We performed a retrospective, observational study for 51 eyes of 51 treatment-naive patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), whose lesion ranged within the 6x6mm scope of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Patients were divided into two groups based on the pattern of branching vascular network (BVN) on OCTA: ill-defined group and well-defined group. BVN morphology was not related to baseline best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA). But the BCVA in the ill-defined BVN group (-0.18 [interquartile range: -0.40 to 0.00]) was significantly improved after anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injections, compared with that (0.00 [interquartile range: -0.18 to 0.00]) in the well-defined group (z=2.143, p=0.032). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that male sex, smaller number of injections, and presence of polypoidal lesions on OCTA images at baseline predicted a poor prognosis of polypoidal lesions on OCTA images after anti-VEGF therapy (all p<0.05). Finally, BCVA at baseline and the number of injections were protective factors for BCVA after anti-VEGF therapy (all p<0.05). In contrast, history of hypertension and macular edema at baseline were risk factors for BCVA after anti-VEGF injections (all p<0.05). Our results revealed the visual and morphological prognosis of patients with active subfoveal circumscribed PCV after anti-VEGF therapy.

As one of the main equipment of coal transportation, the belt conveyor with detection system is an important direction for the development of intelligent mine. The occurrences of non-coal foreign objects making contact with belts are common phenomenon in complex production environments and improper human operations. In order to avoid major safety accidents caused by scratches, deviation and breakage of the belt, a foreign object detection method is proposed for belt conveyor in this work. Firstly, a foreign object image dataset is collected and established, and IAT image enhancement module and attention mechanism of CBAM are proposed to enhance image data sample. Moreover, to predict the angle information of foreign objects with large aspect ratios, a rotating decoupling head is designed, and a MO-YOLOX network structure is constructed. Some experiments are carried out with the belt conveyor in the mine intelligent mining equipment laboratory, and the detections of different foreign objects are analyzed. Experimental results show that the accuracy, recall, and mAP50 of the proposed rotating frame foreign object detection method reaches 93.87%, 93.69%, and 93.72%, and the average inference time of foreign object detection is 25 ms.

In view of the limitations of the existing optimization method of suspender cable force, in order to improve the stress of suspender under completion state and avoid frequent adjustment of cable force and grid beam elevation during construction, a new method of cable force optimization is proposed. The article takes the longest large span arch bridge in the world, Pingnan Third Bridge, a Concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) arch bridge with a span of 575m as the engineering background combined with the finite element analysis and multi-objective optimization method. One cable force optimization method that suspender “Real-time correction during construction, in the process variable optimal and results reliable” during panel girder lifting of long span CFST arch bridges is clarified. Taking the panel girder weight and displacement during the construction as parameter variables, the displacement and unevenness of the panel girder under completion state as constraint conditions, the displacement and cable force during the hoisting construction as the objective equation, through the optimization of the objective equation, the suspender cable force and dis-placement of each hoisting section are calculated. The results show that it is feasible to introduce the optimization theory into the cable force optimization when lifting the panel girder. the segment displacement variation is minimized to meet the destination. The cable force distributed evenly under completion state of the bridge that further making sure the completion state satisfies the requirements. No repeating iteration is needed, thus avoiding cumberso me calculation, getting cable force once. With higher optimization efficiency and better effects, the method provides high value for the cable force calculation of same type bridge suspender construction and for guiding construction.

Leaf color mutants (LCMs) are important resources for studying diverse metabolic processes such as chloroplast biogenesis and differentiation, pigments’ biosynthesis and accumulation, and photosynthesis. However, in Dendrobium officinale, LCMs are yet to be fully studied and exploited due to the unavailability of reliable RGs (reference genes) for qRT-PCR (quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR) normalization. Hence, this study took advantage of previously released transcriptome data to select and evaluate the suitability of ten candidate RGs, including Actin (Actin), polyubiquitin (UBQ), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), elongation factor 1-α (EF1α), β-tubulin (β-TUB), α-tubulin (α-TUB), 60S ribosomal protein L13-1 (RPL13AD), aquaporin PIP1-2 (PIP1-2), Intima protein (ALB3) and Cyclin (CYCB1-2) for normalizing leaf color-related genes’ expression levels via qRT-PCR. Stability rankings analysis via common software Best-Keeper, GeNorm, and NormFinder disclosed that both ten genes met the requirements of RGs. Of them, EF1α exhibited the highest stability and was selected as the most reliable. The reliability and accuracy of EF1α were confirmed through qRT-PCR analysis of fifteen chlorophyll pathway-related genes. The expression patterns of these genes via EF1α normalization were consistent with the results by RNA-Seq. Our results will pave the way for molecular dissection of leaf color mutations in D. officinale.

Increased mitotic activity is associated with the genesis and aggressiveness of many cancers. To assess the clinical value of mitotic activity as prognostic biomarker, we performed a pan-cancer study on the mitotic network activity index (MNAI) constructed based on 54-gene mitotic apparatus network. Our pan-cancer assessment on TCGA (33 tumor types, 10,061 patients) and validation on other publicly available cohorts (23 tumor types, 9,209 patients) confirmed the significant association of MNAI with overall survival, progression-free survival and other prognostic endpoints in multiple cancer types, including Lower-Grade Gliomas (LGG), Breast Invasive Carcinoma (BRCA) and many others. We also showed significant association of MNAI with genetic instability, which provides a biological explanation of its prognostic impact at pan-cancer landscape. Futhermore, we found that patients with high MNAI benefit more from anti-PD-1 and Anti-CTLA-4 treatment. In addition, we demonstrated on LGG and BRCA that the multimodal integration of MNAI and the AI-empowerd Cellular Morphometric Subtypes (CMS) significantly improved the predictive power of prognosis compared to MNAI and CMS alone. Our results suggest that MNAI can be used as a potential prognostic biomarker for different tumor types toward different clinical endpoints, and multimodal integration of MNAI and CMS exceeds individual biomarker for precision prognosis.

Modeling and assessing the sustainability of machining systems has been considered to be a crucial approach to improving the environmental performance of the machining processes. As the most common machining system, the computer numerical control (CNC) milling system is a typical man-machine cooperative system where the activities of the machine tool and operator generate material and energy consumption. However, the energy consumption of the operator in the CNC milling system has often been ignored in most existing research. Therefore, existing methods fail to provide a comprehensive understanding of the sustainability of the CNC milling system. To fill this gap, an exergy loss assessment method is proposed to investigate the sustainability of the CNC milling system, where the energy consumption of the operator, the energy consumption of the machine tool, and material consumption are taken into consideration. The key performance indexes of the energy consumption of the operator, the energy consumption of the machine tool, the exergy loss, and the specific exergy loss (SEL) are analyzed and modeled. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method, a case study was carried out on a three-axis machining center (XH714D), in which SEL was found to be 88.04J/mm3. The proposed method is effective to assess the sustainability of the CNC milling system, and the established exergy loss models build a good basis for exergy efficiency optimization.

With the growing of university chemistry experiment projects, scientific research personnel, specialized equipment, laboratory accident is increasing yearly. And accident data lacks a safety platform to store related information and cannot be guaranteed for efficient conditional sharing. To solve these problems, we designed a laboratory accident system to store, share related data and predict risk level. In this paper, we manually collected chemistry laboratory accidents by python software and class assignments, then analyses risk factor variables using Spsspro, finally established a prediction model using Stata. We intended to register laboratory related data into proposed chemistry accident system based on data ownership safety architecture. The chemistry accident system can break data barriers using confirmation and authorization key technology to trace non-tampered data source in real time when emergency accident happens. Meanwhile, our proposed system can use our designed accident risk model to predict risk level of any experiment project. It can also recommend appropriate safety education models.

Rationale: The 14-3-3 protein family is known to interact with many proteins in non-cardiac cell types to regulate multiple signaling pathways, particularly those relating to energy and protein homeostasis; and the 14-3-3 network is a therapeutic target of critical metabolic and proteostatic signaling in cancer and neurological diseases. Although the heart is critically sensitive to nutrient and energy alterations, and multiple signaling pathways coordinate to maintain the cardiac cell homeostasis, neither the structure of cardiac 14-3-3 protein interactome, nor potential functional roles of 14-3-3 protein-protein interactions (PPIs) in heart has been explored. Objective: To establish the comprehensive landscape and characterize the functional role of cardiac 14-3-3 PPIs. Methods and Results: We evaluated both RNA expression and protein abundance of 14-3-3 isoforms in mouse heart, followed by co-immunoprecipitation of 14-3-3 proteins and mass spectrometry in left ventricle. We identified 52 proteins comprising the cardiac 14-3-3 interactome. Multiple bioinformatic analyses indicated that more than half of the proteins bound to 14-3-3 are related to mitochondria; and the deduced functions of the mitochondrial 14-3-3 network are to regulate cardiac ATP production via interactions with mitochondrial inner membrane proteins, especially those in mitochondrial complex I. Binding to ribosomal proteins, 14-3-3 proteins likely coordinate protein synthesis and protein quality control. Localizations of 14-3-3 proteins to mitochondria and ribosome were validated via immunofluorescence assays. The deduced function of cardiac 14-3-3 PPIs is to regulate cardiac metabolic homeostasis and proteostasis. Conclusions: Thus, the cardiac 14-3-3 interactome may be a potential therapeutic target in cardiovascular metabolic and proteostatic disease states, as it already is in cancer therapy.

Objective: Identify factors associated with excessive day time sleepiness (EDS) in individuals with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and analyze the effects that obesity and gender have on excessive daytime sleepiness in such individuals. Methods: A total of 160 people were selected for this study. All the people have completed a clinical evaluation, and whose apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) > 10 events/hour of sleep on polysomnography were included in the study from the Department of otolaryngology. Results: The Mean age was 43.87±11.34 years, mean EDS score was 14.09± 4.91, and mean AHI was 43.88±20.66 events/hour of sleep. Male presented lower mean age, higher EDS scores, and more time in apnoea, whereas females presented with higher mean age, lower EDS scores, and less time in sleep apnea. The EDS score showed best correlation with duration of apnoea (r = 0.448; p < 0.01), peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO₂; r = -0.458; p < 0.01) and AHI (r = 0.484; p < 0.01). The mean body mass index (BMI) was 27.41±3.86 kg/m². Normal, Overweight, obese, and morbidly obese were observed in 20%, 61%, 18%, and 0.6% of cases, respectively. Severity of the disease best correlated with BMI (r = 0.421; p < 0.01). Conclusions: OSA is predominant in males (M/F 5:1), and obese population. Females diagnosed with OSA have higher mean age. However, EDS scores and time spent in sleep apnoea is lower in females. Higher BMI is associated with EDS, irrespective of gender.

Chronic renal failure (CRF) is a major public health problem worldwide. In this work, we investigated the effects of a purified Laminaria japonica polysaccharide (LJP61A) on the renal function using adenine-induced CRF mice model. Results exhibited that adenine treatment caused serious renal pathological damages and elevation of serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen of mice. However, these changes could be significantly reversed by the administration of LJP61A in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, LJP61A could dramatically reduce the weight loss, improve the urine biochemical index, and regulate the electrolyte disturbance of CRF mice. These results suggested that the renal functions of adenine-induced CRF mice could be improved by LJP61A, which might be developed to a potential therapeutic agent for CRF patients.

This paper investigates the problem of the optimal arrangement for both UAVs’ caching contents and service locations in UAV-assisted networks based on the context awareness, which considers the influence between users and environment. In the existing work, users within the coverage of UAVs are considered to be served perfectly, which ignores the communication probability caused by line-of-sight (LOS) and non- line-of-sight (NLOS) links. However, the links are related to UAV deployment. Moreover, the transmission overhead should be taken into account. To balance the tradeoff between these two factors, we design the ratio of users’ probability and transmission overhead as the performance measure mechanism to evaluate the performance of UAV-assisted networks. Then, we formulate the objective for maximizing the performance of UAV-assisted networks as a UAV-assisted caching game. It is proved that the game is an exact potential game with the performance of UAV-assisted networks serving as the potential function. Next, we propose the log-linear caching algorithm (LCA) to achieve the Nash equilibrium (NE). Finally, related simulation results reflect the great performance of the proposed algorithm.

In this study, four kinds of animal bone marrow powders were extracted with n-hexane using the Soxhlet extraction method. Polyunsaturated fatty acids were enriched by urea inclusion and low temperature crystallization method, then were further evaluated antioxidant and antibacterial activities. These results showed that the oil composition of the n-hexane extracts of four kinds of animal bone marrow primarily consisted of palmitic acid (18.57–31.01%), stearic acid (3.6–20.95%), and oleic acid (40.22–58.69%). The ratios of saturated fatty acids (SFA)/unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) were 1/1.417, 1/1.327, 1/2.140, and 1.285/1 for sheep, bovine, horse, and camel bone marrow oil, respectively. The SFA/UFA ratios determined by the urea inclusion method were 1/1.518, 1/1.390, 1/2.037, and 1.216/1, respectively. The SFA/UFA ratios according to the low temperature crystallization method with acetone were 1/1.920, 1/2.141, 1/2.360, and 1/1.157 for sheep, bovine, horse, and camel bone marrow oil, respectively. These enrichment methods effected the concentrations of UFAs from the camel bone marrow oil. Among the methods, the low temperature crystallization method effectively enriched the UFAs. All four bone marrow oils exhibited strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. The horse bone marrow oil showed the strongest antioxidant activity. Both antioxidant and antimicrobial activity improved after enrichment of the UFAs. These results lay a theoretical basis for application bone marrow oil resources in food and medicine.

The feed-forward loop (FFL) is an important and basic network motif to understand specific biological functions. Cyclic-AMP (cAMP) receptor protein (CRP), a transcription factor (TF), mediates catabolite repression and regulates more than 400 genes in response to changes in intracellular concentrations of cAMP in Escherichia coli. CRP participates in some FFLs like araBAD and araFGH operons and adapt to fluctuating environmental nutrients thus enhancing the survivability of E. coli. Although computational simulations have been used to explore the potential functionality of FFLs, a comprehensive study of the functions of all structural types based on in vivo data is lacking. Also, the regulatory role of CRP-mediated feed-forward loops (CRP-FFLs) remain unclear to date. Using EcoCyc and RegulonDB, we identified 393 CRP-FFLs in the E. coli. Dose-response genomic microarray of E. coli revealed dynamic gene expression of each target gene of CRP-FFLs in response to a range of cAMP dosages. All eight types of FFLs were present in CRP regulon with various expression patterns of each CRP-FFL, that were further divided into five functional groups. Microarray and reported regulatory relationships identified 202 CRP-FFLs which were directly regulated by CRP in these eight types of FFLs. Interestingly, 30% (147/482) of genes were directly regulated by CRP and CRP-regulated TFs, indicating that these CRP-regulated genes were also regulated by other CRP-regulated TFs responding to environmental signals through CRP-FFLs. Furthermore, we applied gene ontology annotation to reveal the biological functions of CRP-FFLs.

Globally, weeds interfere with agricultural production activities and have a very serious impact on agriculture and animal husbandry. Identifying a safe and reliable weed control strategy might increase yield, production net income, and improve crop quality. A field experiment was carried out to explore the effects of weeds interference frequency on the yield and quality of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch in an arid and semi-arid area of northwest China. The experiment consisted of seven treatments and were (1) no weeding, marked as WF0; (2)-(7) artificial weeding by hoe once every 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 weeks after emergence, marked as WF1, WF2, WF4, WF6, WF8 and WF10, respectively. We found that the higher weeding frequency had a higher the plant height, photosynthesis, yield and quality. The highest yield was obtained in the WF1 treatment, while the cost of weeding was the highest among all treatments. The concentration of liquiritin and glycyrrhizic acid were increased by 53.24% and 36.57%, with the highest nitrogen metabolism enzymatic activities and quality in WF4 treatment. WF4 treatment exhibited the largest increases in the net income among all treatments in both growing seasons, with respective increases up to 71.39 % and 78.81%. These findings suggested that weeding once every 4 weeks would be an effective and sustainable measure to control weeds in an arid and semi-arid area.

Conical emission is a typical nonlinear phenomenon that occurs when the femtosecond laser pulses interact with transparent media. In this work, the conical emission induced by two kinds of typical vortex beams (i.e., Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) and Bessel-Gaussian (BG) beams) in water is experimentally studied. By recording the light spots of different wavelengths on the screen, the characteristics of the conical emission induced by femtosecond vortex beams are studied. It is found that the spots of the supercontinuum induced by the two kinds of vortex beams differ greatly from each other: The spots of the supercontinuum induced by the BG beam are a set of concentric rings like a rainbow with a white center, while the whit light spot in the case of the LG beam are a circular white disk, which is different from the commonly observed white light spots. By measuring the maximum divergence angle, it is observed that the divergence angle increases with the decrease of the wavelength, while the TC merely affects the divergence angle, which is explained from the formation mechanism of conical emission in terms of self-phase modulation. We hope this work can be helpful to the understanding of interaction between the intense laser pulses and matters.

Extracting railway tracks is crucial for creating electronic railway maps. Traditional methods require significant manual labor and resources, while existing neural networks have limitations in efficiency and precision. To address these challenges, a railway track extraction method using an improved DeepLabV3+ model is proposed, which incorporates several key enhancements. Firstly, the encoder part of the method utilizes the lightweight network MobileNetV3 as the backbone extraction network for DeepLabV3+. Secondly, the decoder part adopts the lightweight universal upsampling operator CARAFE for upsampling. Lastly, to address any potential extraction errors, morphological algorithms are applied to optimize the extraction results. Additionally, a dedicated railway track segmentation dataset is created to train and evaluate the proposed method. The experimental results demonstrate that the model achieves impressive performance on the railway track segmentation dataset and DeepGlobe dataset. The MIoU scores are 88.93% and 84.72%, with Recall values of 89.02% and 86.96%. Moreover, the overall accuracy stands at 97.69% and 94.84%. The algorithm's operation time is about 5% lower in comparison to the original network. Furthermore, the morphological algorithm effectively eliminates errors like holes and spots. These findings indicate the model's accuracy, efficiency, and the enhancement brought by the morphological algorithm in error elimination.

With the development of nuclear technology application, radiation safety has been widely concerned, and there is an urgent need for novel shielding materials. Among the various options available, non-lead organic composite shielding material has emerged as a promising solution in the field of radiation shielding due to its high strength, easy processing, and light weight. In this study, tungsten/epoxy resin (W/EP) composite samples with tungsten weight fraction from 0% to 60% were prepared. The shielding and mechanical properties of W/EP composites were investigated. The results show that the results showed that the higher the tungsten content, the greater the shielding capacity of W/EP composites, particularly for low-energy gamma ray (γ) shielding. However, the addition of tungsten reduces the impact strength and tensile properties of the material. Overall, for 300 keV γ-ray, W/EP with 30% tungsten content has comparable shielding capacity to ordinary concrete. W/EP composite materials can serve as shielding materials for low-energy γ-rays.

Parent education programs, offered via family-school partnerships, offer an effective means for promoting the mental health and educational functioning of children and adolescents at a whole-of-school level. However, these programs often have low uptake. This study aimed to identify strategies for increasing the uptake of parent education programs within preschool and school settings. A three-round Delphi procedure was employed to obtain expert consensus on strategies that are important and feasible in educational settings. First, thirty experts rated statements identified from the literature and a stakeholder forum. Next, experts re-appraised statements, including new statements generated from the first round. Ninety statements were endorsed by ≥ 80% of the experts. Primary themes include strategies for program selection, strategies for increasing the accessibility of programs and the understanding of educational staff on parent engagement and child mental health, strategies for program development, promotion, and delivery, as well as strategies for increasing parent and community engagement. This study offers a set of consensus strategies for improving the uptake of parent education programs within family-school partnership.

A fast calculation method for the full parallax high-resolution hologram is proposed based on the elemental light field image (EI) rendering. A 3D object located near the holographic plane is firstly rendered as multiple EIs with a pinhole array. Each EI is interpolated and multiplied by a divergent sphere wave and interfered with a reference wave to form a hogel. Parallel acceleration is used to calculate the high-resolution hologram because calculation of each hogel is independent. A high-resolution hologram with the resolution of 20,0000×20,0000 pixels is calculated only within 8 minutes. Full parallax high-resolution 3D displays are realized by optical reconstructions.

Cancer immunotherapy targeting immune checkpoints has exhibited promising clinical outcomes in many cancers, but it offers only limited benefits for pancreatic cancer (PC). Cancer stem cells (CSCs), a minor subpopulation of cancer cells, play important roles in tumor initiation, progression, and drug resistance. Accumulating evidence suggests that CSCs employ immunosuppressive effect to evade the immune recognition. However, clinical implications of the associations among CD8+ T cells infiltration, programmed death receptor ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression, and CSCs existence are poorly understood in PC. Immunostaining and quantitative analysis were performed to assess CD8+ T cells infiltration, PD-L1 expression, and their relationship with CD44+/CD133+ CSCs and disease progression in PC. CD8+ T cells infiltration was associated with better survival while PD-L1 expression was correlated with PC recurrence. Both the low CD8+ T cells infiltration/high PD-L1 expression group and the high CD8+ T cells infiltration/high PD-L1 expression group show high levels of CD44+/CD133+ CSCs, but patients with low CD8+ T cells infiltration/high PD-L1 expression had worse survival and higher recurrence risk than those with high CD8+ T cells infiltration/high PD-L1 expression. Moreover, CD8+ T cells infiltration could reduce unfavorable prognostic effect of high co-expression of PD-L1 and CD44/CD133. Our study highlights an interaction among CD8+ T cells infiltration, PD-L1 expression, and CD44+/CD133+ CSCs existence, which contributes to PC progression and immune evasion.

Vegetation has a significant influence on velocity distribution and turbulent energy in a confluence channel. A laboratory measurement with ADV was used to investigate the flow through a Y-shaped confluence channel partially covered with rigid vegetation on its inner bank. In this study, the flow velocities in cases with and without vegetation were measured by the ADV in a Y-shaped confluence channel. The results clearly show that the existence of non-submerged rigid plants has changed the internal flow structure, that the velocity in the non-vegetated area is greater than in the vegetated area, and that there is a large exchange of mass and momentum between the vegetated and non-vegetated areas. The velocity on both sides is significantly reduced when vegetation is present. In the vicinity of tributaries, due to the presence of vegetation, the high-velocity area moved rapidly to the middle of the non-vegetated area, and the secondary flow phenomenon disappeared. In the mainstream, when vegetation was present, circulation disappeared, and the degree of lateral mixing decreased. The presence of vegetation caused a great change in the internal flow structure and made the flow in non-vegetated areas more intense.

Praeruptorin A(PA), a naturally existing pyranocumarin, is isolated from the dried root of Peucedanum praeruptorum Dunn. So far the anti-cancer effect and molecular mechanism behind Praeruptorin A action in human cervical cancer HeLa cells remain unknown. In the present study, we find that PA reduces cell proliferation and colony formation of human cervical cancer HeLa cells through inducing cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase. PA-upregulated p21 and p27 proteins are observed, accompanied with inhibition of cyclin D1 and S-phase kinase-associated protein 2(Skp2) proteins expression. PA could significantly inhibit migration and invasion of human HeLa cells. Meanwhile, PA significantly reduces invasive protein expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), and increases protein expression of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2). PA is observed to possess the capacity in suppressing ERK1/2 activation. PD98059 (ERK specific inhibitor) significantly enhances PA-induced downregulation of MMP-2 expression, and upregulation of TIMP-2 expression. Moreover, we found that PA treatment notably inhibits 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate(TPA)-upregulated ERK1/2 activation, MMP-2 expression, cellular migration and invasion in human HeLa cells. Taken together, these findings are the first to demonstrate the anti-cancer activity of PA, which may act as a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of human cervical cancer.

Thin film transistors (TFTs) using In-Ga-Zn Oxide (IGZO) as active layer and the gate insulator was treated with NH3 plasma and N2O plasma, respectively, which is fabricated on flexible PI substrate in this work. The performance of IGZO TFTs with different plasma species and treatment time are investigated and compared. The experiment results show that the plasma species and treatment time play an important role in the threshold voltage, field-effect mobility, Ion/Ioff ratio, sub-threshold swing (SS) and bias stress stability of the devices. The TFT with a 10 seconds NH3 plasma treatment shows the best performance; specifically, threshold voltage of 0.34 V, field-effect mobility of 15.97 cm2/Vs, Ion/Ioff ratio of 6.33×107, and sub-threshold swing of 0.36 V/dec. The proposed flexible IGZO-TFTs in this paper can be used as driving devices in the next-generation flexible displays.

The (Ti, Nb)(C, B)/IN625 composite coating with both homogeneous and defect-free microstructure were successfully prepared by in situ on the surface of 42CrMo steel using the coupling of the ultra-high-speed laser cladding (EHLA in German) technology with the direct reaction synthesis (DRS) technology, and were comparatively analyzed with the IN625 coating prepared by the EHLA. The microstructure of the fused cladding layer was investigated by selected scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and double spherical aberration transmission electron microscopy (DSA-TEM). The residual stress distribution on both sides of the fused cladding interface was characterised by nanoindentation stress test based on the modified O&P method and the G&S energy method. The results show that the interface of (Ti, Nb)(C, B)/IN625 composite coatings is affected by about 670 kJ Joule heat released from the in-situ reaction, and the interfacial width reaches 24 μm, so that it is 6 times higher than that of IN625 coating prepared by EHLA, which effectively reduces the stress gradient in the interfacial region and alleviates the stress mismatch on both sides of the interface. However, the surface hardness of (Ti, Nb)(C, B)/IN625 composite coating is lower than that of the IN625 coating, with a value of about 240 HV0.2, and the average wear weight loss was only 10% of that of the IN625 coating, which is on the one hand attributed to the in-situ authigenic TiCB, TiC, NbMo3B4, and NbMo2B2 phases supporting the (Ti, Nb)(C, B)/IN625 composite coating substrate to achieve the abrasion reduction and wear resistance. On the other hand, it is attributed to the formation of nano-equiaxial ultrafine grains in the depth range of 250 nm below the wear surface area by the coupling of the three fields of plastic rheology-heat-force, which dynamically strengthens the wear surface.

Conservation tillage and deep side-fertilization both hold the potential to reduce nitrogen leaching and improve grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency in fragrant rice cultivation practices. However, the combined impact of different tillage practices with deep side-fertilization on nitrogen leaching remains uncertain. Therefore, this study conducted on-site experiments for four rice growing seasons in both early and late seasons in 2018 and 2019, using the fragrant rice varieties "Meixiangzhan 2"(MX) and "Xiangyaxiangzhan"(XY). The four experimental treatments included:conventional tillage with regular fertilization (T1), conventional tillage with simultaneous deep fertilization (T2), reduced tillage with simultaneous deep fertilization (T3) , and no-tillage with simultaneous deep fertilization (T4). Our results indicate that the T4 treatment exhibited higher nitrogen leaching rates and potential nitrogen losses throughout the entire rice growth cycle, with a 4.51% increase in total nitrogen leaching and a 1.86% increase in potential nitrogen leaching compared to T1. In contrast, the T2 treatment demonstrated the lowest nitrogen leaching rate, resulting in a 6.01% reduction in total nitrogen leaching and a 9.57% decrease in potential nitrogen leaching compared to T1, demonstrating the most optimal performance. For MX, the T1 treatment resulted in lower daily grain outputs compared to the other treatments, with disparities ranging from 5.35% to 9.94%. Similarly, for the XY, the T1 treatment yielded significantly lower daily grain outputs compared to the other treatments, with discrepancies ranging from 6.26% to 10.81% during the late season of 2019. Overall, this study shows that conventional tillage with deep fertilization effectively reduces nitrogen leaching and boosts fragrant rice yields. Minimizing nitrogen leaching enhances nitrogen utilization efficiency. These insights highlight the significance of strategic fertilization and cultivation for environmental conservation and agricultural sustainability.

Plant endophytic fungi and rhizosphere soil fungi are often reported as biocontrol agents against plant pathogens or with plant growth promotion potential. Four treatments were performed in field and greenhouse experiments where cucumber plants were inoculated with Trichoderma harzianum and Fusarium oxysporum in 2022. The roots, stems and leaves of cucumber plants and their rhizosphere soil were collected twice individually from the field and greenhouse for isolation of cucumber endophytic and rhizosphere soil fungi. All 74 genera and 1275 fungal strains were sequenced by rDNA ITS. The PDA media yielded the highest number of genera isolated from cucumber plants, rhizosphere soil and both compared to other media. There were no significant differences among the 4 media for the isolation of cucumber endophytic fungi. The best media for isolating fungi from roots and stems were MRBA and PDA, respectively. PDA and CZA had higher isolation efficiency for the rhizosphere soil fungi than MRBA. The 28 fungal genera had high isolation efficiency, and the endophytic Trichoderma strains were best isolated by MEA. It is suggested that PDA can be used as a basic medium, and different media can be considered for specific fungal genera.

Carrot juice and its associated beverage products are well-known healthy drinks all over the world. However, what effect carrot juice has on the human gut microbiota and how it is fermented by the intestinal microbes have not been studied. Here, using an in vitro model of anaerobic fermentation, we demonstrated that carrot juice could be fermented into lactate and acetate by the human gut microbiota. 16S high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatic analyses indicated that fermentation of carrot juice could significantly change the composition of the human gut microbiome. Interestingly, carrot juice remarkably increased the abundances of beneficial bacteria, including Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus salivarius, Lactobacillus mucosae and Bacteroides uniformis and decreased the population of opportunistic pathogenic bacteria, such as Enterococcus faecium in the gut. Collectively, our study illustrates a favorable effect of carrot juice on the human gut microbiota and lays a foundation for the development of carrot juice as a novel prebiotic agent.

Tilapia lake virus (TiLV) is the main tilapia-infecting virus worldwide, causing serious economic losses. However, there is no vaccine for this viral disease. Here, TiLV ORF10 (TiLV-ORF10) encoding a protein with abundant epitopes was constructed into the eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1, and used to evaluate the immune protective effects in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). RT-PCR and western blot analyses confirmed vaccine plasmid expression in tilapia muscle tissues. Moreover, the transcription levels of immunoglobulin M, toll-like receptor 2, myeloid differentiation factor 88, interleukin 8, tumor necrosis factor alpha, gamma-IFN, and nuclear factor κB immune-related genes were statistically significantly upregulated in the spleen, liver, and kidney of vaccinated tilapias (P < 0.05). TiLV challenge experiments showed that relative percent survival (RPS) was significantly enhanced in fish by this DNA vaccine. Moreover, RPS was enhanced further when using a higher amount of the DNA vaccine (85.72% RPS at a DNA dose of 45 μg pcDNA3.1–ORF10). Vaccination with pcDNA3.1–ORF10 significantly reduced virus replication, as evidenced by the low amount of virus in the spleen, liver, and kidney of vaccinated tilapias after TiLV challenge. Thus, pcDNA3.1–ORF10 could induce protective immunity in tilapia and may be a potential vaccine candidate for controlling diseases caused by TiLV.

Existing methods for detecting magnetic leakage signals from damaged wire ropes require axial saturation magnetisation, and the accuracy of the detection equipment depends on the saturation degree of magnetisation. Moreover, the expected magnetisation effect is usually difficult to achieve owing to the special characteristics of the rope structure, diameter, and operating environment of the wire rope. Consequently, in addition to other issues, the detection accuracy and versatility of the equipment are low. In this study, a method based on spatial multidimensional orthogonal array loop magnetisation for detecting mine wire rope defects is proposed. Firstly, a new sensor excitation structure model is developed. Then a method of radiant magnetic flux of permanent magnet array is analysed, and the influence law of the number of permanent radiant magnetic blocks on the magnetisation effect is studied. In addition, a method of wire rope detection based on the principle of clustering is investigated, according to which the influence law of the shape, structure, and size of the polyurethane device on the effect of magnetisation is discussed. Finally, through laboratory experiments, the test model and proposed method are verified. The results show that the magnetisation effect is better and more cost-effective when the number of permanent magnet radiation magnetic block is n=8, and the proposed detection method can effectively distinguish damaged wire rope joints. Furthermore, the proposed equipment achieved signal-to-noise ratio of the signals, improving the reliability of damage detection.

Transition-metal-catalyzed amide bond formation from alcohols and amines is an atom-economic and eco-friendly route. Herein, we identified a highly active in situ N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)/ruthenium (Ru) catalytic system for this amide synthesis. Various substrates, including sterically hindered ones, could be directly transformed into the corresponding amides with the catalyst loading as low as 0.25 mol%. In this system, we replaced the p-cymene ligand of the Ru source with a relatively labile cyclooctadiene (cod) ligand so as to more efficiently obtain the corresponding poly-carbene Ru species. Expectedly, the weaker cod ligand could be more easily substituted with multiple mono-NHC ligands. Further HR-MS analyses revealed that two tetra-carbene complexes were probably generated from the in situ catalytic system.

Flow over a cluster of three equally spaced circular cylinders was studied by numerical simulation on base of the turbulent mode k-kl-ω for two incidence angles β=0° and 60°, at different Reynolds number,in this paper, flow interference pattern characteristics between cylinders, characteristics of force parameters and Strouhal number of each cylinder with different spacing ratios ranging from 1.5 to 4 at Re 8×104, 2×105and 2×106 had been obtained. At incidence angle β=0° and 60°, the wake was nearly symmetric if S/D≥2.0; at β=60°,S/D=1.5 and Re=2×105, the asymmetric periodic flow pattern occurred in the wake region which leaded to the significant effect on the surface mechanical parameters and Strouhal number which was found for the first time; the periodic flow regime of the wake region also occurred at S/D=1.35 and 1.5, without the same phenomenon at S/D=1.7 and 2.0; the phenomenon of periodic flow regime of the wake region was intrinsic and related to Reynolds number and space ratio. in addition, characteristics of force parameters of three cylinders mainly were affected by the interference between cylinders, at 1.5&lt;S/D&lt;4, which leaded to that the drag coefficient of three cylinders reduced with different Reynolds numbers. At incidence angle 60°, in subcritical and critical regime, the Strouhal numbers of the upstream cylinders were more than that of single cylinder, and with the enlargement of spacing ratio, the Strouhal number decreased; for the downstream cylinder , the Strouhal number is far less than that of single cylinder and with the enlargement of spacing ratio, the Strouhal number increases, which were another prominent flow inference influence. The results indicated the effect of flow interference between cylinders subjected to a cross flow over a cluster of three equally spaced cylinders on the flow pattern,surface mechanical parameters and Strouhal number.

Applied talent is not only a builder of human civilization but also a promoter of economic development. They not only need systematic and solid engineering theoretical knowledge but also rich engineering practical experience. Applied undergraduate colleges are the cradle for cultivating applied talent and shoulder the important mission of cultivating various types of applied talent for society. With the rapid development of higher education, the number of applied undergraduate institutions has sharply increased, but the quality of applied talent cultivated by them has shown a significant decline, which greatly restricts the pace of industrial development in the world. This article proposes a new concept of promoting the "three certificates" (graduation certificate, degree certificate, and skill certificate) education model in applied undergraduate colleges, which is of great significance for the country to cultivate composite talents with the ability of "product design, production management, and product processing" at the same time.

Selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) has higher bioavailability and safety than inorganic selenium, and was widely used in medical, agricultural, nutritional supplements, and antibacterial fields. The present study screened a strain L11 producing SeNPs from a selenium rich dairy cow breeding base in Hubei Province, China. The strain was identified as Bacillus subtilis through physiological, biochemical, and molecular biology analysis. Through optimization of cultivation conditions, the optimal cultivation parameters for L11 to produce SeNPs were pH=6, cultivation temperature of 37 °C, 4 mmol/L Na2SeO3, and cultivation for 48 hours. XPS, SEM-EDS, and TEM were used to verify that the Se particles produced by L11 are SeNPs with diameters ranging from 50 to 200 nm. The combination of protein analysis of different cell components and TEM analysis showed that L11 mainly produces SeNPs through the transformation of the cell's periplasmic space, cell membrane, and cell wall. Adding L11 SeNPs complex to sheep feed can significantly enhance the antioxidant activity and immunity of sheep, and increase the Se content in the neck muscles, liver, and spleen tissues.

The effects of carbon fiber hybridisation on the thermal properties of woven kenaf reinforced epoxy composites kenaf fibre were studied. Woven kenaf hybrid composites at the different weave designs of plain and satin, and fabric count of 5 × 5 and 6 × 6 were manually prepared by vacuum infusion technique. Thermal properties of pure carbon fibre and hybrid composites were conducted by using thermogravimetric analyser (TGA) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). It was found that at high kenaf fibre content showed better thermal stability while the highest thermally stable was found in pure carbon fibre composite. The TG and DTG results showed that the amount of residue decreased in plain-designed hybrid composite compared to satin-designed hybrid composite. The DSC data revealed that the presence of woven kenaf increase decomposition temperature.

This paper develops a novel energy universal service bus system (EUSBS) based on emerging energy Internet (E-net) technologies. This EUSBS is a unified identification and plug-and-play interface platform to which high penetration distributed energy and equipment (DEE), including photovoltaic (PV), fans, electric vehicle charging stations (EVCSs), energy storage equipment (ESE), and commercial and residential users (CRUs), can access in a coordinated control and optimized utilization mode. First, the functions design, overall framework and topology architecture design of the EUSBS are expounded, among which the EUSBS is mainly composed of a hardware system and a software platform. Moreover, several future application scenarios are presented. Then, the hardware part of EUSBS is designed and developed, including the framework design of this hardware subsystem, and development of the hardware equipment for PV access, fans access, EVCS access, ESE access, and CRU access. The hardware subsystem consists of smart socket, and household/floor/building concentrators. Based on this, the prototypes development of EUSBS hardware equipment is completely demonstrated. Third, the software part of the EUSBS is developed as a cloud service platform for electricity use data analysis of DEE. This software subsystem contains the power quality & energy efficiency analysis module, optimization control module, information and service module, and data monitoring and electricity behavior analysis module. Based on this design, the software interfaces are developed. Finally, an application study on energy management and optimization of a smart commercial building is conducted to evaluate the functions and practicality of this EUSBS. The EUSBS developed in this paper is able to overcome difficulties in big data collection and utilization on sides of distribution network and electricity utilization, and eventually implement a deep information-energy fusion and a friendly supply-demand interaction between the grid and users. This contribution presents a detailed and systematic development scheme of the EUSBS, and moreover, the laboratory prototypes of the hardware and software subsystems have been developed based on E-net technologies. This paper can provide some thoughts and suggestions for the research of active distribution network and comprehensive energy management and optimization in power systems, as well as references and guidance for researchers to carry out research regarding energy management, optimization and coordinated control of the smart buildings.

With the introduction of policies to promote intangible cultural heritage into schools, intangible cultural heritage plays an increasingly important role in primary education. However, the implementation of the intangible cultural heritage policy in primary schools is mostly formalized, which leads to many problems in the introduction of intangible cultural heritage, such as mainly staying at the level of visual display and public opinion publicity, carrying out a small number of intangible cultural experience activities, and insufficient materialization and scenization of intangible cultural heritage, so that students cannot feel the inherent charm of intangible cultural heritage. In order to promote the development of intangible cultural heritage education, this paper uses the AGIL model of Parsons, literature analysis, case analysis and interview methods to study the promotion path of intangible cultural heritage in primary schools, and proposes solutions such as setting educational goals for school segments, setting up intangible cultural experience activities in schools, combining intangible cultural heritage with subject courses, and establishing a good maintenance mode. After the program is applied into practice, it is found that the use of storytelling by teachers to popularize the relevant knowledge of intangible cultural heritage is conducive to stimulating students' interest and prompting students to think. In addition, teaching and life practice should be combined, and students' five education should be emphasized at the same time to avoid teaching uniformity.

Purpose: School-age children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) often experience difficulties in speech-in-noise (SiN) perception, leading to increased listening effort that impacts their well-being and academic performance. This study aimed to investigate the SiN processing challenges faced by Mandarin-speaking children with ASC and its impact on their listening effort. Methods: Participants completed sentence recognition tests in both quiet and noisy conditions, with a steady-state noise masker presented at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio in the noisy condition. We compared recognition accuracy and task-evoked pupil responses from 23 Mandarin-speaking children with ASC to 19 age-matched neurotypical (NT) counterparts to gauge their behavioral performance and listening effort during these auditory tasks. Results: The ASC group demonstrated notably decreased accuracy in noise compared to their NT peers, suggesting poorer SiN perception. Pupillometric data further revealed significantly larger peak dilations in the ASC group than in the NT group under comparable conditions. Importantly, the ASC group's peak dilation in quiet mirrored the NT group's in noise. However, the ASC group exhibited shorter peak latencies and reduced mean dilations than the NT group in similar conditions. Such patterns indicate the ASC group might initially experience a heightened cognitive load but utilize fewer cognitive resources as the task continued, indicating an atypical allocation of cognitive resources and a potential tendency towards relatively superficial and automated auditory processing. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the unique SiN processing challenges children with ASC face, underscoring the importance of a nuanced, individual-centric approach for interventions and support.

Anthracnose is one of primary diseases in tea plants that affects tea yield and quality. The geographical distribution, occurrence regularity, and agronomic measures of tea plants with anthracnose have been researched for decades. However, the pathogenic cause of anthracnose in tea plants is diverse in different regions of the world. Identifying the specific pathogenic fungi causing tea anthracnose is an essential control measure to mitigate this disease. In this study, 88 Diaporthales and 45 Colletotrichum isolates were obtained from 3 different types of diseased tea leaves. Based on multilocus phylogenetic and morphological analysis, 3 known species, including Discula theae-sinensis, Diaporthe ueckerae, Diaporthe lithocarpus, and 3 indistinguishable species of Diaporthales were identified. In adddition, 8 known species of Colletotrichum, C. fructicola, C. camelliae, C. aenigma, C. siamense, C. henanense, C. karstii, C. tropicicola, C. gigasporum, were identified. This study is the first to report C. tropicicola and C. gigasporum in tea plant in China. Discula theae-sinensis was the most common species in this study and caused disease lesions around wounded areas of tea leaves. The dual trials in vitro indicated Discula theae-sinensis and Colletotrichum were slight inhibition. Co-inoculating Discula theae-sinensis and C. fructicola was superior to single inoculation at low concentration.

(1) Background: The elderly who have chewing difficulty (CD) are prone to malnutrition, frail-ty, and sarcopenia, and those with insufficient physical activity (IPA) are also prone to frailty, overweight, and high blood cholesterol. There is an urgent need to prepare functional foods and to promote healthy physical activity for the elderly over 70 years of age to prevent poor nutri-tion and frailty. (2) Methods: This study prepared functional foods (FF) with softened chicken moose and milkfish without fin for the elderly and compared the different effects of FF from those of music aerobic exercise (MAE) on the complete blood counts, blood biochemistry, in-cluding nutrition index of albumin, and cholesterol levels, and frailty scores before and after in-stitution of FF and MAE among residents of long-term care institutes. (3) Results: The FF signif-icantly increased the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and albumin levels. In contrast, MAE significantly increased red blood cells (RBC), and decreased the rates of frailty items on fatigue feeling and low physical activity. In comparison between FF and MAE groups, we found that the FF for 5 weeks significantly improved better on HDL-C and MCV while the MAE for 10 weeks improved significantly better on hematopoiesis as increases in red blood cells and platelets. (4) Conclusions: Results from this study suggest that FF and MAE for the elderly have different ef-fects on nutrition status, blood biochemistry and frailty. A combination of both FF and MAE might provide better benefits of nutrition status, physical function, and frailty for the elderly.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination in rice grains is posing a significant threat to global food security. To restrict the transport of Cd in the soil-rice system, an efficient way is to use the ionomics strate-gy. Since calcium (Ca) and Cd have similar ionic radii, their uptake and translocation may be linked in multiple aspects in rice. However, the underlying antagonistic mechanisms are still not fully understood. Therefore, we first summarized the current knowledge on the physiological and molecular footprints of Cd translocation in plants and then explored the potential antagonistic points between Ca and Cd in rice, including exchange adsorption on roots, plant cell wall compo-sition, co-transporter gene expression, and transpiration inhibition. This review provides sugges-tions for the Ca/Cd interacting study in rice and introduces the ionomics research to better control the accumulation of Cd in plants.

Hydrogel antibacterial agent is an ideal antibacterial material because of it could diffuses antibacterial molecules into the decayed area by providing a suitable microenvironment and the hydrogel acts as a protective barrier on the decay interface. The biocompatibility and biodegradation make the removal process easily which were widely used in medical fields. However, there have been few reports on its application for controlling postharvest diseases in fruit. In this study, the Chitosan-Ag (CS-Ag) complex hydrogels were prepared using the physical crosslinking method, which used for controlling postharvest diseases in grape. The prepared hydrogels were stable for a long period at room temperature. The structure and surface morphology of CS-Ag composite hydrogels were characterized by UV-Vis, FTIR, SEM, and XRD. The inhibitory effects of CS-Ag hydrogel on disease in grape caused by P. expansum, A. niger and B. cinerea were investigated both in vivo and in vitro. The remarkable antibacterial activity of CS-Ag hydrogels was mainly due to the synergistic antibacterial and antioxidant effects of CS and Ag. Preservation test showed that the CS-Ag hydrogel had positive fresh-keeping effect. This revealed CS-Ag hydrogels plays a critical role in controlling fungal disease in grape.

Archaea are an essential class of gut microorganisms in humans and animals. Despite the substantial progress in gut microbiome research in the last decade, most studies have focused on bacteria, and little is known about archaea in mammals. In this study, we investigated the composition, diversity, and functional potential of gut archaeal communities in pigs by re-analyzing a published metagenomic dataset including a total of 276 fecal samples from three countries: China (n=76), Denmark (n=100), and France (n=100). For alpha diversity (Shannon Index) of the archaeal communities, Chinese pigs were less diverse than Danish and French pigs (P<0.001). Consistently, Chinese pigs also possessed different archaeal community structures from the other two groups based on the Bray-Curtis distance matrix. Methanobrevibacter was the most dominant archaeal genus in Chinese pigs (44.94%) and French pigs (15.41%), while Candidatus Methanomethylophilus was the most predominant in Danish pigs (15.71%). At the species level, the relative abundance of Candidatus Methanomethylophilus alvus, Natrialbaceae archaeon XQ INN 246, and Methanobrevibacter gottschalkii were greatest in Danish, French, and Chinese pigs with a relative abundance of 14.32%, 11.67%, and 16.28%, respectively. In terms of metabolic potential, the top three pathways in the archaeal communities included the MetaCyc pathway related to the biosynthesis of L-valine, L-isoleucine, and isobutanol. Interestingly, the pathway related to hydrogen consumption (METHANOGENESIS-PWY) was only observed in archaeal reads, while the pathways participating in hydrogen production (FERMENTATION-PWY and PWY4LZ-257) were only detected in bacterial reads. Archaeal communities also possessed CAZyme gene families, with the top five being: AA3, GH43, GT2, AA6, and CE9. In terms of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), the class of multidrug resistance was the most abundant ARG, accounting for 87.41% of archaeal ARG hits. Our study reveals the diverse composition and metabolic functions of archaea in pigs, suggesting that archaea might play important roles in swine nutrition and metabolism.

14-Deoxy-11,12-didehydroandrographolide (deAND), a diterpenoid in Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees, acts as a bioactive phytonutrient that can treat many diseases. To investigate the protective effects of deAND on reducing fatty liver disease, male mice were fed a high-fat and high-cholesterol (HFHC) diet without or with 0.05% and 0.1% deAND supplementation. Cholesterol accumulation, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in liver and liver injury were evaluated after deAND treatment. The results show that deAND treatment for 7 weeks reduced plasma alanine aminotransferase activity and lowered hepatic cholesterol accumulation, tumor nuclear factor-α, and histological lesions. 0.1% deAND treatment reduced HFHC diet-induced apoptosis by lowering the caspase 3/pro-caspase 3 ratio. After 11-weeks of deAND treatment, increased NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), capase-1, and interleukin-1β protein levels in liver were suppressed by deAND treatment. In addition, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) mRNA expression, heme oxygenase-1 protein expression, and the activities of glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase were increased in mice fed the HFHC diet. However, those activities of antioxidant enzymes or proteins were also upregulated by 0.1% deAND treatment. Furthermore, deAND treatment tended to lower hepatic lipid peroxides. Finally, deAND treatment reversed the depletion of hepatic glutamate level induced by HFHC diet. These results indicate that deAND may ameliorate HFHC diet-induced steatohepatitis and liver injury by increasing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.

Two region asymmetric polymers PR2F and PR1F with three repeat units of A-D-A, π-D-A, and π-D-π along the polymer backbone were attained by polymerizing different fluorinated benzothiadiazole-thiophene units, FBT-T and 2FBT-T units (A–π), with benzodithiophene unit (D), respectively. Here, the new region asymmetric polymers were in contrast to the traditional polymers featuring a D–A or D–π–A–π backbone. Both the region asymmetric polymers showed a low lying of HOMO energy level in relation to that of the PC61BM acceptor and then obtained the high open-circuit voltage of ~1 V in both PR2F and PR1F devices. Bulk-heterojunction devices based on PR2F with difluorinated BT exhibited an appreciable power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.73% due to the relatively high and balanced charge carrier mobilities, while the mono-fluorinated BT polymer PR1F-based devices gave a lower PCE of 2.92%. These results indicate that the region asymmetric conjugated polymer is a promising class of materials for polymer solar cell applications, and it is significant to further understand the influence of polymer structure on optoelectronic properties.

Lung cancer is almost the most common cause of cancer death in the world. Clinically, the conventional therapy to eradicate the cancer cells is chemotherapy but a better drug remains required. In this study, the effects of three bufadienolides, kalantuboside B, kalantuboside A and bryotoxin C, isolated from Kalanchoe tubiflora (Harvey) were evaluated and characterized in CL1-5 highly metastatic human lung cancer cells. Contrary to the apoptosis-promoting activity in other cancer cells, these three bufadienolides did not induce apoptosis in CL1-5 cancer cells. Instead, they activated an autophagy pathway, as indicated by the increase of autophagosomes formation. The induction of autophagy by these three bufadienolides was demonstrated to link to down-regulation of p-mTOR as well as up-regulation of LC3-II, ATG5, ATG7, Beclin-1. Moreover, among these three compounds, kalantuboside B in which a monosaccharide is attached at the bufadienolide aglycon, exhibited a better autophagy induction. Our findings revealed an alternative mechanism of drug action by bufadienolides in lung cancer cells and provided evidence for the possibility of treating highly metastatic human lung cancer through an autophagy pathway.

Elongate loach (Leptobotia elongata) is an endemic fish in China. Previous studies have provided some insights into the mitochondrial genome composition, and the phylogenetic relationships of L. elongata inferred using protein-coding genes (PCGs). However, the detailed information about is limited. Therefore, in this study, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome of L. elongata and analyzed its structural characteristics. The PCGs and mitochondrial genome were used for selective stress analysis and genomic comparative analysis respectively. The complete mitochondrial genome of the L. elongata, together with those of 36 Cyprinidae species, was used to infer the phylogenetic relationships of the Cobitidae family through maximum likelihood (ML) reconstruction. The results showed that the genome sequence has a full length of 16,591 bp, which includes 13 PCGs, 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNA), two ribosomal RNA genes (rRNA), and two non-coding regions (CR D-loop and light chain sub-chain replication origin OL). Overall, L. elongata shared the same gene arrangement and composition of the mitochondrial genes with other teleost fishes. The Ka/Ks ratios of all mitochondrial PCGs were less than 1, indicating that all the PCGs were evolving under purifying selection. Genome comparison analyses showed a significant sequence homology of species of Leptobotia. A significant identity between L. elongata and the other 5 Leptobotia species was observed in the visualization result, except for L. mantschurica, which lacked the tRNA-Arg gene and had a shorter tRNA-Asp gene. The phylogenetic tree revealed that the Cobitidae species examined here can be grouped into two clades, with L. elongata forming a sister relationship with L. microphthalma. This study could provide additional inferences for a better understanding of the phylogenetic relationships among Cobititdae species.

A new power receiving unit (PRU) is proposed in this paper for the resonant wireless power transfer (WPT), which is characterized by the capability of attracting high power from the power transmitting unit (PTU). The resonant WPT is designed for delivering the electrical power to the PRU attached on an electrical vehicle (EV) chassis 50cm away from a PTU installed on the ground. The proposed PRU uses only the passive elements such as inductors, diodes and the capacitors, which needs no initial power from the EV. It is then applicable for charging a battery to several hundred volts for even a first-time charging battery. At a switching frequency of the resonant WPT in the experiment being 4MHz, the proposed PRU behaves itself as a negative impedance converter (NIC) in the subharmonics of 4MHz. The NIC effect plus the subharmonic oscillation causes an instability current charging the battery connected to the PRU. In this paper, we simulated the PRU and performed the experiment. The experiment demonstrates a battery charging of 150W from 50cm away using three D-mode GaN HEMT transistors via the instability current ramp. The power transfer efficiency (PTE) improved as the power delivered to load (PDL) goes higher. The best power transfer efficiency (PTE) is 65% in the present findings. The simulation analysis shows that the circuit allows itself be used to much higher power transfer when it is implemented with more GaN HEMT transistors connected in parallel. The theoretical derivation of the PRU circuit is also used to support both the experimental and simulation results.

In this study, we resequenced the mitogenomes of P. megacephalus from different regions using a “primer bridging” approach with Sanger sequencing technologies. The mitogenome of this species was found to contain two copies of the ND5 genes and three copies of the control regions. Furthermore, multiple tandem repeats were identified in the control regions. Notably, we observed that there was no correlation between the distribution of species and their genetic distance. However, our research revealed the discovery of the “missing” ATP8 gene in P. megacephalus as well as three other previously published Polypedates, as a result of manual data curation. Using the mitogenome, gene expression analysis was performed via RT-qPCR of liver samples and determined that COIII, ND2, ND4, and ND6 were reduced to 0.64±0.24, 0.55±0.34, 0.44±0.21 and 0.65±0.17 under the low-temperature stress (8℃), respectively, as compared with controls (P<0.05). Remarkably, the transcript of long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) between positions 8029 and 8612 decreased significantly with exposure to low-temperature stress (8℃). Antisense ND6 gene expression showed a downward trend but this was not significant. These results reveal that modulations of protein-coding mitogenomes genes and lncRNAs of P. megacephalus play a crucial part in the molecular response to cold stress.

The stator winding insulation system is the most critical and weak part of the EMU's (electric multiple unit) traction motor. The effective diagnosis for stator ITSC (inter-turn short-circuit) faults can prevent the fault from expanding into phase-to-phase or ground short-circuits. The TCU(traction control unit) controls the traction inverter to output SPWM (sine pulse width modulation) excitation voltage when the traction motor is stationary. Three ITSC fault diagnostic conditions are based on different IGBTs control logic. The Goertzel algorithm is used to calculate the fundamental current amplitude difference Δi and phase angle difference Δθ of equivalent parallel windings under the three diagnostic conditions. The six parameters under the three diagnostic conditions are used as features to establish an ITSC fault diagnostic model based on random forest. The proposed method was validated using a simulation experimental platform for ITSC fault diagnosis of EMU traction motors. The experimental results indicate that the current amplitude features Δi and phase angle features Δθ change obviously with the increase of ITSC fault extent if the ITSC fault occurs at the equivalent parallel windings. The accuracy of the ITSC fault diagnosis model based on the random forest for ITSC fault detection and location both in train and test samples are 100%.

Purpose: Hearing assistive technology (HAT) has been shown to be a viable solution to the speech-in-noise perception (SPIN) issue in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, little is known about its efficacy in tonal language speakers. This study compared sentence-level SPIN performance between Chinese children with ASD and neurotypical (NT) children and evaluated HAT use in improving SPIN performance and easing SPIN difficulty. Methods: Children with ASD (n=26) and NT children (n=19) aged 6-12 performed two adaptive tests in steady-state noise and three fixed-level tests in quiet and steady-state noise with and without using HAT. Speech recognition thresholds (SRT) and accuracy rates were assessed using adaptive and fixed-level tests, respectively. Parents or teachers of the ASD group completed a questionnaire regarding children’s listening difficulty under six circumstances before and after a ten-day trial period of HAT use. Results: Although the two groups of children had comparable SRTs, the ASD group showed a significantly lower SPIN accuracy rate than the NT group. Also, a significant impact of noise was found in the ASD group’s accuracy rate, but not in the NT group’s. There was a general improvement in the ASD group’s SPIN performance with HAT and a decrease in their listening difficulty ratings across all conditions after the device trial. Conclusion: The findings indicated inadequate SPIN in the ASD group using a relatively sensitive measure to gauge SPIN performance among children. The markedly increased accuracy rate in noise during HAT-on sessions for the ASD group confirmed the feasibility of HAT for improving SPIN performance in controlled laboratory settings, and the reduced post-use ratings of listening difficulty further confirmed the benefits of HAT use in daily scenarios.

The fungal family Microthyriaceae is represented by relatively few mycelial cultures and DNA sequences. As a result, the taxonomy and classification of this group of organisms remain poorly understood. Here, based on DNA sequences at four gene fragments (nuLSU rDNA, nuSSU rDNA, TEF1 and RPB2) in our analyses of aquatic hyphomycetes from southern China, we identify and report four new genera (Antidactylaria, Isthmomyces, Keqinzhangia, Pseudocoronospora) and thirteen new species (Antidactylaria minifimbriata, Pseudocoronospora hainanensis, Isthmomyces oxysporus, I. dissimilis, I. macrosporus, I. relanceatus, Keqinzhangia aquatica, Triscelophorus anakonajensis, T. anisopterioides, T. guizhouensis, T. mugecuoensis, T. multibrachiatus, T. neoseptatus; new combinations Isthmomyces asymmetrica, I. basitruncata, I. geniculata, I. lanceata, I. minima, I. rotundata) belonging to Microthyriaceae. Our results provided the first molecular evidence of asexual morph of this family and strengthened the phylogenetic placement of the family in class Dothideomycetes. The addition of these new taxa made Microthyriaceae the largest family comprising freshwater asexual genera in Pleosporomycetidae. In addition, we confirmed the monophyly of the genus Triscelophorus, the paraphyly of the genus Isthmolongispora, and revised 6 new combinations in Isthmolongispora. ITS barcoding of 13 species were also provided to help identify aquatic hyphomycetes in the future. Our results suggest that the asexual genera and sexual genera identified so far within this family have completely different ecological niches.

Resistive patch array incorporating with metallic backplane provided an effective way to the achievement of broadband metamaterial absorbers(MAs). When loading metallic metamaterial to resistive MA, the outstanding construction helps realize more flexible and diversified forms of broadband absorption. In this paper, we attempted to load metallic resonators(MRs) to resistive MA in the three-dimensional construction, which benefits further enhancement of lower-frequency absorption. Simulation showed that the partial absorption band was separated to lower frequency, while the rest of broadband absorption was unaffected. Meanwhile, after combining multi-unit of the proposed MAs, the stair-stepping broadband absorption was also achieved. At last, three samples were fabricated. The agreements between simulations and experimental results demonstrated that resistive MA loaded with MRs provided an effective way for further enhancement of lower-frequency absorption with almost no change of the absorbing structure and areal density. Thus, it is worthy to expect a wide range of applications to emerge inspired from the proposed attempt.

In a dual-inertia system based on permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM), the elastic transmission mechanism, such as reducer and coupling, is prone to mechanical resonance, which reduces the precision of servo system transmission. Model prediction and introduction of state feedback are effective methods to suppress mechanical resonance, but the control parameters de-pend on the mechanical parameters of the system. Therefore, mechanical parameter identification is very necessary. In this paper, a forgetting factor recursive least square method is used to identify the mechanical parameters of the dual-inertia elastic system. Firstly, the mathematical model of the dual-inertia system is established and reasonably simplified. Then, the discrete function of the identification algorithm is constructed, and the motor speed and electromagnetic torque are sam-pled to achieve the on-line identification of the main mechanical parameters of the dual-inertia system, and the influencing factors of the identification accuracy are analyzed. Finally, simulations and experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm.

Simple summary: The noninvasive differentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) remains challenging. In recent years, the number of studies on the application of radiomics in liver cancer has grown dramatically. However, there have been very few studies on the differentiation of HCC from ICC based on multisequence magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) radiomics. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of a radiomic model based on preoperative fat suppression T2-weighted imaging (FS-T2WI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI features in the arterial phase (A) and portal venous phase (P) for the differentiation of HCC from ICC. Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) radiomics in differentiating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). The clinical and MRI data of 129 pathologically confirmed HCC cases and 48 ICC cases from April 2016 to December 2021 at the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College were retrospectively analyzed. Included cases were randomly divided at a ratio of 7:3 into a training group of 124 cases (90 HCC cases and 34 ICC cases) and a validation group of 53 cases (39 HCC cases and 14 ICC cases). Radiomic features were extracted from axial fat-suppression T2-weighted imaging (FS-T2WI) and axial arterial-phase (A) and portal-venous-phase (P) dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI sequences, and the corresponding datasets were generated. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method was used to select the best radiomic features. Logistic regression was used to establish a radiomic model for each sequence (FS-T2WI, A, and P models) and a joint model (M model) integrating the radiomic features of all the sequences. The performance of each model was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). The AUC of the FS-T2WI, A, P, and M models for distinguishing HCC from ICC was 0.693, 0.863, 0.818, and 0.914 in the training group and 0.690, 0.784, 0.727, and 0.802 in the validation group, respectively. The results of this study suggest that MRI-based radiomics may help noninvasively differentiate HCC from ICC. The model integrating the radiomic features of multiple sequences showed further improvement in performance.

We show the enhancement in the intensity and emission rate of perovskite cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3) and formamidinium lead bromide (FAPbBr3) nanocrystals in the presence of single and double gold layer cavities, which we refer to as Metal-Emitter (ME) and Metal-Emitter-Metal (MEM) nanostructures. Up to 1.9-fold photoluminescence intensity and up to 5.4-fold emission rate enhancements were obtained for FAPbBr3 nanocrystals confined by double gold layers, which are attributed to plasmonic confinement from the gold layers. The experimentally obtained values are validated by analytical calculations and electromagnetic simulations. Such an effective method of manipulation of the spontaneous emission rate by simple plasmonic nanostructures can be utilized in sensing and detection applications.

We tested selecting data randomly or proportionally in class imbalanced sample. Collecting data into the training and test set according to the initial ratio of QSOs, galaxies and stars were rec-ommended. We experimented using the original imbalanced data or introducing the class balance technologies: SMOTE, SMOTEENN, SMOTETomek, ADASYN, BorderlineSMOTE1, Border-lineSMOTE2, and RandomUndersampling. The SMOTEENN performed the best in the Sample 1. The LightGBM, CatBoost, XGBoost, and RF were compared when adopting the SMOTEENN using the petroMag_u, petroMag_g, petroMag_r, petroMag_i, petroMag_z, J, H, Ks, W1, W2, W3, W4 magnitudes as features. All of the precisions or recalls exceeded 0.94. The RF cost a little more time than the other three algorithms, but resulted in the best evaluating indicators. Utilizing the SMOTEENN +RF technology, the precision, recall and f1-score for QSOs (galaxies, stars) could achieve 0.98 (0.99, 0.98), 0.99 (0.96, 1.00), 0.98 (0.97, 0.99) respectively in Sample 1. Utilizing the SMOTEENN +RF technology, the precision, recall and f1-score for QSOs (galaxies, stars) could achieve 0.94 (0.96, 0.96), 0.98 (0.90, 0.97), 0.96 (0.93, 0.97) using the petroMag_u, petroMag_g, petroMag_r, petroMag_i, petroMag_z, W1, W2, W3, W4 magnitudes as features.

In response to the problem of no supporting equipment for the cultivation of Codonopsis in the hilly and mountainous areas of northwest China, a combined machine for transplanting outcrop of Codonopsis with micro ridge covered with film is designed. The key components of the prototype are analyzed and designed, and the structures and working parameters of the seedbed preparation device, seedling casting device, rotary tillage soil-covering device, film covering device, seedling head burial and film edge soil-covering device are determined. The transmission system scheme is established, and the working mechanism of the core components is analyzed. Field experiments show that when the target seedling spacing is 4.4cm and the machines moves forward at the speed of 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2m/s, the variation coefficient of planting spacing and the qualification rate of planting depth all meet the standard requirements. The qualified rate of planting posture and film side outcrop are greatly affected by the operating speed of the machine, and decrease with the increase of operating speed. When the operating speed reaches 0.1m/s, the average variation coefficient of planting spacing is 0.08%, the average qualified rate of planting depth, planting posture and film side outcrop is 95.83%, 94.17% and 93.33% respectively, which shows that the operating performance is better than that of the operating speed of 0.15m/s and 0.2m/s. This study provides new reference for the theoretical research and design of mechanized and automated transplanting machinery for Codonopsis seedlings.

Four previously undescribed highly oxygenated diterpenoids (1–4), zeylleucapenoids A–D, characterized by halimane and labdane skeletons, were isolated from the aerial parts of Leucas zeylanica. Their structures were elucidated primarily by NMR experiments. The absolute configuration of 1 was established by theoretical ECD calculations and X-ray crystallographic analysis, whereas those for 2−4 were assigned by theoretical ORD calculations. Zeylleucapenoid D (4), with an IC₅₀ value of 38.45 μM in RAW264.7 macrophages and nontoxic activity for zebrafish embryo, and obviously inhibited pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 in a dose-dependent manner. Compound 4 inhibited of the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). Furthermore, molecular docking analysis indicated the possible mechanism of action for 4 may be bind to targets by hydrogen- and hydrophobic- bond interactions.

Strigolactones (SLs) are a novel emerging plant hormones, which play important roles in regulating plant organ development and environmental stress tolerance. Even though the SL related genes have been identified and well characterized in some plants. The information of SL related genes in soybean is not fully established yet, especially in response to salt stress. In this study, we identified nine SL biosynthesis genes: two D27, two CCD7, two CCD8, and three MAX1, and seven SL signaling genes: two D14, two MAX2 and three D53 in soybean genome. We found that SL biosynthesis and signaling genes are conserved during evolution in different species. Syntenic analysis of these genes revealed their location on nine chromosomes as well as existence of ten pairs of duplication genes. Moreover, plant hormone and stress-responsive elements were identified in the promoter regions of SL biosynthesis and signaling genes. By using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), we confirmed that SL genes have different tissue expression in roots, stems and leaves. Further, we also explored the expression profiles of SL biosynthesis and signaling genes under salt stress. These results suggested that SL signaling genes may play important regulatory roles in response to salt stress. In conclusion, we identified and provided valuable information on the soybean SL biosynthesis and signaling genes, and established a foundation for further functional analysis of soybean SL related genes in response to salt stress.

Hybrid woven kenaf-carbon composite were fabricated in this study using epoxy resin as matrix. Effects of different fabric material namely weave designs (plain and satin) and fabric counts (5×5 and 6×6) on the properties of laminated woven kenaf polymer composite were evaluated. This study evaluates the mechanical and morphological properties of hybrid fabric kenaf-carbon from kenaf yarn of 500tex. Kenaf and carbon fabrics were used in this work, where vacuum infusion technique was selected to prepare the composite and epoxy resin was used as a matrix. The fibre weight content is 30% and four specimens were prepared for each samples and tested for their tensile, flexural, and impact strengths. The morphological properties of composites were analysed through the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results revealed that plain woven fabric is favourable in terms of tensile and impact strengths compared to satin woven fabric. Meanwhile, 5×5 of fabric count gives better flexural modulus than composite fabricated with 6×6 fabric count. The morphologies of the fractured surface investigated by SEM demonstrated better adhesion properties and less fibre pull-out on plain woven fabric.

Novel multifunctional fluorescent chemosensors composed of electrospun (ES) nanofibers with high sensitivity toward pH, mercury ions (Hg²⁺), and temperature were prepared from poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide-co-N-methylolacrylamide-co-rhodamine derivative) (poly(NIPAAm-co-NMA-co-RhBN2AM)) by employing electrospinning process. NIPAAm and NMA moieties provide hydrophilic and thermo-responsive properties (absorption of Hg²⁺ in aqueous solutions), and chemical cross-linking sites (stabilization of the fibrous structure in aqueous solutions), respectively. The fluorescent probe, RhBN2AM is highly sensitive toward pH and Hg²⁺. Synthesis of poly(NIPAAm-co-NMA-co-RhBN2AM) with different compositions were carried on via free-radical polymerization. ES nanofibers prepared from sensory copolymers with a 71.1:28.4:0.5 NIPAAm: NMA: RhBN2AM ratio (P3 ES nanofibers) exhibited significant color change from nonfluorescent to red fluorescence while sensing pH or Hg²⁺, and high reversibility of on/off switchable fluorescence emission when Hg²⁺ and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) were sequentially added. The P3 ES nanofibrous membranes had a higher surface-to-volume ratio to enhance their performance than did the corresponding thin films. In addition, the fluorescence emission of P3 ES nanofibrous membranes exhibited second enhancement above the lower critical solution temperature. Thus, the ES nanofibrous membranes prepared from P3 with on/off switchable capacity and thermo-responsive characteristics can be used as multifunctional sensory devise for specific heavy transition metal (HTM) in aqueous solutions.

The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), in which overexpression have been associated with various diseases, has become an attractive molecular target for the treatment of cancers. Three series of 3-substituted-4-(quinoxalin-6-yl) pyrazoles 14a–h, 15a–h, 16a–h, 22a, 22b, 22d, 23a, 23b, 23d, 24b, and 24d were synthesized and evaluated for their activin receptor-like kinase 5 (ALK5) and p38α mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase inhibitory activity in an enzymatic assays. Among these compounds, the most active compound 16f inhibited ALK5 phosphorylation with an IC₅₀ value of 0.28 µM, with 98% inhibition at 10 µM. Compound 16f also had good selectivity index of >35 against p38α MAP kinase, with 9.0-fold more selective than clinical candidate, compound 3 (LY-2157299). Molecular docking study was performed to identify the mechanism of action of the synthesized compounds and their good binding interactions were observed. ADMET prediction of good active compounds showed that these ones possess good pharmacokinetics and drug-likeness behavior.

Geopolymer concrete (GPC) represents an innovative green and low-carbon construction material, offering a viable alternative to ordinary Portland cement concrete in building applications. However, existing studies tend to overlook the recyclability aspect of GPC for future use. Various structural applications necessitate the use of concrete with distinct strength characteristics. The recyclability of the parent concrete is influenced by these varying strengths. This study examined the recycling potential of GPC across a spectrum of strength grades (40, 60, 80 and 100 MPa, marked as C40, C60, C80 and C100) when subjected to freeze-thaw conditions. The cementitious material comprised 60% metakaolin and 40% slag, with natural gravel serving as the coarse aggregate, and the alkali activator consisting of sodium hydroxide solution and sodium silicate solution. The strength of the GPC was modulated by altering the Na/Al ratio. After 350 freeze-thaw cycles, the GPC specimens underwent crushing, washing, and sieving to produce recycled geopolymer aggregates (RGAs). Subsequently, their physical properties and microstructure were thoroughly examined. The findings indicated that GPC with strength grades of C100, C80, and C60 were capable of enduring 350 freeze-thaw cycles, in contrast to C40, which did not withstand these conditions. RGAs derived from GPC of strength grades C100 and C80 complied with the criteria for Class II recycled aggregates, whereas RGAs produced from GPC of strength grade C60 aligned with the Class III level. A higher strength grade in the parent concrete correlated with enhanced performance characteristics in the resulting recycled aggregates.

Coilia nasus is a typical anadromous migratory fish in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Every year, C. nasus cluster offshore and swim upstream along the Yangtze River into the tributaries and lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to breed. In this study, female C. nasus collected as the subjects from Chongming section in Shanghai, Taizhou section in Jiangsu and Anqing section in Anhui. The ovaries were used for examining in tissue sections and researching of gene expression including follicle stimulating hormone receptor (fshr), luteinizing hormone receptors (lr), kisspeptin-1 (kiss1) and forkhead box l2 (foxl2) related to the reproductive development, and the estrogen (estradiol, E2) and progesterone (17α,20β-dihydroxy-4-pregenen-3-one, 17α,20β-DHP) were also analyzed in serum levels. The results showed that, first, the growth period of oocytes was small in stage II of ovarian development, in which both E2, 17α,20β-DHP levels and gene expression were low. Then, in stage Ⅲ, the growth period of oocytes were become large, as well as the yolk granules and oil droplets began to appear. Simultaneously, E2 and expression of kiss1 and foxl2 were significantly elevated. Finally, stage Ⅳ was the period of large accumulation of nutrients in oocytes, and 17α,20β-DHP level and expression of fshr and lhr were significantly elevated. The results have enriched the theoretical study of ovarian development in the natural population of C. nasus, supplemented the biological basis of C. nasus reproduction, and scientifically supported the study of C. nasus population ecology and resource conservation.

Despite recent advancements, therapies remain ineffective against advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), resulting in unsatisfactory therapeutic outcomes. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) offers a promising approach in the treatment of malignant neoplasms. Yet, the exact mechanisms driving CAP-induced cancer cell death are not fully understood. This study revealed a significant reduction in the viability of OSCC cell lines, inactivation of AKT and ERK, and the downregulation of the miR-21, miR-31, miR-134, miR-146a and miR-211 expression followed the CAP treatment. Pretreatment with ZVAD, 3-MA, and Fer-1 synergistically reduced CAP-induced cell death, indicating a combined induction of variable death pathways by CAP. Activation of AKT and ERK, alongside combined treatments using death inhibitors and miRNA mimics, counteracted the cell mortality associated with CAP. CAP-induced downregulation of miR-21, miR-31, miR-187 and miR-211 expression was rescued by AKT and ERK activation. Additionally, CAP treatments notably inhibited the growth of SAS cell xenografts on nude mice. The reduced expression of oncogenic miRNAs in vivo aligned with in vitro findings. In conclusion, our study indicates that CAP jet treatment diminishes OSCC cell viability by abrogating survival signals and oncogenic miRNA expression.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, studies of mature plasmacytoid dendritic cell proliferation associated with T lymphoblastic lymphoma were extremely rare in the literature. Here, we report a patient who underwent both mature plasmacytoid dendritic cell proliferation and T lymphoblastic lymphoma. With the findings of lymph node biopsy taken from the right cervical and inguinal regions, we identified eye-catching mature plasmacytoid dendritic cells that were considered to be responsible for this lesion at the beginning, until the immunostaining of Ki67 and TDT showed a small group of positive cells hiding in these plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Bone marrow biopsy was also performed in this patient. Microscopically, the hematopoietic tissue was almost completely replaced by lymphoblastoid cells with condensed chromatin, inconspicuous nucleoli and scanty cytoplasm, which were basically the same as those seen in the lymph nodes in morphology. However, there was no sign of plasmacytoid dendritic cells or Langerhans cells in the bone marrow biopsy. With the help of bone marrow biopsy, our final diagnosis of the lymph node was T lymphoblastic lymphoma coexisting with mature plasmacytoid dendritic cell proliferation . Although accumulations of plasmacytoid dendritic cells may occur in some infections or reactive lymphadenopathy, the presence of extensive nodules or infiltration of plasmacytoid dendritic cells strongly reminds the pathologist to carefully evaluate the bone marrow or peripheral blood status of the patient to exclude a hidden myeloid or other neoplasm.

Disposal and treatment of excess sludge is a huge problem in waste water treatment plants. Discharge plasma oxidation is an effective approach for sludge dewatering and digestion. In this study, the excess sludge disintegration by non-thermal discharge plasma coupled with thiosulfate (TSA) was investigated. The soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) increased to 404.93 mg L-1 after 20 min of single discharge plasma treatment, and it further increased to 549.08 mg L-1 after adding 15 mmol L-1 of TSA; the water content of filter cake also further decreased in the presence of TSA. There existed an appropriate TSA dosage. In the discharge plasma coupled with TSA system, reactive oxygen species (·OH and ·O2-) were produced and played important roles in sludge disintegration. The addition of TSA promoted the production of ·OH. These reactive oxygen species destroyed the floc structures and promoted the transformation of organic substances, leading to reduction in average size of sludge flocs. The ratio of soluble extracellular polymer substances (S-EPS) was enhanced, while the ratio of tightly bound fraction was reduced after treatment. Thus, discharge plasma coupled with TSA promoted the lysis of microbial cells and released intracellular organic matter and bound water, finally improving sludge dewaterability.

The four-way reversing valve is a key component determining whether a heat pump air conditioning system can work. Studying the four-way reversing valve is of great significance for improving the performance of the heat pump air conditioning system. In this paper, the control equation of the sliding block movement process is constructed to simulate the reversing process of the four-way reversing valve in fluid mechanics, and a detailed study is carried out from the sliding block speed, sliding block acceleration, sliding block force, refrigerant leakage, and other aspects. Research has shown that optimizing the structure of the slider can greatly improve the working performance of the four-way reversing valve. Increasing the height of the slider not only improves the pressure relief ability of the four-way reversing valve and prevents the slider from being damaged by high-pressure gas impact, but also reduces the leakage of refrigerant during the directional process; When reducing the length of the slider, although it will improve the pressure relief capacity of the four-way reversing valve, it also increases the amount of refrigerant leakage. The research results provide a theoretical basis and improvement direction for designers to improve the performance of four-way reversing valves.

Bio-based packaging materials and efficient drug delivery systems are gaining attention, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) is one of the most soluble cellulose derivatives, is a good candidate material due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and reproducibility. However, CMC-based films are lack of sufficient mechanical properties, limiting its widespread application. In this paper, the molecular interactions between CMC and additives with different molecular structures have been studied with rheological method. The additives are chitosan and cellulose derivatives including O-carboxymethylated chitosan (O-CMCh), N-2-hydroxypropyl-3-trimethylammonium-O-carboxymethyl chitosan (HTCMCh), hydroxypropyltrimethyl ammonium chloride chitosan (HACC), cellulose nanofibers (CNC), and cellulose nanofibers (CNF). The influencing factors, such as molecular structure, concentration of additives and temperature on the rheological properties were studied, which results revealed the information intermolecular interactions. Based on the rheological properties, several systems were selected to prepare films, which show very good transparency, wettability, mechanical properties, biodegradability, and cytotoxicity. These good characteristics of the selected films also proved the good biocompatibility of CMC and chitosan and cellulose derivatives. This work will provide an idea to prepare CMC-based food packaging and effective drug delivery materials with specific properties.

Little is known about the association between equol and bioavailable testosterone (BT) in adults. We examined the associations of urinary equol concentrations with serum total, bioavailable and free testosterone (FT), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfide (DHEAS), free androgen index (FAI) and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) concentrations. This cross-sectional study included 1904 women aged 59.7 years. Urinary equol and serum sex hormone concentrations were measured. Overall, urinary equol tended to be inversely associated with bioactive forms of androgenic indices (BT, FT or FAI) but not with total testosterone (TT) or DHEAS. Urinary equol was also positively associated with SHBG. In multi-covariate-adjusted analyses stratified by menopausal status, graded and inverse associations between urinary equol and bioactive forms of androgenic indices (BT, FT and FAI) were observed in postmenopausal women (all p-trends <0.05), but not in premenopausal women. A significant positive association between urinary equol and SHBG was observed only in postmenopausal women. No significant associations were observed between urinary equol and TT or DHEAS in either group. A path analysis indicated that these associations of equol with androgens in postmenopausal women might be mediated by SHBG. Our findings indicated urinary equol exhibited graded and inverse associations with BT or FT but not TT in women.

Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) treatment has been proven to attenuate neuroinflammation in rats. This study aimed to determine the potential mechanism underlying the anti-inflammatory effects of HBO treatment on burn-induced neuroinflammation in rats. Thirty-six adult male Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats were randomly assigned to the following six groups (n = 6 per group): (1) sham burn with sham HBO treatment, (2) sham burn with HBO treatment, (3) burn with 1-week sham HBO treatment, (4) burn with 2-week sham HBO treatment, (5) burn with 1-week HBO treatment, and (6) burn with 2-week HBO treatment. SD rats that received third-degree burn injury were used as a full-thickness burn injury model. Subsequently, we analyzed the expression of proteins involved in the galectin-3 (Gal-3)-dependent Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4) pathway through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis, and Western blotting, and a behavior test was also conducted. The behavior test revealed that HBO treatment significantly suppressed mechanical hypersensitivity in the burn with HBO treatment group compared with the burn with sham HBO treatment group (p < 0.05). ELISA results showed that tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) levels in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and the skin were significantly decreased in the burn with HBO treatment group compared with the burn with sham HBO treatment group (p < 0.05). Western blotting results demonstrated that HBO treatment significantly reduced the expression of Gal-3 and TLR-4 in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord in the burn with HBO treatment group compared with the burn with sham HBO treatment group (p < 0.05). IHC analysis results showed that the expression of Gal-3, TLR-4, CD68, and CD45 in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord was significantly lower in the burn with HBO treatment group than in the burn with sham HBO treatment group (p < 0.05), and the expression of CD68 and macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in the right hind paw skin was significantly lower. The expression of vimentin and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) in the right hind paw skin was significantly higher after HBO treatment (p < 0.05). This study proved that early HBO treatment relieves neuropathic pain, inhibits the Gal-3-dependent TLR-4 pathway, and suppresses microglia/macrophage activation in a rat model.

Lodging poses a significant challenge to rice yield, prompting the need to identify elite alleles for lodging resistance traits to improve cultivated rice varieties. In this study, a natural population of 518 rice accessions was examined to identify elite alleles associated with plant height (PH), stem diameter (SD), stem anti-thrust (AT/S), and various internode lengths: (first (FirINL), second (SecINL), third (ThirINL), fourth (ForINL), and fifth (FifINL) internode lengths). 262 SSR markers linked to these traits were uncovered through association mapping in two environmental conditions. Phenotypic evaluations revealed striking differences among cultivars, and genetic diversity assessments showed polymorphisms across the accessions. Favorable alleles were identified for PH, SD, AT/S, and 1 to 5 internode lengths, with specific alleles displaying considerable effects. Noteworthy alleles include RM6811-160 bp on chromosome 6 (which reduces PH) and RM161-145 bp on chromosome 5 (which increases SD). The study identified a total of 42 novel QTLs. Specifically, seven QTLs were identified for PH, four for SD, five for AT/S, five for FirINL, six for SecINL, five for ThirINL, six for ForINL, and four for FifINL. QTLs qAT/S-2, qPH2.1, qForINL2.1, and qFifINL exhibited the most significant phenotypic variance (PVE) of 3.99% for the stem lodging trait. AT/S, PH, ForINL and FifINL had additive effects of 5.31 kPa, 5.42 cm, 4.27cm and 4.27cm, respectively, offering insights into eight distinct cross-combinations for enhancing each trait. This research suggests the potential for cross-breeding superior parents based on stacked alleles, promising improved rice cultivars with enhanced lodging resistance to meet market demands.

Background: Autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) is a rare autoimmune condition characterized by progressive sensorineural hearing loss with hearing fluctuations over weeks to months, presenting significant challenges in both diagnosis and treatment. Due to its rarity, treatment responses and prognosis in AIED remain poorly understood. Methods: This study reviewed medical records from Taipei Medical University Hospital documented between August 2016 and August 2021. Among 67 patients experiencing fluctuating hearing loss, 11 met the diagnostic criteria for AIED and underwent regular follow-up assessments within a 5-year timeframe. ROC curve was used to discriminate the power of these prognostic parameters. Results: In this study, several factors including younger age, milder initial hearing loss, meeting criteria for bilateral Meniere's disease (MD), having an ascending audiogram pattern, longer time interval between hearing impairment attacks in contralateral ears and responding well to steroids were associated with better prognosis. ROC curve demonstrated the diagnostic value of specific parameters such as the presence of bilateral MD (AUC 0.825, 95% CI 0.640–1.000), pretreatment HI ≤ 45 dB HL (AUC 0.808, 95% CI 0.610–1.000), response to steroids (AUC 0.800, 95% CI 0.595–1.000), and ascending audiogram (AUC 0.858, 95% CI 0.683–0.858). Conclusions: This study identified key prognostic factors for AIED, providing valuable insights for predicting AIED prognosis and facilitating personalized patient management.

Studies on the neurobiological causes of anxiety disorders suggest that the GABA system in-creases synaptic concentration and enhances the affinity of GABAA (type A) receptors for ben-zo-diazepine ligands. Flumazenil antagonizes the benzodiazepine binding site of the GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) type /benzodiazepine receptor (BZR) complex in the central nervous sys-tem (CNS). The integration of the metabolites of flumazenil by LC-tandem mass spectrometry will complete understanding of the in vivo metabolism of flumazenil and accelerate radio-pharmaceutical inspection and registration. The main goal of our study was to investigate using reversed-phase HPLC (PR-HPLC) coupled with electrospray ionization triple quadrupole tan-dem mass spectrometry (ESI-QqQ MS) for the identification of flumazenil and its metabolites in a hepatic matrix. And a carrier-free nucleophilic fluorination with automatic synthesizer for [18F]flumazenil which applied to in vivo nano-positron emission tomography (Nano-PET)/computed tomography (CT) imaging and ex vivo bio-distribution used to analyze in normal rats. The study showed that 50% of the flumazenil was bio-transformed at 60 min by the rat liver homogenate, while one metabolite (M1) was a methyl transesterification product of flumazenil. In a rat liver microsomes system, two metabolites were identified (M2 and M3) as its carboxylic acid and hydroxylated ethylester forms, respectively. [18F]flumazenil in vivo nanoPET/CT imag-ing and ex vivo bio-distribution assay also showed significant effects on GABAA receptor availa-bility in the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, cortex, and hippocampus in the rat brain, worriless about the formation of metabolites. We showed completion of the bio-transformed course of flumazenil by the hepatic system; and [18F]flumazenil can be a good ligand and serve as a PET agent for determination of GABAA/BZR complex for multiplex neurological syndromes in the clinical stage.

A microwave-photonics method has been developed for measuring distributed acoustic signals. This method uses microwave-modulated low coherence light as a probe to interrogate distributed in-fiber interferometers, which are used to measure acoustic-induced strain. By sweeping the microwave frequency at a constant rate, the acoustic signals are encoded into the complex microwave spectrum. The microwave spectrum is transformed into the joint time-frequency domain and further processed to obtain the distributed acoustic signals. The method is first evaluated using an intrinsic Fabry Perot interferometer (IFPI). Acoustic signals of frequency up to 15.6 kHz were detected. The method was further demonstrated using an array of in-fiber weak reflectors and an external Michelson interferometer. Two piezo-ceramic cylinders (PCCs) driven at frequencies of 1700 Hz and 3430 Hz were used as acoustic sources. The experiment results show that the sensing system can locate multiple acoustic sources. The system resolves 20 nε when the spatial resolution is 5 cm. The recovered acoustic signals match the excitation signals in frequency, amplitude, and phase, indicating an excellent potential for distributed acoustic sensing (DAS).

The enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157: H7 EspF is known to be a multifunctional effector that triggers several damage processes in the host cells. However, in the process of EHEC O157: H7 infection, the interactions between EspF, its N- or C-terminus, and host proteins are still unclear. In this work, we use co-immunoprecipitation combined with mass spectrometry (CoIP-MS) to screen the interactions between EspF/EspF-N/EspF-C terminus and host proteins. A total of 311 host proteins are analyzed. The N-terminus of EspF is found to interact with 192 proteins, whereas 205 proteins interact with the C-terminus. These proteins are mainly involved in RNA splicing, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and a variety of metabolic signaling pathways. Surprisingly, MS results reveal that EspF can also phosphorylate H2AX, suggesting that EspF may directly mediate DNA damage. Here, by western blot and immunofluorescence (IF), we verified that EspF can cause phosphorylation of H2AX and mediates cell multi-nuclearation and cell hypertrophy. Furthermore, we verify here for the first time that SMC1 interacts with EspF -C-terminus, and provide evidence that EspF increases p-SMC1 levels. p-SMC1 is known to influence S-phase cell cycle arrest and usually increases during periods of DNA damage. Our work revealed a novel interaction between EspF and the host protein SMC1 and lays a foundation for further research on EspF-mediated host DNA damage, apoptosis, and even colorectal carcinogenesis.

The newly emerged severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected millions of people and caused tremendous morbidity and mortality worldwide. Effective treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to SARS-CoV-2 infection is lacking and different therapeutic strategies are under testing. Host humoral and cellular immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection is a critical determinant for patients’ outcome. SARS-CoV-2 infection results in seroconversion and production of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The antibodies may suppress viral replication through neutralization but also might also participate in COVID-19 pathogenesis through a process termed antibody-dependent enhancement. Rapid progress has been made in the research of antibody response and therapy in COVID-19 patients including characterization of the clinical features of antibody responses in different populations infected by SARS-CoV-2, treatment of COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma and intravenous immunoglobin products, isolation and characterization of a large panel of monoclonal neutralizing antibodies, as well as preliminary clinical results from several COVID-19 vaccine candidates. In this review, we summarize the recent progress and discuss the implications of these findings in vaccine development.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has resulted in tremendous morbidity and mortality worldwide. A major underlying cause of COVID-19 mortality is a hyperinflammatory cytokine storm in severe/critically ill patients. Although many clinical trials are testing the efficacy of targeting inflammatory cytokines/chemokines in COVID-19 patients, the critical inflammatory mediator initiating COVID-19 patient death is undefined. Here we suggest that the immunopathological pathway leading to COVID-19 mortality can be divided into three stages with distinct clinical features that can be used to guide therapeutic strategies. Our interpretation of the recently published clinical trials from COVID-19 patients suggests that the clinical efficacy in preventing COVID-19 mortality using IL-1 blockade is subjected to notable caveats, while that for IL-6 blockade is suboptimal. We discuss critical factors in determining appropriate inflammatory cytokine/chemokine targets, timing, and combination of treatments to prevent COVID-19 mortality.

This work mainly discusses an innovative teaching platform on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle digital mapping for Remote Sensing (RS) education at Wuhan University, underlining the fast development of RS technology. Firstly, we introduce and discuss the future development of the Virtual Simulation Experiment Teaching Platform for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VSETP-UAV). It includes specific topics such as the Systems and function Design, teaching and learning strategies, and experimental methods. This study shows that VSETP-UAV expands the usual content and training methods related to RS education, and creates a good synergy between teaching and research. The results also show that the VSETP-UAV platform is of high teaching quality producing excellent engineers, with high international standards and innovative skills in the RS field. In particular, it develops students' practical skills with technical manipulations of dedicated hardware and software equipment (e.g., UAV) in order to assimilate quickly this particular topic. Therefore, students report that this platform is more accessible from an educational point-of-view than theoretical programs, with a quick way of learning basic concepts of RS. Finally, the proposed VSETP-UAV platform achieves a high social influence, expanding the practical content and training methods of UAV based experiments, and providing a platform for producing high-quality national talents with internationally recognized topics related to emerging engineering education.

Background: Recently we demonstrated that Astragalus polysaccharide (PG2), the active ingredient in dried roots of astragalus membranaceus, ameliorates cancer symptom clusters and improve quality of life (QoL) in patients with metastatic disease by modulating inflammatory cascade, against the background that inflammatory cells including macrophages, dendritic cells (DCs), and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in tumor initiation, metastasis, and progression. Nevertheless, the role of PG2 in the modulation of anticancer immunogenicity and therapeutic response remains relatively underexplored and unclear. Purpose: The present study investigates how and to what extent PG2 modulates cellular and biochemical components of the inflammatory cascade, enhance anticancer immunity, and the therapeutic implication of same in patients with lung cancer. Methods and Results: Herein, we demonstrated that PG2 significantly increased the M1/M2 macrophage polarization ratio in non-small cell carcinoma (NSCLC) H441 and H1299 cells. This PG2-induced preferential pharmacologic up-regulation of tumoral M1 population in vitro, positively correlated with the downregulation of tumor-promoting IL-6 and IL-10 expression in NSCLC cell-conditioned medium, with concomitant marked inhibition of cell proliferation, clonogenicity and tumorsphere formation. Our ex vivo results, using clinical sample from our NSCLC cohort, demonstrated that PG2 also promoted the functional maturation of DCs with consequent enhancement of T cell-mediated anticancer immune responses. Consistent with the in vitro and ex vivo results, our in vivo studies showed that mice treated with PG2 exhibited significant time-dependent depletion of the tumor-associated M2 population, synergistically enhanced the anti-M2-based anticancer effect of cisplatin, and inhibition of xenograft tumor growth in the NSCLC mice models. Moreover, in the presence of PG2, cisplatin-associated dyscresia and weight-loss was markedly suppressed. Conclusion: These results do indicate a therapeutically-relevant role for PG2 in modulating the M1/M2 macrophage pool, facilitating DC maturation, and synergistically enhancing the anticancer effect of conventional chemotherapeutic agent, cisplatin; thus laying the foundation for further exploration of the curative relevance of PG2 as surrogate immunotherapy and/or clinical feasibility of its use for maintenance therapy in patients with lung cancer.

Background: Improving patients’ quality of life (QoL) is a principal objective of all treatment in any clinical setting, including oncology practice. Cancer-associated inflammation is implicated in disease progression and worsening of patients’ QoL. Conventional anticancer therapeutics while selectively eliminating cancerous cells, are evaded by stem cell-like cells, and associated with varying degrees of adverse effects, thus reducing patients’ QoL. This necessitates novel therapeutic approaches with enhanced efficacy, minimal or no treatment-related adverse effects, and improved QoL in patients with cancer, especially those with metastatic/advance stage disease. Methods: Sequel to our team’s previous publication, the present study explores probable effects of Astragalus polysaccharides (PG2) on cancer-related inflammatory landscape and known determinants of QoL, as well as the probable link between the two to provide mechanistic insight. In exploratory double blind randomized controlled trial using patients with metastatic disease (n=23), we comparatively evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of high (500mg) or low (250mg) dose PG2 administered intravenously (i.v.), with particular focus on its suggested anti-inflammatory function and the probable effect of same on QoL indices at baseline, then at weeks 4 and 8 post-PG2 treatment. Results: All 23 patients with metastatic disease treated with either low or high PG2 experienced reduced pain, nausea, vomiting and fatigue, as well as better appetite and sleep, culminating in improved global QoL. This was most apparent in the high dose group, with significant co-suppression of pro-inflammatory interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-13, IL-17, monocytes chemotactic protein (MCP)1, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), tumor growth factor (TGF)-β1, interferon (IFN)-γ, and immune suppressors IL-10, and IL-12. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that IL-1β, IL-13 and GM-CSF are independent prognosticators of improved QoL. Conclusion: This proof-of-concept study provides premier evidence of functional association between PG2 anti-inflammatory effects and improved QoL in patients with advanced stage cancers, laying the groundwork for future larger cohort blinded controlled trials to establish the efficacy of PG2 as adjuvant anticancer therapy in metastatic or advanced stage clinical settings.

In prostate cancer, p53 maximizes apoptosis in response to severe DNA damage, not DNA replication stress. Here, we examined the apoptotic response of two glioblastoma cells, p53-wild type U87 and a p53-mutated T98G cell, for the same stresses. We ascertained that p53 intensified apoptosis in response to severe DNA damage, not DNA replication stress in glioblastoma. We further asked if p53-mediated apoptosis can be induced by cellular stress other than severe DNA damage. We analyzed two compounds, bortezomib and vorinostat, respective inhibitors of 26S proteasome and histone deacetylase, to evaluate their capacity to activate p53-mediated apoptosis. The cellular stress incited by bortezomib, not vorinostat, activated p53-mediated apoptosis. Next, we asked if the cellular stress generated by combining the two compounds had a synergistic effect on apoptosis. Our results demonstrated that doxorubicin with bortezomib or CFS-1686, or bortezomib with vorinostat have a significant synergistic effect on apoptosis only in p53-wild type cell. Under high stress, p53 translocates from cytosol into the nucleus to cause apoptosis possibly. Together, p53 maximizes apoptosis for cellular stress caused by severe DNA damage, disruption of protein turnover, and for the stress induced by drug combination including doxorubicin with bortezomib or CFS-1686, and bortezomib with vorinostat.

Piezoelectric properties are of significant importance to medical ultrasound, actuators, sensor, and countless other device applications. The mechanism of piezoelectric properties can be deeply understood from structure evolutions. In this paper, we report a diagram of structure evolutions of the Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)0.91Ti0.09O3 (PZN-9PT) single crystal with excellent piezoelectric properties among the orthorhombic, tetragonal, and cubic phases with temperature increasing from room temperature to 220 C. Through fitting the temperature dependence XRD curves with Gauss and Lorenz functions, we obtained the evolutions of the content ratio of three kinds of phases (orthorhombic, tetragonal and cubic) and the lattice parameters of the PZN-9PT system with the changes of temperature. The XRD fitting results together with Raman and dielectric spectrums show that the phase transitions of PZN-9PT are a typical continuous evolution process, very similar to the phase transition of paraffin from solid to liquid. Additionally, resonance and anti-resonance spectrum show excellent piezoelectric properties of the crystals, which probably originate from the nano twin domains, as demonstrated by the TEM images. Of particular attention is that the thickness electromechanical coupling factor kt is up to 72%.

(1) Introduction: The unprecedented coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has caused millions of infections worldwide and represents a significant challenge facing modern health care systems. This study was conducted to investigate the impact of lockdown measures on regional neonate services, which might be used to predict the long-term effects of medical behavior. (2) Methods: Using hospital information system (HIS) Statistics data from 4 January 2019 to 27 August 2020, an interrupted time-series analysis was employed to compare changes and trends in hospital admissions and disease spectrum before and after the lockdown interventions. Furthermore, this study was designed to evaluate whether the pandemic influenced newborns' healthcare behavior. (3) Results: Overall, 13,540 infants were admitted to the NICU during the pre-COVID period (n = 12082) and COVID-impacted period (n =4558). The patients' age at admission were younger than that of the pre-COVID-19 period (median age 5d vs. 6d after birth, p＜0.001). The overall number of neonate visits consistently decreased from the first days of the lockdown measures (24 January 2020). The disease spectrum for respiratory system, infectious diseases, and gastrointestinal disease indicated no declined immediately after intervention(p =0.079, p =0.113, p =0.060, respectively). There was an immediate decline in the volume of Jaundice-related conditions (p<0.001) after lockdown measures. The percentage of patients who suffer from respiratory system and infectious diseases has decreased (p =0.005 and p =0.002). However, a relatively high percentage of patients admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) presented with Jaundice-related conditions (p <0.001). (4) Conclusions: In summary, the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted the regional neonate services. However, it is still unclear what might be the effect of long-term effects from pandemic.

Birefringence of 3 × 10^-3 is demonstrated inside cross-sectional regions of 100 µm, inscribed by axially stretched Bessel-beam-like fs-laser pulses along the c-axis inside sapphire. A high birefringence and retardance of λ/4 at mid-visible spectral range (green) can be achieved utilizing stretched beams with an axial extension of 30-40 µm. Conditions of laser writing chosen ensure that there are no formations of self-organised nano-gratings. This method can be adopted for the creation of polarisation optical elements and fabrication of spatially varying birefringent patterns for optical vortex generation.

Saikosaponin (SS) a is a compound with various pharmacological properties and easily degraded into SSb1 and SSg in acid condition. In present work another two new degradation products of SSa formed under acid hydrolytic condition were detected and isolated by analytical and semi-preparative liquid chromatography technology, furthermore their structures were characterized as hydroxyl-saikosaponin a and SSb2 by spectral analysis, which is not only essential in stability-indicating method development and validation but also could be used as a worst case to assess the analytical method performance of SSa. Moreover their structural transformation pathways were also proposed.

Background: The prevalence of obesity, defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2, has reached epidemic levels. Obesity is associated with an increased risk of various cancers, including gastrointestinal ones. Recent evidence has suggested that obesity disproportionately impacts males and females with cancer, resulting in varied transcriptional and metabolic dysregulation. Methods: This study aimed to elucidate the differences in the metabolic milieu of adenocarcinomas of the gastrointestinal (GI) track both related and unrelated to sex in obesity. To demonstrate these obesity and sex-related effects, we utilized three primary data sources: serum metabolomics from obese and non-obese patients assessed via the Biocrates MxP Quant 500 mass spectrometry-based kit, the ORIEN tumor RNA-sequencing data for all adenocarcinoma cases to assess the impacts of obesity, and publicly available TCGA transcriptional analysis to assess GI cancers and sex-related differences in GI cancers specifically. We applied and integrated our unique transcriptional metabolic pipeline in combination with our metabolomics data to reveal how obesity and sex can dictate differential metabolism in patients. Results: Differentially expressed genes (DEG) analysis of ORIEN obese adenocarcinoma as compared to normal-weight adenocarcinoma patients resulted in large-scale transcriptional reprogramming (4029 DEGs, adj. p < 0.05 and |logFC|>0.58). Gene Set Enrichment and metabolic pipeline analysis showed genes enriched for pathways relating to immunity (inflammation, and CD40 signaling, among others) and metabolism. Specifically, we found alterations to steroid metabolism and tryptophan/kynurenine metabolism in obese patients, both of which are highly associated with disease severity and immune cell dysfunction. These findings were further confirmed using the TCGA colorectal adenocarcinoma (CRC) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (ESCA) data, which showed similar patterns of increased tryptophan catabolism for kynurenine production in obese patients. These patients further showed disparate alterations between males and females when comparing obese to non-obese patient populations. Alterations to immune and metabolic pathways were validated in 6 patients (2 obese and 4 normal weight) via CD8+/CD4+ peripheral blood mononuclear cell RNA-sequencing and paired serum metabolomics, which showed differential kynurenine and lipid metabolism, which corresponded with altered T-cell transcriptome in obese populations. Conclusions: Overall, obesity is associated with differential transcriptional and metabolic program in various disease sites. Further, these alterations, like kynurenine and tryptophan metabolism, which impact both metabolism and immune phenotype, vary with sex and obesity together. This study warrants further in-depth investigation into obesity and sex-related alterations in cancers that may better define biomarkers of response to immunotherapy.

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is a vital economic vegetable crop, and TRM (TONNEAU1 Recruiting Motif) gene plays a key role in cucumber organ growth. However, the pan-genomic characteristics of the TRM gene family and their expression patterns under different stresses have not been reported in cucumber. In this study, we identified 29 CsTRMs from the pan-genomes of 13 cucumber accessions, with CsTRM29 existing only in PI183967. Most CsTRM proteins exhibited differences in sequence length, except five CsTRMs having consistent protein sequence lengths among the 13 accessions. All CsTRM proteins showed amino acid variations. Analysis of CsTRM gene expression patterns revealed that six CsTRM genes strongly changed in short-fruited lines compared with long-fruited lines. And four CsTRM genes strongly responded to salt and heat stress, while CsTRM14 showed responses to salt stress, powdery mildew, gray mold and downy mildew. Some CsTRM genes were induced or suppressed at different treatment timepoint, suggesting that cucumber TRM genes may play different roles in responses to different stresses, with expression patterns varying with stress changes. Remarkably, the expression of CsTRM21 showed considerable change between long and short fruit and in responses to abiotic stresses (salt stress, heat stress) as well as biotic stresses (powdery mildew, gray mold), suggesting a dual role of CsTRM21 in both fruit shape determination and stress resistance. Collectively, this study provided a base for further functional identification of CsTRM genes in cucumber plant growth and stress resistance.

The gut has been a focus of chronic disease research. The gut microbiota produces metabolites that act as signaling molecules and substrates, closely influencing host health. Indigestible oli-gosaccharides (NDOs), as a common dietary fiber, play an important role in regulating the structure and function of gut microbiota. Their mechanism of action is mainly attributed to their carbon source as specific probiotics, producing related metabolites, and regulating the gut mi-crobial community. However, due to the selective utilization of oligosaccharides, some factors such as the types and structures of oligosaccharides have different impacts on the composition of microbial populations and the production of metabolites in the colon ecosystem. This review systematically describes the key factors influencing the selective utilization of oligosaccharides in microorganisms and elaborates how oligosaccharides affect the host's immune system, inflam-mation levels and energy metabolism by regulating microbial diversity and metabolic function, which in turn will affect the onset and progress of chronic diseases, especially diabetes, obesity, depression and intestinal inflammatory diseases, constipation. In this review, we re-examine the interaction mechanisms between gut microbiota and its associated metabolites and diseases, and explore new strategies for promoting human health and combating chronic diseases through di-etary interventions.

Preventing childhood obesity and associated comorbidities is often hampered by disproportionate disparity in healthcare provision in minority ethnic populations. This study contextualised lifestyle factors influencing childhood obesity and related comorbidity from the perspectives and experiences of parents of ethnic minority children with obesity comorbidity. Families of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnicities (BAME) in the Northeast of England (n=180) were contacted, and families with a child diagnosed with obesity and comorbidity (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, musculoskeletal problems, respiratory disorder, or polycystic ovarian disease) were interviewed (n=11). Semi-structured interviews and qualitative thematic analysis included parents’ perspective and experience on how their children were impacted by obesity and comorbidities, healthcare preventative interventions including lifestyle physical activity and nutrition, and views on tackling obesity. Parents’ perspectives and experience revealed eleven themes centred around living with a child with obesity, risks and impact of obesity diseases; access to lifestyle nutritional and physical activity, and ethnicity specific barriers. Parents revealed social disadvantage, fear of victimisation by social services, perceptions on their cultural and religious traditions when dealing with nutrition and exercise, and child’s weight racial stigmatisation. Parents reported closer bonding with their children than health authorities to protect from obesity consequences. Work pressure, time, and lack of professionals’ guidance were seen as barriers to healthy lifestyle, while support from friends and family bond in adopting healthy lifestyle behaviours were facilitators. Parents reported no awareness of health service provision of nutritional and physical activity obesity prevention programmes. Minority ethnic communities’ perspective on childhood obesity prevention does not match the healthcare system preventative offerings. Community and family-oriented obesity preventative approaches, especially lifestyle nutrition and physical activity interventions are needed beyond those administered by the primary healthcare system.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers and the main cause of cancer-related death globally. Immune dysregulation of CD4+ T cells has been identified as a role in the development of HCC. Nevertheless, the underlying molecular pathways of CD4+ T cells in HCC are not completely known. Thus, a better understanding of the dysregulation of lncRNA-miRNA/mRNA network might yield novel insights into the etiology or progression of HCC. In this study, circulating CD4+ T cells were isolated from the whole blood of 10 healthy controls and 10 HCC patients for next-generation sequencing of the expression of lncRNAs, miRNAs, and mRNAs. Our data showed that there was different expression of 34 transcripts (two lncRNAs, XIST and MIR222HG, 29 mRNA, and 3 other types of RNA) and 13 miRNAs in the circulating CD4+ T cells of HCC patients. The expression of the lncRNA XIST-related miRNAs and their target mRNAs was confirmed using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) on samples from 100 healthy controls and 60 HCC patients. The lncRNA–miRNA/mRNA regulation network was created using interaction data generated from ENCORI and revealed there are positive correlations in the infiltration of total CD4+ T cells and negative correlations in the infiltration of Th1 CD4+ T cells.

Gastric cancer is a heterogeneous group of diseases with only a fraction of patients responds to immunotherapy. The relationships between tumor DNA damage response, the immune system and immunotherapy have recently attracted attention. Accumulating evidence indicate that DNA repair landscape is a significant factor in driving response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. In this study, to explore new prognostic and predictive biomarkers for gastric cancer patients who are sensitive and responsible to immunotherapy, we developed a novel 15-DNA repair gene signature (DRGS) and its related scoring system and evaluated the efficiency of DRGS in discriminating different molecular and immune characteristics and therapeutic outcomes of gastric adenocarcinoma. The results showed that DRGS high score patients showed significantly better therapeutic outcomes compared to DRGS low score patients (P < 0.001). Integrated analysis of multi-omics data demonstrated that the patients with high DRGS score were characteristic of high levels of anti-tumor lymphocytes infiltration, tumor mutation burden (TMB) and PD-L1 expression, and these patients exhibited a longer overall survival and may benefit more from ICB therapy, as compared to the low-score patients. Therefore, the DRGS and its scoring system may have implications in tailoring immunotherapy in gastric cancers.

COVID-19 patients can recover with a median SARS-CoV-2 clearance of 20 days post initial symptoms (PIS). However, we observed some COVID-19 patients with existing SARS-CoV-2 for more than 50 days PIS. This study aimed to investigate the cause of viral clearance delay and the infectivity in these patients. Demographic data and clinical characteristics of 22 long-term COVID-19 patients were collected. SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid, peripheral lymphocyte count, and functionality were assessed. SARS-CoV-2-specific and neutralization antibodies were detected, followed by virus isolation and genome sequencing. The median age of the studied cohort was 59.83±12.94 years. All patients were clinically cured after long-term SARS-CoV-2 infection ranging from 53 to 112 days PIS. Peripheral lymphocytes counts were normal. Interferon gamma (IFN-ƴ)-generated CD4+ and CD8+ cells were normal as 24.68±9.60% and 66.41±14.87%. However, the number of IFN-ƴ-generated NK cells diminished (58.03±11.78%). All patients presented detectable IgG, which positively correlated with mild neutralizing activity (ID50=157.2, P=0.05). SARS-CoV-2 was not isolated, and a cytopathic effect was lacking. Only three synonymous variants were identified in spike protein coding regions. In conclusion, decreased IFN-γ production by NK cells and low neutralizing antibodies might favor SARS-CoV-2 long-term existence. Further, low viral load and weak viral pathogenicity was observed in COVID-19 patients with long-term SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Background: The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading globally now. However, the clinical presentation that predict prognosis of the patients are still largely unknow. Methods: We enrolled 393 patients infected with COVID-19 and 30 patients with common pulmonary bulla and reviewed their clinical features to evaluate the potential prognostic value of pulmonary vesicles, especially in the patients with severe symptoms. One COVID-19 patient with vesicles was treated by bullectomy for last resort, and its characteristics of the patient’s perioperative laboratory tests was analyzed. The pathological findings of bullectomy were described and compared with those of common bulla cases. Results: Patients infected with COVID-19 showed more dependence on ventilator, occurrence of super resistant bacteria, and prone to vesicle formation than common bulla (p<0.05). Disease severity is associated with age, sex, and usage of ventilator, ECMO and antibiotics, super resistance bacteria and vesicle formation (p<0.05). The average mortality rate of COVID-19 patients was 4.10% (25.4% in severe patients, 0.00% in mild patients). Interestingly, the mortality rate further increased in severe patients with pulmonary vesicles than those without pulmonary vesicles (35.7% vs 22.4%, p=0.0442). One COVID-19 patient with vesicles underwent bullectomy and had a poor prognosis, who showed diffuse alveolar damage and extensive necrosis in bullectomy specimen. Conclusions: Patients infected with COVID-19 are more prone to form pulmonary vesicles showed on chest CT scans, as an important poor prognosis factor, especially in the severe patients.

As a universal pathogen leading to neonatal defects and transplant failure, Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has strict species specificity that the inability to using this virus in animals has hampered its pathogenesis study. However, the mechanism of cross-species barrier remains elusive that no non-human cell model has been established to fill this knowledge gap. We observed that primary dermis fibroblasts (TSDF) isolated from the Chinese tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri chinensis), a small laboratory animal with close affinity to primates, were permissive to HCMV replication. In TSDF infected with GFP-expressing HCMV, the green fluorescence and cytopathic effect were observed and the expression of 3 kinetic genes and replication of viral genome were detected. The cell-free viruses produced in TSDF reached 103 pfu/mL at 96 hpi, which were 10-fold lower than in primary human foreskin fibroblasts. Our results demonstrated that TSDF supported low level of lytic replication of HCMV. The TSDF model provides a useful platform for the mechanism study of species barrier of HCMV.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by CAG repeat expansion in the coding region of huntingtin (HTT) protein. The accumulation of mutant HTT (mHTT) contributes to neurotoxicity by causing autophagy defects and oxidative stress that ultimately lead to neuronal death. Interestingly, epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that the prevalence of type-2 diabetes, a metabolic disease mainly caused by defective insulin signaling, is higher in patients with HD than in healthy controls. Although the precise mechanisms of mHTT-mediated toxicity remain unclear, the blockade of brain insulin signaling may initiate or exacerbate mHTT-induced neurodegeneration. In this study, we used an in vitro HD model to investigate whether neuronal insulin signaling is involved in mHTT-mediated neurotoxicity. Our results demonstrated that mHTT overexpression significantly impairs insulin signaling and causes apoptosis in neuronal cells. However, treatment with liraglutide, a GLP-1 analogue, markedly restores insulin sensitivity and enhances cell viability. This neuroprotective effect may be attributed to the contribution of the upregulated expression of genes associated with endogenous antioxidant pathways to oxidative stress reduction. In addition, liraglutide stimulates autophagy through AMPK activation, which attenuates the accumulation of HTT aggregates within neuronal cells. Our findings collectively suggest that liraglutide can rescue impaired insulin signaling caused by mHTT and that GLP-1 may potentially reduce mHTT-induced neurotoxicity in the pathogenesis of HD.

The aims of this study are to measure the technical efficiency (TE) of Cambodian household’s rice production and trying to determine its main influencing factors using the stochastic frontier production function. The study utilized primary data collected from 301 rice farmers in three selected districts of Battambang by structured questionnaires. The empirical results indicated the level of household rice output varied according to differences in the efficiency of production processes. The mean TE is 0.34 which means that famers produce 34% of rice at best practice at the current level of production inputs and technology, indicates that rice output has the potential of being increased further by 66% at the same level of inputs if farmers had been technically efficient. Furthermore, between 2013-2015 TE of household’s rice production recorded -14.3% decline rate due to highly affected of drought during dry season of 2015. Moreover, evidence reveals that land, fertilizer, and pesticide are the major influencing input factors of household’s rice production, while disaster, education of household head, family size and other crops’ cultivated area are core influencing factors decreasing TE. Conversely, the main influencing factors increasing TE are irrigated area, number of plot area and sex of household head.

The aims of this study are to measure the technical efficiency (TE) of Cambodian household’s rice production and trying to determine its main influencing factors using the stochastic frontier production function. The study utilized primary data collected from 301 rice farmers in three selected districts of Battambang by structured questionnaires. The empirical results indicated the level of household rice output varied according to differences in the efficiency of the production processes. The mean TE is 0.34 which means that famers produce 34% of rice at best practice at the current level of production inputs and technology, indicates that rice output has the potential of being increased further by 66% at the same level of inputs if farmers had been technically efficient. Furthermore, between 2013-2015, TE of household’s rice production recorded -14.3% decline rate due to highly affected of drought during dry season of 2015. Moreover, evidence reveals that land, fertilizer, and pesticide are the major influencing input factors of household’s rice production, while disaster, education of household head, family size and other crops’ cultivated area are core influencing factors decreasing TE. Conversely, the main influencing factors increasing TE are irrigated area, number of plot area and sex of household head.

The present study aims to measure the technical efficiency and establish core factors effecting rice production in Cambodia. Four-years dataset generated from the central government document “Profile on Economics and Social” of entire 25 provinces between 2012-2015 and the stochastic production frontier model (SFA) was applied. The results indicated that the level of output (quantity) of Cambodian rice production varied according to the different level of capital investment in agricultural machineries, total rice actual harvested area, and technically fertilizers application within provinces. Furthermore, evidence revealed the overall mean efficiency of rice production is 78.4% implies that there is still room to further improve technical efficiency by given the same level of inputs and technology. More importantly, the findings revealed that irrigation, production technique and amount of agricultural supporting staffs are being as the most important influencing factors of rice production’s technical efficiency in Cambodia. In conclusion, present study strongly recommends the development of irrigation systems and good water management practices to be considered and bring into more effective actions by the central government as well as related agencies for improving rice production in Cambodia in addition to capital investment and improving technical skills of supporting staffs and rural farmers.

Animal personalities play a crucial role in invasion dynamics during alien species invasions. The behavioral strategies adopted by native species varied among personalities when facing an invasion by alien species, just as the invasive species exhibited variations in behavior strategies across different personalities during the invasion process. However, the effects of personality interactions between native species and invasive species on behavior and growth are rarely illustrated. We used the globally invasive freshwater turtle Trachemys scripta elegans and the native freshwater turtle Mauremys reevesii to investigate how the personality combinations of native and invasive turtles would impact the foraging strategy and growth of both species. We found that M. reevesii exhibited bolder and more exploratory personalities than T. scripta elegans. The foraging strategy of M. reevesii was mainly affected by the personality of T. scripta elegans, while the foraging strategy of T. scripta elegans was influenced by both their own personality and M. reevesii's personality. In addition, we did not found that the personality combination would affect the growth of either T. scripta elegans or M. reevesii. Difference in foraging strategy may be due to the competitive advantage of invasive species and variations in the exploration-exploitation foraging strategy among different personalities. Overall, our results reveal the mechanisms of personality interaction effects on the foraging behavior of both native and invasive species during alien species invasion and provide empirical evidence to help understand the effects of personality in invasion dynamics.