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Fulltext Improved Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and high efficiency of root formation from hypocotyl meristem of spring Brassica napus 'Precocity' cultivar

Liu XX, Lang SR, Su LQ, Liu X, Wang XF

Genet. Mol. Res., 2015;14(4):16840-55.
PMID: 26681030 DOI: 10.4238/2015.December.14.11

Rape seed (Brassica napus L.) is one of the most important oil seed crops in the world. Genetic manipulation of rapeseed requires a suitable tissue culture system and an efficient method for plant regeneration, as well as an efficient transformation procedure. However, development of transgenic B. napus has been problematic, and current studies are limited to cultivated varieties. In this study, we report a protocol for regeneration of transgenic rape after Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of hypocotyls from the spring B. napus 'Precocity' cultivar. We analyzed the effects of plant growth regulators in the medium on regeneration. Additionally, factors affecting the transformation efficiency, including seedling age, Agrobacterium concentration, infection time, and co-cultivation time, were assessed by monitoring GUS expression. Results from these experiments revealed that transformation was optimized when the meristematic parts of the hypocotyls were taken from 8 day-old seedlings, cultured on Murashinge and Skoog basal media containing 0.1 mg/L 1-naphthaleneacetic acid and 2.5 mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine, and incubated in Agrobacterium suspension (OD600 = 0.5) for 3 to 5 min, followed by 2 days of co-cultivation. Integration of T-DNA into the plant genome was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), b-glucuronidase histochemical staining, and quantitative real-time PCR. The protocols developed for regeneration, transformation, and rooting described in this study could help to accelerate the development of transgenic spring rape varieties with novel features.
Fulltext Prevalence, distribution, and associated factors of suicide attempts in young adolescents: School-based data from 40 low-income and middle-income countries

Liu X, Huang Y, Liu Y

PLoS One, 2018;13(12):e0207823.
PMID: 30566431 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207823

Suicide attempts are the most important known predictor of death by suicide. The aim of this study is to examine the prevalence, distribution, and associated factors of suicide attempts among young adolescents in 40 low-income and middle-income countries. We used data from the Global School-Based Student Health Survey (2009-2013) and a nationally representative study in China (2010), which are school-based surveys of students primarily aged 12-18 years that assess health behaviors using an anonymous, standardized, self-reported questionnaire. We calculated the prevalence of suicide attempts in young adolescents from 40 low-income and middle-income countries using the surveys. Multilevel logistic models were used to estimate the associations between suicide attempts and potential risk factors, adjusting for gender, age, school and survey year. Results show that the mean 12-month prevalence of suicide attempts was 17.2%, ranging from 6.7% in Malaysia to 61.2% in Samoa. The overall prevalence of suicide attempts was higher for girls than for boys (18.2% vs 16.2%, P<0.05). Among the suicide attempts, the proportion of suicide attempts with a plan was higher for girls than for boys (62.7% vs 53.2%, P<0.05). Both the prevalence of suicide attempts and the proportion of suicide attempts with a plan increased with age. Factors associated with suicide attempts included poor socioeconomic status, history of bullying, loneliness and anxiety, tobacco and alcohol use, and weak family and social relationships. In conclusion, suicide attempts are frequent among young adolescents in low-income and middle-income countries. Girls and older adolescents tend to make suicide attempts with a plan. The data demonstrate the need to strengthen suicide intervention and prevention programs for young adolescents in low-income and middle-income countries.
Study name: Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS)
Fulltext Enhanced efficiency and security in cross-chain transmission of blockchain internet of ports through multi-feature-based joint learning

Xie Z, Zhang X, Liu X

Sci Rep, 2025 Feb 20;15(1):6199.
PMID: 39979319 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-85330-6

The rapid development of Blockchain Internet of Things (IoT) has intensified the need for efficient and secure cross-chain transmission across heterogeneous systems. However, traditional cross-chain methods, such as hash time-locked contracts and relay chains, focus primarily on security and correctness while neglecting performance optimization. This limitation is particularly pronounced in high-dynamic environments like port areas, where network congestion, high latency, and uneven resource utilization are prevalent challenges. To address these gaps, this study proposes a novel load-adaptive cross-chain control method tailored for Blockchain IoT systems in port areas. The proposed method integrates multi-feature joint learning with adaptive multi-channel joint bus control, enabling dynamic resource allocation and interference suppression for enhanced transmission efficiency. Furthermore, a distributed intelligent scheduling mechanism is introduced to improve scalability and stability under high-concurrency conditions by decentralizing task coordination across blockchain nodes. Additionally, federated learning is employed to optimize cross-chain communication while preserving data privacy, ensuring secure and collaborative optimization in multi-party environments. Extensive simulations validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, demonstrating significant improvements in throughput, latency, and packet loss rate compared to traditional centralized methods. The results highlight the method's ability to balance dynamic network loads, minimize interference, and adapt to real-time conditions. This work bridges the gap between performance-oriented optimizations and privacy-preserving mechanisms, offering a scalable and secure solution for Blockchain IoT systems in complex and dynamic environments.
The Protohermes dichrous species group (Megaloptera: Corydalidae), with description of two new species from eastern Malaysia

Liu X, Hayashi F, Yang D

Zootaxa, 2013;3620:501-17.
PMID: 26120721

A dobsonfly species group, the Protohermes dichrous group, endemic to Borneo, is characterized by the straight directed male ninth gonostylus with a narrow base and the elongate male ectoproct. Protohermes goodgeri sp. nov. and P. karubei sp. nov. from northern Borneo (eastern Malaysia) are herein described as new species placed in the P. dichrous group.
De novo assembly and characterization of foot transcriptome and microsatellite marker development for Paphia textile

Chen X, Li J, Xiao S, Liu X

Gene, 2016 Jan 15;576(1 Pt 3):537-43.
PMID: 26546834 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2015.11.001

Paphia textile is an important, aquaculture bivalve clam species distributed mainly in China, Philippines, and Malaysia. Recent studies of P. textile have focused mainly on artificial breeding and nutrition analysis, and the transcriptome and genome of P. textile have rarely been reported. In this work, the transcriptome of P. textile foot tissue was sequenced on an Illumina HiSeq™ 2000 platform. A total of 20,219,795 reads were generated, resulting in 4.08 Gb of raw data. The raw reads were cleaned and assembled into 54,852 unigenes with an N50 length of 829 bp. Of these unigenes, 38.92% were successfully annotated based on their matches to sequences in seven public databases. Among the annotated unigenes, 14,571 were assigned Gene Ontology terms, 5448 were classified to Clusters of Orthologous Groups categories, and 6738 were mapped to 228 pathways in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database. For functional marker development, 5605 candidate simple sequence repeats were identified in the transcriptome and 80 primer pairs were selected randomly and amplified in a wild population of P. textile. A total of 36 loci that exhibited obvious repeat length polymorphisms were detected. The transcriptomic data and microsatellite markers will provide valuable resources for future functional gene analyses, genetic map construction, and quantitative trait loci mapping in P. textile.
Fulltext The global, regional, national burden of nasopharyngeal cancer and its attributable risk factors (1990-2019) and predictions to 2035

Song Y, Cheng W, Li H, Liu X

Cancer Med, 2022 Nov;11(22):4310-4320.
PMID: 35475595 DOI: 10.1002/cam4.4783

We aim to report the latest incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) between 1990 and 2019, by age, sex, sociodemographic index (SDI), and provide predictions to 2035. We use estimates from Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019 to analyze the incidence, mortality, and DALYs. All the estimates were shown as counts and age-standardized rates (ASR). In 2019, there were more than 176,501 (156,046 to 199,917) incidence cases, with ASRs of 2.1 (1.9 to 2.4). Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) accounted for 71,610 (65,442 to 77,625) deaths, with ASRs of 0.9 (0.8 to 0.9). NPC was also responsible for 2.34 million (2,139,753 to 2,536,657) DALYs, with ASRs of 28.0 (25.7 to 30.4). The count of all the new cases increased from 1990 to 2019. At the regional level, the highest age-standardized incidence rates were found in East Asia, the highest age-standardized death and DALY rates were shown in Southeast Asia. At the national level, the age-standardized incidence rates were highest in Singapore, and the age-standardized death and DALY rates were highest in Malaysia. The total numbers and rates of all the estimates were significantly higher among males than females across most of the age groups. The considerable burden of NPC was attributable to alcohol use, smoking, and occupational exposure to formaldehyde. A total of six GBD regions and 88 countries are projected to experience an increase in NPC ASRs between 2019 and 2035, respectively. Despite the current decline in age-standardized mortality and DALY rates globally, the age-standardized incidence rate has increased from 1990 to 2019, and continues to increase between 2020 and 2035, indicating that nasopharyngeal cancer remains a major health challenge worldwide. Prevention strategies should focus on modifiable risk factors, especially among males in East Asia.
Effect of Latin dance on physical and mental health: a systematic review

Liu X, Soh KG, Omar Dev RD

BMC Public Health, 2023 Jul 11;23(1):1332.
PMID: 37434149 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-16221-6

BACKGROUND: Latin dance is a well-liked physical activity. It has gained increasing attention as an exercise intervention for improving physical and mental health outcomes. This systematic review examines the effects of Latin dance on physical and mental health.
METHODS: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) were used to report the data for this review. To gather research from the literature, we used recognized academic and scientific databases such SportsDiscus with Full Text, PsycINFO, Cochrane, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science. The systematic review only included 22 studies out of the 1,463 that matched all inclusion criteria. The PEDro scale was used to rate each study's quality. 22 research received scores between 3 and 7.
RESULTS: Latin dance has been demonstrated to promote physical health by helping people lose weight, improve cardiovascular health, increase muscle strength and tone, and improve flexibility and balance. Furthermore, Latin dance can benefit mental health by reducing stress, improving mood, social connection, and cognitive function.
CONCLUSIONS: Finding from this systematic review provide substantial evidence that Latin dance has effect on physical and mental health. Latin dance has the potential to be a powerful and pleasurable public health intervention.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: CRD42023387851, https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero .
Fulltext Mechanism Study of Traditional Medicine Using Proteomics Alone or Integrated with Other Systems Biology Technologies

Liu X, Kanthimathi MS, Heese K

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med, 2015;2015:828159.
PMID: 26798401 DOI: 10.1155/2015/828159
Fulltext Undergraduates' Negative Emotion and Academic Procrastination During COVID-19: Life Autonomy as a Mediator and Sense of School Belonging as a Moderator

Tian X, Liu X, Xiao Z, Lin Q

Psychol Res Behav Manag, 2023;16:3151-3169.
PMID: 37584038 DOI: 10.2147/PRBM.S413738

INTRODUCTION: This study aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on undergraduate students' academic procrastination and negative emotions. It seeks to examine the relationship between negative affect and academic procrastination among university students, considering the mediating role of life autonomy and the moderating effect of a sense of school belonging.
METHODS: The study sample consisted of 776 university students from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. Data collection involved the use of the Negative Affect Scale, Academic Procrastination Scale, Life Autonomy Scale, and Sense of School Belonging Scale. SPSS version 26.0 and PROCESS V3.580 to conduct relationship analysis, test the mediation model (model 4) and the moderated mediating model (model 7).
RESULTS: The findings revealed significant relationships among the variables. Negative emotions were negatively related with life autonomy and sense of school belonging, and positively related with academic procrastination. Academic procrastination showed a negative correlation with both life autonomy and sense of school belonging. Sense of school belonging exhibited a positive relationship with life autonomy. The study also identified life autonomy as a mediator in the relationship between negative emotions and academic procrastination. Additionally, the sense of school belonging moderated the initial segment of the negative emotion-life autonomy-academic procrastination pathway.
DISCUSSION: This study contributes to a better understanding of the association between negative affect and academic procrastination. It highlights that negative emotions have a direct and indirect influence on academic procrastination through the mediating role of life autonomy. Moreover, the moderating role of sense of school belonging suggests that the relationship between negative affect and life autonomy is stronger when the sense of school belonging is weaker.
Heating up the divide: Climate change and the quest for inclusive growth in urban China

Liu X, Liu J, Afthanorhan A, Hao Y

J Environ Manage, 2024 Aug 29;369:122269.
PMID: 39213845 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122269

Climate change has profoundly affected human production and development, and also brought new challenges to China's goal of achieving inclusive economic growth. Using the data of 273 cities in China from 2001 to 2019, this research evaluates the impact of climate change on urban inclusive economic growth by constructing a temperature bin variable according to the daily average temperature. It is found that with the temperature bin [18 °C, 21 °C) as the benchmark group, both temperature rise and fall have a negative influence on inclusive economic growth. Notably, the adverse effects of high temperatures (above 27 °C) are statistically and economically significant, exhibiting a trend of increasing magnitude. The mechanism test shows that high temperature affects the inclusive growth level of the urban economy mainly by exacerbating the urban‒rural income gap. The heterogeneity analysis found that cities located in hot regions, southern regions or coastal areas are more sensitive to high temperatures and experience more prominent effects. This research holds significant practical implications for China to achieve a win‒win situation of balanced economic development and climate governance.
A review of convolutional neural network based methods for medical image classification

Chen C, Mat Isa NA, Liu X

Comput Biol Med, 2025 Feb;185:109507.
PMID: 39631108 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2024.109507

This study systematically reviews CNN-based medical image classification methods. We surveyed 149 of the latest and most important papers published to date and conducted an in-depth analysis of the methods used therein. Based on the selected literature, we organized this review systematically. First, the development and evolution of CNN in the field of medical image classification are analyzed. Subsequently, we provide an in-depth overview of the main techniques of CNN applied to medical image classification, which is also the current research focus in this field, including data preprocessing, transfer learning, CNN architectures, and explainability, and their role in improving classification accuracy and efficiency. In addition, this overview summarizes the main public datasets for various diseases. Although CNN has great potential in medical image classification tasks and has achieved good results, clinical application is still difficult. Therefore, we conclude by discussing the main challenges faced by CNNs in medical image analysis and pointing out future research directions to address these challenges. This review will help researchers with their future studies and can promote the successful integration of deep learning into clinical practice and smart medical systems.
Fulltext Comparative analyses on epidemiological characteristics of dengue fever in Guangdong and Yunnan, China, 2004-2018

Yue Y, Liu Q, Liu X, Wu H, Xu M

BMC Public Health, 2021 07 13;21(1):1389.
PMID: 34256730 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-11323-5

BACKGROUND: In China, Guangdong and Yunnan are the two most dengue-affected provinces. This study aimed to compare the epidemiological characteristics of dengue fever in Guangdong and Yunnan during 2004-2018.
METHODS: Descriptive analyses were used to explore the temporal, spatial, and demographic distribution of dengue fever.
RESULTS: Of the 73,761 dengue cases reported in mainland China during 2004-2018, 93.7% indigenous and 65.9% imported cases occurred in Guangdong and Yunnan, respectively. A total of 55,970 and 5938 indigenous cases occurred in 108 Guangdong and 8 Yunnan counties, respectively during 2004-2018. Whereas 1146 and 3050 imported cases occurred in 84 Guangdong and 72 Yunnan counties, respectively during 2004-2018. Guangdong had a much higher average yearly indigenous incidence rate (3.65 (1/100000) vs 0.86 (1/100000)), but a much lower average yearly imported incidence rate (0.07 (1/100000) vs 0.44(1/100000)) compared with Yunnan in 2004-2018. Furthermore, dengue fever occurred more widely in space and more frequently in time in Guangdong. Guangdong and Yunnan had similar seasonal characteristics for dengue fever, but Guangdong had a longer peak period. Most dengue cases were clustered in the south-western border of Yunnan and the Pearl River Delta region in Guangdong. Most of the imported cases (93.9%) in Guangdong and Yunnan were from 9 Southeast Asian countries. Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia imported mainly into Guangdong while Myanmar and Laos imported into Yunnan. There was a strong male predominance among imported cases and an almost equal gender distribution among indigenous cases. Most dengue cases occurred in individuals aged 21-50 years, accounting for 57.3% (Guangdong) vs. 62.8% (Yunnan) of indigenous and 83.2% (Guangdong) vs. 62.6% (Yunnan) of imported cases. The associated major occupations (house worker or unemployed, retiree, and businessman, for indigenous cases; and businessman, for imported cases), were similar. However, farmers accounted for a larger proportion of dengue cases in Yunnan.
CONCLUSIONS: Identifying the different epidemiological characteristics of dengue fever in Guangdong and Yunnan can be helpful to formulate targeted, strategic plans, and implement effective public health prevention measures in China.
Ghrelin stimulates growth hormone release from the pituitary via hypothalamic growth hormone-releasing hormone neurons in the cichlid, Oreochromis niloticus

Ogawa S, Liu X, Shepherd BS, Parhar IS

Cell Tissue Res, 2018 Nov;374(2):349-365.
PMID: 29934855 DOI: 10.1007/s00441-018-2870-6

Ghrelin, a gut-brain peptide hormone, is implicated in a multiplicity of biological functions, including energy homeostasis and reproduction. Neuronal systems that are involved in energy homeostasis as well as reproduction traverse the hypothalamus; however, the mechanism by which they control energy homeostasis is not fully understood. The present study analyzes the anatomical relationship of neurons expressing gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), neuropeptide Y (NPY) and growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) in a cichlid, tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Additionally, we examine in vivo effects of ghrelin on these hypothalamic neurons and plasma growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels. Double-immunofluorescence showed neuronal fiber associations between GnRH, NPY and GHRH in the brain and pituitary. Intracerebroventricular injection of ghrelin had no effect on numbers, soma size, or optical density of GnRH and NPY neurons, whereas the number of GHRH neurons was significantly decreased in the animals injected with ghrelin when compared to controls, which may indicate administered ghrelin promoted GHRH release. Plasma GH and pituitary GH mRNA levels were significantly increased in the animals injected with ghrelin. These results suggest that central administration of ghrelin primarily act on hypothalamic GHRH neurons to stimulate GH release from the pituitary in the tilapia.
First Report of Rubber Tree Stem Rot Caused by Fusarium oxysporum in China

Li BX, Shi T, Liu XB, Lin CH, Huang GX

Plant Dis, 2014 Jul;98(7):1008.
PMID: 30708897 DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-01-14-0004-PDN

Rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) is an important crop in tropical regions of China. In October 2013, a new stem rot disease was found on cv. Yunyan77-4 at a rubber tree plantation in Hekou, Yunnan Province. There were about 100 plants, and diseased rubber trees accounted for 30% or less. Initially, brown-punctuate secretion appeared on the stem, which was 5 to 6 cm above the ground. Eventually, the secretion became black and no latex produced from the rubber tree bark. After removing the secretion, the diseased bark was brown putrescence, but the circumambient bark was normal. Upon peeling the surface bark, the inner bark and xylem had brown rot and was musty. The junction between health and disease was undulate. On the two most serious plants, parts of leaves on the crown were yellow, and the root near the diseased stem was dry and puce. The pathogen was isolated and designated HbFO01; the pathogenicity was established by following Koch's postulates. The pathogen was cultivated on a potato dextrose agar (PDA) plate at 28°C for 4 days. Ten plants of rubber tree cv. Yunyan77-4 were selected from a disease-free plantation in Haikou, Hainan Province, and the stem diameter was about 7 cm. The bark of five plants was peeled, and one mycelium disk with a diameter of 1 cm was inserted into the cut and covered again with the bark. The other five plants were treated with agar disks as controls. The inoculation site was kept moist for 2 days, and then the mycelium and agar disk were removed. On eighth day, symptoms similar to the original stem lesions were observed on stems of inoculated plants, while only scars formed on stems of control plants. The pathogen was re-isolated from the lesions of inoculated plants. On PDA plates, the pathogen colony was circular and white with tidy edges and rich aerial hyphae. Microscopic examination showed microconidia and chlamydospores were produced abundantly on PDA medium. The falciform macroconidia were only produced on lesions and were slightly curved, with a curved apical cell and foot shaped to pointed basal cell, usually 3-septate, 16.2 to 24.2 × 3.2 to 4.0 μm. Microconidia were produced in false heads, oval, 0-septate, 6.2 to 8.2 × 3.3 to 3.8 μm, and the phialide was cylindrical. Chlamydospores were oval, 6.4 to 7.2 × 3.1 to 3.8 μm, alone produced in hypha. Morphological characteristics of the specimen were similar to the descriptions for Fusarium oxysporum (2). Genomic DNA of this isolate was extracted with a CTAB protocol (4) from mycelium and used as a template for amplification of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA with primer pair ITS1/ITS4 (1). The full length of this sequence is 503 nt (GenBank Accession No. KJ009335), which exactly matched several sequences (e.g., JF807394.1, JX897002.1, and HQ451888.1) of F. oxysporum. Williams and Liu had listed F. oxysporum as the economically important pathogen of Hevea in Asia (3), while this is, to our knowledge, the first report of stem rot caused by F. oxysporum on rubber tree in China. References: (1) D. E. L. Cooke et al. Fungal Genet. Biol. 30:17, 2000. (2) J. F. Leslie and B. A. Summerell. The Fusarium Laboratory Manual, 2006. (3) T. H. Williams and P. S. W. Liu. A host list of plant diseases in Sabah, Malaysia, 1976. (4) J. R. Xu et al. Genetics 143:175, 1996.
Fulltext Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Properties of a 3D Flower-Like TiO2 Nanostructure Photocatalyst

Zhang Y, Liu X, Yusoff M, Razali MH

Scanning, 2021;2021:3839235.
PMID: 34630820 DOI: 10.1155/2021/3839235

Flower-like titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanostructures are successfully synthesized using a hybrid sol-gel and a simple hydrothermal method. The sample was characterized using various techniques to study their physicochemical properties and was tested as a photocatalyst for methyl orange degradation and as an antibacterial material. Raman spectrum and X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern show that the phase structure of the synthesized TiO2 is anatase with 80-100 nm in diameter and 150-200 nm in length of flower-like nanostructures as proved by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis of flower-like anatase TiO2 nanostructure found that only titanium and oxygen elements are present in the sample. The anatase phase was confirmed further by a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern analysis. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) result shows that the sample had a large surface area (108.24 m2/g) and large band gap energy (3.26 eV) due to their nanosize. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis revealed the formation of Ti4+ and Ti3+ species which could prevent the recombination of the photogenerated electron, thus increased the electron transportation and photocatalytic activity of flower-like anatase TiO2 nanostructure to degrade the methyl orange (83.03%) in a short time (60 minutes). These properties also support the good performance of flower-like titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanostructure as an antibacterial material which is comparable with penicillin which is 13.00 ± 0.02 mm inhibition zone against Staphylococcus aureus.
Fulltext In Situ SEM Nanomanipulation and Nanomechanical/Electrical Characterization

Lu Y, Shen Y, Liu X, Ahmad MRB, Chen Y

Scanning, 2017;2017:8016571.
PMID: 29238439 DOI: 10.1155/2017/8016571
Fulltext Examining the impact of physical education and physical skills development on preschoolers' physical and mental health

Wang N, Wang Q, Liu X, Mahfooz M, Savila Z

Front Psychol, 2022;13:1000653.
PMID: 36687947 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1000653

With greater socio-economic development and the popularization of scientific child-rearing methods, education has become of primary importance in contemporary society. This study attempts to promote the physical and mental health of preschoolers and improve their comprehensive learning ability. To understand the impact of sports skills and Physical Education (PE) on preschoolers' physical and mental health, we utilized the Questionnaire Survey (QS) and expert evaluation. First, the development of sports skills and the basic connotation of sports were expounded. Second, the characteristics of preschoolers and the importance of preschool education were discussed. Finally, the physical and mental health of 60 preschoolers was evaluated based on physical skill development and sports. The results revealed that the respondent preschoolers were grouped reasonably, and the research results had high reference values. In the control group, the physical conditions of four preschoolers changed significantly in the best case. By comparison, in the experimental group, preschoolers with significant physical changes had reached nine at best. In addition, as high as nine respondents showed obvious improvement in their mental state in the best case. Therefore, this study demonstrates that physical skill development and PE significantly impact preschoolers' physical and mental health, which has an important impact on preschoolers' learning. This finding provides a reference for preschoolers' sports skills development and contributes to their comprehensive PE teaching.
Fulltext Optimizing echo state networks for continuous gesture recognition in mobile devices: A comparative study

Yadav A, Pasupa K, Loo CK, Liu X

Heliyon, 2024 Mar 15;10(5):e27108.
PMID: 38562498 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e27108

Continuous gesture recognition can be used to enhance human-computer interaction. This can be accomplished by capturing human movement with the use of the Inertial Measurement Units in smartphones and using machine learning algorithms to predict the intended gestures. Echo State Networks (ESNs) consist of a fixed internal reservoir that is able to generate rich and diverse nonlinear dynamics in response to input signals that capture temporal dependencies within the signal. This makes ESNs well-suited for time series prediction tasks, such as continuous gesture recognition. However, their application has not been rigorously explored, with regard to gesture recognition. In this study, we sought to enhance the efficacy of ESN models in continuous gesture recognition by exploring diverse model structures, fine-tuning hyperparameters, and experimenting with various training approaches. We used three different training schemes that used the Leave-one-out Cross-validation (LOOCV) protocol to investigate the performance in real-world scenarios with different levels of data availability: Leaving out data from one user to use for testing (F1-score: 0.89), leaving out a fraction of data from all users to use in testing (F1-score: 0.96), and training and testing using LOOCV on a single user (F1-score: 0.99). The obtained results outperformed the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) performance from past research (F1-score: 0.87) while maintaining a low training time of approximately 13 seconds compared to 63 seconds for the LSTM model. Additionally, we further explored the performance of the ESN models through behaviour space analysis using memory capacity, Kernel Rank, and Generalization Rank. Our results demonstrate that ESNs can be optimized to achieve high performance on gesture recognition in mobile devices on multiple levels of data availability. These findings highlight the practical ability of ESNs to enhance human-computer interaction.
Seasonal impact of constructed wetlands on nitrogen and phosphorus in sediments of flood control lakes with pollution assessment

Li X, Liu X, Huang Y, Zhang Y, Li J

J Environ Qual, 2024;53(3):340-351.
PMID: 38595076 DOI: 10.1002/jeq2.20561

The primary drivers of eutrophication in lakes following the reduction of external nutrient inputs are the release of N and P from sediments. Constructed wetlands play a pivotal role in ameliorating N, P, and other biogenic element levels. However, the presence of large vegetation in these wetlands also substantially contributes to nutrient accumulation in sediments, a phenomenon influenced by seasonal variations. In this study, a typical constructed wetland was selected as the research site. The research aimed to analyze the forms of N and P in sediments during both summer and winter. Simultaneously, a comprehensive pollution assessment and analysis were conducted within the study area. The findings indicate that elevated summer temperatures, together with the presence of wetland vegetation, promote the release of N through the nitrification process. Additionally, seasonal variations exert a significant impact on the distribution of P storage. Furthermore, the role of constructed wetlands in the absorption and release of N and P is primarily controlled by the influence of organic matter on nitrate-nitrogen, nitrite-nitrogen, and available phosphorus, and is also subject to seasonal fluctuations. In summary, under the comprehensive influence of constructed wetlands, vegetation types, and seasons, sediments within the lake generally exhibit a state of mild or moderate pollution. Therefore, targeted measures should be adopted to optimally adjust vegetation types, and human intervention is necessary, involving timely sediment harvesting during the summer to reduce N and P loads, and enhancing sediment adsorption and retention capacity for N and P during the winter.
Nanorod reassembling on a sprayed SERS substrate under confined evaporation inducing ultrasensitive TPhT detection

Chang L, Liu X, Lee CY, Zhang W

Anal Chim Acta, 2023 Oct 23;1279:341825.
PMID: 37827623 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.341825

Triphenyltin is an estrogen like pollutant that poses significant environmental threats due to its highly accumulative toxicity. To improve regulation, a fast and sensitive detection method is urgently needed. SERS can capture fingerprint information and is capable of trace detection, making it an ideal solution. Here, we present a sprayed substrate comprised of lightconfining structures and gold nanorod assemblies that are easy to prepare, low-cost, and can form dense hotspots under confined evaporation. The substrates are three-layered: initially, a gold nanorod layer is sprayed as a support, then sputter Ag film on the surface to form a lightconfining structure, followed by another gold nanorod layer sprayed on the Ag film. The coupling of nanorod assembly with lightconfining Ag films leads to 10-fold sensitivity. In addition, sample droplet evaporation in a limited area called confined evaporation contributes to nanorod migration and reassembly on the corner of the substrate, enhancing analytes absorption, and substantially lowered the detection limits. By systematically evaluating the substrate performance, we were able to obtain an average enhancement factor of 3.31 × 106. After confined evaporation, the detection limit reached 10-18 M for R6G and for triphenyltin, it achieved 10-9 M. This novel method represents a significant advancement toward SERS application in detecting trace pollutants.

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