Transcription Factor PAX6 (Paired Box 6) Controls Limbal Stem Cell Lineage in Development and Disease*

PAX6 is a master regulatory gene involved in neuronal cell fate specification. It also plays a critical role in early eye field and subsequent limbal stem cell (LSC) determination during eye development. Defects in Pax6 cause aniridia and LSC deficiency in humans and the Sey (Small eye) phenotype in mice (Massé, K., Bhamra, S., Eason, R., Dale, N., and Jones, E. A. (2007) Nature 449, 1058-1062). However, how PAX6 specifies LSC and corneal fates during eye development is not well understood. Here, we show that PAX6 is expressed in the primitive eye cup and later in corneal tissue progenitors in early embryonic development. In contrast, p63 expression commences after that of PAX6 in ocular adnexal and skin tissue progenitors and later in LSCs. Using an in vitro feeder-free culture system, we show that PAX6 knockdown in LSCs led to up-regulation of skin epidermis-specific keratins concomitant with differentiation to a skin fate. Using gene expression analysis, we identified the involvement of Notch, Wnt, and TGF-β signaling pathways in LSC fate determination. Thus, loss of PAX6 converts LSCs to epidermal stem cells, as demonstrated by a switch in the keratin gene expression profile and by the appearance of congenital dermoid tissue

A protocol of Chinese expert consensuses for the management of health risk in the general public

IntroductionNon-communicable diseases (NCDs) represent the leading cause of mortality and disability worldwide. Robust evidence has demonstrated that modifiable lifestyle factors such as unhealthy diet, smoking, alcohol consumption and physical inactivity are the primary causes of NCDs. Although a series of guidelines for the management of NCDs have been published in China, these guidelines mainly focus on clinical practice targeting clinicians rather than the general population, and the evidence for NCD prevention based on modifiable lifestyle factors has been disorganized. Therefore, comprehensive and evidence-based guidance for the risk management of major NCDs for the general Chinese population is urgently needed. To achieve this overarching aim, we plan to develop a series of expert consensuses covering 15 major NCDs on health risk management for the general Chinese population. The objectives of these consensuses are (1) to identify and recommend suitable risk assessment methods for the Chinese population; and (2) to make recommendations for the prevention of major NCDs by integrating the current best evidence and experts’ opinions.Methods and analysisFor each expert consensus, we will establish a consensus working group comprising 40–50 members. Consensus questions will be formulated by integrating literature reviews, expert opinions, and an online survey. Systematic reviews will be considered as the primary evidence sources. We will conduct new systematic reviews if there are no eligible systematic reviews, the methodological quality is low, or the existing systematic reviews have been published for more than 3 years. We will evaluate the quality of evidence and make recommendations according to the GRADE approach. The consensuses will be reported according to the Reporting Items for Practice Guidelines in Healthcare (RIGHT)

TFI-Fusion: Hierarchical Triple-Stream Feature Interaction Network for Infrared and Visible Image Fusion

As a key technology in multimodal information processing, infrared and visible image fusion holds significant application value in fields such as military reconnaissance, intelligent security, and autonomous driving. To address the limitations of existing methods, this paper proposes the Hierarchical Triple-Feature Interaction Fusion Network (TFI-Fusion). Based on a hierarchical triple-stream feature interaction mechanism, the network achieves high-quality fusion through a two-stage, separate-model processing approach: In the first stage, a single model extracts low-rank components (representing global structural features) and sparse components (representing local detail features) from source images via the Low-Rank Sparse Decomposition (LSRSD) module, while capturing cross-modal shared features using the Shared Feature Extractor (SFE). In the second stage, another model performs fusion and reconstruction: it first enhances the complementarity between low-rank and sparse features through the innovatively introduced Bi-Feature Interaction (BFI) module, realizes multi-level feature fusion via the Triple-Feature Interaction (TFI) module, and finally generates fused images with rich scene representation through feature reconstruction. This separate-model design reduces memory usage and improves operational speed. Additionally, a multi-objective optimization function is designed based on the network’s characteristics. Experiments demonstrate that TFI-Fusion exhibits excellent fusion performance, effectively preserving image details and enhancing feature complementarity, thus providing reliable visual data support for downstream tasks

Application of heat pump combined two-stage desiccant wheel fresh air system of residential buildings in mixed climate zone

The building requires dehumidification for a long period of time in mixed climate zone of China. As a conventional method for dehumidification, vapor compression systems remove the water vapor by cooling the process air below dew point. This system consumes a lot of energy for reheating the air to meet the requirement of supply air temperature. A heat pump combined with two-stage desiccant wheel (TSDW&HP) is proposed as an air conditioning and dehumidification system in this study. The operation performance of proposed system applied in a hypothetical residence with 3 residents was investigated and simulated by using TRNSYS software. The operation modes of the system are discussed for different scenarios of season and outdoor air humidity ratio. In dehumidification season, fresh air deals with all of the latent load. In air conditioning season, fresh air deals with all of the moisture load with part of the cooling load. When evaporation temperature of HP is reduced and more moisture load is processed by evaporator in air conditioning season, there is a balance point between the performance of DWs and heat pump. The energy consumption of TSDW&HP fresh air system was compared with a conventional fresh air conditioner during dehumidification season and air conditioning season. It was found that the energy-saving potential of this system is 27.3% compared with conventional air conditioner

Application of heat pump combined two-stage desiccant wheel fresh air system of residential buildings in mixed climate zone

The building requires dehumidification for a long period of time in mixed climate zone of China. As a conventional method for dehumidification, vapor compression systems remove the water vapor by cooling the process air below dew point. This system consumes a lot of energy for reheating the air to meet the requirement of supply air temperature. A heat pump combined with two-stage desiccant wheel (TSDW&amp;HP) is proposed as an air conditioning and dehumidification system in this study. The operation performance of proposed system applied in a hypothetical residence with 3 residents was investigated and simulated by using TRNSYS software. The operation modes of the system are discussed for different scenarios of season and outdoor air humidity ratio. In dehumidification season, fresh air deals with all of the latent load. In air conditioning season, fresh air deals with all of the moisture load with part of the cooling load. When evaporation temperature of HP is reduced and more moisture load is processed by evaporator in air conditioning season, there is a balance point between the performance of DWs and heat pump. The energy consumption of TSDW&amp;HP fresh air system was compared with a conventional fresh air conditioner during dehumidification season and air conditioning season. It was found that the energy-saving potential of this system is 27.3% compared with conventional air conditioner.</jats:p

The climate adaptability evaluation of biogas fermentation assisted by solar greenhouse

The production efficiency of biogas digesters is largely restricted by the low environment temperature in winter, for most regions of China. As a feasible means of warming and heat preservation, solar greenhouse has the ability to expand the application scope and service time of biogas in rural China. The evaluation of climate adaptability of solar greenhouse is of great importance and imminent, due to the fact that both solar energy and biomass resources are affected by climate. In this paper, a complete evaluation index system for climate adaptability of biogas fermentation assisted by solar greenhouse was established. The indicators of the evaluation index system were selected by means of frequency analysis and theoretical analysis. The weights of the indicators, including solar radiation, outdoor air temperature, crop yields and human and animal manure, were determined by analytic hierarchy process combined with literature research, and the scoring rules were based on the objective significance of each indicator. The climate adaptability of typical cities in the Yangtze River Delta was evaluated with the evaluation index system. Among the cities, Hefei shows the best comprehensive adaptability, and then is Xuzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, and the lowest adaptability, Hangzhou. The comprehensive adaptability results of these cities depend not only on the gas production capacity, but also on the biomass resource and solar radiation

The effect of biogas fermentation assisted by simple solar greenhouse

Biogas fermentation rate is largely affected by environment temperature, causing a much more difficult production of biogas digesters in cold winter, for most regions in China. Combining the abundant solar energy resources and biomass dry anaerobic fermentation together, solar thermal energy can guarantee the production of biogas in winter. With this method, the prediction of the appropriate fermentation temperature is required. In this study, the effect of temperature on biogas fermentation was studied. To predict the fermentation temperature, a heat transfer model of biogas fermentation based on a project in city Xuzhou, which assisted with a simple solar greenhouse, was established according to the heat transfer theory. The maximum difference between the measured and calculated fermentation temperature was 2%. The effect of biogas fermentation assisted by simple solar greenhouse in typical city of different climate zones, including severe cold region, cold region and hot summer and cold winter region, was studied with the combination of heat transfer model and temperature-based biogas production rates prediction model. The results showed that, the gas production rate of biogas fermentation increases with the increase of temperature in a certain range. Assisted by simple solar greenhouse, the biogas digester temperature is increased by 6~8°C compared with the previous one, ensuring a better daily gas production rate of 0.5~0.7m3/m3 in winter.</jats:p