The Eastern population of the Lesser White-fronted Goose (EPLWFG) Anser erythropus is shared between Russia and China. The summer range of the EPLWFG has been recognised as a continuous area extending from the Olenyok River in the west to the Anadyr River in the east and northwards from 64°N. The aim of this study was to provide information on breeding behaviour; nest-sites, nesting habitats, and time of nesting; nesting success; timing of summer movements including moult migration; moult timing, duration, and moulting habitats; site fidelity; and the effect of human presence. To accomplish this, we combined the results from field surveys with GPS/GSM tracking. A total of 30 summer tracks from 19 individual EPLWFG were analysed. We estimated breeding propensity in 93.8% of adult LWFG, and this factor did not seem to depend on breeding success in the previous season. Reproductive success was 13.3% in all nesting attempts. Non-breeders arrived three-week later and departed a week earlier. The EPLWFG are highly mobile during the summer. The core moulting site for the entire EPLWFG was discovered by this study and is located along the lower reaches of the San-Yuryakh and Kyuanekhtyakh rivers flowing towards the Omulyakhskaya Bay of the East Siberian Sea. The EPLWFG flightless period was 24.8 ± 2.8 days. A part of failured EPLWFG (43.7 %) migrated back to its early summer breeding/staging site after having completed moult. The strong site fidelity (100%) of adult birds to both nesting and moulting sites promotes the formation of local breeding populations, which could be considered conservation units if genetic studies support this differentiation. The EPLWFG selects the remotest and least human-accessible area for their remigial moult, and the main site was discovered with the help of tracking.

Supraglacial lakes (SGLs) are widespread across the Greenland ice sheet and cause transient changes in ice flow. Here, we produce the first annual ice-sheet wide database of maximum summer SGL extents spanning 1985 to 2023 using all July and August Landsat images. Lake visibility percentages were calculated to estimate the uncertainty induced by variable image data coverage. SGLs were mainly distributed between 1000 and 1600 m elevation, with large lake area observed in northwestern, northeastern and southwestern basins. Lake area increased at a rate of 50.5 km2 a−1 across the entire Greenland, and lakes advanced to higher elevations at an average rate of 10.2 m a−1 during 1985–2023. We leveraged spatiotemporally matched ICESat-2 and Landsat 8 reflectance data to develop a deep learning model for lake depth inversion for the period 2014–23. This model demonstrates the highest accuracy among all image-based methods, albeit with an underestimation of ~15% when compared to ICESat-2 data. A significant positive correlation between lake volume and area is used to up-scale the approach to the entire time period, indicating a lake volume increase of 221.9 ± 63.6 × 106 m3 a−1. Increasing air/land surface temperature, surface pressure and decreasing snowfall were the most important contributing factors in driving lake variability.

Deubiquitinases are a group of proteins that identify and digest monoubiquitin chains or polyubiquitin chains attached to substrate proteins, preventing the substrate protein from being degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Deubiquitinases regulate cellular autophagy, metabolism and oxidative stress by acting on different substrate proteins. Recent studies have revealed that deubiquitinases act as a critical regulator in various cardiac diseases, and control the onset and progression of cardiac disease through a board range of mechanism. This review summarizes the function of different deubiquitinases in cardiac disease, including cardiac hypertrophy, myocardial infarction and diabetes mellitus-related cardiac disease. Besides, this review briefly recapitulates the role of deubiquitinases modulators in cardiac disease, providing the potential therapeutic targets in the future.

Soil aggregates consist of sand, silt, and clay size particles. Many of the clay size particles in soils are clay minerals, which actively influence soil behavior. The properties of clay minerals may change significantly as soil particle size decreases to the nanoscale; however, little information is available about these properties for the Ultisols in China. In the present study, the clay mineral components and structural characteristics of four particle-size fractions (i.e., <2000, 450–2000, 100–450, and 25–100 nm) of two Ultisol samples (Ult-1 and Ult-2) were investigated using elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction, Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy, and thermal analysis. The molar SiO2 to Al2O3 ratios were lower in the nanoscale particle-size fraction (25–100 nm) than in the 450–2000 and <2000 nm fractions. This indicates greater desilicification and allitization of the smaller Ultisol particles. Furthermore, the Fe oxide and Al oxide contents increased and reached a maximum level in the 25–100 nm fraction of the two Ultisols. Goethite was mainly found in the 100–450 nm and 25–100 nm fractions. The dominant clay minerals in the Ultisol 25–100 nm fraction were kaolinite and illite with a small amount of a hydroxy-interlayered mineral in Ult-1 and gibbsite in Ult-2. The kaolinite crystallinity decreased as particle size decreased. The low crystallinity of the kaolinite in the A horizon 25–100 nm fraction was attributed to a reduction in the thickness of coherent scattering domains, as well as to decreases in OH groups and the dimensions of octahedral AlO6 sheets. A determination of the chemical and mineralogic properties of the different size fractions of the Ultisols is important to understand the desilicification and Al and Fe oxide enrichment mechanisms during soil formation. The significance of these results can help to reveal the nanoscale transformations of clay minerals. Analysis of clay mineral compositions in nanoparticles can provide the additional data needed to understand the adsorption and mobility of nutrients and pollutants.

Objectives: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) is a multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria (MDR-GNB) that is rapidly emerging as a life-threatening nosocomial disease in many countries. We sought to identify the risk factors associated with mortality for carriage of CRE in patients at a tertiary-care teaching hospital. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted between January 2020 to December 2021 in a tertiary-care teaching healthcare facility, University Malaya Medical Centre in Malaysia. The study included all inpatients aged ≥18 years who had a CRE infection or were colonized during the study period. The genotype was identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Statistical analysis of data including a multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted using SPSS version 23.0 software. Results: In total, 176 cases of CRE (130 infection and 46 colonized) were identified, and the mortality rate was 31.8%. The main sources of CRE were rectal swab (61.9%), blood (11.9%), and respiratory sources (11.9%). Klebsiella pneumoniae (55.7%) was the predominant species, followed by Escherichia coli (21.6%). Among the isolates, 17.7% were non–CPE-CRE and 82.3% were CPE-CRE: NDM (69.3%) and OXA (10.8%). In multivariate analysis, the factors associated with mortality were older age (OR, 1.040; 95% CI, 1.012–1.069), longer length of stay (OR, 0.974; 95% CI, 0.955–0.994), use of central venous catheter (OR, 0.287; 95% CI, 0.094–0.878), and arterial lines (OR, 0.292; 95% CI, 0.095–0.891). Conclusion: Patients with CRE had a high mortality rate. Older age, longer duration of stay, indwelling CVC and arterial line were independent risk factors for death. Infection prevention and control measures to reduce CRE, such as active surveillance, contact precautions, compliance to intravenous catheter care bundles, healthcare worker education, and hand hygiene adherence, should be implemented.

Objectives: Surgical-site infections (SSIs) cause significant increases in mortality, morbidity, and prolonged hospitalization after cesarean deliveries. We assessed the effectiveness of the implementation of an SSI bundle in reducing postoperative infections in cesarean deliveries in a tertiary-care teaching hospital in Malaysia. Method: We conducted a quality-improvement study on all women who underwent labor and scheduled cesarean sections at the University Malaya Medical Center (UMMC) between May and December 2020. The preintervention period was May–June 2020 and the postintervention period was September–December 2020. Patients were followed for 90 days after their operation. Before the intervention, SSI rates and compliance with prevention practices were documented. A multidisciplinary team was formed, and education regarding the elements of the SSI prevention bundle was conducted before they were implemented. The care bundle focused on monitoring compliance with preoperative bathing, contact time for skin preparation, hair management, and antibiotics prophylaxis given within 60 minutes prior to incision, as well as patient education. Result: With the implementation of the SSI bundle, we observed a significant reduction in the SSI rate by 50%, from 7 per 100 procedures to 2 per 100 procedures. Compared with the preintervention period, overall compliance with bundle elements improved greatly for preoperative bathing (0 vs 95.7%) and contact time for skin preparation (0 vs 98.8%). In the postintervention period, the method of hair removal was documented, compared to no documentation during the preintervention period. The administration of prophylactic antibiotics within 60 minutes prior incision decreased from 99% to 92.3%. Conclusion: Implementation of an SSI prevention bundle successfully reduced the rate of SSI after cesarean section. The SSI prevention bundle together with improvements by multidisciplinary teams and a good patient-safety culture helped reduce SSI rates. Patient education on pre- and postoperative infection prevention also played an important role in reducing this infection rate.

Immune cells play a key role in maintaining renal dynamic balance and dealing with renal injury. The physiological and pathological functions of immune cells are intricately connected to their metabolic characteristics. However, immunometabolism in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is not fully understood. Pathophysiologically, disruption of kidney immune cells homeostasis causes inflammation and tissue damage via triggering metabolic reprogramming. The diverse metabolic characteristics of immune cells at different stages of CKD are strongly associated with their different pathological effect. In this work, we reviewed the metabolic characteristics of immune cells (macrophages, natural killer cells, T cells, natural killer T cells and B cells) and several non-immune cells, as well as potential treatments targeting immunometabolism in CKD. We attempt to elaborate on the metabolic signatures of immune cells and their intimate correlation with non-immune cells in CKD.

High Mountain Asia (HMA) glaciers are critical water reserves for montane regions, which are readily influenced by climate change. The glacier mass balance during 2000–2021 over HMA was estimated by comparing the elevations from ICESat-2 and the NASADEM. Radar penetration depth could be one of the intrinsic error sources in estimating glacier mass balance by using NASADEM. Therefore, we doubled elevation differences between the X-band Shuttle Radar Topography Missions (SRTMs) and NASADEM to estimate the potential error. The spatial characteristics of the altitude-dependent penetration depth can be detected in most sub-regions of HMA. Relatively deep penetrations in the Himalaya (2.3–3.7 m) and Hissar Alay (4.3 m) regions and small penetrations in the south-eastern HMA (1.0 m) were observed. The HMA region experienced a significant mass loss at a rate of −0.18 ± 0.12 m w.e. a−1, in which the Hengduan Shan exhibited the highest mass loss of −0.62 ± 0.10 m w.e. a−1, the West Kun Lun experienced a substantial mass gain of 0.23 ± 0.13 m w.e. a−1, and the Karakoram showed a more or less balance. Our results are in agreement with previous studies that assessed the mass balance of HMA glaciers from different methods.

We report a generation of energetic protons by the interaction of a high-energy electron driving beam with an underdense plasma slab. After an interaction period of approximately 4000 fs, a proton beam with maximum energy greater than 250 MeV can be achieved by applying a driving beam with energy 1.0 GeV to a 200 $\mathrm {\mu }$m plasma slab. Our two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations also show that the proton acceleration process can be divided into two stages. In the first stage, a strong positive longitudinal electric field appears near the rear boundary of the plasma slab after the driving beam has passed through it. This acceleration process is similar to the target normal sheath acceleration scheme by the interaction between intense pulsed laser with overdense plasma targets. In the second stage, the accelerated protons experience a long-range acceleration process with a two-stream instability between the high-energy driving beam and the proton beam. Further analyses show that this accelerated proton beam is equipped with the property of good collimation and high energy. This scheme presents a new way for proton or ion acceleration on some special occasions.

The objective of this study was to analyze differences in birth weight and overweight/obesity in a Shanghai twin cohort. We also wanted to study their association and explore possible risk factors for the discordance of overweight/obesity within twins. This was an internal case–control study designed for twins. The 2012 Shanghai Twin Registration System baseline survey data of a total of 3417 twin pairs were statistically analyzed using SPSS22 software. Results show that the body mass index (BMI) of the Shanghai twin population increased with age. Twins with a high birth weight had a higher BMI and a higher rate of overweight and obesity; 0- to 6-year-old twins, male twins and dizygotic (DZ) twins had higher rates of overweight/obesity than other groups. The greater the discordant birth weight rate of twins, the more obvious the difference in BMI (p < .05). There was a significant difference in overweight/obesity between twins with a relative difference of birth weight ≥15% in DZ twins (p < .05). DZ twins, male twins and 0- to 6-year-old twins were more likely to be discordant in overweight/obese than others. The discordant birth weight within twins was not a risk factor for discordant overweight/obesity. However, attention should be paid to childhood obesity, and appropriate interventions should be made at the appropriate time. Genetics may play an important role in the occurrence and development of overweight/obesity. In conclusion, discordant growth and development in the uterus early in life may not lead to discordant weight development in the future.

In this article, the electron trapping and acceleration in the wake field driven by an ultrarelativistic hollow electron beam is studied. When the hollow driver injects into plasma, there is a doughnut-shaped electron bubble formed because of the existence of a special ‘backflow’ beam in the centre of the electron bubble. At the same time, there is a transverse convergence of the hollow driver, which leads to the weakening of the backflow beam. This results in a local electron density transition at the rear of the bubble. During this process, there is an expansion of the longitudinal electron bubble size, and a bunch of background electrons is trapped by the wake field at the rear of the bubble. The tracks for the trapped electrons show that there are two sources: one is from the bubble sheath and the other is from the unique backflow beam. In the particle-in-cell simulation where the driving beam has initial energy of $1.0$ GeV per particle, the trapped beam can be accelerated to energy of more than $1.5$ GeV per particle and the corresponding transformer ratio is $1.5$. With the increase of driving beam energy up to $40.0$ GeV, a transformer ratio of $1.4$ still can be achieved. By adjusting the hollow beam density, it is possible to control the trapped beam charge value and beam quality, such as its energy spread and transverse emittance.

X-ray powder diffraction data, unit-cell parameters, and space group for norethisterone enanthate, C27H38O3, are reported [a = 6.191(4) Å, b = 12.711(3) Å, c = 31.396(2) Å, α = 90°, β = 90°, γ = 90°, unit-cell volume V = 2471.16 Å3, Z = 4, ρcal = 1.104 g cm−3, and space group P212121]. All measured lines were indexed and are consistent with the P212121 space group. No detectable impurities were observed.

Strain path changes during clock rolling cause more serious interaction between adjacent grains, resulting in the occurrence of interactive regions (IRs) with random orientations. Furthermore, plenty of new grains with relatively random orientations are introduced by the subsequent annealing of these IRs. The morphology of the IR and the origin of random orientations were therefore investigated in this study, and the electron backscatter diffraction technique was used to characterize crystallographic orientations of nuclei and deformed matrices. A short-time annealing was imposed on a specimen to catch the transient nucleation behaviors. The results indicate that the orientations of nuclei are similar to their surrounding deformed matrices, especially the points with larger local-misorientation. Additionally, the shape of new grains depends on where it forms, and it is suggested that this fact mainly results from the great difference in stored energies between deformed matrices with {111} and {100} orientations.

Gauged river flow records from China generally span only a few decades, which hampers the detection of long-term, decadal- to centennial-scale cycles and trends in streamflow variability. New and updated tree-ring chronologies help reconstructed the water-year (October–September) streamflow for the Aksu River, which is an important river at the edge of the Taklimakan Desert that drains into the Tarim Basin. The reconstruction dates back to 1692 and has an adjusted r2 of 0.61 (1957–2006). Based on frequency, intensity and duration of droughts and pluvial events, the lowest streamflows occurred in the 1920s. Since then streamflow has continuously increased, and was exceptionally rapidly after the 1960s, until today. The start and end of the 20th century to the present were the highest streamflow periods. The mid-20th century was the longest and driest period over the past 300 yr. The reconstructed streamflow series has a strong positive correlation with the North Atlantic Oscillation Index. Changes in mid-latitude circulation patterns influencing precipitation may have indirectly resulted in streamflow variations along the Aksu River over the past 300 yr. The rapid increase and the exceptional streamflows of the 1960s are likely linked with global warming and mid-latitude atmospheric circulation changes.

We examined how external stakeholder pressure and ethical leadership independently and interactively influence the implementation of corporate social responsibility. Based on data collected from 292 employees from 53 companies (Study 1) and from 224 middle-level managers from 40 companies (Study 2) in mainland China, we found that both ethical leadership and external stakeholder pressure have significant and positive impacts on corporate social responsibility implementation and the positive effect of external stakeholder pressure on corporate social responsibility weakens under a higher level of ethical leadership and strengthens under a low level of ethical leadership. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.