Limited knowledge is available about the association between autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and precocious puberty. Our study examined the association between the two medical conditions, and the effect modification by sex and neuropsychiatric comorbidities in a nationwide population. To compare the risk of precocious puberty between ASD and non-ASD cases, we conducted Cox regression analysis, using ASD as exposure and time-to-precocious puberty as outcome. We adjusted for sex, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), tics disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety disorder, intellectual disability, and epilepsy. We performed a moderation analysis to examine the potential moderating effects by sex or comorbidities. Patients with ASD were prone to have precocious puberty, with an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 1.80 (95% CI: 1.61-2.01). For the effect modification, sex, specifically females, moderated the association between ASD and precocious puberty, with relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) 7.35 (95% CI 4.90-9.80). No significant effect modification was found for any of the comorbidities within the scope of additive effect modification. We found that patients with ASD were prone to precocious puberty, regardless of sex or comorbid neuropsychiatric disorders. Girls with ASD are at particularly higher risk to develop precocious puberty.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent and disabling mental disorders worldwide. Among the symptoms of MDD, sleep disturbance such as insomnia is prominent and the first reason patients may seek professional help. However, the underlying pathophysiology of this comorbidity is still elusive. Recently, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have begun to unveil the genetic background of several psychiatric disorders, including MDD and insomnia. Identifying the shared genomic risk loci between comorbid psychiatric disorders could be a valuable strategy to understand their comorbidity. This study seeks to identify the shared genes and biological pathways between MDD and insomnia based on their shared genetic variants. First, we performed a meta-analysis based on the GWAS summary statistics of MDD and insomnia obtained from Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and UK Biobank, respectively. Next, we associated shared genetic variants to genes using two gene mapping strategies: (a) positional mapping based on genomic proximity and (b) expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping based on gene expression linkage across multiple tissues. As a result, a total of 719 shared genes were identified. Over half (51%) of them are protein-coding genes. Functional enrichment analysis shows that the most enriched biological pathways are related to epigenetic modification, sensory perception, and immunologic signatures. We also identified druggable targets using a network approach. Together these results may provide insights into understanding the genetic predisposition and underlying biological pathways of comorbid MDD and insomnia symptoms.

Polyurethane (PU) foam adhesives were prepared from castor oil as a polyol with isocyanate poly (4,4′-methylene diphenyl isocyanate) (PMDI) using a solvent-free process. The NCO/OH molar ratio used for the preparation of PU foams was 1.5. Water, organosiloxane and dibutyltin dilaurate were blowing agent, surfactant and catalyst, respectively. Effects of the ratio of blowing agent and catalyst were adjusted to optimize the properties. The results show that 4 wt% of castor oil of catalyst and blowing agent minimizes water absorption and maximizes volume expansion in the PU foams. FT-IR analysis shows that urethane bond was formed by hydroxyl group of castor oil and –NCO group of isocyanate PMDI. More blowing agent and catalyst could improve the volume expansion ratio and reduce water retention of PU foams. It was found that Moso bamboo charcoal (Phyllostachys pubescens) or/and China fir wood particle (Cunninghamia lanceolate) composites with setting densities of 500 and 600 kg/m³ can be prepared from optimized castor oil-based PU foam adhesive at 100 °C for 5 min under a pressure of 1.5 MPa. Increasing the amount of bamboo charcoal decreases the equilibrium moisture content, water absorption and internal bonding strength of the composite. Notably, bamboo charcoal composite exhibits excellent dimensional stability. The optimized density and bamboo charcoal percentages of the composite were 500 kg/m³ and 50 to 100%. The castor oil-based PU composites containing bamboo charcoal fulfilled the CNS 2215 standards for particleboard. This dimensionally stable, low-density bamboo charcoal composite has high potential to replace current indoor building materials.

Excessive body fat is a major contributor to obesity, which is related to high blood, total cholesterol and triglycerides. Lemons (Citrus limon) are renowned for their antioxidant and lipid-lowering properties. First, Sugar-free fermentation demonstrated better results lower sugar content and was identified as the preferred fermentation method. Next, the effect of two doses of sugar-free fermented lemon peel juice (SF-FLPJ) on obesity was investigated. Sprague Dawley (male rats) were randomly divided into 4 groups and fed a standard feed or high-fat diet (HFD) to induce fatness for eight weeks. The two groups of rats fed an HFD were administered SF-FLPJ at 0.45 or 0.9 g/kg body weight daily for eight weeks. The obese rats administered 0.9 g/kg (body weight/day) of SF-FLPJ exhibited significant reductions in body fat mass and percentage; they also had lower blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels than the other groups. Additionally, the rats displayed diminished liver fat accumulation. The results suggest that SF-FLPJ can be a supplement in managing body fat, contributing positively to addressing obesity within the context of health management, and reduce obesity-associated issues.

In pursuit of sustainable human survival, the effective utilization of renewable energy has become critical to technological advancement. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology, which generates electricity by leveraging the temperature differential between surface and deep ocean waters, enables stable power generation around the clock. In this domain, the combination of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) and heat exchangers has exhibited immense potential for ameliorating the deficiencies of conventional OTEC. This study uses numerical simulation to investigate the fluid dynamics characteristics of heat exchangers with flat fins and different types of longitudinal vortex generators (LVGs) under the same number of fins. The research encompasses heat exchangers with rectangular, triangular, and trapezoidal LVGs. Concurrently, the analysis examines how the vortices generated by the LVGs influence the thermoelectric performance of the TEGs. The results demonstrate that heat exchangers integrating flat fins and LVGs can enhance the power generation efficiency of TEGs. However, the pumping power required by the LVGs constrains the thermoelectric conversion efficiency. Compared to rectangular and triangular LVGs, trapezoidal LVGs achieve a superior balance between output and pumping power. Heat exchangers utilizing trapezoidal LVGs can attain the highest TEG thermoelectric conversion efficiency with a specific seawater flow velocity. Overall, these findings provide valuable reference information for applying TEGs and heat exchangers in OTEC design.

The thermoelectric generator (TEG) has much potential as a renewable energy technology that could be used in ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). This technique employs TEGs and heat exchangers as substitutes for the intricate elements found in conventional OTEC systems, including pressure valves, evaporators, condensers, and turbine generators. By harnessing the temperature difference between warm surface seawater and cold deep seawater, it facilitates the conversion of this thermal gradient into electrical energy. This study used computer simulations to look at and compare three different types of heat exchangers: a cavity-type heat exchanger, a heat exchanger with flat fins, and a heat exchanger with longitudinal vortex generators (LVGs). The objective was to evaluate the influence of these designs on the thermoelectric conversion performance when implemented in OTEC systems. The study's findings indicate that using heat exchanger configurations featuring flat fins, or LVGs, enhances the efficiency of thermal energy transfer from warm seawater to TEGs, resulting in a notable enhancement in the output power of TEGs. Furthermore, the efficiency of TEG thermoelectric conversion is influenced by varying seawater flow rates in relation to the performance of flat fins and LVGs. In contrast to the cavity-type heat exchanger, the utilization of a heat exchanger equipped with flat fins has been found to yield a notable enhancement in the output power of TEGs by approximately 22.92%. Furthermore, this configuration demonstrates a substantial improvement in thermoelectric conversion efficiency, exhibiting an increase of around 40.01%. These improvements are observed under certain conditions pertaining to flow rates and fin heights. Utilizing heat exchangers equipped with LVGs has been found to enhance the output power of TEGs by 13.02% and improve the overall thermoelectric conversion efficiency by 17.72%. These improvements are observed under certain conditions, including specific flow rates, LVG tilt angles, and locations.

Aberrant neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation and the loss of barrier integrity in inflamed intestinal tissues have long been associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, whether NETs alter intestinal epithelium permeability during colitis remains elusive. Here, we demonstrated that NETs promote the breakdown in intestinal barrier function for the pathogenesis of intestinal inflammation in mouse models of colitis. NETs were abundant in the colon of mice with colitis experimentally induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) or 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS). Analysis of the intestinal barrier integrity revealed that NETs impaired gut permeability, enabling the initiation of luminal bacterial translocation and inflammation. Furthermore, NETs induced the apoptosis of epithelial cells and disrupted the integrity of tight junctions and adherens junctions. Intravenous administration of DNase I, an enzyme that dissolves the web-like DNA filaments of NETs, during colitis restored the mucosal barrier integrity which reduced the dissemination of luminal bacteria, and attenuated intestinal inflammation in both DSS and TNBS models. We conclude that NETs serve a detrimental factor in the gut epithelial barrier function leading to the pathogenesis of mucosal inflammation during acute colitis.

This paper first discusses a fractional-order Liu system of order as low as 2.7 and shows its chaotic characteristics by carrying out numerical simulations such as Lyapunov exponents, bifurcation diagrams and phase portraits. Then, by using the topological horseshoe theory and computer-assisted proof, the existence of chaos in the system is verified theoretically. Finally, the fractional-order system is implemented on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and the results obtained show that the fractional-order Liu system is indeed chaotic.

This paper presents a comprehensive study on the application and optimization of automotive thermoelectric generators (ATEGs), focusing on the crucial role of heat exchangers in enhancing energy conversion efficiency. Recognizing the substantial waste of thermal energy in internal combustion engines, our research delves into the potential of TEGs to convert engine waste heat into electrical energy, thereby improving fuel efficiency and reducing environmental impact. We meticulously analyze various heat exchanger designs, assessing their influence on the TEG's output power under different exhaust gas flow rates and temperatures. Furthermore, we explore the impact of TEG material properties on the overall energy conversion effectiveness. Our findings reveal that specific heat exchanger designs significantly enhance the efficiency of waste gas heat exchange, leading to an improved performance of the TEG system. We also highlight the importance of thermal insulation in maximizing TEG output. This study not only contributes to the ongoing efforts to develop more sustainable and efficient vehicles but also provides valuable insights into the practical application of thermoelectric technology in automotive engineering. Through this research, we aim to pave the way for more environmentally friendly transportation solutions, aligning with global efforts to reduce fossil fuel dependence and mitigate environmental pollution.

With the advances in industry and commerce, passengers have become more accepting of environmental sustainability issues; thus, more people now choose to travel by bus. Government administration constitutes an important part of bus transportation services as the government gives the right-of-way to transportation companies allowing them to provide services. When these services are of poor quality, passengers may lodge complaints. The increase in consumer awareness and developments in wireless communication technologies have made it possible for passengers to easily and immediately submit complaints about transportation companies to government institutions, which has brought drastic changes to the supply-demand chain comprised of the public sector, transportation companies, and passengers. This study proposed the use of big data analysis technology including systematized case assignment and data visualization to improve management processes in the public sector and optimize customer complaint services. Taichung City, Taiwan was selected as the research area. There, the customer complaint management process in public sector was improved, effectively solving such issues as station-skipping, allowing the public sector to fully grasp the service level of transportation companies, improving the sustainability of bus operations, and supporting the sustainable development of the public sector-transportation company-passenger supply chain.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a complex, chronic, widespread pain syndrome that can cause significant health and economic burden. Emerging evidence has shown that neuroinflammation is an underlying pathological mechanism in fibromyalgia. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are key mediators of the immune system. TLR4 is expressed primarily in microglia and regulates downstream signaling pathways, such as MyD88/NF-κB and TRIF/IRF3. It remains unknown whether electroacupuncture (EA) has therapeutic benefit in attenuating fibromyalgia pain and what role the TLR4 pathway may play in this effect. We compared EA with sham EA to eliminate the placebo effect due to acupuncture. We demonstrated that intermittent cold stress significantly induced an increase in mechanical and thermal FM pain in mice (mechanical: 2.48 ± 0.53 g; thermal: 5.64 ± 0.32 s). EA but not sham EA has analgesic effect on FM mice. TLR4 and inflammatory mediators-related molecules were increased in FM mice’s thalamus, medial prefrontal cortex, somatosensory cortex, and amygdala, indicating neuroinflammation and microglial activation. These molecules were reduced by EA but not sham EA. Furthermore, a new chemogenetics method was used to precisely inhibit SSC activity displayed an anti-nociceptive effect through TLR4 pathway. Our results imply that the analgesic effect of EA is associated with TLR4 downregulation. We provide novel evidence that EA can modulate the TLR4 signaling pathway, revealing potential therapeutic targets for FM pain.

The mangrove plant Acanthus ilicifolius and its relative, A. mollis, have been previously proved to possess diverse pharmacological effects. Therefore, evaluating the differentially expressed proteins of these species under tidal flooding stress is essential to fully exploit and benefit from their medicinal values. The roots of A. ilicifolius and A. mollis were exposed to 6 h of flooding stress per day for 10 days. The dry weight, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content, anatomical characteristics, carbon and energy levels, and two-dimensional electrophoresis coupled with MALDI-TOF/TOF MS technology were used to reveal the divergent flooding resistant strategies. A. ilicifolius performed better under tidal flooding stress, which was reflected in the integrity of the morphological structure, more efficient use of carbon and energy, and a higher percentage of up-regulated proteins associated with carbon and energy metabolism. A. mollis could not survive in flooding conditions for a long time, as revealed by incomplete cell structures of the roots, less efficient use of carbon and energy, and a higher percentage of down-regulated proteins associated with carbon and energy metabolism. Energy provision and flux balance played a role in the flooding tolerance of A. ilicifolius and A. mollis.

A novel five-surface phosphor-in-ceramic (FS-PiC) for high illumination and excellent color uniformity in larger-scale LEDs for sensor light source application is demonstrated. YAG phosphor (Y3Al5O12:Ce3+) was uniformly mixed with ceramic and sintered at 680°C to form a phosphor wafer. A sophisticated laser engraving was employed on the phosphor wafer to form a saddle-shaped large-scale FS-PiC LEDs. The performance of the FS-PiC LEDs exhibited the illumination of 401lm, average color temperature (CCT) of 5488K±110K, and color coordinates (CIE) of (0.3179±0.003, 0.3352±0.003). In contrast to convention single-surface phosphor-in-ceramic (SS-PiC) LEDs, the performance exhibited the illumination of 380lm, average CCT of 5830K±758K, and CIE of (0.3083±0.07, 0.3172±0.07). These indicated that the performance of the FS-PiC LEDs was higher than the SS-PiC LEDs for illumination, CCT, and CIE of 1.1, 7, and 23 times, respectively. Furthermore, the FS-PiC LEDs demonstrate lower lumen loss of 2% and less chromaticity shift of 5.4x10-3 under accelerated aging at 350°C for 1008 hours, owing to the high ceramic melting temperature of up to 510°C. In this study, the proposed FS-PiC larger-scale LEDs having excellent optical performance and high reliability may be the promising candidates to replace the convention phosphor-in-organic silicone material used in high-power LEDs for the next generation of sensor light sources, display, and headlight applications.

High-strength low-alloy steels (HSLAs) are widely used in the structural body components of many domestic motor vehicles owing to their better mechanical properties and greater resistance. The real production process of HSLA steelmaking can be regarded as a model that builds on the relationship between process parameters and product quality attributes. A surrogate modeling method is used, and the resulting production process model can be applied to predict the optimal manufacturing process parameters. We used different methods in this paper to build such a surrogate model, including linear regression, random forests, support vector regression, multilayer perception, and a simplified VGG model. We then applied three bio-inspired search algorithms, namely particle swarm optimization, the artificial bee colony algorithm, and the firefly algorithm, to search for the optimal controllable manufacturing process parameters. Through experiments on 9,000 test samples used for building the surrogate model, and 299 test samples for making the optimal process parameter selection, we found that the combination of a simplified VGG model and the firefly algorithm was the most successful at reaching a success rate of 100%—in other words, when the product quality attributes of all test samples satisfy the mechanical requirements of the end products.

Oral cancer ranks sixth among Taiwan's top 10 cancers, and most patients with poor prognosis acquire metastases. The essential fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) has been found to diminish many cancer properties. However, the anti-cancer activity of ALA in oral cancer has yet to be determined. Migration and invasion assays confirmed OSCC cells' EMT capabilities, whereas flow cytometry and Western blotting identified the molecular pathways. ALA dramatically reduced cell growth in a concentration dependent manner, according to the findings. Low concentrations of ALA (100 or 200 μM) inhibit colony formation, expression of Twist and EMT-related proteins, expression of MMP2/-9 proteins and enzyme activity, as well as cell migration and invasion. Treatment with high concentrations of ALA (200 or 400 μM) greatly increases JNK phosphorylation and c-jun nuclear accumulation, then upregulates the FasL/caspase8/caspase3 and Bid/cytochrome c/caspase9/caspase3 pathways, leading to cell death. Low concentrations of ALA inhibit SAS and GNM cell migration and invasion by suppressing Twist and downregulating EMT-related proteins, or by decreasing the protein expression and enzyme activity of MMP-2/-9, whereas high concentrations of ALA promote apoptosis by activating the JNK/FasL/caspase 8/caspase 3-extrinsic pathway and the Bid/cytochrome c/caspase 9 pathway. ALA demonstrates potential as a treatment for OSCC patients.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common kidney cancer, accounting for approximately 80–90 % of all primary kidney cancer. Treatment for patients with advanced RCC remains unsatisfactory. Rare cancer stem cells (CSCs) are proposed to be responsible for failure of current treatment. Here, we investigate the effects of CBFA2T2 on CSCs regulation in RCC, as well as to elucidate the possible mechanisms. We showed that CBFA2T2 expression can significantly predict the survival of RCC patients. Functional assays showed that knocking-down of CBFA2T2 can inhibit cell migration and invasion in 786-O and A-498 cells in vitro, and reduce ALDH^high CSCs populations. Furthermore, CBFA2T2 expression is necessary for sphere-forming ability and cancer stem cells marker expression in RCC cell lines. Collectively, our data suggest that CBFA2T2 expression correlates with aggressive characteristics of RCC and CBFA2T2 is required for maintenance of “stemness” through regulation of stem cells factors, thereby highlighting CBFA2T2 as a potential therapeutic target for RCC treatment.

Amid the swift progression of the global automobile industry, the aspiration for lightweight vehicle design has surfaced as a crucial approach to boost fuel efficiency and curtail environmental impact. The objective of this study revolves around achieving holistic optimization of vehicle structure via detailed scrutiny of vehicle process characteristics, amalgamated with a Back Propagation neural network (BPNN) optimized by a genetic algorithm (GA) and a topology optimization (TO) method.The process initiates with an examination of the vehicle's technical characteristics, succeeded by an optimization protocol that couples GA with BPNN. This exhaustive optimization procedure derives the best-fit values of design parameters and identifies the globally optimal lightweight design approach. Subsequently, a comprehensive structural optimization is actualized by modifying the topological distribution of the structure.A simulation experiment of the conceptual car body beam skeleton is conducted as a conclusive step, and the anti-collision capacity of the car body beam skeleton is assessed by measuring deformation intrusion. The findings reveal that in the vehicle topology optimization, a comparative analysis of pre and post-optimization results indicates an improved topological density across diverse sections. The topological density of the vehicle's frontal structure escalates from 0.75 to 0.8. Following optimization, the stiffness assessment records a marginal increase (within the range of 0.02–0.05), implying that the lightweight design does not compromise the general rigidity of the structure.The optimized body structure manifests superior crashworthiness in the crash test: the deformation intrusion diminishes by 27% in front-end collisions. In side impacts, the deformation and intrusion at critical points are reduced by 13.15% to 10% respectively. The comprehensive method proposed herein proves to be an efficient strategy to actualize the lightweight design of vehicles.

Most of the current methods for stabilizing electric arc furnace (EAF) slag are time-consuming and cannot be completely stabilized. In view of this, this study aimed to apply microbial‑induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) technology in the stabilization of EAF reducing slag, and this was to be achieved by using the reaction between carbonate ions and free calcium oxide (f-CaO) in reducing slag to form a more stable calcium carbonate to achieve the purpose of stabilization. The test results showed that, when the EAF reducing slag aggregates (ERSAs) were immersed in Bacillus pasteurii bacteria solution or water, the f-CaO contained in it would react such that stabilization was achieved. The titration test results showed that the f-CaO content of the ERSAs immersed in the bacterial solution and water decreased. The expansion test results of the ERSAs that were subjected to hydration showed that the seven-day expansion of ERSAs after biomineralization could meet the Taiwan regulation requirement of a less than 0.5% expansion rate. The thermogravimetric analysis showed that both the experimental group and the control group might contain calcium carbonate compounds. The results of the X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the CaCO3 content in the ERSAs that were immersed in the bacterial solution was significantly higher than those that were immersed in water. Moreover, the compressive strength test results of concrete prepared with ERSAs showed that the compressive strength of the control group concrete began to decline after 28 days. In contrast, the experimental group concrete had a good stabilization effect, and there was no decline in compressive strength until the age of 180 days. At the age of 240 days, the surface cracks of the experimental group were particularly small, while the surface of the control group showed obvious cracks. These results confirmed that a mineralization reaction with B. pasteurii bacteria could be used as a stabilization technology for ERSAs.

The work safety standardization of enterprises based on the traditional work safety theory has played a significant role in reducing the number of accidents and improving work safety to some extent in China. However, some problems are coming with the work safety standardization of enterprises developing constantly in China. On the one hand, it is not combined with the actual situation of the enterprise, lacking pertinence and specificity, these defects resulted that it is not integrated with original safety production management system of enterprise and make it difficult to carry out. On the other hand, there is a lack of systematic management methods for the work safety management system of enterprise, most of enterprises only pay attention to the inspection result rather than the process control. This means after the check of the government, many enterprises will relax to carry out the system. This paper puts forward a new method for optimizing the standardization management mode of work safety based on the Viable System Model(VSM), which can solve the defects of work safety standardization of enterprises management system. An optimization model of work safety standardization based on VSM was construct for explaining the process optimization and control of work safety standardization management. It can improve the connectivity between the enterprise and the government. The conclusion of this paper can provide reference for achieving the development and optimization of work safety standardization of enterprises in China.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is commonly used for super-selective analysis through nanostructured silver layers in the environment, food quality, biomedicine, and materials science. To fabricate a high-sensitivity but more accessible device of SERS, dc magnetron sputtering technology was used to realize high sensitivity, low cost, stable deposition rate, and rapid mass production. This study investigated various thicknesses of a silver film ranging from 3.0 to 12.1 nm by field-emission-scanning-electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In the rhodamine 6G (R6G) testing irradiated by a He-Ne laser beam, the analytical enhancement factor (AEF) of 9.35x108, the limit of detection (LOD) of 10-8 M, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) of 1.61% were better than other SERS substrates fabricated by the same dc sputtering process because the results show that the 6 nm thickness silver layer has the highest sensitivity, stability, and lifetime. The paraquat and acetylcholine analytes were further investigated and high sensitivity was also achievable. The proposed SERS samples were evaluated and stored in a low humidity environment for up to forty weeks, and no spectrum attenuation could be detected. Soon, the proposed technology to fabricate high sensitivity, repeatability, and robust SERS substrate will be an optimized process technology in multiple applications.

Although cooperative social networks are considered key to human evolution, emphasis has usually been placed on the functions of men’s cooperative networks. What do women's networks look like? Do they resemble or differ from men's and what does this suggest about evolutionarily inherited gender differences in reproductive and social strategies? In this paper, we test the ‘universal gender differences’ hypothesis positing gender-specific network structures against the ‘gender reversal’ hypothesis that posits women's networks looking more 'masculine' under matriliny. Specifically, we ask whether men's friendship networks are always larger than women's and we investigate measures of centrality by gender and descent system. To do so, we use tools from social network analysis and data on men’s and women’s friendship ties in matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo communities. In tentative support of the gender reversal hypothesis, we find that women's friendship networks in matriliny are relatively large. Measures of centrality and generalized linear models otherwise reveal greater differences between communities than between men and women. The data and analyses we present are primarily descriptive given limitations of sample size and sampling strategy. Nonetheless, our results provide support for the flexible application of social relationships across genders and clearly challenge the predominant narrative of universal gender differences across space and time.

Many corporations have now revised their value statements to showcase their commitment to sustainable development and green business due to the pressing issues of climate and environmental damage. Despite the importance of value statements that can direct companies to achieve sustainable goals, what kind of values can be perceived as organizational orientations to sustainability remains unknown. This study explores how the general public views the inclusion of sustainable components in value statements from the listed companies in Hong Kong by using Q-sort methodology (n = 30). Analyzing the final sample of 40 value statements extracted from 27 listed companies, we identified three factors related to sustainability, namely, Empowering business process management, Empowering customer-centric excellence, and Empowering sustainable progress. This study provides an additional component to the traditional triple bottom line by suggesting that internal operation of a company is an emerging idea to understand corporate sustainability.

This study presents a vibration control using actively tunable vibration absorbers (ATVA) to suppress vibration of a thin plate. The ATVA’s is made of a sandwich hollow structure embedded with the electrorheological fluid (ERF). ERF is considered to be one of the most important smart fluids and it is suitable to be embedded in a smart structure due to its controllable viscosity property. ERF’s apparent viscosity can be controlled in response to the electric field and the change is reversible in 10 microseconds. Therefore, the physical properties of the ERF-embedded smart structure, such as the stiffness and damping coefficients, can be changed in response to the applied electric field. A mathematical model is difficult to be obtained to describe the exact characteristics of the ERF embedded ATVA because of the nonlinearity of ERF’s viscosity. Therefore, a fuzzy modeling and experimental validations of ERF-based ATVA from stationary random vibrations of thin plates are presented in this study. Because Type-2 fuzzy sets generalize Type-1 fuzzy sets so that more modelling uncertainties can be handled, a semi-active vibration controller is proposed based on Type-2 fuzzy sets. To investigate the different performances by using different types of fuzzy controllers, the experimental measurements employing type-1 fuzzy and interval type-2 fuzzy controllers are implemented by the Compact RIO embedded system. The fuzzy modeling framework and solution methods presented in this work can be used for design, performance analysis, and optimization of ATVA from stationary random vibration of thin plates.

Aim: Aging is companied by deteriorations of insulin resistance (IR) and insulin secretion. However, little is known about the roles of aging on different phases of insulin secretion (ISEC); i.e., the first- and second-phase of insulin secretion (FPIS, SPIS) and glucose effectiveness (GE). Methods: Totally 169 individuals (43 men and 126 women) with the similar fasting plasma glucose (FPG: 90 mg/dL) and BMI (men: 23 kg/m2, women 22 kg/m2) were enrolled. IR, FPIS, SPIS, and GE were estimated using our previously developed equations shown below. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to assess the correlations between age and four diabetes factors (DFs: IR, FPIS, SPIS and GE). The equations that are used to calculate the DF in the present study were built and published by our group. Results: The age of the participants ranged from 18- to 78-year-old. Men had higher FPIS but lower HDL-C levels than women (2.067±0.159, 1.950±0.186 μU/min and 1.130±0.306, 1.348±0.357 mmol/dl, accordingly). The results of Pearson correlation revealed that age was negatively related to IR and GE in both genders (IR: r = -0.39, p < 0.001 for men, r = -0.24, p < 0.003 for women; GE: r = 0.66, p < 0.001 for men, r = 0.78, p < 0.001 for women). In the meanwhile, FPIS was also only found to be negatively correlated with age in female (r = -0.238, p = 0.003). But there was no different with SPIS and age in both of genders. Conclusions: We have found that in Chinese with normal FPG level (90 mg/dl) and body mass index (men: 23 kg/m2, women: 22: kg/m2), age is negatively related to IR and GE in both genders. At the same time, only FPIS was found to be negatively related to age in women. The tightness of their relationships, from the highest to the lowest are, GE, FPIS and IR accordingly. The importance of GE should be re-evaluated. These results should be interpreted with caution because of the small sample size.

The KRAS mutant population has been undruggable for 40 years. G12C inhibitors and immunotherapy are the beginning of success. It is necessary to summarize the successful experience of the existing treatment model and explore the direction of the next treatment. In this review, we discuss the latest developments in targeted therapy and immunotherapy for KRAS-mutation NSCLC, aiming to provide direction or enlightenment for future treatment strategies.

Calcareous sand deposits are widely distributed along the shoreline in ropical and subtropical regions. Microbially induced calcite precipitation treatment (MICP) is a relatively new method to improve the stiffness and strength of the soil. Little is known about the small-strain shear modulus and damping ratio of MICP-treated calcareous sand, which are two crucial parameters for the prediction of the dynamic behavior of soil. A series of resonant column tests are performed to investigate the dynamic performance of MICP-treated calcareous sand, with special attention paid to the influence of treatment duration and confining stress on the stiffness and damping characteristics. The relationship between the initial dynamic shear modulus and unconfined compressive strength is analyzed. Additionally, the empirical equations of the reference shear strain between treatment duration and confining stress are given. The G/G0 of MICP-cemented calcareous sand presents a higher strain sensitivity than that of untreated sand, and its attenuation pattern can be described by Hardin-Drnevich model. The σc has an apparent effect on the degradation characteristics of the dynamic shear modulus of MICP-treated calcareous sand with a low cementation level, however, its effect decreases with the increasing treatment duration. The relationship between the reference shear strain and the treatment duration and confining stress can be described by a power and a linear formula, respectively.

Age-related sarcopenia meaningfully increases the risks of functional limitations and mortality in the elderly. Although circulating microRNAs (c-miRNAs) are associated with aging-related cellular senescence and inflammation, the relationships between c-miRNAs and sarcopenia in the elderly remain unclear. This study investigates whether circulating myo-miRNAs and inflammation-related miRNAs are associated with sarcopenia in the elderly. This study recruited 77 eligible subjects (41 males and 36 females) from 597 community-dwelling older adults, and then divided into normal (n=24), dynapenic (loss of muscular function without mass, n=35), and sarcopenic groups (loss of muscular function with mass, n=18). Moreover, myo-miRNAs (c-miRNA-133a and c-miRNA-486), inflammation-related miRNAs (c-miRNA-21 and c-miRNA-146a), and inflammatory-related cytokine levels in plasma were determined using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and ELISA, respectively. The results demonstrated that sarcopenic group exhibited lesser skeletal muscle mass index (SMI), handgrip strength, and gait speed, as well as, lower c-miR-486 and c-miR-146a levels, compared to those of normal and dynapenic groups. Moreover, c-miR-486 level was positively related to SMI (r=0.334, P=0.003), whereas c-miR-146a level was positively associated with SMI (r=0.240, P=0.035) and handgrip strength (r=0.253, P=0.027). In the receiver operating characteristic analysis for predicting sarcopenia, the area under the curve in c-miR-486 was 0.708 (95% confidence interval: 0.561-0.855, P=0.008) and c-miR-146a was 0.676 (95% CI: 0.551-0.801, P=0.024). However, no significant relationships were observed between SMI/ handgrip strength/gait speed and plasma myeloperoxidase/interleukin-1?/interleukin-6 levels. In conclusion, myo-miRNA (c-miR-486) and inflammation-related miRNA (c-miR-146a) are superior to inflammatory peroxide/cytokines in plasma for serving as critical biomarkers of age-related sarcopenia.

The management of blunt abdominopelvic trauma with combined hemoperitoneum and pelvic fractures is challenging for trauma surgeons. Although angioembolization can achieve hemostasis in most visceral organ injuries and pelvic fractures after blunt abdominal trauma, it cannot effectively control hemorrhage in patients with blunt bowel mesenteric injury (BBMI). This study aimed to determine the risk factors associated with hemodynamically unstable patients with BBMI and to test the hypothesis that pelvic fracture is an independent risk factor for patients with unstable BBMI and concomitant pelvic fracture to guide the therapeutic sequence for difficult-to-manage patients. This retrospective study reviewed the data of hospitalized patients with trauma between 2009 and 2021 and included 158 adult patients with surgically proven BBMI. The patients were divided on the basis of the presence of a shock episode before emergency laparotomy. The shock group included 44.3% of all patients in the study (n = 70). Clinical injury severity and prognosis for patients in the shock group were poorer than those for patients in the non-shock group, and more invasive treatments and transfusions were performed for patients in the shock group than for those in the non-shock group. Pelvic fractures were more frequently associated in the shock group than in the non-shock group (21.4% vs. 5.7%; p = 0.003). In multivariate analysis, the presence of intracerebral hemorrhage (odds ratio [OR] = 10.87, 95% confidence intervals [CIs]: 1.70–69.75) and rib fracture (OR = 5.94, 95% CIs = 1.06–33.45) were identified as independent predictors of shock, whereas the effect of pelvic fracture did not achieve statistical significance (OR = 2.94, 95% CIs = 0.66–13.13) after adjusting for confounding factors. For patients with BBMI, outcomes need to be improved during early diagnosis and treatments should be expeditiously performed on the basis of the rapid identification of unstable hemodynamic status. In unstable patients with concomitant pelvic fractures, we support the current management algorithm that recommends performing laparotomy first.

Bone metastasis detection and quantification on bone scintigraphy is challenging and clinical important for treatment and patient’s life quality. To develop a CNN based diagnostic system for automated segmentation on bone metastasis regions is non-trivial, especially for a small dataset. A dataset in house comprising 100 breast cancer patients and 100 prostate cancer patients is utilized for this research. The Double U-Net model is adapted through the integration of background removal, adding negative samples, and transfer learning methods for bone metastasis detection. The performance is investigated via 10-fold cross-validation and computed in pixel-wise scale. The best model we achieved has precision of 63.08%, sensitivity of 70.82%, and F1-score of 66.72%. The developed system has the potential to provide pre-diagnostic reports for physicians in final decisions and the calculation of the bone scan index (BSI) with the combination with bone skeleton segmentation.

Based on the electron-deficient property of picric acid (PA), two neutral Ir(III) complexes 1 and 2 modified with the electron-rich carbazolyl groups were synthesized and characterized. Both 1 and 2 exhibit aggregation-induced phosphorescence emission (AIPE) properties in THF/H2O. Among them, 2 is extremely sensitive for detecting PA with a limit of detection of 0.15 μM in THF/H2O. Furthermore, the selectivity for PA is significantly higher compared to other analytes, enabling efficient detection of PA in four common water samples. The density functional theory calculations and the spectroscopic results confirm that the sensing mechanism is photo-induced electron transfer.

Detecting human head movement during sleep is important as it can help doctor to access some physical or mental health problems like infantile eczema, calcium deficiency, insomnia, anxiety disorder and even Parkinson’s disease, and provide useful clues for scientific diagnosing. To obtain the information of sleep head movement, current solutions either use the camera or require the user to wear intrusive sensors to collect the image or motion data. However, the vision-based schemes depend on the environmental light conditions and also bring privacy concerns. Some people including the elderly and infant may be reluctant to wear wearable devices during sleep. In this paper, we propose a novel system called Wi-Senser to address the issues mentioned above. Our Wi-Senser directly reuses the existing WiFi infrastructure and exploits the fine-grained channel state information (CSI) of WiFi signals to capture the minute human head movement during sleep without attaching any sensors to the human body. We design and implement our system with just one commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) router and one laptop equipped with Intel 5300 network interface card (NIC). We evaluate the performance of Wi-Senser with 6 volunteers (4 adults and 2 children). Extensive experiments demonstrate that Wi-Senser can achieve a 98.5% accuracy for head movement detection during sleep. Wi-Senser provides a new solution for achieving noninvasive, continuous and accurate human minute movement detection without any additional cost.

The time’s arrow of macroscopic physical phenomenon is reflected by irreversible physical process, which essentially occurs from small probability state to high probability state. In this paper, simplified models are proposed to understand the macroscopic physical process. In order to describe the information of a physical system, we defined the full self-information as "information height" to describe the complexity or difficulty of a macrostate of physical system. In this way, the direction of macroscopic physical process is from high information height to low information height. We can judge the direction of physical process by the information height. If we want the macroscopic physical process to evolve from the low information height state to the high information height state, the system need to add extra information and corresponding energy to increase the information height.

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) has been used widely in strengthening of steel structures. Steel/CFRP systems subjected to elevated temperatures is realistic in a summer climate event in many countries where the temperature in steel may approach 50 °C or even higher, which will lead to the degradation of the bond performance between CFRP and steel. Therefore, predicting the bond behavior of the CFRP/steel system under elevated temperature is critical. This paper investigated the mechanical performance of CFRP/steel adhesively-bonded double strap joints at elevated temperatures. Thirty CFRP-steel double strap joints were tested to failure under temperatures between 10 °C and 90 °C. It was found that the joint failure mode changed from adherend failure to debonding failure as the temperature approached T_g. In addition, the ultimate load and joint stiffness decreased significantly at temperatures near to and greater than T_g. Based on the experimental results, a model is proposed to predict the bond stress of the CFRP/steel at different temperatures.

Recycled asphalt mixture is a material remixed with old asphalt recycled material (RAP) and new aggregate, and its application is of great significance in environmental protection.Due to the wear and tear of the old asphalt mixture, the road performance of the recycled asphalt mixture will decrease. This paper uses IPP software to obtain the shape characteristics of the old and new aggregates, and found that the roundness of the old aggregate of 9.5mm-16mm is the most serious wear. Therefore, the 30% RAP, and the influence of the roundness of the recycled asphalt mixture on the road performance is studied.

A novel verifiable privacy preservation scheme for outsourcing medical image to cloud through ROI based crypto-watermarking is proposed in the paper. In the proposed scheme, data owner firstly carries out substitution of S-box for the region of interest (ROI) of medical image, and then separates the image into 4 most significant bits (MSBs) plane and 4 least significant bits (LSBs) plane images. Secondly, the hash value of ROI is embedded into the two separated bit plane images using reversible watermarking algorithm. Lastly, some selected hash values are transformed into the initial parameters of chaotic maps, and the two sharing secrets, which are produced through chaos based encryption algorithm, are finally outsourced to two different cloud servers. For authorized users, they can get shares from different cloud servers, and then can losslessly recover the original medical image through a series of decryption operations and extraction of watermarking. Furthermore, the users can verify whether the original image is completely reconstructed or not, they even can locate the tampered parts inside ROI if anyone of the sharing secrets is damaged. Some experiments analyses and comparisons are given to show the security and effectiveness of proposed scheme.

The goal of this paper is to fabricate innovative diaphragm headphones using graphene oxide paper (GOP) and GOP/epoxy nanocomposites (GOPC). Initially, graphene oxide suspension is fabricated, and the vacuum filtration method is adopted to make GOP. Then vacuum bag molding is used to fabricate GOPC from GOP. Hot pressing and associated molds are adopted to fabricate line-indented (GOPC-L) or curve-indented patterns (GOPC-C) on the GOPC. The performance of one kind of GOP and three kinds of GOPC diaphragm headphones is analyzed based on their sound pressure level (SPL) curves achieved by the Soundcheck measurement system. There are four important processing parameters that will influence the performance of the diaphragm, including material type GOP versus GOPC, indented pattern type, sonication time on suspension, and graphene weight fraction in suspension. Compliances of various diaphragms are measured by the Klippel LPM laser measurement system. The results indicate that effects of sonication time and graphene weight fraction on SPL of GOP and GOPC headphones are in reverse, and this is associated with their difference on compliance (modulus), mass, damping ratio, and microstructure uniformity. Either GOPC-L or GOPC-C seems to improve the microstructure of the GOPC, and leads to better SPL performance. The correlation between the previous four factors and SPLs of four kinds of diaphragm headphones is proposed by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) to examine the microstructure of these diaphragms.

The outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in 2019 is in dire need of finding potential therapeutic agents. In this study, we used molecular docking to repurpose HIV protease inhibitors and nucleoside analogues for COVID-19, with evaluations based on docking scores calculated by AutoDock Vina and RosettaCommons. Our results suggest that Indinavir and Remdesivir possess the best docking scores, and comparison of the docking sites of the two drugs reveal a near perfect dock in the overlapping region of the protein pockets. After further investigation of the functional regions inferred from the proteins of SARS coronavirus, we discovered that Indinavir does not dock on any active sites of the protease, which may give rise to concern in regards to the efficacy of Indinavir. On the other hand, the docking site of Remdesivir is not compatible with any known functional regions, including template binding motifs, polymerization motifs and nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) binding motifs. However, when we tested the active form (CHEMBL2016761) of Remdesivir, the docking site revealed a perfect dock in the overlapping region of the NTP binding motif. This result suggests that Remdesivir could be a potential therapeutic agent. Clinical trials still must be done in order to confirm the curative effect of these drugs.

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.

In an effort to enhance the efficiency and safety of open-pit mines, this study explores the optimization of end slope road parameters and slope structures, specifically focusing on unmanned driving lanes.A significant aspect of the study is the development of a truck trajectory offset model, which considers the different reaction times between automated sensors and human drivers in adapting to environmental changes. To test these concepts, the study uses numerical simulations to confirm the stability of the proposed end slope designs. Using Victory West Mine No. 1 as a case study, the research determines the optimized width for unmanned driving lanes and the maximum angle for safe steepening of end slopes. The findings indicate that the optimized unmanned lane width for NTE240 mining dump trucks is 1743 mm, allowing for a 2-degree increase in the slope angle at the south end slope. This optimization leads to a steep mining stripping volume of 3.2735 million m³ and a coal output of 2.49628 million tons, maintaining a stripping ratio of 1.31m³/t. These results demonstrate that the unmanned driving road width optimization not only ensures slope safety but also significantly boosts the economic benefits of steep mining in open-pit mines.

Two-dimensional (2D) ice I is an atomic-level ice that is composed of two interlocked atom-ic layers saturated with hydrogen bonds. It has recently been experimentally observed but its properties have yet to be clarified. Accordingly, we theoretically studied the hydrophobic properties of 2D ice I. On the contrary, simulation of a hydrogen fluoride molecule on a 2D ice surface manifested that it destroyed the 2d ice structure and connected new hydrogen bonds with water molecules. Investigations of the interfacial effect between 2D and three-dimensional (3D) ice films indicated that the network structure of 2D ice was not de-stroyed by a 3D ice surface, as the former was saturated with hydrogen bonds. However, the surface of 3D ice reorganized to form as many hydrogen bonds as possible. Thus, the 2D ice film was hydrophobic and inhibited the growth of 3D ice. This shows that if 2D ice can be produced on an industrial scale, it could be used as an anti-3D-icing agent under low tem-perature.

Information is uploaded and downloaded through the Internet day in and day out ever since we immersed ourselves in the Internet. Data security becomes an area demanding high attention and one of the efficient techniques to protect data is data hiding. Among various data hiding schemes, more applications prefer the schemes with reversibility. In recent reversible data hiding studies, the indices of a codebook can be reordered to hide secret bits. The hiding capacity of the codeword index reordering scheme increases when the size of the codebook gets larger. Since the codewords in the codebook are not modified, the visual performance of compressed images is retained. We propose a novel scheme making use of the fundamental principle of codeword index reordering technique to hide secret data in encrypted images. By observing our experimental results, the embedding capacity is significantly larger. Secret data can be extracted when a receiver owns a data hiding key and image can be recovered when a receiver owns an encryption key.

Purpose - Soil aggregates are of great significance to soil and water conservation and ecological environment construction in arid area of northwest district．Methods - Exploring the effects of different vegetation includes types and land use methods on the stability of soil aggregates in the Loess Plateau, and provide reference for the rational use and management of land, also the improvement of soil structure in the region. Select 9 types of samples of 0-30 cm of typical soil plots as the research objects, compare and analyze the particle size index, stability differences and anti-erodibility of soil aggregates under various vegetation cover. Results - The results show that P value, MWD value, GMD value, D value, and AI value of the 0-10cm surface soil all show the maximum value. As the depth increases, the size distribution of the above index values of each soil sample in the 10-20cm and 20-30cm layers is different; P value in the 0-30cm depth layer is linearly positively correlated with the AI value and MWD value, and linearly negatively correlated with the D value. The correlation coefficient R between each variable is in the range of 0.78-0.97, and the D value reflects the Loess Plateau area stability and erosion resistance of soil aggregates better. GMD and MWD value show an exponential relationship, the correlation coefficient R value of 10-20cm height layer is 0.46; AI and MWD value in 0-10cm, 20-30cm height layer have a power function relationship, 10-20cm height layer has a polynomial function, the correlation coefficient R value is 0.97. The scour coefficient of different soil samples has a high degree of dispersion, the maximum CV value is 1.92, and the minimum value is 0.49. Conclusions - The results of this study can provide a theoretical basis for the ecological and hydrological benefit evaluation of slope erosion control and vegetation restoration on the Loess Plateau.

Aborycin is a type I lasso peptide with a stable interlocked structure, offering a favorable framework for drug development. The aborycin biosynthetic gene cluster gul from marine sponge-associated Streptomyces sp. HNS054 was cloned and integrated into the chromosome of S. coelicolor hosts with different copies. The 3-copy gul-integration strains S. coelicolor M1346::3gul showed better production than one-copy or 2-copy gul-integration strains, and the total titer reached approximately 10.4 mg/L, i.e., 2.1 times that of the native strain. Then, five regulatory genes, phoU (SCO4228), wblA (SCO3579), SCO1712, orrA (SCO3008) and gntR (SCO1678), which were reported to have negative effects on secondary metabolism, were further knocked out from the M1346::3gul genome by CRISPR/Cas9 technology. While the ΔSCO1712 mutant showed a significant decrease (4.6 mg/L) and the ΔphoU mutant showed no significant improvement (12.1 mg/L) in aborycin production, the ΔwblA, ΔorrA and ΔgntR mutations significantly improved the aborycin titers to approximately 23.6 mg/L, 56.3 mg/L and 48.2 mg/L, respectively, which were among the highest heterologous yields for lasso peptides in both Escherichia coli systems and Streptomyces systems. Thus, this study provided important clues for future studies on enhancing antibiotic production in Streptomyces systems.

Smartphone Addiction is a social issue caused by excessive smartphone use, affecting decision-making processes. Current research on the risky decision-making abilities of smartphone addicts is limited. This study used the fNIRS brain imaging technique and a Sequential Risk-Taking Task experimental paradigm to investigate the decision-making behavior and brain activity of smartphone addicts under varying risk levels. Using a mixed experimental design, the research assessed decision-making ability and brain activation levels as dependent variables across two groups (addiction and control), two risk amounts (high and low), and two outcomes (gain and loss). The study included 42 participants, with 25 in the addiction group and 17 in the control group. Results indicated that risk level significantly impacted the decision-making ability of smartphone addicts, with high-risk levels leading to weaker decision-making ability and increased risk-taking. However, at low risk levels, decision-making abilities between addicts and healthy individuals showed no significant difference. Furthermore, brain imaging results using fNIRS revealed stronger brain activation in the dlPFC region for smartphone addicts under loss outcome conditions, with no significant differences between the two groups in terms of brain activation at varying risk volumes. These findings are critical in promoting healthy smartphone use, guiding clinical treatment, and advancing brain mechanism research.

The advancement of mass spectrometry technologies has revolutionised plant metabolomics research by enabling the acquisition of raw metabolomics data. However, the identification, analysis, and visualisation of these data require specialised tools. Existing solutions lack a dedicated plant-specific metabolite database and pose usability challenges. To address these limitations, we developed PlantMetSuite, a web-based tool for comprehensive metabolomics analysis and visualisation. PlantMetSuite encompasses interactive bioinformatics tools and databases specifically tailored for plant metabolomics data, facilitating upstream-to-downstream analysis in metabolomics and supporting integrative multi-omics investigations. PlantMetSuite can be accessed directly through a user's browser without the need for installation or programming skills. The tool is freely available at https://plantmetsuite.verygenome.com/ and will undergo regular updates and expansions to incorporate additional libraries and newly published metabolomics analysis methods. The tool's significance lies in empowering researchers with an accessible and customisable platform for unlocking plant metabolomics insights.

In the TANGO study, the long-term noninferior efficacy of switching to dolutegravir/lamivudine (DTG/3TC) compared to continuing tenofovir alafenamide–based regimens was demonstrated in treatment-experienced adults with HIV. However, there is limited real-world data comparing the effectiveness and safety of bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (BIC/FTC/TAF) and DTG/3TC in Asia. This retrospective observational study, conducted at a designated HIV-care hospital from March 2019 to January 2023, aimed to address this gap. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data, including HIV viral loads and lipid profiles, were collected and analyzed. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with HIV RNA <50 copies/mL at week 48 in both groups, utilizing a snapshot, per-protocol–exposed population. A total of 1086 patients were included, with 511 in the DTG/3TC group and 575 in the BIC/FTC/TAF group. At week 48, 98% of patients in the DTG/3TC group and 94% in the BIC/FTC/TAF group achieved HIV RNA <50 copies/mL (p <0.01). Logistic regression analysis identified risk factors for detectable viral loads at week 48, including HIV RNA >100,000 copies/mL (AOR 5.13, 95% CI 1.42–18.53), low-level viremia (AOR 3.91, 95% CI 1.07–14.25), and record of virologic failure ≥2 times (AOR 4.21, 95% CI 1.64–10.85) before the switch. Furthermore, no significant difference was found between the DTG/3TC and BIC/FTC/TAF regimens (AOR: 1.51, 95% CI 0.70–3.24). In conclusion, the study demonstrates that the effectiveness and safety profiles of DTG/3TC and BIC/FTC/TAF were comparable in treatment-experienced adults with HIV, particularly among those with undetectable viral loads at baseline.

EGFR mutations are heterogenous but all carry the same weighting in the Lung-molGPA. The aim of this study was to elucidate the different prognostic implications of molecular subtypes and frontline TKIs in EGFR-mutated lung adenocarcinoma with synchronous brain metastases (BM) using the Lung-molGPA. Medical records were searched in hospital databases from 2011 to 2015. Patients with EGFR-mutated adenocarcinoma and brain metastases who received TKIs were included. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate survival, and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A total of 256 patients were included with a median overall survival (OS) of 17.2 months. In multivariate analysis of OS, only age (70 versus &lt;70 years, HR:1.71, 95% CI:1.25-2.35, p&lt;0.001), KPS (&lt;70 versus 70, HR:1.71, 95% CI:1.26-2.31, p&lt;0.001), and rare mutations (other versus exon 19 deletions, HR:1.78, 95% CI:1.04-3.05, p=0.037) remained statistically significant. In patients with a Lung-molGPA score 2.5, EGFR molecular subtypes had different median OS (exon 19 deletions versus Leu858Arg versus other, 18.8 vs 12.4 vs 12.1 months, p=0.021). In conclusion, different molecular subtypes treated with frontline TKIs have different prognostic implications in the Lung-molGPA. Further prospective studies are warranted to validate these findings.

Coptisine (Cop) exerts a neuroprotective effect in central nervous system disease, particularly ischemic stroke. However, its protective mechanism is still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of Cop on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (IR) rats with a middle cerebral artery occlusion model by integrating a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) based metabolomics approach with biochemical assessment. Our results showed that Cop could improve neurobehavioral function and decrease the ischemia size in IR rats. In addition, Cop was found to decrease inflammatory mediators (e.g., prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and attenuate oxidative stress response (e.g., increase the superoxide dismutase (SOD) expression and decrease 8-iso-PGF2α level). Furthermore, GC-MS based cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) metabolomics analysis indicated that Cop influenced the level of glycine, 2,3,4-trihydroxybutyric acid, oleic acid, glycerol, and ribose during IR injury. Cop exhibited a good neuroprotective effect against cerebral IR injury and metabolic alterations which might be mediated through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory property.

With the development of industrialization, traditional manufacturing technologies are no longer able to meet the production needs of modern society. Additive manufacturing has successfully solved the problems existing in traditional manufacturing technology. Selective laser melting (SLM) is a powder bed melting technology that produces metal parts by selectively melting metal powders on a platform using a laser beam. It is widely used in additive manufacturing. This article introduces the characteristics and current development status of SLM technology, summarizes the main application fields and common defects of SLM, and finally explores and prospects the future development trend of SLM.

Aging and obesity make humans more prone to cardiovascular and metabolic syndrome diseases, leading to several serious health conditions, including dyslipidemia, high blood pressure, and sleep disturbance. Hyperlipidemia means elevated blood lipid levels, including cholesterol and triglycerides. This study aimed to explore the hypolipidemic effect of fermented citrus lemon juice using a hyperlipidemic hamster model. Sugar-free lemon juice’s fermentation was optimized, and the characteristics of fresh and fermented lemon juice (FLJ) were evaluated and compared. In addition, tests were conducted to determine the appropriate hamster feed for the functional animal tests. Then, experiments were conducted to evaluate the hypolipidemic effect of the FLJ, which contained polyphenols and superoxide dismutase-like activity, on a hyperlipidemic hamster model. This study’s pre-fermentation efficiency evaluation found that 21–30 days of bacterial DMS32004 and DMS32005 fermentation of fresh lemon juice provided the best fermentation benefits. In addition, the fermentation evaluation showed that a sugar-free fermentation method provided FLJ with the best benefits. Results showed that the absorption and utilization efficiency of FLJ was higher compared with the unfermented lemon juice. After six weeks of feeding, the total cholesterol and triglyceride values in the blood and liver of the FLJ treatment groups were de-creased compared with the high-fat diet (HFD) group. In addition, the blood low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were significantly reduced in the FLJ treatment groups compared with the HFD group. In contrast, the blood high-density lipoprotein to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio increased considerably in the FLJ treatment groups, and the total to high-density lipoprotein ratio was significantly lower than in the HFD group. Compared with the HFD group, the total cholesterol content in the FLJ treatment groups’ feces increased significantly. This study demonstrated that the sugar-free fermentation method and fermentation cycle management provided FLJ with the potential to regulate blood lipids. Further research and verification will be carried out to isolate specific substances from the FLJ and identify their mechanisms of action.

There is no doubt that seagrass beds constitute one of the most productive ecosystems in shallow coastal waters. Despite this, picoplankton in seagrass ecosystems has received relatively little attention. The purpose of this study was to compare picoplankton growth and mortality rates between seagrass and unvegetated habitats using chamber incubations. We tested two main hypotheses: (i) incubation with seagrass would result in higher bacterial growth rates due to increased DOM release from seagrass photosynthesis, and (ii) Synechococcus spp. would be lower in the presence of seagrass due to competition for inorganic nutrients. Our results showed bacterial growth rates of 2.31 and 2.44 d–1 without and with seagrass, respectively. In seagrass chambers, bacterial growth was higher than that in non-seagrass chambers, suggesting that organic carbon coming from the seagrass community may support bacterial production. Furthermore, we observed a negative Synechococcus spp. growth rate (-0.9 d–1) in the seagrass treatment, likely reflecting nutrient competition with the seagrass. Small-scale chambers proved to be a useful tool for studying the factors controlling spatial and temporal patterns of picoplankton across different habitats. Furthermore, future studies should examine picoplankton growth over a wider range of spatial scales in seagrass beds and adjacent unvegetated sediment.

Zearalenone is one of the most prevalent estrogenic mycotoxins produced mainly by Fusarium family fungi, and harmed the heath of animals. Zearalenone hydrolase is an important enzyme capable of degrading zearalenone into a non-toxic compound. Although previous research has investigated the catalytic mechanism of zearalenone hydrolase, information on its dynamic interaction with zearalenone remains unknown. This study aimed to develop a pipeline for identifying the allosteric pathway of zearalenone hydrolase. Using an identity analysis, we identified hub genes whose sequences can generalize a set of sequences in a protein family. We then utilized a neural relational inference (NRI) model to identify the allosteric pathway of the protein throughout the entire molecular dynamics simulation. The production run lasted 1 microsecond, and we analyzed residues 139-222 for the allosteric pathway using the NRI model. We found that the cap domain of the protein opened up during catalysis, resembling a hemostatic tape. We used umbrella sampling to simulate the dynamic docking phase of the ligand-protein complex and found that the protein took on a square sandwich shape. Our energy analysis using both MMPBSA and PMF analysis showed discrepancies, with scores of -8.45 kcal/mol and -1.95 kcal/mol, respectively. MMPBSA, however, obtained a similar score to that of a previous report.

The changes in storage loss, water distribution status, gel characteristics, TBARS, total volatile basic nitrogen, and total plate count of cooked reduced-phosphate silver carp surimi batter during cold storage at 4 °C were investigated. The storage loss, content of free water, pH, hardness, TBARS, total volatile basic nitrogen value and total plate count of all cooked reduced-phosphate silver carp surimi batters significantly increased (P < 0.05) with increasing the cold storage time. Meanwhile, the content of immobilized water, whiteness, springiness, and cohesiveness decreased significantly (P < 0.05). At the same cold storage time, the sample of cooked reduced-phosphate silver carp surimi batter has lower water mobility, darker colour and better texture characteristics, but the values of TBARS, total volatile basic nitrogen and total plate count were not significantly different (P > 0.05). To sum up, the use of potassium bicarbonate instead of sodium tripolyphosphate could produce the cooked reduced-phosphate silver carp surimi batter with better water holding capacity and gel characteristics during cold storage.

Semi-continuous data are very common in the social science and economics. In this paper, a Bayesian variable selection procedure is developed to assess the influence of exogenous factors including observed and unobserved on the semi-continuous data. Our formulation is based on the two-part latent variable model with polytomous response. We consider two schemes for the penalties of regression coefficients and factor loadings: the Bayesian spike and slab bimodal prior and the Bayesian lasso prior. Within the Bayesian framework, we implement Markov Chains Monte Carlo sampling method to conduct posterior inference. To facilitate posterior sampling, we recast the logistic model in part one as the norm-like mixture model. Gibbs sampler is designed to draw observations from the posterior. Our empirical results show that with suitable hyper-parameters, the spike and slab bimodal method slightly outperforms the Bayesian lasso in the current analysis. Finally, a real example related to the China household finance survey is analyzed to illustrate the application of the methodology.. .

The search of DNA polymorphisms useful for the genetic improvement of dairy farm animals lasts more than 40 years with relevant findings in cattle for milk traits, where the best combination of alleles for dairy processing have been found in casein genes and in the DGAT1. Nowadays, similar results are not reached yet in river buffaloes despite advanced genomic technologies and accurate phenotype records are available. The aim of the present study was to investigate and validate in a larger buffalo population the effect on six milk traits of four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the CSN1S1, CSN3, SCD and LPL genes, previously reported to be associated with or affect dairy traits in smaller populations often belonging to one farm. A total of 800 buffaloes were genotyped. Daily milk yield (dMY, kg), protein yield (dPY, kg) and fat yields (dFY, kg), fat and protein contents (dFP, % and dPP, %), somatic cell count (SCC, 103cell/ml) and urea (mg/dl) were individually recorded in each month for the whole lactation from 2010 to 2021. A total of 15,742 individual milk test day records (2,496 lactations) were available on 680 buffalo cows with 3.6±1.7 parity (from 1 to 13) and 6.1±1.2 test day records per lactation on average. Three out four SNP in CSN1S1, CSN3 and LPL were associated with at least one of analyzed traits. In particular, the CSN1S1 (AJ005430:c.578C&gt;T) gave favorable associations with all yield traits (dMY, p=0.022; dPY, p=0.014 ; dFY, p=0.029) and SCS (p=0.032), whereas the CSN3 (HQ677596: c.536C&gt;T) positively associated with SCS (p=0.005) and milk urea (p=0.04). Favorable effect on dMY (p=0.028), dFP (p=0.027) and dPP (p=0.050) were observed for the LPL. Conversely, SCD did not show any association with milk traits. This is the first example of confirmation study carried out in the Mediterranean river buffalo for genes of economic interest in dairy field and it represents a very important indication for the preselection of young bulls destined to breeding programs in the view of a more sustainable dairy production.

In mesoscale eddies, chemical properties and biological composition are different from those in surrounding water, due to their unique physical processes. It is unclear how physical-biological coupling occurs in warm-core eddies, particularly since no study has examined the relationship between bacteria and viruses. The purpose of the present study was to examine the influence of anticyclonic warm eddy on the relationship between bacterial and viral abundances as well as viral activity (viral production) in different depths. In the core of warm eddy, bacterial abundance (0.48 to 2.82 ×105 cells mL−1) fluctuated less than that of the outside eddy (1.12 to 7.03×105 cells mL−1). In particular, there was four-folds higher of viral-bacterial abundance ratio (VBR) estimated within the eddy below DCM than the outside eddy. We suggest that prevailing physical forces with downwelling at the center of the anticyclonic warm eddy, viruses can also be transmitted into the deep ocean directly through adsorption on particulate organic matter during sinking. Overall, our findings provide valuable insights into the interaction between bacterial and viral communities and their ecological mechanism within the warm eddy.

This paper proposes a crack recognition method based on high-resolution line array cameras and adaptive lifting algorithm. By defining the crack rate, this algorithm calculates the ratio of the crack area to the area of the entire collected image to characterize the damage extent of the current section. The algorithm first uses image preprocessing to reduce the image noise, then uses histogram equalization to enhance the feature of the crack region, divides the whole image into multiple sub-blocks, and extracts region features in the sub-block. At the same time, this algorithm defines related feature descriptors, and constructs weak classifiers according to each feature descriptor, and converts the weak classifiers into strong classifiers by using an adaptive lifting algorithm. Finally, this algorithm realizes the division of the crack regions. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can meet the actual needs and is better than other classical algorithms.

In foggy weather scenarios, the scattering and absorption of light by water droplets and particulate matter cause object features in images to become blurred or lost, presenting a significant challenge for target detection in autonomous driving vehicles. To tackle this problem, this study proposes a foggy weather detection method, YOLOv5s-Fog, based on the YOLOv5s framework. The model enhances the feature extraction and expression capabilities of YOLOv5s by introducing a novel target detection layer, SwinFocus. Additionally, this research incorporates decoupled head into the model and replaces the conventional non-maximum suppression method with Soft-NMS. Experimental results demonstrate that these improvements effectively enhance the detection performance for blurry objects and small targets in foggy weather conditions. Compared to the baseline model YOLOv5s, YOLOv5s-Fog achieves a 5.4% increase in mAP on the RTTS dataset, reaching 73.4%. This method provides technical support for rapid and accurate target detection in adverse weather conditions, such as foggy weather, for autonomous driving vehicles.

The decline in assisted reproductive technology (ART) success among older women, attributed to decreased oocyte quantity and quality, poses a significant challenge. Currently, no consensus ex-ists on the optimal ovarian stimulation protocol for older women undergoing IVF. This retrospec-tive registered cohort study aimed to compare cumulative live birth rates (CLBR), time to live birth (TTLB), and cost-effectiveness in women over 35 years using gonadotropin-releasing hor-mone agonist (GnRHa) or clomiphene-primed ovarian stimulation (CPOS). We performed pro-pensity score matching (PSM) on 2,871 IVF cycles in women over 35 who received either GnRHa or CPOS protocols, resulting in 375 cycles in each group to compare treatment outcomes. Addition-ally, a decision tree model was utilized to assess the cost-effectiveness of the two protocols. Fol-lowing PSM, both groups showed similar baseline characteristics. The CPOS protocol exhibited a higher cycle cancellation rate (13.07% vs 8.00%, p=0.032), yet maintained comparable fertilization and embryo quality. While CLBRs per initial cycle (41.07% vs. 45.33%, p=0.269) and delivery out-comes were similar between the groups after a 24-month follow-up, TTLB was longer in the CPOS group. Notably, the average cost per live birth in the CPOS group was 21.27% less than that in the GnRHa group (￥32,301.42 vs ￥39,174.22). In conclusion, for women over 35 undergoing IVF, the CPOS protocol demonstrated similar CLBR to GnRHa but with lower costs, suggesting its potential as a viable and cost-efficient ovarian stimulation option.

This paper aims to build up a preference function to evaluate the public benefits of the type of agricultural farming, biodiversity, water provisions, land use type, ecotourism modes, and a monetary attribute (environmental trust fund and willingness to contribute) associated with an ecosystem service and land use program in a forest park. This study used the choice experiments to build a random utility model, analyze the average preference for the above land use attributes based on the conditional logit and used a latent class model to test the resident’s heterogeneous preferences for land use planning in the forest park. We also estimated the welfare derived from various land use programs. The empirical result had shown that: (1) increasing organic farming area, maintaining the status quo of species biodiversity, increasing the surface water provision, increasing the area of custom flora, increasing the wetland area, and setting up an integrated framework for ecotourism increase the public’s preference for the land use program; (2) we found that farmer and non-farmer haven’t the same land use preferences; (3) the ecotourism development program incorporating biodiversity, organic farming, ethnobotany, and wetland area with integrated ecotourism are more preferred than other land use program scenarios.

The diagnosis of a rolling bearing for monitoring its status is critical for maintaining industrial equipment using rolling bearings. The traditional method of diagnosing faults of the rolling bearing has low identification accuracy, which needs artificial feature extraction to enhance the accuracy. 1D-CNN method not only can diagnose bearing faults accurately but also overcome shortcomings of the traditional methods. Different from machine learning and other deep learning models, the 1D-CNN method does not need pre-processing one-dimensional data of rolling bearing’s vibration. Thus, it enhances the processing speed and improves the network structure to have a reasonable design for small sample data sets. This study proposes and tests a 1D-CNN method for diagnosing rolling bearings. By introducing the dropout operation, the method obtains high accuracy and improves the generalizing ability. The experimental results show 99.52% of the average accuracy under a single load and 98.26% under different loads.

3D printing is a non-traditional additive manufacturing process. It is different from the traditional subtractive manufacturing process. It offers exceptional rapid prototyping capabilities and results that traditional subtractive manufacturing methods cannot attain, especially in applications involving curved or intricately shaped components. Despite its advantages, metal 3D printing will face porosity, warpage, and surface roughness issues. These issues will affect the future practical application of the parts indirectly, for example, the structural strength and the parts assembly ca-pability. Therefore, this study compares the qualities of the warpage, weight, and surface rough-ness after milling and grinding processes under the same materials (316L stainless steel) between general rolled steel and 3D additive steel. Experimental results show that 3D printing parts are approximately 13% to 14% lighter than the general rolled steel. The surface roughness performance of 3D printing steel is better than general rolled steel under the same material after milling or grinding processing. The hardness of the 3D printing steel is better than that of the gen-eral rolled steel. The research verifies that 3D additive manufacturing can use surface processing to optimize surface performance and achieve the functions of lightness and hardness.

The aim of this study was to examine oxidative stress and low level of alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT) in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS), and evaluate the associated autoreactivity against unmodified and their 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE)-modified peptides with pSS. Two differentially expressed proteins, alpha-1-acid glycoprotein 1 (A1AG1) and A1AT, exhibited 2-fold differences, and their HNE modifications were identified by depleted-albumin and immunoglobulin G (IgG) serum protein, in-solution digestion, in-gel digestion, and nano-LC-MS/MS from pSS patients and age-matched healthy controls (HCs). Furthermore, levels of proteins, confirmation of HNE modifications, HNE-protein adducts and autoreactivity against unmodified and their HNE-modified peptides were further validated. Levels of the HNE-protein adduct and A1AG1 were significantly higher in pSS patients than HCs, but levels of A1AT were significantly lower in pSS patients compared to HCs. Only the HNE modification of A1AT was confirmed. Further, concentrations of anti-A1AT^50-63 IgG and anti-A1AT^50-63 HNE IgA were significantly lower in pSS patients than HCs. Our study suggests that elevated HNE-protein adduct, oxidative stress, level [odds ratio (OR) 4.877, p = 0.003], lowered A1AT level (OR 3.910, p = 0.010) and a decreased level of anti-A1AT^50-63 IgG (OR 3.360, p = 0.010) showed an increased risk in pSS patients compared to HCs, respectively.

Flexible capacity applications demands to large energy storage density and high breakdown electric field strength of flexible films. Here, P(VDF-HFP) with ultra-thin Al2O3 nanosheets composite films were designed and fabricated through an electrospinning process followed by hot-pressing in sandwich structured. The results show that the insulating ultra-thin Al2O3 nanosheets and the sandwich structure can enhance the composites' breakdown field (by 24.8%) and energy density (by 30.6%) remarkedly to P(VDF-HFP) polymer matrix. An energy density of 23.5 J/cm3 at the ultrahigh breakdown field of 740kV/mm can be therefore realized. Insulating test and phase-field simulation results reveal that ultra-thin nanosheets insulating buffer layers can reduce the leakage current in composites, thus it effects the electric field spatial distribution to enhance breakdown strength. Our research provides a feasible method to increase the breakdown strength of ferroelectric polymers, which is comparable to those of non-ferroelectric polymers.

Rapid urbanization has led to many ecological problems such as landscape fragmentation, decreased landscape connectivity, and decreased biodiversity. Building an ecological security pattern is an important way to ensure ecological security and maintain sustainable urban development. Harbin is an important large-scale city in northeastern China, and the urban central district of Harbin is used as the study area. Ecological sensitivity assessment, MSPA, gravity model, landscape connectivity assessment and MCR model were used to extract ecological source areas, ecological corridors and ecological nodes in the study area to construct and optimize the ecological security pattern. Research shows that: A total of 23 ecological source areas were identified, mainly located along the Songhua River in the central part of the study area and in the mountain forest areas within the A-cheng District in the southeastern part of the study area. 48 ecological corridors were extracted, mainly in Daowai District, A-cheng District and the eastern part of Xiangfang District. There are 8 important ecological corridors and 10 important connecting corridors. 61 ecological nodes of the first level and 65 ecological nodes of the second level were extracted. High, higher, medium, lower and low security areas were classified based on the minimum cumulative resistance surface, with the highest proportion of high ecological security areas accounting for 45.75% of the study area. 65 ecological breakpoints were extracted and restoration measures were proposed. Finally, The structure of the ecological security pattern optimization of "two axes, two belts and four areas" is proposed, and corresponding ecological management measures are put forward. The experimental system of this study can provide new ideas for the construction of ecological security patterns in other regions and provide scientific support for the ecological sustainable development of similar urban areas.

Aluminum wire is a common material for wire bonding due to its resistance to oxidation and low price. It does not melt when becoming a free air ball (FAB) during the electronic flame-off (EFO) process with wettability, and is applied by wedge bonding. This study used 20μm Zn-Coated Al-0.5wt.%Si (ZAS) wires to improve the FAB shape after the EFO process, while maintaining stability of the mechanical properties, including the interface bonding strength and hardness. In order to test circuit stability after ball bonding, the current-tensile test was performed. During the experiment, it was found that 80nm ZAS with wire bonding has lower resistance and higher fusing current. For the bias tensile test, the thicker Zn film diffused into the Al-Si matrix easily, after which the strength was reduced. The ball-bond interfaces had no change in their condition before and after the bias. Accordingly, ZAS could be a promising candidate for ball bonding in the future.

Soil is an extremely significant resource for human survival, and agglomerates, as the basic unit of soil structure, not only enhance soil fertility and control the biological validity of nutrients, but also strengthen the soil's erosion resistance. The mass application of fertilizers may have a significant impact on crop growth and soil structure, and the rational application and dispensing of fertilizers will be an urgent issue to be addressed. Therefore, the effect of fertilizer application on the stability of water-stable soil aggregates needs to be studied under different meteorological and soil conditions to draw more general and feasible conclusions. Our Meta-analysis of data from 220 of 56 published studies found that fertilizer application increased mean weight diameter (MWD) by an average of 18% compared to the no-fertilizer treatment. Among the nitrogen (N), phosphate (P), and organic (OM) fertilizer treatments, the organic fertilizer treatment had a greater stimulatory effect on MWD (26%). Among the different fertilizer levels, low level of phosphorus (<40kg·hm-2·yr-1), high level of N (>120kg·hm-2·yr-1), and low level of organic fertilizer (<5000kg·hm-2·yr-1) increased MWD by 19%, 14%, and 41% respectively. Across soil types and land use types, the response to MWD was positive for red soils and paddy fields, and the stimulatory effect of organic fertilizer was more significant compared to chemical fertilizer. The regression model showed that the response ratio of MWD was negatively correlated with the response ratio of soil pH and bulk density (BD), and positively correlated with the response ratio of soil organic carbon (SOC) and microbial mass carbon (MBC). Meanwhile, the PLS-SEM model showed that average annual temperature was the main factor affecting the stability of soil aggregates, and the average annual rainfall is the secondary factor. Therefore, this study found that the long-term use of organic fertilizers in place of some chemical fertilizers was more effective than chemical fertilizer alone. Temperature and rainfall have greater effects on the response of fertilizer to soil aggregate stability.

Cafestol, a bioactive compound found in coffee, has attracted considerable attention due to its potential impact on cardiovascular health. This review aims to comprehensively explore the association between cafestol and cardiovascular diseases. We delve into the mechanisms through which cafestol influences lipid metabolism, inflammation, and endothelial function, all of which are pivotal in cardiovascular pathophysiology. Moreover, we meticulously analyze epidemiological studies and clinical trials to elucidate the relationship between cafestol and cardiovascular outcomes. Through a critical examination of existing literature, we aim to provide insights into the potential benefits and risks associated with cafestol concerning cardiovascular health.

To explore the characteristics of the concentric eyewall of a typhoon during its formation and replacement processes, with Super Typhoon Muifa in 2011 as the example case, the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) mode was used to carry out a numerical simulation to reproduce the entire formation and replacement processes of the concentric eyewall. The physical quantities such as the tangential wind speed, radar echo, radial wind speed, vertical wind speed, and potential vortex were diagnosed and analyzed. The results of the analysis show that the outward expansion of the isovelocity in the lower troposphere was the early signal of the formation of the outer eyewall. After the outer eyewall formed, there was a center of second-highest tangential wind speed in the corresponding area. The second-highest wind speed increased as the strength of the outer eyewall increased, and the position of the second-highest wind speed center was retracted with the retraction of the outer eyewall. The tangential wind speed of the moat area was smaller than that corresponding to the concentric eyewall and this feature gradually disappeared with the increase of the height. The echo in the moat area was weak, and this characteristic was particularly evident when the moat area was relatively wide and the outer eyewall was relatively strong. With the formation and development of the outer eyewall, the intensity of the inflow in the boundary layer corresponding to the inner eyewall was reduced, the intensity of the outflow in the upper layers declined, and the intensities of the inflow and outflow corresponding to the outer eyewall were enhanced. After the second outer eyewall matured, there was a significant inflow in the upper layer of the moat area. Once the outer eyewall formed, a large amount of hydrometeors appeared in the corresponding area, and there was a strong ascending motion inside that area. The strength of the ascending motion and the content of hydrometeors increased as the outer eyewall increased. When the moat area was relatively wide, the divergent airflow generated by the developed outer eyewall in the upper layer would produce a significant descending motion in the moat area.

Natural products are an important source of antibacterial agents. Canthin-6-one alkaloids have displayed potential antibacterial activity based on our previous work. In order to improve the activity, twenty-two new 3-N-benzylated 10-methoxy canthin-6-ones were designed and synthesized through quaternization reaction. The in vitro antibacterial activity against three bacteria was evaluated by double dilution method. Four compounds (6f, 6i, 6p and 6t) displayed 2-fold superiority (minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) = 3.91 µg/mL) against agricultural pathogenic bacteria R. solanacearum and P. syringae than agrochemical propineb. Moreover, the structure–activity relationships (SARs) were also carefully summarized in order to guide the development of antibacterial canthin-6-one agents.

As a dominant mangrove species, Kandelia obovata is distributed in an intertidal marsh with an active H₂S release. Whether H₂S participates in the salt tolerance of mangrove plant is still ambiguous although increasing evidence have demonstrated that H₂S functions in plant responses to multiple abiotic stresses. In this study, as an H₂S donor, NaHS was used to investigate the regulatory mechanism of H₂S on salt tolerance of K. obovata seedlings using a combined physiological and proteomic analysis. The results showed that the reduction in photosynthesis (Pn) caused by 400 mM NaCl was recovered by the addition of NaHS (200 μM). Furthermore, the application of H₂S enhanced the quantum efficiency of PSII and the membrane lipid stability, implying that H₂S is beneficial to the survival of K. obovata seedlings under high salinity. We further identified 37 differentially expressed proteins by proteomic approaches under salinity and NaHS treatment. Among them, the proteins related to photosynthesis, primary metabolism, stress response and hormone biosynthesis were primarily enriched. The physiological and proteomic results highlighted that exogenous H₂S up-regulated photosynthesis and energy metabolism to help K. obovata to cope with high salinity. Specifically, H₂S increased photosynthetic electron transfer, chlorophyll biosynthesis and carbon fixation in K. obovata leaves under salt stress. Furthermore, the abundances of other proteins related to metabolic pathway, such as antioxidation (APX, CSD2, PDX1), protein synthesis (HSP, Cpn 20), nitrogen metabolism (GS2, GS1:1), glycolysis (PGK, TPI), AsA-GSH cycle were increased by H₂S under high salinity. These findings provide new insights into the roles of H₂S in the adaptations of mangrove plant K. obovata to high salinity environment.

Cholangiocarcinoma is the most common primary malignant tumor of the bile duct. The current standard first-line treatment for advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma is gemcitabine and cisplatin. However, few effective treatment choices exist for refractory cholangiocarcinoma, and additional therapeutic drugs are urgently required. Our previous work demonstrated that the ALDH isoform 1A3 plays a vital role in the malignant behavior of cholangiocarcinoma and may serve as a new therapeutic target. In this study, we found a positive correlation between ALDH1A3 protein expression levels and cell migration abilities of three cholangiocarcinoma cell lines, which was verified using ALDH1A3-overexpressing and ALDH1A3-knockdown clones. We also used ALDH1A3-high and ALDH1A3-low populations of cholangiocarcinoma cell lines from the Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures (LINCS) program and assessed the effects of ruxolitinib, a commercially available JAK2 inhibitor. Ruxolitinib had a higher cytotoxic effect when combined with gemcitabine. Furthermore, the nuclear translocation STAT1 and STAT3 heterodimers were markedly diminished by ruxolitinib treatment, possibly resulting in decreased ALDH1A3 activation. Notably, ruxolitinib alone or combined with gemcitabine led to significantly reduced tumor size and weight. Collectively, our studies suggest that ruxolitinib might suppress the ALDH1A3 activation through the JAK2/STAT1/3 pathway in cholangiocarcinoma, and trials should be undertaken to evaluate its efficacy in clinical therapy.

The theory of electron spin has been proposed for a century, but the study of quantum effects in biological molecules is still in its infancy. Chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) is a very modern theory that can explain many biochemical phenomena. In this paper, we propose a new theoretical model based on CISS theory and quantum chemistry theory, which can well explain the theoretical explanation of the chiral selectivity of chiral proteins. Moreover, this theory can predict the spin state of corresponding chiral molecules. Taking L-DOPA and AADC enzyme as examples, this theoretical model solves the theoretical explanation of AADC enzyme's chiral catalysis selectivity problem and successfully predicts the spin state of L-DOPA and D-DOPA's valence electrons.

In this paper, a novel permanent magnet-assisted synchronous reluctance machine (PMASynRM) with rare-earth PMs and ferrite magnets is proposed. The performance of PMASynRM is discussed with respected to the different magnet ratio of rare-earth PMs and ferrite magnets. Some characteristics including the flux density, output torque, cogging torque, output power, power factor, torque ripple, loss, efficiency, and demagnetization are calculated by 2-D finite element analysis (FEA). The analysis results show that the excellent performance can be obtained by using hybrid magnet of rare-earth PMs and ferrite magnets with the suitable magnet ratio, and provide some desirable cost-performance trade-off.

Background: LncRNA and pyroptosis play important roles in cancer development and tumor immune microenviroment. However, pyroptosis-related lncRNAs (PRLs) in ovarian cancer have not been identified and its impact on prognosis and immune response are not fully understood. Methods: Using pearson correlation analysis, PRLs were screened. Subsequently, we constructed a prognosis signature by using LASSO cox regression. In addition, the association between risk score and cancer immune environment was analyzed. Results: In TCGA-RNA-seq cohort (n=377), 32 prognostic PRLs were selected and a 7-gene signature were developed and had high accuracy in predicting the OS of ovarian cancer patients. Stratification analysis suggested that it might serve as an independent prognostic indicator. Except to clinical outcome, the signature was significantly associated with tumor immune microenvironment. Patients with high risk score exhibited lower infiltration abundance of MHC class Ⅰ cells, Type Ⅰ IFN response and immunotherapy response. In ovarian cancer, TYMSOS was highly expressed and its high expression was associated with worse OS. TYMSOS deletion in ovarian cancer cell lines inhibited the cell proliferation, invasion and migration, indicating that it might serve as a novel biomarker in ovarian cancer. Conclusions: The prognostic PRLs signature constructed in this work is available for prognostic prediction and immune microenvironment infiltration in ovarian cancer.

The study investigated the relationships between sarcopenia, frailty, and related factors in hemodialysis patients with chronic kidney disease. A prospective cross-sectional study with convenience sampling was conducted between August 2021 and February 2022 at a hospital-affiliated hemodialysis center. Ninety-six hemodialysis patients participated in the study. Quantitative data were collected with structured interviews. Sarcopenia was determined with a rapid screening tool. Frailty was determined with the Rockwood clinical frailty score. Descriptive analysis, Person Correlations, and Linear regression analysis were used to evaluate the associations between frailty, sarcopenia, and health-related factors in hemodialysis patients. The mean age of the participants was 65.4 11.5 years, with an average of 95.0 77.5 months of hemodialysis. The most common comorbidity was hypertension (72.9%), followed by diabetes mellitus (39.6%) and cardiovascular health problems (35.4%). A significant difference in frailty between sarcopenia patients and a healthy population (X2 =9.51, p &lt;.001) was identified. There was a strong negative correlation (r= −.853, p&lt;.001) between sarcopenia and frailty, while moderate correlations between sarcopenia and frailty in sarcopenia patients (r= −.66, p&lt;.001) and a healthy population (r= −.58, p&lt;.001) were observed. Age, body weight before dialysis, and hand grip strength were found to be potential predictors of sarcopenia and frailty. Left calf circumference was significantly associated with sarcopenia (ß= −.128, p = .049). Age, body weight before dialysis, and hand grip strength are potential predictors of sarcopenia and frailty in hemodialysis patients with chronic kidney disease. Comorbidities, which may be preventable, are common in this population.

(1) Background: ganoderic acids (GAs) are specific triterpenes of Ganoderma lucidum. The HPLC fingerprint profile of GAs of the fruiting body has been well-known, but the mycelial fingerprinting remains unclear. (2) Methods: the ethanol extract of the mycelium of G. lucidum (YK-01) was further purified by preparative HPLC. The HPLC spectra for four strains of G. lucidum and one strain of G. formosanum (purple lingzhi) were investigated. (3) Results: nineteen lanostane triterpenes, including five new triterpenes, GA-TP (1), ganodermic acid Jc (GmA-Jc) (2), GmA-Jd (3), GA-TQ1 (4), and ganoderal B1 (5), and fourteen known triterpenes 6-19 were isolated from the ethanol extract. A green chemical HPLC analytical method was developed by using ethanol and acetic acid as mobile phase. These triterpenes comprise of a unique HPLC triterpenoid spectral pattern of G. lucidum mycelium. All four G. lucidum strains showed the same HPLC spectral pattern, whereas G. formosanum displayed a different pattern. Quantitation methods for ganoderic acid T (10) and S (12) were also validated. (4) Conclusions: the triterpenoid HPLC analytical method can be used to identify G. lucidum species, and to determine the contents of GA-T and GA-S.

The quality of healthcare services is a very important indicator of social welfare in developed and emerging countries. Good quality levels are critical to ensuring patient safety, improving health outcomes, increasing patient satisfaction, optimizing resource utilization, and meeting regulatory requirements. The stable and sustainable operation of medical institutions urgently requires the establishment of a reliable and effective medical quality performance evaluation platform. However, the complexity of the evaluation process, involving numerous evaluators and the consideration of different subjective and objective criteria, poses significant challenges and essentially constitutes a group multi-criteria decision-making problem. This article uses the overall medical environment of the institution, medical service attitude, medical security, administrative service measures, etc. as measurement standards to deal with this challenge. It proposes a medical service quality measurement model suitable for both qualitative and quantitative analysis. In view of the heterogeneity of information, the two-tuple fuzzy language calculation method is introduced to enable evaluators to skillfully manage diverse information and effectively avoid potential information omission problems in the subjective evaluation integration process. The effectiveness and feasibility of the model were demonstrated by applying it to the operational framework of a medical institution in central Taiwan.

Glioma accounts for the highest proportion of primary intracranial malignant tumors. Microenvironment enormously influences the process of glioma progression. Our study is to establish an individualized prognostic nomogram for glioma patients with microenvironment signature. Glioma samples of Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) were grouped by the immune and stromal score based on ESTIMATE algorithm. Microenvironment-related genes (MRGs) in glioma were analyzed by R. To determine the best prognostic correlation genes, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were used to analyze MRGs. Use the selected genes (CHI3L1, SOCS3, SLC47A2, COL3A1, SRPX2 and SERPINA3), we established the prognostic risk score model (microenvironment signature) and validated it. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) showed that the high-risk group was mainly enriched in immune and stromal function KEGG pathways. Finally, the nomogram was constructed and evaluated. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, Calibration plots and decision curve analysis (DCA) of training and validation set indicated the excellent predictive performance of nomogram. In conclusion, the 6-gene microenvironment signature can not only provide directions for the basic research of glioma, but also can be included as an independent prognostic index in nomogram for individual prediction to guide clinical treatment.

Xanthogranulomatous orchitis is a chronic, non-neoplastic inflammation that is quite rare. In this paper, we discuss the case of a 79-year-old male patient who presented with bilateral scrotum swelling and dysuria that persisted for two weeks. Despite two weeks of anti-infection treatment, the patient's symptoms persisted, leading to a decision to perform transurethral prostate resection and bilateral orchiectomy after careful consideration. After the surgery, the postoperative pathology indicated that the patient had xanthogranulomatous orchitis on the left side and acute positive orchitis with hemorrhage on the right side. Fortunately, three months after the procedure, the patient experienced no negative events and was pleased with the postoperative results.

Background Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a widely recognized cardiovascular disease that is considered the leading cause of death worldwide, affecting people on a global scale. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), which involves procedures such as balloon angioplasty or stenting, plays an important role in opening blocked arteries and minimizing damage to the cardiac muscle. While the use of drug-eluting stents (DESs) has significantly reduced the occurrence of coronary restenosis, the problem of in-stent restenosis (ISR) continues to pose a significant clinical challenge. Gaining a deeper understanding of the clinical predictors associated with ISR is vital for early detection and appropriate treatment. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate the clinical predictors of ISR specifically in Taiwanese patients. Methods We conducted a single-center, retrospective case-control study, enrolling 517 CAD patients undergoing previous coronary stenting and stable angina with positive stress test or acute coronary syndrome (ACS) during follow-up between January 2019 and December 2022 at National Taiwan University Hospital. The patients were categorized into two groups: the ISR group, consisting of individuals who received drug-coated balloon (DCB) treatment (n=177), and the non-ISR group, comprising patients who did not receive DCB treatment (n=340). To gather relevant data, we meticulously reviewed the medical records and analyzed the findings from coronary angiography to assess the clinical characteristics of the patients. Results Patients with three-vessel disease (3VD) exhibited a higher prevalence of underlying diseases and were more likely to be taking aspirin and clopidogrel. Moreover, our analysis revealed that age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.00 - 1.04, p = 0.037) and the presence of 3VD (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.15, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03 - 4.46, p = 0.039) were significantly associated with an increased risk of coronary ISR. Conclusions Older age and 3VD were the independent predictors of coronary ISR in CAD patients receiving coronary stent implantation.

Abstract: The migration and transformation of pesticides in the environment will have an impact on the ecosystem. This study collected greenhouse soil from Shouguang, Shandong Province, and studied the photodegradation and leaching of 17 common pesticides in the soil. The results of photodegradation experiments showed that the degradation rate of certain pesticides was increased in the light environment, compared with that in the dark controls. The light half-lives of emamectin benzoate, pyraclostrobin, and metalaxyl were all shorter than their respective dark half-lives, indicating that their residues in soil were greatly affected by light. The leaching experiment showed that the leaching potential of the leachable pesticides was: nitenpyram ≫ metalaxyl &gt; acetamiprid &gt; carbendazim &gt; diethofencarb ≈ chlorantraniliprole &gt; isoprothiolane &gt; oxadixyl &gt; boscalid ≈ tebuconazole &gt; hexaconazole. Pesticides that are easy to leach but not easy to degrade, such as chlorantraniliprole and metalaxyl, have a high potential risk of groundwater pollution, and more degradation technologies should be used to reduce their pollution risk. The study on photodegradation and vertical migration behavior of various pesticides in this study was conducive to providing references for the agricultural use and pollution control of pesticides.

Background: The study aimed to explore the association between the prognostic nutrition index (PNI) and in-hospital complication and mortality in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis using data from the Changhua Christian Hospital Clinical Research Database (CCHRD) between January 2015 and December 2022. 2402 patients were included, with the median PNI value set at 42.77. The restricted cubic spline model, Kaplan-Meier and ROC analysis for overall survival were used to evaluate the association of PNI with medical complications and mortality. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was performed to balance these clinical variables between groups, which could reduce potential bias to some extent. Results: PNI was significantly associated with in-hospital complications and 28-day and 90-day mortality in multivariate analysis. The main finding of our study is that a low PNI score at admission was independently associated with a poor ICH outcome. The Kaplan-Meier curves revealed higher survival rates in the high PNI group. PNI demonstrated sensitivity to predict medical complications and mortality based on ROC analysis. Conclusions Our study suggests that PNI could serve as a valuable marker for predicting medical complications and mortality in patients with spontaneous ICH.

The objective of this study was to synthesize 9-/13-position substituted berberine derivatives and evaluated their cytotoxic and photocytotoxic effects against three human cancer cell lines. Among all the synthesized compounds, 9-O-dodecyl- (5e), 13-dodecyl- (6e) and 13-O-dodecyl-berberine (7e) exhibited stronger growth inhibition against three human cancer cell lines, (HepG2, HT-29 and BFTC905), in compare with structurally related berberine (1). These three compounds also showed the photocytotoxicity in human cancer cells in a concentration-dependent and light dose-dependent manner. Through flow cytometry analysis, we found out a lipophilic group at 9-/13-position of berberine may have facilitated its penetration into test cell and hence enhanced its photocytotoxicity on human liver cancer cell HepG2. Further, in cell cycle analysis, 5e, 6e and 7e induced HepG2 cells to arrest at S phase and caused apoptosis upon irradiation. In addition, photodynamic treatment of berberine (1) and its derivatives 5e, 6e and 7e again showed a significant photocytotoxic effects on HepG2 cells, induced remarkable cell apoptosis, greatly increased intracellular ROS level and the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. These results over and again confirmed that berberine derivatives 5e, 6e and 7e greatly enhanced photocytotoxicity. Taking together, the test data led us to conclude that berberine derivatives with a dodecyl group at 9-/13-position could be great candidates for the anti-liver cancer medicines developments.

In order to solve the problem of many constraints and complex navigation environment in the path planning of unmanned surface vehicle(USV), an improved Sparrow search algorithm com-bining Cubic chaotic map and Gaussian random walk strategy was proposed to plan it. Firstly, in the population initialization stage, Cubic chaotic map was used to replace the random generation method of the traditional sparrow search algorithm to optimize the uneven initial distribution of the population and improve the global search ability of the population. Secondly, in the late it-eration of the algorithm, the standard deviation of fitness is introduced to determine whether the population is trapped in the local optimum. If true, the Gaussian random walk strategy is used to perturb the optimal individual and assist the algorithm to escape the local optimum. Thirdly, the chosen water environment is modeled, and the navigation information of the original inland electronic navigation chart(ENC) is preprocessed, gridized, and the obstacle swelling is processed. Finally, the path planning experiments of USV are carried out in inland ENC grid environment. The experimental results show that, compared with the traditional sparrow search algorithm, the average fitness value of the path planned by improved sparrow search algorithm is reduced by 14.8%, and the variance is reduced by 49.9%. The path planned by the algorithm is of good quality and high stability, and combined with ENC, it can provide a reliable path for USV.

In this work, we'll present the power spectra density, auto-correlation function, dentrended fluctuation analysis and multifractal spectrum are performed to the daily light curves of Blazars monitored by Fermi LAT. Some signs of power law are found.

Rapid and accurate detection of road cracks is of great significance for road health monitoring, but currently this work is mainly completed through manual site surveys. Low-altitude UAV remote sensing can obtain images with centimeter or even subcentimeter ground resolution, which provides a new efficient and economical approach for rapid crack detection. Nevertheless, crack detection networks face challenges such as edge blurring and misidentification due to the heterogeneity of road cracks and the complexity of the background. To address these issues, we propose a real-time edge reconstruction crack detection network (ERNet) which adopts multi-level information aggregation to reconstruct crack edges and improve the accuracy of segmentation between the target and background. To capture global dependencies across spatial and channel levels, we propose an efficient bilateral decomposed convolutional attention module (BDAM) that combines depth separable convolution and dilated convolution to capture global dependencies across spatial and channel levels. To enhance the accuracy of crack detection, we use a coordinate-based fusion module that integrates spatial, semantic, and edge reconstruction information. In addition, we propose an automatic measurement of crack information for extracting the crack trunk and its corresponding length and width. Experimental results demonstrate that our network achieves the best balance between accuracy and inference speed.

Background: Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) is an uncommon and aggressive pediatric central nervous system neoplasm. However, a universal clinical consensus or reliable prognostic evaluation system for this malignancy is lacking. Our study aimed to develop a risk model based on comprehensive clinical data to assist in clinical decision-making. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study by examining data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) repository, spanning 2000 to 2019. The external validation cohort was sourced from the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Chongqing Medical University, China. To discern independent factors affecting overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS), we applied Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) and Random Forest (RF) regression analyses. Based on these factors, we structured nomogram survival predictions and initiated a dynamic online risk-evaluation system. To contrast survival outcomes among diverse treatments, we used propensity score matching (PSM) methodology. Molecular data with the most common mutations in AT/RT were extracted from the Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC) database. Results: The annual incidence of AT/RT showed an increasing trend (APC, 2.86%; 95% CI:0.75-5.01). Our prognostic study included 316 SEER database participants and 27 external validation patients. The entire group had a median OS of 18 months (range 11.5 to 24 months) and median CSS of 21 months (range 11.7 to 29.2). Evaluations involving C-statistics, DCA, and ROC analysis underscored the distinctive capabilities of our prediction model. An analysis via PSM highlighted that individuals undergoing triple therapy (integrating surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy) had discernibly enhanced OS and CSS. The most common mutations of AT/RT identified in the COSMIC database were SMARCB1, BRAF, SMARCA4, NF2, and NRAS. Conclusions: In this study, we devised a predictive model that effectively gauges the prognosis of AT/RT and briefly analyzed its genomic features, which might offer a valuable tool to address existing clinical challenges.

Does cell clustering influence intrinsic and acquired multi-drug resistance (MDR) differently? To address this question, we studied cultured monolayers (representing individual cells) and cultured spheroids (representing clusters) formed by drug-naïve (intrinsic MDR) and drug-exposed (acquired MDR) lines of ovarian cancer A2780 cells by cytometry of reaction rate constant (CRRC). MDR efflux was characterized by accurate and robust “cell number vs. MDR efflux rate constant (kMDR)” histograms. Both drug-naïve and drug-exposed monolayer cells presented unimodal histograms; the histogram of drug-exposed cells was shifted towards higher kMDR value suggesting greater MDR activity. Spheroids of drug-naïve cells presented a bimodal histogram indicating the presence of two subpopulations with different MDR activity. In contrast, spheroids of drug-exposed cells presented a unimodal histogram qualitatively similar to that of the monolayers of drug-exposed cells but with a moderate shift towards greater MDR activity. The observed greater effect of cell clustering on intrinsic than on acquired MDR can help guide the development of new therapeutic strategies targeting clusters of circulating tumor cells.

A common spinal condition, spondylolisthesis is the presence of a relative back or forth displacement between the upper and lower vertebra due to one vertebra being oriented away from the smooth curvature of a normal spine. Aging-related illnesses such as degenerative spondylolisthesis are especially burdensome on social welfare and health-care systems in an aging society, especially radiologists and clinical physicians. Therefore, we proposed a computer aided diagnosis algorithm, named LumbarNet, for vertebral slippage detection on clinical X-ray images. Collaborating with i) a P-grade, ii) a piecewise slope detection scheme, and iii) a dynamic shift detection routine, LumbarNet was thus specialized for analyzing complex structural patterns in lumbar spine X-ray images and outcompeted other U-Net based methods. Extensive experiments on lumbar spine X-ray images in standard clinical practices showed that LumbarNet achieved a mean intersection over union value of 0.88 in vertebral region detection and an accuracy of 88.83% in vertebral slippage detection.

With the continuous development of urbanization and industrialization in the world, concrete is widely used in various engineering constructions as an engineering material. However, the consequent problem of durability of concrete structures is also becoming increasingly prominent. As an important additional measures, protective coating can effectively improve the durability of concrete performance. Moreover, the uniformity of the concrete surface coating will directly affect its protective effect. Therefore, we propose a nondestructive inspection and evaluation method of coating uniformity based on infrared imaging and cluster analysis for concrete surface coating uniformity detection and evaluation. Based on the obtained infrared images, a series of processing and analysis of the images were carried out using MATLAB software to obtain the characteristics of the infrared images of concrete surface. Finally, by extracting the temperature distribution data of the pixel points on the concrete surface, an evaluation method of concrete surface coating uniformity based on a combination of cluster analysis and hierarchical analysis was established. The evaluation results show that the determination results obtained by this method are consistent with the actual situation. This study has a positive contribution to the testing of concrete surface coating uniformity and its evaluation.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is an active diterpenoid compound that is extracted from the leaves and stem of Cannabis sativa. Previous studies show that CBD is a non-psychotropic compound with significant anti-cancer effects. This study determines its cytotoxic effect on oral cancer cells and OECM1 cells and compares the outcomes with a chemotherapeutic drug, cisplatin. This study determines the effect of CBD on the viability, apoptosis, morphology and migration of OECM1 cells. Electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) is used to measure the change in cell impedance for cells that are treated with a series concentration of CBD for 24 hours. AlamarBlue and annexin V/7-AAD staining assays show that CBD has a cytotoxic effect on cell viability and induces cell apoptosis. ECIS analysis shows that CBD decreases the overall resistance and morphological parameters at 4 kHz in a concentration-dependent manner. There is a significant reduction in the wound-healing recovery rate for cells that are treated with 30 μM CBD. This study demonstrates that ECIS can be used for in vitro screening of anticancer drugs and is more sensitive, functional and comprehensive than traditional biochemical assays. CBD also increases cytotoxicity on cell survival and the migration of oral cancer cells, so it may be a therapeutic drug for oral cancer

Thrombosis is the pathological clot formation under abnormal hemodynamic conditions, which can result in vascular obstruction, causing ischemic strokes and myocardial infarction. Thrombus growth under moderate to low shear (<1000 s^-1) relies on platelet activation and coagulation. Thrombosis at elevated high shear rates (>10,000 s-1) is predominantly driven by unactivated platelet binding and aggregating mediated by von Willebrand factor (VWF), while platelet activation and coagulation are secondary in supporting and reinforcing the thrombus. Given the molecular and cellular level information it can access, multiscale computational modelling informed by biology can provide new pathphysiological mechanisms that are otherwise not accessible experimentally, holding promise for novel first-principle-based therapeutics. In this review, we summarize the key aspects of platelet biorheology and mechanobiology, focusing on the molecular and cellular scale events and how they build up to thrombosis through platelet adhesion and aggregation in the presence or absence of platelet activation. In particular, we highlight recent advancements in multiscale modeling of platelet biorheology and mechanobiology and how they can lead to better prediction and quantification of thrombus formation, exemplifying the exciting paradigm of digital medicine.

The thermoelectric generator (TEG) stands out in many energy harvesters due to its simple structure, small size, etc. However, previous studies rarely probe into the influence of TEG internal resistances on extracting maximum power from TEG, and tracking efficiency is limited. By analyzing the relationship between the tracking efficiency and the TEG internal resistances, a time exponential rate perturbation and observation (P&amp;O) technology is proposed to achieve maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for a wide resistance range of TEG. Using the time exponential rate P&amp;O, the MPPT circuit observes the power change by comparing PMOS on-time and perturbs the power by adjusting NMOS on-time exponentially. The MPPT circuit is implemented in a 110nm CMOS process. The tracking efficiency keeps a high level from 98.9 to 99.5%. The applicable range of the TEG resistance is from 1 to 12Ω, which is enhanced at least 2.2 times.

A special vibration damper is proposed for material property identification through a scratching process on a vibrating object. This paper presents the design and working principle of a scratching damper based on a scratch test device. A non-contact electromagnetic shaker is used to generate the shaking force for the vibration of the tested object. The required pressure on the scratched material during the scratching process is generated by a compression spring and adjusted by changing the amount of compression of the spring. The proposed damper is designed and tested on extruded aluminum samples for the determination of its Young’s modulus and hardness and validated by using the standard test instruments. Observations of physical dimensions of the scratching tracks are determined by microscope and were utilized to compute the scratching energy factor. Load curves are obtained at different pressure of the scratching process. The hysteresis loop energy during the scratching process of the tested object is measured and used for the determination of material properties of the object. Furthermore, energy conservation law, scratch energy release rate and loop energy release rate are used to determine the Young’s modulus and hardness of the sample. The measurement accuracy of the modulus and hardness of the tested sample is evaluated. The proposed method of material testing has several advantages over the traditional methods such as low cost and high repeatability, and may be used as an alternative to the standard modulus and hardness testers.

We study theoretically the Josephson diode effect (JDE) realized in a system composed of parallel-coupled double quantum dots (DQDs) sandwiched between two semiconductor nanowires deposited on an s-wave superconductor surface. Due to the combined effects of the proximity-caused superconductivity, strong Rashba spin-orbit interaction and Zeeman splitting inside the nanowires, a pair of Majorana bound states (MBSs) may possibly emerge at opposite ends of each nanowire. Different phase factors arisen from the superconductor substrate can be generated in the coupling amplitudes between the DQDs and MBSs prepared at the left and right nanowires, and will result in the Josephson current. We find that the critical Josephson currents in positive and negative directions are different from each other in amplitude within an oscillation period with respective to the magnetic flux penetrating through the system, a phenomenon known as the JDE. It arises from the quantum interference effect in this double-path device, and can hardly occur in system of one QD coupled to MBSs. Our results also show that the diode efficiency can reach up to 50%, and depends on the overlap amplitude between the MBSs and the energy levels of the DQDs adjustable by gate voltages. The present model is realizable within current nanofabitication technologies and may find practical use in interdisciplinary field of Majorana and Josephson physics.

Air pollution is an important factor affecting human health and daily life. Chinese government is making vigorous efforts to control air pollution. The upgrading of industrial structure is a problem-solving tool in environment and economic growth cases. This paper aims to explore the relationships among environmental regulation, the upgrading of industrial structure and air pollution. The PVAR (Panel Vector Auto Regression) model and moderation effect model has been used to conduct empirical analysis based on panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2004 to 2020. The results of analysis indicate (1) the environmental regulation can significantly reduce the air pollution, but the deterioration of air quality could not effectively influence environmental regulations. (2) The upgrading of industrial structure can weaken the air pollution and air pollution hinders the upgrading of industrial structure. (3) With the improvement of environmental regulation, the industrial structure is constantly upgraded, but the upgrading of the industrial structure has a negative effect on the improvement of environmental regulation. (4) The upgrading of industrial structure can positively moderate the influence of environmental regulation on air pollution.

This general review assesses the impact of physical exercise on oxidative and nitrosative stress and the counteractive role of antioxidants, drawing from a systematic literature search up to March 2024 in databases like PubMed and Web of Science. The review highlights studies on the effect of exercise on the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and antioxidant responses in both human and animal models based on rigorous inclusion and exclusion criteria. Due to the variety of exercise types and participants' characteristics, a narrative synthesis approach was adopted. The findings indicate that moderate exercise boosts antioxidant defenses, known as hormesis, whereas excessive physical activity may increase oxidative and nitrosative damage. The review also explores the complex effects of antioxidant supplementation, revealing that while natural dietary antioxidants support health, high-dose supplements could potentially hinder positive adaptations to exercise. Recommendations for athletes and the general active population highlight the importance of balancing exercise and dietary intake to optimize health benefits. The review concludes with a call for more detailed research on tailored exercise and nutrition plans to dissect these intricate relationships further.

In the natural environment, sand accumulation and desertification can influence the efficiency of photovoltaic arrays. In this study, PV module output characteristics were examined under different sand particle size, varying sand densities and inclination angles, and at wind speeds of 5m/s, 10m/s, and 15m/s. Both theoretical and experimental results showed that the output power of the module declines with increasing sand density. As the sand particle size increases, the module maximum output power rises and then stabilizes. The two control variables, namely sand density and sand particle size, influence the module temperature and light transmittance distinctly. Contrary to the impact of sand density on the module filling factor curve, the module filling factor exhibits varying trends under different sand particle sizes. Additionally, the pattern of the module filling factor as a function of sand density contrasts with that of the module temperature under analogous conditions. Specifically, when the sand density on the PV module surface increases from 0 to 40g/m², there is a 32.2% reduction in maximum output power. At a wind speed of 15m/s, this reduction was found consistent across all wind speed categories. Furthermore, the trend of the module filling factor rel-ative to sand accumulation density contrasts with the module temperature trend under analogous conditions. Notably, the filling factor reached its apex at a sand accumulation density of 35g/m², which corresponded to the module temperature's nadir during the experiment.

The EPA has banned PFOA and PFOS as persistent organic pollutants, but their residues in environment should not be underestimated. Based on the demand for healthy aquaculture and safe aquatic products, it is necessary to explore alleviative methods for the toxicity of PFOA and PFOS to fish. This study is the first to investigate the protective effects of Lactobacillus rhamnosus against oxidative damage, neurotoxicity, and gut microbial dysbiosis induced by PFOA and PFOS in adult zebrafish. The results showed that L. rhamnosus effectively alleviated PFOA- and PFOS-induced oxidative stress by restoring superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels. Both PFOA and PFOS caused intestinal tissue damage, and the degree of damage is PFOA+PFOS>PFOS>PFOA. L. rhamnosus can restore damaged intestinal villi and lymphocyte numbers and also have a restorative effect on intestinal tissue damage. The up-regulated proportion of beneficial Firmicutes and Actinobacteria was also found after L. rhamnosus feeding. These findings provide new insights for L. rhamnosus to alleviate the toxicity of PFOA and PFOS to zebrafish and promote the progress of research on the successful use of probiotics in freshwater aquaculture.