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The article discusses a case of atypical myocardial infarction associated with airbag deployment, resulting in severe coronary injury and myocardial infarction in a 56-year-old woman involved in a car crash. The patient experienced dynamic electrocardiographic changes and intravascular imaging revealed a large intramural hematoma and luminal thrombosis in the right coronary artery. The case highlights the importance of serial electrocardiographic monitoring to detect latent coronary injury and emphasizes the necessity of wearing seat belts for both drivers and passengers to prevent such incidents. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: The relationship of CYP2A6 polymorphisms with S-1 therapy outcomes in gastric cancer is unclear. This review aimed to assess the association between CYP2A6 gene polymorphisms (CYP2A6*4, *7, *9, *10) and S-1 therapy outcomes in gastric cancer, aiming to identify predictive markers for S-1 efficacy and adverse reactions. Methods: We searched seven databases, using random or fixed-effect models to calculate hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) based on study heterogeneity. Results: A total of 1,143 articles were retrieved from multiple online databases as of March 28, 2023. After screening, seven articles containing seven investigations were included in the meta-analysis. Our results revealed a significant association between the CYP2A6 polymorphism site and the overall survival (OS) of variant/variant group (V/V) patients compared to wild-type/wild-type (W/W) or wild-type/variant (W/V) patients (HR = 2.73, 95% CI: 1.45–5.14, p = 0.002). S-1 was more beneficial for W/W or W/V patients than V/V patients in terms of progression-free survival (PFS) (HR = 3.15, 95% CI: 1.47–6.75, p = 0.003). There was no association between CYP2A6 polymorphism and hematological adverse reactions (OR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.23–1.15, p = 0.104). Conclusion: CYP2A6 polymorphisms correlate with S-1 efficacy (OS and PFS) in gastric cancer, suggesting their potential as predictive markers. However, the generalizability of findings is limited by the small number of studies from Eastern countries and variations in chemotherapy regimens and detection methods. Further, large-scale studies are needed to confirm these associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Azvudine (FNC) is a novel small molecule antiviral drug for treating COVID‐19 that is available only on the Chinese market. Despite being recommended for treating COVID‐19 by the Chinese guidelines, its efficacy and safety are still unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the protective effect of FNC on COVID‐19 outcomes and its safety. Methods: We followed the PRISMA 2020 guidelines and searched the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases to evaluate studies on the effectiveness of FNC in treating COVID‐19 in China, focusing on mortality and overall outcomes. Additionally, its impact on the length of hospital stay (LOHS), time to first nucleic acid negative conversion (T‐FNANC), and adverse events was evaluated. The inclusion criterion was that the studies were published from July 2021 to April 10, 2024. This study uses the ROBINS‐I tool to assess bias risk and employs the GRADE approach to evaluate the certainty of the evidence. Results: The meta‐analysis included 24 retrospective studies involving a total of 11 830 patients. Low‐certainty evidence revealed no significant difference in mortality (OR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.76–1.08) or LOHS (WMD = −0.24, 95% CI: −0.83 to 0.35) between FNC and Paxlovid in COVID‐19 patients. Low‐certainty evidence shows that the T‐FNANC was longer (WMD = 1.95, 95% CI: 0.36–3.53). Compared with the Paxlovid group, low‐certainty evidence shows the FNC group exhibited a worse composite outcome (OR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.63–0.95) and fewer adverse events (OR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.46–0.85). Compared with supportive treatment, low certainty shows FNC significantly reduced the mortality rate in COVID‐19 patients (OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.51–0.74) and decreased the composite outcome (OR = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.50–0.91), and very low certainty evidence shows significantly decreased the T‐FNANC (WMD = −4.62, 95% CI: −8.08 to −1.15). However, in very low certainty, there was no significant difference in LOHS (WMD = −0.70, 95% CI: −3.32 to 1.91) or adverse events (OR = 1.97, 95% CI: 0.48–8.17). Conclusions: FNC appears to be a safe and potentially effective treatment for COVID‐19 in China, but further research with larger, high‐quality studies is necessary to confirm these findings. Due to the certainty of the evidence and the specific context of the studies conducted in China, caution should be exercised when considering whether the results are applicable worldwide. Trial Registration: PROSPERO number: CRD42024520565 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clarifying the crack coalescence mechanism and defining crack types within flawed rock formations offer significant advantages for understanding the failure process of geomaterials in practical geotechnical engineering. This article presents experimental results of red sandstone specimens subjected to uniaxial compression, featuring pre-existing flaws of varying width and inclination. Then, the divided displacement trend line (DDTL) model and crack influencing factors (CIF) model were established to quantitatively investigate the coalescence mechanisms and types of cracks. In addition, the above innovative model was corroborated from a microscopic perspective using the AF-RA method. Test results reveal that most cracks in the initiation stage undergo alternating influences of tensile and shear forces, ultimately coalescing due to a dominant factor. The augmentation in flaw width significantly impacts the displacement at the flaw tip, leading to an increased proportion of shear cracks within the specimen. The CIF model quantitatively analyzes the dominant factor at different sections along a crack and determines whether the crack behavior is influenced by tensile stress (CIF > 0) or shear stress (CIF < 0). The final CIF peak value of tensile cracks generally surpasses 6, while that of shear cracks typically hovers around 0. For mixed cracks primarily dominated by tension, the final CIF peak value generally exceeds 4, while for those primarily dominated by shear, the value is lower than 2. Based on the comprehensive analysis of DDTL model and CIF model, the study identifies five distinct types of cracks: T type, S type, TS type, ST-space type, and ST-time type. These classification models provide a foundation for subsequent investigations on crack propagation mechanisms and are of significant reference value for understanding the failure mechanism of geotechnical engineering under loading conditions. Highlights: A quantitative calculation model for determining the crack type was established, and the dominant factors in the crack coalescence process were quantitatively studied. The crack influencing factors model can be used to illustrate the factors that dominate crack coalescence. The crack initiation is mostly the result of alternating tensile and shear effects, while the final crack coalescence is generally caused by one of the tensile or shear factors. The cracks are classified into: tensile type, shear type, tensile-shear type, shear-tensile space type and shear-tensile time type by the differences of the dominant factors in the initiation, propagation, and coalescence stages of cracks. The divided displacement trend line model visualizes the crack coalescence process and validates the rationality of crack influencing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under typical copper‐catalyzed hydroboration conditions, β‐(trifluoromethyl)styrenes demonstrate unusal reactivities by forming difluoromethylated alkenes via a net protodefluorination process. This is also distinct from trifluoromethyl alkenes with alkyl substituents where defluoroborylation products predominate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practical implementation of high‐voltage lithium‐rich manganese oxide (LRMO) cathode is limited by the unanticipated electrolyte decomposition and dissolution of transition metal ions. The present study proposes a bi‐affinity electrolyte formulation, wherein the sulfonyl group of ethyl vinyl sulfone (EVS) imparts a highly adsorptive nature to LRMO, while fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) exhibits a reductive nature towards Li metal. This interface modulation strategy involves the synergistic use of EVS and FEC as additives to form robust interphase layers on the electrode. As‐formed S‐endorsed but LiF‐assisted configuration cathode electrolyte interphase with a more dominant −SO2− component may promote the interface transport kinetics and prevent the dissolution of transition metal ions. Furthermore, the incorporation of S component into the solid electrolyte interphase and the reduction of its poorly conducting component can effectively inhibit the growth of lithium dendrites. Therefore, a 4.8 V LRMO/Li cell with optimized electrolyte may demonstrate a remarkable retention capacity of 97 % even after undergoing 300 cycles at 1 C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practical implementation of high‐voltage lithium‐rich manganese oxide (LRMO) cathode is limited by the unanticipated electrolyte decomposition and dissolution of transition metal ions. The present study proposes a bi‐affinity electrolyte formulation, wherein the sulfonyl group of ethyl vinyl sulfone (EVS) imparts a highly adsorptive nature to LRMO, while fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) exhibits a reductive nature towards Li metal. This interface modulation strategy involves the synergistic use of EVS and FEC as additives to form robust interphase layers on the electrode. As‐formed S‐endorsed but LiF‐assisted configuration cathode electrolyte interphase with a more dominant −SO2− component may promote the interface transport kinetics and prevent the dissolution of transition metal ions. Furthermore, the incorporation of S component into the solid electrolyte interphase and the reduction of its poorly conducting component can effectively inhibit the growth of lithium dendrites. Therefore, a 4.8 V LRMO/Li cell with optimized electrolyte may demonstrate a remarkable retention capacity of 97 % even after undergoing 300 cycles at 1 C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coupling Li‐rich Mn‐based oxide (LRMO) cathodes with lithium metal anodes is crucial to enabl high‐energy batteries. However, capacity decline of LRMO caused generally by unexpected parasitic reactions needs to be solved. Herein, an anion synergistic strategy is developed to manipulate the solvation structure to boost the electrochemical performance of high‐voltage lithium batteries. Multi‐salt electrolytes containing TFSI−, DFOB−, and DFBOP− anions are formulated via facilitating a distinctive aggregate, Li+‐(DFBOP−)0.10(DFOB−)0.49(TFSI−)0.51EC0.63EMC2.49DEC0.77, which can reduce the penetration of other anions into the first solvation sheath and strengthen the interaction between Li+ ions and solvent molecules simultaneously. The solvation structure is studied by molecular dynamics (MD) and its feature is found to be able to enhance the transport kinetics of Li+ effectively and favor the formation of an inorganic‐rich interphase. Corrosion of the Al collector is retarded effectively by a cathode−electrolyte interphase (CEI) constructed by the decomposition of DFBOP−, thereby enhancing the cyclability. In addition, Li||LRMO cell can retain its 85% initial capacity after 650 cycles at 1 C. This study provides a guideline to formulate high‐voltage electrolytes with excellent kinetics by regulating the microstructures of solvation and interphases via anion formulation engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Oncolytic adenoviruses are genetically engineered to selectively replicate within cancer cells by exploiting their unique characteristics while sparing normal cells. However, adenoviruses generally require the coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR) to enter the cells. This study investigated the activity of an oncolytic adenovirus in tumors with low CAR expression. The results showed that 58% and 33% of the tumors treated with liposome-encapsulated virus and viruses without liposome encapsulation achieved complete remission, respectively. Microscopic tissue analysis shows that an increased inflammatory infiltrate inside the tumor microenvironment is key to achieving effective therapeutic results in tumors independent of CAR expression. In the bilateral tumor model, both unencapsulated and encapsulated viruses reduced local tumor growth. However, only encapsulated virus reduced growth in distant tumors. Encapsulated adenovirus demonstrated an increased inflammatory infiltrate, including CD-8 and NK cells in both the treated and untreated tumors, whereas unencapsulated virus demonstrated limited inflammatory infiltrate in both tumors. This study evaluated the in vivo therapeutic efficacy of oncolytic serotype 5 adenovirus TAV255 in CAR-deficient tumors. In vitro experiments were performed with cell lines that expressed different levels of CAR (HEK293, A549, CT26, 4T1, and MCF-7). Low CAR cells, such as CT26, were poorly transduced by Ad in vitro unless the adenovirus was encapsulated in liposomes. However, the CT26 tumor in an immune-competent mouse model responded to the unencapsulated TAV255; 33% of the tumors were induced into complete remission, and mice with complete remission rejected the rechallenge with cancer cell injection. Encapsulation of TAV255 improves its therapeutic efficacy by transducing more CT26 cells, as expected from in vitro results. In a bilateral tumor model, nonencapsulated TAV255 reduced the growth rate of the locally treated tumors but had no effect on the growth rate of the distant tumor site. Conversely, encapsulated TAV255-infected CT26 induced a delayed growth rate of both the primary injected tumor and the distant tumor, consistent with a robust immune response. In vivo, intratumorally injected unencapsulated adenoviruses infect CAR-negative cells with only limited efficiency. However, unencapsulated adenoviruses robustly inhibit the growth of CAR-deficient tumors, an effect that constitutes an 'in situ vaccination' by stimulating cytotoxic T cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have emerged as pivotal regulators in various biological processes and disease states, including cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and cardiovascular diseases, making them promising biomarkers for early diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring. This review provides a comprehensive overview of traditional and emerging molecular assays and biosensors for circRNA detection, critically examining key challenges in their development and application. Conventional methods such as RT-PCR, Northern blot, and in situ hybridization remain prominent, while the emerging techniques include reverse transcription-based and non-reverse transcription-based assays, hybrid systems, and point-of-care biosensors. RT-RCA and RT-LAMP have shown potential as valuable alternatives to RT-PCR. In hybrid systems, where target recognition and amplification are performed using different assay approaches, RCA and LAMP are particularly promising for the amplification stage. Non-RT-based assays are gaining significant research attention due to their ability to avoid inaccuracies associated with reverse transcriptase use. Among these, CRISPR-Cas13 and duplex-specific nuclease (DSN)-based assays exhibit notably high sensitivity. Molecular assays using enzyme probe ligation techniques for target recognition provide superior detection accuracy, a feature comparable to nanoString technology. Additionally, microfluidics and nanomaterials have been employed to enhance the performance of circRNA point-of-care sensors. Despite these advances, practical circRNA detection methodologies still face challenges, such as long assay times, limited multiplexing capabilities, and complex circRNA enrichment procedures. This review addresses current technological hurdles and outlines future perspectives in circRNA analysis. Innovation in methodologies, along with the discovery and validation of new circRNA markers, can accelerate the translation of circRNA detection methods into clinical and biomedical applications. • Limitations of traditional circRNA methods motivated the development of novel assays. • Rolling circle amplification and LAMP are emerging circRNA-based diagnostic methods. • CRISPR-Cas13, enzymatic probe ligation, and duplex-nucleases hold great potential. • Hybrid assays, microfluidics, and nanomaterials can be employed to enhance detection. • Multiplexed point-of-care devices are a future trend in circRNA detection research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Induced the acoustic streaming to accelerate gas bubbles to escape the molten pool. • Drag force causes the significant differences in the motion trajectories of bubbles under acoustic streaming. • Using acoustic streaming to concentrate non-escape bubbles at the molten pool edge. • The hybrid processing methods has enhanced the porosity reduction effect by ultrasonic effect. Pore defect plays an important factor on leading to a decrease in the strength performance and reliability of deposition layers manufactured by directed energy deposition (DED). The ultrasonic energy field assistant method usually improves the structure of materials, now is induced to reduce porosity by acoustic streaming driven effect in directed energy deposition process. In this work, 1Cr12Ni3MoVN powder (29% hollow particles) was used to controllable generate bubbles in the molten pool to induce the imperfect deposition conditions in the experiments. The distribution of pores with different laser processing parameters under ultrasonic vibration (UV) was investigated, and the principle that ultrasonic vibration drives the bubble motion under the complex physical environment was also analyzed by numerical simulation. The results show that acoustic streaming lead by UV effect, in competition with other flows (Marangoni flow and non-isothermal flow), makes the small bubbles to escape or large bubbles to move toward the edge of the molten pool. In general, UV reduces porosity from an average of 0.61% to 0.31%. Combined with the subtractive method, the porosity reduction rate has been improved from 45% to 82%. UV finally resulted in an average increase of 17% in the elongation of the material. This work provides the understanding on the driving effect of acoustic streaming on bubble motion and guide a novel way to reduce the porosity of DED technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the tracking control problem of nonlinear discrete-time multi-agent systems (MASs). First, a local neighborhood error system (LNES) is constructed. Then, a novel tracking algorithm based on asynchronous iterative Q-learning (AIQL) is developed, which can transform the tracking problem into the optimal regulation of LNES. The AIQL-based algorithm has two Q values Q i A and Q i B for each agent i , where Q i A is used for improving the control policy and Q i B is used for evaluating the value of the control policy. Moreover, the convergence of LNES is given. It is shown that the LNES converges to 0 and the tracking problem is solved. A neural network-based actor-critic framework is used to implement AIQL. The critic network of AIQL is composed of two neural networks, which are used for approximating Q i A and Q i B respectively. Finally, simulation results are given to verify the performance of the developed algorithm. It is shown that the AIQL-based tracking algorithm has a lower cost value and faster convergence speed than the IQL-based tracking algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This corrigendum provides corrections to the official English names of the funding sources and grant numbers, as well as the updated affiliation and contact information for the corresponding author. These corrections are marked and compared with the original, presented side by side for reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus on precise medicine enhances the need for timely diagnosis and frequent monitoring of chronic diseases. Moreover, the recent pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 poses a great demand for rapid detection and surveillance of viral infections. The detection of protein biomarkers and antigens in the saliva allows rapid identification of diseases or disease changes in scenarios where and when the test response at the point of care is mandated. While traditional methods of protein testing fail to provide the desired fast results, electrochemical biosensors based on nanomaterials hold perfect characteristics for the detection of biomarkers in point‐of‐care settings. The recent advances in electrochemical sensors for salivary protein detection are critically reviewed in this work, with emphasis on the role of nanomaterials to boost the biosensor analytical performance and increase the reliability of the test in human saliva samples. Furthermore, this work identifies the critical factors for further modernization of the nanomaterial‐based electrochemical sensors, envisaging the development and implementation of next‐generation sample‐in‐answer‐out systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adenovirus (Ad) is a widely studied viral vector for cancer therapy as it can be engineered to cause selective lysis of cancer cells. However, Ad delivery is limited in treating cancers that do not have coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptors (CAR). To overcome this challenge, Ad-encapsulated liposomes were developed that enhance the delivery of Ads and increase therapeutic efficacy. Cationic empty liposomes were manufactured first, to which an anionic Ad were added, which resulted in encapsulated Ad liposomes through charge interaction. Optimization of the liposome formula was carried out with series of formulation variables experiments using an extrusion process, which is ideal for laboratory-scale small batches. Later, the optimized formulation was manufactured with a homogenization technique—A high shear rotor-stator blending, that is ideal for large-scale manufacturing and is in compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). Comparative in vitro transduction, physicochemical characterization, long-term storage stability at different temperature conditions, and in vivo animal studies were performed. Ad encapsulated liposomes transduced CAR deficient cells 100-fold more efficiently than the unencapsulated Ad (p ≤ 0.0001) in vitro, and 4-fold higher in tumors injected in nude mice in vivo. Both extrusion and homogenization performed similarly–with equivalent in vitro and in vivo transduction efficiencies, physicochemical characterization, and long-term storage stability. Thus, two Ad encapsulated liposomes preparation methods used herein, i.e., extrusion vs. homogenization were equivalent in terms of enhanced Ad performance and long-term storage stability; this will, hopefully, facilitate translation to the clinic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Colorful latex microsphere prepared by simple surfactant-free emulsion polymerization. • DC-LFIA explored for simultaneously detecting two respiratory viral antigens. • The visual LOD of DC-LFIA is lower to 25 pg/mL for IAV and 100 pg/mL for RSV. • Significantly outperforms commercial colloidal gold kits in clinical sample detection. Respiratory infectious diseases pose a serious threat to human health worldwide. Timely diagnosis is crucial for effective clinical management and infection control. Herein, we developed a dual-channel lateral flow immunoassay (DC-LFIA) for simultaneous sensitive detection of influenza A virus (IAV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) nucleoprotein (NP) antigens. The high brightness latex microspheres (HB-LMs) exhibiting typical absorption peak at 540 nm with uniform size and excellent optical stability, were prepared by a simple surfactant-free emulsion polymerization by mixing Sudan red, which overcame the complexity and color instability met for traditional synthesis methods. After affinity evaluation, two antibody pairs have good affinity for IAV NP and RSV NP were separately identified. Then, combining antibody pairs as probes and HB-LMs as based signal tag, a DC-LFIA was constructed, by which the visual limit of detection is 25 pg/mL, 100 pg/mL for IAV NP and RSV NP, respectively, 10-fold more sensitive than gold nanoparticles based LFIA. The calculated limit of detection (S/N=3) of IAV NP and RSV NP was improved 22.8- and19.5-fold, respectively, in comparison with gold nanoparticles based LFIA. Additionally, the developed sensor shows excellent specificity and reproducibility. Furthermore, the as-proposed method was validated through the analysis of clinical samples, in good agreement with commercial colloidal gold kits. Thus, the developed DC-LFIA has great potential for clinical application in the multiplex detection of respiratory viral antigens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the critical strain and damage evolution process of sandstone can help engineers more accurately predict the failure modes and critical states of sandstone in actual engineering structures. Therefore, this article quantitatively analyzes the strain field data obtained through digital image correlation (DIC), and for the first time establishes a strain concentration calculation model (SCCM) to analyze the critical strain, compaction, and damage evolution process of sandstone under uniaxial compression conditions. The experimental results show that both elastic and plastic strain zones exist on the specimen surface. The proportion curve of strain concentration calculated by SCCM indicates that the strain field ε 1 generally undergoes two stages: the elastic strain fluctuation stage and the plastic strain development stage. In contrast, the strain field ε 2 exhibits roughly three stages: a rapid change phase, a slow change phase, and a stability phase. Microscopic strain analysis reveals an overlap between the compaction and damage processes of the specimen, and the critical strain value ε md for micro-damage in the specimen is significantly smaller than values obtained by traditional discrimination methods. Specifically, when the defect width of the specimen is 15 mm and 40 mm, the mean ε md vaules are approximately 0.006016 and 0.00539, respectively. In contrast, the mean critical strain values determined by traditional discrimination methods are 0.0180 and 0.0178, respectively. The above research results provide a new method for analyzing the strain field data of geotechnical materials, serving the optimization of engineering structure design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Colorful latex microsphere prepared by simple surfactant-free emulsion polymerization. • DC-LFIA explored for simultaneously detecting two respiratory viral antigens. • The visual LOD of DC-LFIA is lower to 25 pg/mL for IAV and 100 pg/mL for RSV. • Significantly outperforms commercial colloidal gold kits in clinical sample detection. Respiratory infectious diseases pose a serious threat to human health worldwide. Timely diagnosis is crucial for effective clinical management and infection control. Herein, we developed a dual-channel lateral flow immunoassay (DC-LFIA) for simultaneous sensitive detection of influenza A virus (IAV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) nucleoprotein (NP) antigens. The high brightness latex microspheres (HB-LMs) exhibiting typical absorption peak at 540 nm with uniform size and excellent optical stability, were prepared by a simple surfactant-free emulsion polymerization by mixing Sudan red, which overcame the complexity and color instability met for traditional synthesis methods. After affinity evaluation, two antibody pairs have good affinity for IAV NP and RSV NP were separately identified. Then, combining antibody pairs as probes and HB-LMs as based signal tag, a DC-LFIA was constructed, by which the visual limit of detection is 25 pg/mL, 100 pg/mL for IAV NP and RSV NP, respectively, 10-fold more sensitive than gold nanoparticles based LFIA. The calculated limit of detection (S/N=3) of IAV NP and RSV NP was improved 22.8- and19.5-fold, respectively, in comparison with gold nanoparticles based LFIA. Additionally, the developed sensor shows excellent specificity and reproducibility. Furthermore, the as-proposed method was validated through the analysis of clinical samples, in good agreement with commercial colloidal gold kits. Thus, the developed DC-LFIA has great potential for clinical application in the multiplex detection of respiratory viral antigens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A computer vision recognition model is established to study the crack coalescence. • The increase of the flaw width changes the angle of crack initiation and the form of crack coalescence. • The magnitude of effective compressive area is positively correlated with the UCS of the specimen. • The CVR model identifies two types of numerical fluctuation signals before crack coalescence. The coalescence of cracks in rock, triggered by external stress or geological activities, plays a pivotal role in determining the mechanical properties and stability of rock structures. Consequently, the prediction method of crack coalescence become critical tools in ensuring the safety and stability of geotechnical engineering facilities. In this paper, based on the strain field data obtained by digital image correlation (DIC), a set of programs was developed to automatically identify the values and percentage changes of different strain intervals in the strain field of the specimen. Then, a computer vision recognition (CVR) model is established to study the process and prediction of crack coalescence in sandstone specimens with open flaws. This method overcomes the limitations, subjectivity and unpredictability of the traditional method of identifying cracks through artificial vision. The results show that the increase of the flaw width causes the displacement trend to be squeezed and deflected along the width direction, thereby changing the angle of crack initiation and exhibiting different forms of crack coalescence. The increase in the inclination angle of the flaw leads to an increase in the effective compressive area (ECA) of sandstone, and the magnitude of ECA is positively correlated with the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of the sandstone. Additionally, the CVR model identifies two types of numerical fluctuation signals before crack coalescence, namely the plastic characteristic signal (PCS) in the early stage of the experiment and the early-warning signal (EWS) near the period of crack coalescence, where EWS can be used as a predictive signal for crack coalescence. The research results provide a new algorithm technical support for the process analysis and prediction of crack coalescence, and provide a basis for early warning of rock mass engineering disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/aim: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and coronary stenting had a poor prognosis. This study aimed to assess the accuracy of CHA2DS2-VASc score for predicting and grading adverse clinical outcomes in this population. Materials and methods: We reviewed the clinical data of all patients with previously documented nonvalvular AF who underwent coronary stenting between January 2010 and June 2015 in 12 hospitals of Beijing, China. The study population was divided into three groups: 1) Low CHA2DS2-VASc score, ≤ 2 points, 2) Intermediate score, 3-4 points, and 3) High score, ≥ 5 points. Major adverse cardiac/cerebrovascular events (MACCE) were defined as a composite of all-cause death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, repeat revascularization and ischemic stroke/systemic thromboembolism (IS/SE). Results: A total of 2394 patients (men: 72.3% vs. women: 27.7%, median age: 67 years) were included, with the CHA2DS2-VASc score of 3.6 ± 1.6. The median follow-up duration was 36.2 months. All-cause mortality increased 3 folds from the low score (4.8%) to the high score group (15.8%). The high score group had more IS/SE (7.4%) and MACCE (26.3%). The CHA2DS2-VASc score ≥ 5 points was independently associated with all-cause death (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.303, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.492-3.555), IS/SE (HR: 4.169, 95% CI: 2.216-7.845) and MACCE (HR: 1.468, 95% CI: 1.113-1.936) on multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the CHA2DS2-VASc score was 0.644 (95% CI: 0.624-0.663) for all-cause death, 0.647 (95% CI: 0.627-0.666) for IS/SE, and 0.592 (95% CI: 0.572-0.611) for MACCE. Conclusion: CHA2DS2-VASc score was a reliable prognostic indicator in patients with AF and coronary stenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The detectors of existing large object radiation imaging systems generally work under current-integration mode and cannot distinguish effective signals of unreacted photons from interfering signals of electronic noise and scattered photons, therefore, resulting in image quality deterioration. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to design a new photon-counting mode γ-ray large object radiation imaging system. Therefore, interfering signals with lower energy than effective signals can be eliminated by energy analysis. In addition, the system enables to work properly even under 30∼300Ci Co-60 intensity. METHODS: Based on the physical analysis of the system, the design requirements are listed. Following the requirements, the best-performing photon-counting detector based on LYSO and SiPM is used in the system. ZP-SK and (ZP)2-SK filter circuits are designed for Co-60 radiation imaging system with the highest intensity of 100Ci and 300Ci, respectively. Then, a voltage comparator and an FPGA are followed to realize the function of energy analysis and photon counting. RESULTS: The proposed technical solution can improve the Steel Penetration (SP) by at least 60∼70 mmFe compared with the existing current-integration system, which is equivalent to the improvement obtained by increasing the intensity of the radioactive source more than 13 to 20 times. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the advantages of applying the new photon-counting mode γ-ray large object radiation imaging system to improve the radiation image quality and the penetration ability, which will have enormous potential for future applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: α-1-syntrophin (SNTA1), a protein encoded by SNTA1, is highly expressed in human cardiomyocytes. Mutations in SNTA1 are associated with arrhythmia and cardiomyopathy. Previous research on SNTA1 has been based on non-human cardiomyocytes. This study was designed to identify the phenotype of SNTA1-deficiency using human cardiomyocytes. Methods: SNTA1 was knocked out in the H9 embryonic stem cell line using the CRISPR-Cas9 system. H9SNTA1KO cells were then induced to differentiate into cardiomyocytes using small molecule inhibitors. The phenotypic discrepancies associated with SNTA1-deficient cardiomyocytes were investigated. Results: SNTA1 was truncated at the 149th amino acid position of PH1 domain by a stop codon (TGA) using the CRISPR-Cas9 system. SNTA1-deficiency did not affect the pluripotency of H9SNTA1KO, and they retain their in vitro ability to differentiate into cardiomyocytes. However, H9SNTA1KO derived cardiomyocytes exhibited hypertrophic phenotype, lower cardiac contractility, weak calcium transient intensity, and lower level of calcium in the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Early treatment of SNTA1-deficient cardiomyocytes with ranolazine improved the calcium transient intensity and cardiac contractility. Conclusion: SNTA1-deficient cardiomyocytes can be used to research the etiology, pathogenesis, and potential therapies for myocardial diseases. The SNTA1-deficient cardiomyocyte model suggests that the maintenance of cardiac calcium homeostasis is a key target in the treatment of myocardial-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel memristive synaptic Hopfield neural network (MHNN) with time delay by using a memristor synapse to simulate the electromagnetic induced current caused by the membrane potential difference between two adjacent neurons. First, some sufficient conditions of zero bifurcation and zero-Hopf bifurcation are obtained by choosing time delay and coupling strength of memristor as bifurcation parameters. Then, the third-order normal form of zero-Hopf bifurcation is obtained. By analyzing the obtained normal form, six dynamic regions are found on the plane with coupling strength of memristor and time delay as abscissa and ordinate. There are some interesting dynamics in these areas, i.e., the coupling strength of memristor can affect the number and dynamics of system equilibrium, time delay can contribute to both trivial equilibrium and non-trivial equilibrium losing stability and generating periodic solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has become the third leading cause of global death. Insufficiency in early diagnosis and treatment of COPD, especially COPD exacerbations, leads to a tremendous economic burden and medical costs. A cost-effective and timely prevention requires decentralized point-of-care diagnostics at patients' residences at affordable prices. Advances in point-of-care (POC) diagnostics may offer new solutions to reduce medical expenditures by measuring salivary and blood biomarkers. Among them, paper-based analytical devices have been the most promising candidates due to their advantages of being affordable, biocompatible, disposable, scalable, and easy to modify. In this review, we present salivary and blood biomarkers related to COPD endotypes and exacerbations, summarize current technologies to collect human whole saliva and whole blood samples, evaluate state-of-the-art paper-based analytical devices that detect COPD biomarkers in saliva and blood, and discuss existing challenges with outlooks on future paper-based POC systems for COPD diagnosis and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Single-balloon enteroscopy (SBE) is a valuable but difficult modality for the diagnosis and treatment of small-bowel disease. The water exchange method has the advantage of facilitating intubation during colonoscopy. Here, we evaluated the effects of water exchange on procedure-related variables related to SBE.Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted in a tertiary-care referral center in China. Patients due for attempted total enteroscopy were randomly allocated to undergo water exchange-assisted (water exchange group) or carbon dioxide-insufflated enteroscopy (CO2 group). All patients were planned to undergo both anterograde and retrograde procedures. The primary outcome was the total enteroscopy rate. Secondary outcomes included the maximal insertion depth, positive findings, procedural time, and adverse events.Results: In total, 110 patients were enrolled, with 55 in each group. Baseline characteristics between the two groups were comparable. Total enteroscopy was achieved in 58.2 % (32/55) of the water exchange group and 36.4 % (20/55) of the control group (P = 0.02). The mean (standard deviation) estimated intubation depth was 521.2 (101.4) cm in the water exchange group and 481.6 (95.2) cm in the CO2 group (P = 0.04). The insertion time was prolonged in the water exchange group compared with the CO2 group (178.9 [45.1] minutes vs. 154.2 [27.6] minutes; P < 0.001). Endoscopic findings and adverse events were comparable between the two groups.Conclusions: The water exchange method improved the total enteroscopy rate and increased the intubation depth during SBE. The use of water exchange did not increase the complications of enteroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of carbon‐fluorine bonds is an important yet challenging task in organic synthesis. Transition metal‐catalyzed/‐mediated C−F bond forming processes have recently emerged as a viable strategy and provided access to value‐added monofluorinated compounds. A dramatic increase in fluorination methods using inexpensive and earth‐abundant copper can be seen in the past decade surpassing those using palladium and silver. This review discusses the recent development of Cu‐catalyzed/‐mediated formation of C(sp2)−F and C(sp3)−F bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression is one of the most common mental disorders and is mainly characterized by low mood or lack of interest and pleasure. It can be accompanied by varying degrees of cognitive and behavioral changes and may lead to suicide risk in severe cases. Due to the subjectivity of diagnostic methods and the complexity of patients' conditions, the diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) has always been a difficult problem in psychiatry. With the discovery of more diagnostic biomarkers associated with MDD in recent years, especially emerging non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), it is possible to quantify the condition of patients with mental illness based on biomarker levels. Point-of-care biosensors have emerged due to their advantages of convenient sampling, rapid detection, miniaturization, and portability. After summarizing the pathogenesis of MDD, representative biomarkers, including proteins, hormones, and RNAs, are discussed. Furthermore, we analyzed recent advances in biosensors for detecting various types of biomarkers of MDD, highlighting representative electrochemical sensors. Future trends in terms of new biomarkers, new sample processing methods, and new detection modalities are expected to provide a complete reference for psychiatrists and biomedical engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), especially chronic heart failure, threaten many patients' lives worldwide. Because of its slow course and complex causes, its clinical screening, diagnosis, and prognosis are essential challenges. Clinical biomarkers and biosensor technologies can rapidly screen and diagnose. Multiple types of biomarkers are employed for screening purposes, precise diagnosis, and treatment follow-up. This article provides an up-to-date overview of the biomarkers associated with the six main heart failure etiology pathways. Plasma natriuretic peptides (BNP and NT-proBNP) and cardiac troponins (cTnT, cTnl) are still analyzed as gold-standard markers for heart failure. Other complementary biomarkers include growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15), circulating Galactose Lectin 3 (Gal-3), soluble interleukin (sST2), C-reactive protein (CRP), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). For these biomarkers, the electrochemical biosensors have exhibited sufficient sensitivity, detection limit, and specificity. This review systematically summarizes the latest molecular biomarkers and sensors for heart failure, which will provide comprehensive and cutting-edge authoritative scientific information for biomedical and electronic-sensing researchers in the field of heart failure, as well as patients. In addition, our proposed future outlook may provide new research ideas for researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neonicotinoid insecticides (NNIs) have attracted global concern due to its extensive use in agricultural activities and their potential risks to the animal and human health, however, there is limited knowledge on the regional traits and ecological risks of NNIs in the aquatic environments. We herein investigated the occurrence of NNIs within the midsection of Yangtze River in China, offering the inaugural comprehensive report on NNIs within this region. In this study, eleven NNIs were analyzed in 108 river water and sediment samples from three seasons (normal, dry and wet season). We detected a minimum of seven NNIs in the water and four NNIs in the sediment, with total concentrations ranging from 12.33 to 100.5 ng/L in water and 0.08–5.68 ng/g in sediment. The levels of NNIs in both river water and sediment were primarily influenced by the extent of agricultural activities. The estimated annual load of NNIs within the midsection of Yangtze River totaled 40.27 tons, April was a critical contamination period. Relative potency factor (RPF) analysis of the human exposure risk revealed that infants faced the greatest exposure risk, with an estimated daily intake of 11.27 ng kg−1∙bw∙d−1. We established the acute and chronic thresholds for aquatic organisms by employing the Species Sensitive Distribution (SSD) method (acute: 384.1 ng/L; chronic: 168.9 ng/L). Based on the findings from this study, 33% of the river water samples exceeded the chronic ecological risks thresholds, indicating the urgent need for intervention programs to guarantee the safety of the river for aquatic life in the Yangtze River Basin. [Display omitted] • The annual flux of NNIs was estimated to be 40.27 tons in the studied river. • The concentration of NNIs showed the trend of wet > normal > dry season. • Seasonal agricultural application was important source of NNIs in the area. • NNIs posed chronic risk to the aquatic organisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aquaculture industry has advanced toward sustainable recirculating systems, in where parameters of food quality are strictly monitored. Despite that, as in the case of conventional aquaculture practices, the recirculating systems also suffer threats from Aeromonas spp., Vibrio spp., Streptococcus spp., among other foodborne pathogens infecting farmed fish. The aquaculture pathogens are routinely detected by conventional PCR methods or antibody-based tests, with the detection protocols confined to laboratory use. Emerging assay technologies and biosensors recently reported in the literature open new opportunities to the development of sensitive, specific, and portable analytical devices to use in the field. Techniques of DNA/RNA analysis, immunoassays and other nanomolecular technologies have been facing important advances in response time, sensitivity, and enhanced power of discrimination among and within species. Moreover, the recent developments of electrochemical and optical signal transduction have facilitated the incorporation of the innovative assays to practical miniaturized devices. In this work, it is provided a critical review over foodborne pathogen detection by existing and promising methods and biosensors applied to fish samples and extended to other food matrices. While isothermal DNA/RNA amplification methods can be highlighted among the assay methods for their promising analytical performance and suitability for point-of-care testing, the electrochemical transduction provides a way to achieve cost-effective biosensors amenable to use in the aquaculture field. The adoption of new methods and biosensors would constitute a step forward in securing sustainable aquaculture systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nearly half of the tailings dams in China are in a state of high-security risks and overservice, and the safety of these tailings dams has always been a concern for relevant scholars. The seepage characteristics of tailings are one of the essential factors affecting the safety of tailings dam. Now, due to the improvement of mineral processing technology, there are many fine tailings dam; the study of the seepage characteristics of the tailings dam is no longer applicable. Fine-grained tailings form uneven deposition in these tailings dams, resulting in the permeability of tailings not conforming to the previous law. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the permeability of fine-grained tailings with uneven deposition. In this paper, the physical model of the simulated tailings dam is established to study the influence of the dry beach slope on the distribution and deposition law of fine tailings during discharge. The test results show that the average particle size of tailings decreases along the length of dry beach, showing the phenomenon of coarsening upstream and thinning downstream. Then, based on the data of fine tailings deposition, the variation characteristics of the permeability coefficient of layered tailings under stable and unstable seepage conditions are studied. The test results show that the variation process of tailings permeability coefficient can be divided into four stages: rapid compaction stage, slow compaction stage, failure stage, and stable stage. Under stable and unstable seepage conditions, the permeability coefficients of unstratified tailing sand are about 10% and 15% higher, respectively, than those in the initial state. The permeability coefficient of layered tailings formed by uneven settlement changes more obviously, which is about 12% and 20% higher than the initial state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a coupled-circuit system composed of two Chua's circuits with lossless transmission lines. By applying the Kirchhoff's voltage and current laws, the equations that describe the coupled-circuit system are reduced to two coupled neutral-type differential equations with a time delay. Subsequently, the conditions for global stability are established using the inequality technology, and those for local stability and Hopf bifurcation are obtained by selecting the length of the transmission line as the bifurcation parameter. By using the normal-form theory and central manifold theorem, the formulas for the Hopf bifurcation direction and bifurcation periodic solution are obtained. Finally, the numerical simulations not only verify the theoretical analysis but also show that chaos exists near the Hopf bifurcation point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Spinocerebellar ataxia type 12 (SCA12) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by a CAG/CTG repeat expansion at the PPP2R2B locus. Objective: We investigated how the CAG repeat expansion within the PPP2R2B 7B7D transcript influences the expression of Bβ1 and a potential protein containing a long polyserine tract. Methods: Transcript and protein expression were measured using quantitative PCR (qPCR) and Western blot, respectively, in an SK‐N‐MC cell model that overexpresses the full‐length PPP2R2B 7B7D transcript. The apoptotic effect of a protein containing a long polyserine tract on SK‐N‐MC cells was evaluated using caspase 3/7 activity. Results: The CAG repeat expansion increases the expression of the PPP2R2B 7B7D transcript, as well as Bβ1 protein, in an SK‐N‐MC cell model in which the full‐length PPP2R2B 7B7D transcript is overexpressed. The CAG repeat expansion within the 7B7D transcript is translated into a long polyserine tract that triggers apoptosis in SK‐N‐MC cells. Conclusions: The SCA12 mutation leads to overexpression of PPP2R2B Bβ1 and to expression of a protein containing a long polyserine tract; both these effects potentially contribute to SCA12 pathogenesis. © 2024 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a highly sensitive approach for detecting microRNA-21 (miR-21) in cancer cells and human serum by using Au@Si nanocomposite labeled lateral flow assay. The Au@Si nanocomposite was prepared by coating numerous 3–5 nm gold nanoparticles (GNP) on a silica nanoparticle (SiNP) with a diameter of 150 nm and used as colored label on the lateral flow assay for signal amplification. TEM results show there are around 1000 GNPs coated on the SiNP surface. The principle of miR-21 detection is based on on-strip DNA-microRNA hybridization reactions to form DNA-miR-21-DNA-Au@Si complexes, which are captured on the test zone of the lateral flow test strip and produce a visible red band. A thiol-modified detecting DNA probe (Det-DNA) and a biotin-modified capturing DNA probe (Cap-DNA), which are complementary to miR-21, were used to prepare the lateral flow test strips. After systematic optimization, the method can detect a minimum concentration of 1.0 pM miR-21, which is 60 times lower than that of the GNP-based lateral flow assay (Gao et al. Biosens & Bioelectro, 2014, 54, 578–584). The method was applied to detect miR-21 in cancer cells and spiked human serum with satisfactory results. Gold nanoparticles coated silica nanosphere as colored label for sensitive lateral flow microRNA-21 assay. Image 1 • Gold@Silica nanocomposite was prepared by loading around one thousand 3–5 nm gold nanoparticles on a silica nanosphere with a diameter of 150 nm. • Lateral flow microRNA-21 assay was developed by using the gold@Silica nanocomposite as colored tag for signal amplification. • A minimum concentration of 1.0 pM microRNA-21 can be detected visually within 20 min. • The detection limit is 60 folds lower than that of gold nanoparticle based lateral flow microRNA assay. • The assay was applied to detect microRNA-21 in cancer cells and human serum with satisfied results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Sex differences in the clinical outcomes of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and coronary stenting should be assessed according to age. Methods: We analyzed the clinical data of all patients with nonvalvular AF who underwent coronary stenting between January 2010 and June 2015 in 12 hospitals of Beijing, China. Results: A total of 2,146 patients (71.8% men and 28.2% women) were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 66.6±9.4 years. Women in this study were older and had higher prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and anemia. Smoking history was found to be higher in men, and women were less likely to be current smokers. The mean follow-up duration was 39.7 months. Women younger than 65 years had a remarkably higher mortality (11.2% vs. 5.3%, p=0.012) and a significantly lower rate of repeat revascularization (1.6% vs. 6.3%, p=0.034) than men. Female gender remained an independent predictor for all-cause mortality [hazard ratio (HR)=2.03, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09-3.79, p=0.025], along with heart failure (HR=3.64, 95% CI: 2.02-6.57, p<0.001) and CKD (HR=2.46, 95% CI: 1.09-5.57, p=0.031) after multivariate regression analysis. No significant difference was noted between men and women with regard to mortality, ischemic events, and major bleeding in elderly patients. Conclusion: In Chinese patients younger than 65 years with AF and coronary stenting, female gender was independently associated with increased mortality; men were more likely to receive repeat revascularization possibly due to the current smoking. Whether it was a biological difference or a recognition disparity of the disease between men and women warrants further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack is one of the major threats in network. The goal of DoS attacks is to make the target agent or network cannot provide normal service. However, the cooperative control of nonlinear multi-agent systems (MASs) subject to DoS attack is not well understood. This paper investigates the leader-follower secure consensus for second-order MAS with nonlinear dynamics and event-triggered control strategy under DoS attacks. A novel secure controller is proposed by using event-triggered control scheme. Based on the proposed controller, the upper bounds of the length rate, frequency of DoS attack and parameters conditions of controller are obtained to ensure that the tracking errors between the follower and leader converge to zero under DoS attack. Besides, the Zeno behavior can be excluded due to the trigger interval is designed to be greater than zero. Finally, a numerical example is presented to demonstrate the correctness of the theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Wulong gold orefield is located in the eastern part of the Liaodong Peninsula, and contains the large Sidaogou and Wulong gold deposits, as well as several small gold deposits with a total of >100 tonnes of gold reserves. These deposits are hosted within Paleoproterozoic metamorphic rocks of the Liaohe Group and Mesozoic granitoids, and are structurally controlled by NNE–SSW‐ and NNW–SSE‐trending faults and interlayer fractures. The Sidaogou deposit is characterized by altered‐rock‐type mineralization occurring within interlayer fracture zones, whereas the mineralization in the Wulong deposit occurs as auriferous quartz veins along subsidiary faults. These two types of gold mineralization are representative of the mineralization in the Wulong orefield. The REE contents of quartz and calcite, together with previous studies of fluid inclusions, indicate that the ore‐forming fluids of the Sidaogou deposit were reduced NaCl–H2O–CO2 fluids. Quartz yielded δ18OH2O‐SMOW, δDSMOW, and δ13CCO2 values of +4.7‰ to +6.6‰, −82.2‰ to −79.0‰, and − 13.1‰ to −6.6‰, respectively, and calcite yielded δ13CCO2 and δ18OV‐SMOW values of −2.3‰ to −2.0‰ and + 7.4‰ to +7.9‰, respectively. These results indicate that the ore‐forming fluids of the Sidaogou deposit were derived primarily from magmatic water, and the C was sourced mainly from deep‐seated magma with a minor contribution from sedimentary organic matter. Pyrite crystals have δ34SCDT values of +4.9‰ to +12.9‰, indicating the S source was a combination of the magmatic system and ore‐bearing metamorphic rocks. Pyrite has 208Pb/204Pb ratios of 38.226–38.336, 207Pb/204Pb ratios of 15.606–15.683, and 206Pb/204Pb ratios of 18.345–18.492, suggesting that the Pb in the Sidaogou deposit was derived primarily from the upper crust, with minor input from the mantle. Taking into account previous studies of the Wulong deposit, we propose a metallogenic model for the Wulong gold orefield. Deep‐seated ore‐forming fluids were released from different intrusions hidden below the Wulong orefield for each of the deposits. The ore‐forming fluids moved through the metamorphic rocks of the Gaixian Formation along interlayer fracture zones, where intensive water–wallrock reactions, and episodic temperature and pressure drops resulted in the formation of altered‐rock‐type Sidaogou deposit. The fluids ascended to the Wulong and Sanguliu intrusions along NNE–SSW‐ and NNW–SSE‐trending faults, where temperature and pressure dropping, water–wallrock reactions, and fluid immiscibility generated the vein‐type Wulong deposit. The gold deposits in the Wulong orefield share many similarities with the Linglong‐ and Jiaojia‐type gold deposits in the Jiaodong Peninsula, including geological setting, mineralization style and age, and sources of ore‐forming fluids and metal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a nanoscale complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) current reference design for low power analog and digital devices. A self-biased circuit is developed within the current reference. The current reference can compensate for temperature changes and voltage fluctuations. Simulation results showed a low current around 12 nA. The design is capable of working in a broad range of power supply voltages. In the interface with 0.35~μm fabrication process, a bias voltage is generated with currents in the nanoampere range. The present current reference is qualified to be used in digital-analog circuits, such as operational amplifiers or oscillators, and is designed to be suitable for energy harvesting interfaces, because of the high efficiency and low power consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metasurface is an artificial material composed of a series of subwavelength structure units and has unique electromagnetic characteristics. Based on the ability of manipulating the phase, amplitude, and polarization of electromagnetic wave, various kinds of metasurfaces are designed to realize wavefront manipulations, such as beam focusing, beam steering, vector beams generating, and holographic imaging. This paper reviews the design methods of metasurfaces for wavefront modulation and evolution of the metasurfaces designed for wavefront manipulation in the terahertz (THz) region. The metasurfaces can be divided into two categories: passive and active metasurfaces. For the passive metasurfaces, the single-functional metasurfaces, multifunctional metasurfaces, and high diffraction efficient metasurfaces designed for various THz wavefront shaping, such as focusing, imaging, and special beams generating, are reviewed. For the active metasurfaces, the metasurfaces with fixed structure and all-optical metasurfaces without fixed structure for THz wavefront modulation are summarized. Furthermore, a comparison on the performance of different kinds of metasurfaces for THz wavefront modulation is presented and the development direction and challenges of the THz wavefront modulation metasurfaces in the future are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has become one of the most fatal diseases of the century considering mortality and morbidity levels worldwide. This disease is an inflammatory response to environmental stress and tobacco smoking. Although spirometry is the gold-standard diagnostic test administrated in primary and secondary care, it often exhibits low accuracy in cases of predicting disease worsening and possible bias due to the operator, patient, and conditions. Recent developments in proteomics research suggest that the presence of protein biomarkers can aid in the accurate diagnosis and prediction of disease outcomes. This review presents the cutting-edge research progress in the area of protein biomarkers towards the management of COPD. The literature review was confined to protein biomarkers in saliva and sputum because testing these bodily fluids shows great promise for point-of-care (POC) testing due to its practicality, non-invasiveness and inexpensive handling and sampling. Although it is conclusive that more studies on sputum and saliva are needed, this review studies the promising clinical value of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-8 and MMP-9, C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and neutrophil elastase (NE). Following the critical analysis of salivary and sputum biomarkers, the recent development of POC biosensors for the multiplexed detection of biomarkers is also reported. Overall, the review aims to explore the possibility for the future development of POC sensors for chronic lung disease management utilizing clinically relevant biomarkers in saliva and sputum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Single-side heating condition in the experiment is realized by a graphite coating. • Symmetric and asymmetric heating exhibit similar Nusselt numbers. • The data of experiment and temperature prediction method are in good agreement. • The newly proposed optimization method can be used for structural optimization. Regenerative cooling technologies are considered one of the most effective and widely used active thermal protection methods for hypersonic aircraft scramjets. The heat transfer performance of hydrocarbon fuel and the geometric optimization of cooling channels are the key factors to be considered in designing regenerative cooling structures. Therefore, the present study experimentally and numerically investigated the heat transfer characteristics of n-decane in regenerative channels under asymmetric heating conditions and presented a new structure optimization method. The experiment was conducted at 3 MPa and 293 K with a mass flow rate of 0∼2.442 g/s per channel and a heat flux range of 0∼150 kW/m2. Experimental data show that the local Nusselt numbers exhibit a higher sensitivity to changes in mass flow rate compared to heat flux. Compared to symmetric heating, asymmetric heating mainly affects the heat conduction in the solid domain rather than the performance of convective heat transfer. The modified Dittus-Boelter correlation could predict the experimental data with a relative deviation of ±25 %. A rapid temperature prediction method based on heat flux distribution was proposed through heat transfer analysis, and it was utilized with a particle swarm optimization algorithm to conduct structure optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the application of polymer gels to profile control and water shutoff, the gelation time will directly determine whether the gel can “go further” in the formation, but the most of the methods for delaying gel gelation time are complicated or have low responsiveness. There is an urgent need for an effective method for delaying gel gelation time with intelligent response. Inspired by the slow-release effect of drug capsules, this paper uses the self-assembly effect of gas-phase hydrophobic SiO2 in aqueous solution as a capsule to prepare an intelligent responsive self-assembled micro-nanocapsules. The capsule slowly releases the cross-linking agent under the stimulation of external conditions such as temperature and pH value, thus delaying gel gelation time. When the pH value is 2 and the concentration of gas-phase hydrophobic SiO2 particles is 10%, the gelation time of the capsule gel system at 30, 60, 90, and 120 °C is 12.5, 13.2, 15.2, and 21.1 times longer than that of the gel system without containing capsule, respectively. Compared with other methods, the yield stress of the gel without containing capsules was 78 Pa, and the yield stress after the addition of capsules was 322 Pa. The intelligent responsive self-assembled micronanocapsules prepared by gas-phase hydrophobic silica nanoparticles can not only delay the gel gelation time, but also increase the gel strength. The slow release of cross-linking agent from capsule provides an effective method for prolongating the gelation time of polymer gels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The hot corrosion behavior of 3 SX superalloys with different Cr contents is studied. • Oxidation behavior in hot corrosion is discussed in detail. • The analysis of internal microstructure of hot corrosion of alloys is focused on. • A tube sealing experiment is designed to further investigate the hot corrosion. • A reaction in low oxygen: 2.667Al + SO 4 2− = 1.333Al 2 O 3 + S2− is carried out. An investigation of hot corrosion was carried out on three single crystal Ni-based superalloys with different Cr contents pre-coated with salt at 900 ℃. Cr can change the hot corrosion performance of alloys by changing the composition of the oxide layer during the hot corrosion process in the open system. At the same time, a "satellite" shaped distribution of internal oxides and sulphides was found. Further, the tube sealing experiment was used to verify the phenomenon occurred inside alloys and in low oxygen condition. A reaction between matrix and molten salt was proposed based on thermodynamics and microscopic observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hierarchical bimetallic Ni-Co phosphides hollow spheres were encapsulated in P-doped reduced graphene oxide (PrGO) to provide superior electrochemistry performances. The hollow spheres with controlling Co/Ni ratios were obtained via a hydrothermal process and following phosphorization reaction using Ni-Co based glycerate microsphere as a self-sacrificing template. The hollow shell with vertical branches was formed via a morphology evolution of solid, yolk-shell to hollow. The hollow spheres were encapsulated in PrGO networks by a hydrothermal synthesis and phosphorization process to fabricate PrGO/Ni-Co phosphide composite (PrGO/NiCoP). Because of unique morphology and composition, the composite with a Ni/Co molar ratio of 1:1 exhibits enhanced supercapacitor and electrocatalysis properties. As a supercapacitor electrode, PrGO/NiCoP provides high discharge specific capacity, excellent rate performance and cycle stability. An asymmetric supercapacitor assembled with PrGO/NiCoP and activated carbon possesses an energy density of 49.7 Wh/Kg with power density of 0.366 kW/kg, which can successfully illuminate red-light light emitting diode. As an electrocatalyst, PrGO/NiCoP exhibits high hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction activities in 1 M KOH electrolyte. PrGO/NiCoP electrolyzer shows excellent overall water splitting performance and durability, which required a cell voltage of 1.56 V to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2. NiCoP hollow microsphere/phosphorus-doped reduced graphene oxide composites have been successfully synthesized, which exhibits superior asymmetric supercapacitor and electrocatalytic overall water splitting performances. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel fluorimetric sensor for highly sensitive nitrite detection on the site is presented in this study. The proposed on-chip approach comprises the use of integrated polymer photodetectors to detect light from fluorescence reactions with a diaminofluorescein probe. The detectors were prepared with a heterostructured nanofilm of polythieno[3,4-b]thiophene/benzodithiophene and (6,6)-phenyl-C71-butyric-acid methyl-ester as a photoactive layer. Prior to fluorimetric detection, the quality of the spin-coated photoactive layer was characterized via nano-morphology and current-density measurements. Nitrite assays were conducted on a poly(methyl methacrylate) microchannel chip, to which polythienothiophene-C71 based detectors were aligned. Results of signal-to-noise ratio determination have indicated a detection limit below 0.55 μM, lower than the 0.1 mg L−1 maximum limit of operation in recirculating aquaculture systems for farming Atlantic salmon Salmo salar. An increase of the nitrite concentration to toxic levels may therefore be possible to detect. The fluorimetric sensor exhibited good linearity over three orders of magnitude and acceptable detection reproducibility, which confirmed its analytical value. Further tests revealed great promise of the integrated biosensor device for detecting nitrite in aquaculture-relevant samples with high precision. The approach reported hereby may provide impetus to in situ analytical tools for monitoring water quality at aquaculture facilities, the food industries or water monitoring stations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The functional epithelial regeneration is important for repairing tracheal defects. However, the potential of 3D-printed SF-based scaffolds for tracheal epithelial regeneration is still unknown. In this study, we developed a novel silk fibroin-based scaffold prepared by 3D printing of silk fibroin/hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (SF/HPMC) thixotropic hydrogel and evaluated the tracheal epithelium proliferation on this scaffold in vitro. Combined with the freeze-dried technology, the 3D-printed SF/HPMC scaffolds had porous structures in the printed bars. After evaluation of their pore sizes, porosities, water contents and mechanical properties, the scaffolds were co-cultured with the normal human bronchial epithelial cell line (BEAS-2B) for seven days. We detected the BEAS-2B cells proliferation on the scaffolds using a CCK-8 assay, determined their mucin secretion and intercellular tight junction formation by immunofluorescence, as well as observed their cell viability and morphology by live/dead staining and scanning electronic microscopy. The results showed that the SF/HPMC scaffolds had good porosity, water content and mechanical properties. In addition, the BEAS-2B cells proliferated well on SF/HPMC scaffolds, during the seven-day co-culture, with high viability, mucin expression, and intercellular tight junction formation. In summary, these results demonstrated that the BEAS-2B cells could attach and proliferate on the 3D-printed SF/HPMC scaffolds, which were expected to have potential for facilitating tracheal epithelial regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Container technology can effectively control soil environment and nutrient status to obtain the optimal plant growth condition. Peat, green waste compost (GWC), soil and perlite were used as substrate materials to study the effects of different substrate ratios on growth and physiology of 1.5-year-old Sequoia sempervirens container seedlings. The optimal substrate ratio of S. sempervirens container seedlings was obtained by L9 (34) orthogonal design and was finally evaluated by principal component analysis. The volume ratio of peat: GWC: soil: perlite of 4: 1.5: 1: 2 was the best substrate ratio for S. sempervirens across all parameters, whose porosity, bulk density (BD) and gas-water ratio (GWR) were within the ideal ranges. The concentrations of total nitrogen (TN) of 1.40% and total phosphorus (TP) of 0.13% were the highest among the nine different substrates. The total potassium (TK) and electrical conductivity (EC) were 0.13% and 0.70 ms cm−1, respectively. In addition, the plant height and ground diameter growing in the substrate were increased by 28% and 39% compared to their respective initial values. The content of peat and GCW had significant effects on growth (p < 0.01). The GWR in T2 (peat: GWC: soil: perlite = 6: 1: 0.5: 2) and T6 (peat: GWC: soil: perlite = 4: 0.5: 0.5: 1) are not suitable for S. sempervirens container seedlings. The PCA ranking of the 9 groups of substrates is: T8 > T1 > T4 > T3 > T2 > T5 > T7 > T9 > T6. The combination of peat, GWC, soil and perlite in an appropriate ratio could provide a good environment for S. sempervirens container seedlings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]