for the PCOSAct Study Group IMPORTANCE Acupuncture is used to induce ovulation in some women with polycystic ovary syndrome, without supporting clinical evidence.OBJECTIVE To assess whether active acupuncture, either alone or combined with clomiphene, increases the likelihood of live births among women with polycystic ovary syndrome. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSA double-blind (clomiphene vs placebo), single-blind (active vs control acupuncture) factorial trial was conducted at 21 sites (27 hospitals) in mainland China between July 6, 2012, and November 18, 2014, with 10 months of pregnancy follow-up until October 7, 2015. Chinese women with polycystic ovary syndrome were randomized in a 1:1:1:1 ratio to 4 groups.INTERVENTIONS Active or control acupuncture administered twice a week for 30 minutes per treatment and clomiphene or placebo administered for 5 days per cycle, for up to 4 cycles. The active acupuncture group received deep needle insertion with combined manual and low-frequency electrical stimulation; the control acupuncture group received superficial needle insertion, no manual stimulation, and mock electricity. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among Chinese women with polycystic ovary syndrome, the use of acupuncture with or without clomiphene, compared with control acupuncture and placebo, did not increase live births. This finding does not support acupuncture as an infertility treatment in such women. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Recent studies have shown that a number of microRNAs (miRNA or miR) may regulate human breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ABCG2), an important efflux transporter responsible for cellular drug disposition, whereas their effects on ABCG2 protein expression are not compared. In this study, we first identified a new proximal miRNA response element (MRE) for hsa-miR-519c within ABCG2 3′-untranslated region (3′UTR) through computational analyses. This miR-519c MRE site was confirmed using dual luciferase reporter assay and site-directed mutagenesis. Immunoblot analyses indicated that ABCG2 protein expression was significantly down-regulated in MCF-7/MX100 cells after transfection with hsa-miR-328- or -519c expression plasmids, and was markedly up-regulated in MCF-7 cells after transfection with miR-328 or -519c antagomir. However, ABCG2 protein expression was unchanged in MCF-7/MX100 cells after transfection with hsa-miR-520h expression plasmids, which was associated with undetectable miR-520h expression. Furthermore, ABCG2 mRNA degradation was accelerated dramatically in cells transfected with miR-519c expression plasmid, suggesting the involvement of mRNA degradation mechanism. Intervention of miR-328 or -519c signaling led to significant change in intracellular mitoxantrone accumulation, as determined by flow cytometry analyses. In addition, we separated RB143 human retinoblastoma cells into stem-like (ABCG2+) and non-stem-like (ABCG2−) populations through immunomagnetic selection, and found that miR-328, -519c and -520h levels were 9-, 15- and 3-fold lower in the ABCG2+ cells, respectively. Our data suggest that miR-519c and -328 have greater impact on ABCG2 expression than miR-520h in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells, and the presence of proximal miR-519c MRE explains the action of miR-519c on shortened ABCG2 3′UTR.

The surface water resources of a typical semi-arid watershed (Huangfuchuan) in the middle reaches of the Yellow River have drastically decreased over the past decade, which has affected the governance strategies of the entire Yellow River. The causes of the decrease in surface water are generally attributed to climate fluctuations and human activities. In this study, a distributed biosphere hydrological model the Water and Energy Budget-based Distributed Hydrological Model (WEB-DHM) and a Contribution Assessment method were jointly applied to diagnose and quantify climate and human impacts on the streamflow change. Long-term hydrometeorological trends were analysed first and one major change-point (in 1998) in the annual streamflow series was identified through the nonparametric Mann-Kendall test and the annual precipitation-streamflow double cumulative curve method. The WEB-DHM model was calibrated and validated over the baseline period of 1985-1998; the natural streamflow was reconstructed for the impacted period of 1999-2006. Then, the contributions of climate fluctuations and human activities to streamflow change were determined quantitatively by comparing the natural streamflow with the observed value. The mean annual streamflow significantly decreased from 34.05 mm year −1 to 13.72 mm year −1 in the baseline and impacted periods, respectively, showing a reduction of 60%. Climate fluctuations accounted for a decrease in mean annual streamflow of approximately 10.38 mm year −1 (51.03%), whereas human activities (including soil-water conservation measures, artificial water intakes and man-made water storage infrastructure) caused a decrease of approximately 9.96 mm year −1 (48.97%). These findings are potentially helpful to support the water resources planning and management in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. KEY WORDS climate fluctuations; human activities; surface water resources; distributed biosphere hydrological model; semi-arid Huangfuchuan River Basin

A novel approach has been developed to estimating river discharge solely using satellite-derived parameters. The temporal river width observations from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), made at two stream segments a distance apart, are plotted to identify the time lag. The river velocity estimate is then computed using the time lag and distance between the width measurement locations, producing a resultant velocity of 0.96 m/s. The estimated velocity is comparable to that computed from in situ gauge-observed data. An empirical relationship is then utilized to estimate river depth. In addition, the channel condition values published in tables are used to estimate the roughness coefficient. The channel slope is derived from the digital elevation model averaged over a river section approximately 516 km long. Finally, the temporal depth changes is captured by adjusting the estimated depth to the Envisat satellite altimetry -derived water level changes, and river width changes from Landsat ETM+. The newly developed procedure was applied to two river sites for validation. In both cases, the river discharges were estimated with reasonable accuracy (with Nash–Sutcliffe values >0.50). The performance evaluation of discharge estimation using satellite-derived parameters was also analyzed. Since the methodology for estimating discharge is solely dependent on global satellite datasets, it represents a promising technique for use on rivers worldwide.

Photocatalytic reduction of hexavalent chromium [Cr­(VI)] is a promising technology approach to highly efficiently and environmentally tackle the problem of Cr­(VI) pollution, in which the key challenge is in the development of effective photocatalysts. In this work, highly reduced hourglass-type molybdophosphate hybrids with the formulas [Zn­(mbpy)­(H2O)2]2[Zn­(mbpy)­(H2O)]2{Zn­[P4Mo6O31H7]2}·9H2O (1), [Na­(H2O)2]2[Zn­(mbpy)­(H2O)]2[Zn­(mbpy)­(H2O)2]2{Zn­[P4Mo6O31H6]2}·15H2O (2), and (H2mbpy)­{[Zn­(mbpy)­(H2O)]2[Zn­(H2O)]2}­{Zn­[P4Mo6O31H6]2}·10H2O (3) (mbpy = 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine) have been hydrothermally synthesized and used as photocatalysts for the reduction of Cr­(VI) under mild conditions. Structural analysis showed that the inorganic moieties in crystals 1–3 are composed of a unique 0D single cluster form, a 1D chainlike structure, and a 2D-layered structure, respectively, in which polyanions were constructed by hourglass-type molybdophosphates with one Zn­(II) ion as the central metal. These hybrids displayed good performance for the photocatalytic reduction of Cr­(VI) by virtue of their wide visible-light adsorption, suitable energy band structures, and specific spatial arrangements of polyanionic species. Among them, hybrid 2 exhibits the best photocatalytic performance with a Cr­(VI) reduction conversion rate of almost 94.7% within 180 min of reaction time. The photocatalysis mechanism investigation revealed that highly reduced hourglass-type molybdophosphate clusters can be illuminated by visible light. The photoinduced electrons induced by hourglass-type polyanions can directly reduce Cr­(VI) to Cr­(III), while the photogenerated holes are used to oxidize the sacrificial agent isopropyl alcohol to acetone. This work provides new guidance for the design and preparation of highly efficient photocatalysts for the reduction of Cr­(VI).