provide additional genetic markers for studying population genetics, individual difference and phylogeographics of planthoppers.