Anthropogenic and biological activities elevate microplastics pollution in headwater ecosystem of Yangtze tributaries in Hindu Kush-Himalayan region.

Microplastic (MP) pollution is widely spread in oceans, freshwater, and terrestrial environments but MPs in mountainous headwater ecosystem are rarely reported. This study focuses on the headwater of Yangtze tributaries of the Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region. Five streams at elevations of 900 to 3300 m were selected to investigate the distribution of MPs in water and sediments across altitudes.

Non-negligible impact of microplastics on wetland ecosystems.

There has been much concern about microplastic (MP) pollution in marine and soil environments, but attention is gradually shifting towards wetland ecosystems, which are a transitional zone between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. This paper comprehensively reviews the sources of MPs in wetland ecosystems, as well as their occurrence characteristics, factors influencing their migration, and their effects on animals, plants, microorganisms, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It was found that MPs in wetland ecosystems originate mainly from anthropogenic sources (sewage discharge, and agricultural and industrial production) and natural sources (rainfall-runoff, atmospheric deposition, and tidal effects).

Urbanization and weather dynamics co-dominated the spatial-temporal variation in pCO and CO fluxes in small montanic rivers draining diverse landscapes.

Rivers have been widely reported as important CO emitters to the atmosphere. Rapid urbanization has a profound impact on the carbon biogeochemical cycle of rivers, leading to enhanced riverine CO evasions. However, it is still unclear whether the spatial-temporal patterns of CO emissions in the rivers draining diverse landscapes dominated by urbanization were stable, especially in mountainous areas.

Watershed urbanization dominated the spatiotemporal pattern of riverine methane emissions: Evidence from montanic streams that drain different landscapes in Southwest China.

Methane (CH) emissions from streams are an important component of the global carbon budget of freshwater ecosystems, but these emissions are highly variable and uncertain at the temporal and spatial scales associated with watershed urbanization. In this study, we conducted investigations of dissolved CH concentrations and fluxes and related environmental parameters at high spatiotemporal resolution in three montanic streams that drain different landscapes in Southwest China. We found that the average CH concentrations and fluxes in the highly urbanized stream (2049 ± 2164 nmol L and 11.

Methane and nitrous oxide concentrations and fluxes from heavily polluted urban streams: Comprehensive influence of pollution and restoration.

Streams draining urban areas are usually regarded as hotspots of methane (CH) and nitrous oxide (NO) emissions. However, little is known about the coupling effects of watershed pollution and restoration on CH and NO emission dynamics in heavily polluted urban streams. This study investigated the CH and NO concentrations and fluxes in six streams that used to be heavily polluted but have undergone different watershed restorations in Southwest China, to explore the comprehensive influences of pollution and restoration.

Protein structure prediction based on particle swarm optimization and tabu search strategy.

Background: The stability of protein sequence structure plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of diseases.

Results: In this paper, particle swarm optimization and tabu search are combined to propose a new method for protein structure prediction. The experimental results show that: for four groups of artificial protein sequences with different lengths, this method obtains the lowest potential energy value and stable structure prediction results, and the effect is obviously better than the other two comparison methods.

Heat wave trends in Southeast Asia during 1979-2018: The impact of humidity.

In tropics, especially Southeast Asia (SEA), heat wave (HW) research is seriously scarce although several global studies have projected this region to be greatly susceptible to increasing HW events under climate change scenarios. Using the recently released ERA5 reanalysis data, we find that in most parts of SEA, HWs are becoming more frequent, longer-lasting and stronger, no matter using dry-bulb or wet-bulb temperatures to define HW. The increasing trends of HW characteristics based on minimum temperatures are larger than those based on maximum temperatures, suggesting an alarming situation of anomalously warm night.

Multilayer urban canopy modelling and mapping for traffic pollutant dispersion at high density urban areas.

A semi-empirical multilayer urban canopy model is developed to estimate the vertical dispersion of traffic emissions in high density urban areas. It is motivated by the heterogeneity of urban morphology in real urban cities and the need of quick urban design and planning. The urban canopy is divided into multiple layers, to include the impact of building height variance on pollutant dispersion.

Treatment outcomes and factors affecting unsuccessful outcome among new pulmonary smear positive and negative tuberculosis patients in Anqing, China: a retrospective study.

Background: Monitoring the treatment outcomes of tuberculosis and determining the specific factors associated with unsuccessful treatment outcome are essential to evaluate the effectiveness of tuberculosis control program. This study aimed to assess treatment outcomes and explore the factors associated with unsuccessful outcomes among new pulmonary smear positive and negative tuberculosis patients in Anqing, China.

Methods: A nine-year retrospective study was conducted using data from Anqing Center for Diseases Prevention and Control.