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[Display omitted] Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease triggered by antigenic peptides with environmental and genetic risk factors. It has been shown that antigen-specific targeting could be a promising therapeutical strategy for RA by restoring immune tolerance to self-antigens without compromising normal immunity. Citrullination of antigens enhances antigenic properties and induces autoimmune responses. Here, we showed that citrullinated antigenic (citAg) vaccine ameliorated collagen-induced arthritis with decreased T-helper 1 (Th1) and Th17 cells, downregulated proinflammatory cytokines including interlukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α, and inhibited antigen recall responses. B cell receptor sequencing further revealed that citAg vaccine could dampen the dysregulated V(D)J recombination, restoring the immune repertoire. Taken together, the results demonstrated that citAg vaccine might have a therapeutic effect on RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractObjective: This study aims to explore the effects of Triptolide (TP) on the differentiation of Th17 cells in ankylosing spondylitis (AS).Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) collected from 10 patients with active AS patients were exposed to TP, GSK-J4 or vehicle. T lymphocyte subsets were analyzed using flow cytometry. ELISA was used to assess the level of IL-17. Western blot analysis and quantitative RT–PCR were used to measure the mRNA and protein levels of RORγt, JMJD3, EZH2, JAK2 and STAT3 in the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway.Results: We observed a tendency toward a greater percentage of IL-17-positive CD4+ T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with active AS than in those from healthy controls. Triptolide (TP) and GSK-J4 significantly reduced IL-17 expression. In cultured PBMCs from patients with active AS, 24 h of treatment with TP or GSK-J4 decreased the expression of RORγt (p < 0.05), JAK2 and STAT3 (JAK2: p < 0.05; STAT3: p < 0.05). Furthermore, both triptolide and GSK-J4 increased the level of histone 3 with Lys 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) in patient-derived PBMCs. H3K27me3 enrichment was detected at the promoters of the RORc, STAT3 and IL-17 genes. Consistent with this finding, triptolide upregulated the EZH2 gene and downregulated the JMJD3 gene.Conclusion: Triptolide inhibits Th17 cell differentiation via H3K27me3 upregulation and orchestrates changes in histone-modifying enzymes, including JMJD3 and EZH2. These findings support the clinical efficacy of triptolide for AS and may provide clues for identifying molecular targets for the development of novel treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rational utilization of hydrogen is crucial for addressing the challenges of resource depletion and environmental pollution resulting from rapid industrialization. However, the development of the hydrogen industry is significantly hindered by inadequate hydrogen storage technologies and materials. As a new type of porous crystalline materials with ultra-high specific surface area, tunable pore sizes and structure as well as tailorable chemical functionality, metal-organic framework materials (MOFs) hold great promise for efficient hydrogen storage. In this review, we summarize the recent and important progress of MOFs for hydrogen storage, and provide a comprehensive understanding by exploring the influencing factors, mechanisms, and strategies for improving hydrogen storage capacity. Special emphasis is given to the influence of pore structure, isosteric enthalpy of hydrogen adsorption and synthesis parameters on the hydrogen storage capacity of MOFs. And the strategies for enhancing hydrogen storage performance of MOFs are also systematically introduced and discussed. Finally, we present a short conclusion give a brief outlook on the future development of MOFs as hydrogen storage materials, providing guidance for the rational design and synthesis of advanced MOFs suitable for hydrogen storage. • Recent and important progress of MOFs for H 2 storage is summarized. • Factors, mechanisms, and strategies for improving H 2 storage capacity in MOFs are analyzed. • Pore structure, adsorption enthalpy, synthesis parameter of MOFs are emphasized. • Challenges and new trends of MOFs for H 2 storage are prospected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in deep learning have shown significant potential for accurate cell detection via density map regression using point annotations. However, existing deep learning models often struggle with multi-scale feature extraction and integration in complex histopathological images. Moreover, in multi-class cell detection scenarios, current density map regression methods typically predict each cell type independently, failing to consider the spatial distribution priors of different cell types. To address these challenges, we propose CellRegNet, a novel deep learning model for cell detection using point annotations. CellRegNet integrates a hybrid CNN/Transformer architecture with innovative feature refinement and selection mechanisms, addressing the need for effective multi-scale feature extraction and integration. Additionally, we introduce a contrastive regularization loss that models the mutual exclusiveness prior in multi-class cell detection cases. Extensive experiments on three histopathological image datasets demonstrate that CellRegNet outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods for cell detection using point annotations, with F1-scores of 86.38% on BCData (breast cancer), 85.56% on EndoNuke (endometrial tissue) and 93.90% on MBM (bone marrow cells), respectively. These results highlight CellRegNet's potential to enhance the accuracy and reliability of cell detection in digital pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptive evolution following colonization can affect the impact of invasive species. The fall webworm (FWW) invaded China 40 years ago through a single introduction event involving a severe bottleneck and subsequently diverged into two genetic groups. The well‐recorded invasion history of FWW, coupled with a clear pattern of genetic divergence, provides an opportunity to investigate whether there is any sign of adaptive evolution following the invasion. Based on genome‐wide SNPs, we identified genetically separated western and eastern groups of FWW and correlated spatial variation in SNPs with geographical and climatic factors. Geographical factors explained a similar proportion of the genetic variation across all populations compared with climatic factors. However, when the two population groups were analysed separately, environmental factors explained more variation than geographical factors. SNP outliers in populations of the western group had relatively stronger response to precipitation than temperature‐related variables. Functional annotation of SNP outliers identified genes associated with insect cuticle protein potentially related to desiccation adaptation in the western group and genes associated with lipase biosynthesis potentially related to temperature adaptation in the eastern group. Our study suggests that invasive species may maintain the evolutionary potential to adapt to heterogeneous environments despite a single invasion event. The molecular data suggest that quantitative trait comparisons across environments would be worthwhile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document provides an overview of the role of B cells and tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) in tumor immunity and immunotherapy. B cells have multiple functions in tumor-associated immunity, including presenting antigens, producing antibodies, and regulating immune responses. However, their impact on tumor progression can be both positive and negative. TLSs, which are organized immune cell structures within tumors, have been linked to better treatment outcomes. The document emphasizes the need for further research on TLS markers, the mechanisms behind TLS formation, and the diversity of TLSs. It also suggests that analyzing B cells and TLSs in tumor tissue could serve as biomarkers for predicting the effectiveness of immune checkpoint therapy and developing new immunotherapies. [Extracted from the article]

This paper proposes a new method of deriving the launch and landing locations based on the orbital motion characteristics of the missiles and elevation database. In this method, the DEM support is introduced to change the assumption of the earth from the reference ellipsoid to a more real shape. The method to improve the prediction accuracy of the position and time of the launch and landing points is discussed. The results with DEM (Digital Elevation Model) indicate the accuracy can be improved by adding a few elevation iterations on the original method. The higher the elevation of the starting and landing points, the better the result would be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce the influence of gain-phase errors and improve the performance of direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation, a robust sparse Bayesian two-dimensional (2D) DOA estimation method with gain-phase errors is proposed for L-shaped sensor arrays. The proposed method introduces an auxiliary angle to transform the 2D DOA estimation problem into two 1D angle estimation problems. A sparse representation model with gain-phase errors is constructed using the diagonal element vector of the cross-correlation covariance matrix of two submatrices of the L-shaped sensor array. The expectation maximization algorithm derives unknown parameter expression, which is used for iterative operations to obtain off-grid and signal precision. Using these parameters, a new spatial spectral function is constructed to estimate the auxiliary angle. The obtained auxiliary angle is substituted into a sparse representation model with gain and phase errors, and then the sparse Bayesian learning method is used to estimate the elevation angle of the incident signal. Finally, according to the relationship of the three angles, the azimuth angle can be estimated. The simulation results show that the proposed method can effectively realize the automatic matching of the azimuth and elevation angles of the incident signal, and improves the accuracy of DOA estimation and angular resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Virtual simulation experiments have been rapidly applied to medical education curricula in recent years. China constructed a national virtual simulation experimental teaching center (iLAB-X), and this platform covered almost all of the virtual simulation experiment curricula of domestic colleges or universities. We aimed to comprehensively assess the characteristics and usages of virtual simulation experiments in medical education based on iLAB-X. Methods: A total of 480 virtual simulation experiment courses had been constructed on iLABX (https://www.ilab-x.com/) by December 20, 2022, and the curriculum level, type and design were all searched in this platform. We also conducted an evaluation of curriculum usage and online tests, including the page view, frequency of participation, number of participants, duration of experimental learning and passing rate of the experimental test. Results: The national and provincial high-quality virtual simulation experiment curricula accounted for 33.5% (161/480) and 35.8% (172/480), respectively. The curricula were mainly set as basic practice experiments (46.5%) and synthetic designing experiments (48.8%). Significantly, forensic medicine (100%), public health and preventive medicine (83%) and basic medical sciences (66%) focused on synthetic design experiments. In terms of usage experiments, the average duration of experimental learning was 25 minutes per course, and the average number of participants was just 1257. The average passing (score ≥60) rate of online tests was 80.6%, but the average rate of score ≥ 85 was only 58.5%. In particular, the average page views, the number of participants, the duration of learning and the test passing rate of clinical medicine were relatively low. Conclusions: The curriculum design features, construction level and utilization rate varied in different medical majors. Virtual simulation experiments are particularly underutilized in clinical medicine. There is a long way for virtual simulation experiments to go to become a supplement or alternative for traditional medical education in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research work, a reusable and efficient 2D/1D heterogeneous structured photocatalyst based on amine-functionalized halloysite nanotubes (MHNTs) and Bi2WO6 nanosheet (BWO) was prepared using a facile hydrothermal method for decomposing PPCPs under simulated sunlight. On the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH), the effects of composite catalysts prepared under various conditions were discussed. The results showed that over BWO/MHNTs with a mass ratio was 3:1, the synthesizing temperature was 120 °C and the precursor pH value was 1, the TCH (10 mg l−1) degradation efficiency reached 100% after 1 h irradiation of simulated sunlight. Moreover, BWO/MHNTs composites kept good recovery and stable photocatalytic activity after 5 cycles. The excellent dispersion of Bi2WO6 on the surface of clay minerals and the oxygen vacancy enhanced electron–hole separation may be responsible for the its high activity and stability. Futhermore, the radical capture test demonstrated that ·O−2 was primarily responsible for the photodegradation of TCH. Thus, BWO/MHNTs composites exhibit a good application prospect in the field of sunlight-driven photocatalytic degradation towards PPCPs pollutants in water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we propose a novel adaptive formation control architecture for a group of quadrotor systems, under line‐of‐sight (LOS) distance and relative distance constraints as well as attitude constraints, where the constraint requirements can be both asymmetric and time‐varying in nature. The LOS distance constraint consideration ensures that each quadrotor is not deviating too far away from its desired flight trajectory. The LOS relative inter‐quadrotor distance constraint is to guarantee that the LOS distance between any two quadrotors in the formation is neither too large (which may result in the loss of communication between quadrotors, for example) nor too small (which may result in collision between quadrotors, for example). The attitude constraints make sure that the roll, pitch, and yaw angles of each quadrotor do not deviate too much from the desired profile. Universal barrier functions are adopted in the controller design and analysis, which is a generic framework that can address system with different types of constraints in a unified controller architecture. Furthermore, each quadrotor's mass and inertia are unknown, and the system dynamics are subjected to time‐varying external disturbances. Through rigorous analysis, an exponential convergence rate can be guaranteed on the distance and attitude tracking errors, while all constraints are satisfied during the operation. A simulation example further demonstrates the efficacy of the proposed control framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CLas) is associated with the devastating citrus disease Huanglongbing (HLB). Young flushes are the center of the HLB pathosystem due to their roles in the psyllid life cycle and in the acquisition and transmission of CLas. However, the early events of CLas infection and how CLas modulates young flush physiology remain poorly understood. Here, transmission electron microscopy analysis showed that the mean diameter of the sieve pores decreased in young leaves of HLB-positive trees after CLas infection, consistent with CLas-triggered callose deposition. RNA-seq-based global expression analysis of young leaves of HLB-positive sweet orange with (CLas-Pos) and without (CLas-Neg) detectable CLas demonstrated a significant impact on gene expression in young leaves, including on the expression of genes involved in host immunity, stress response, and plant hormone biosynthesis and signaling. CLas-Pos and CLas-Neg expression data displayed distinct patterns. The number of upregulated genes was higher than that of the downregulated genes in CLas-Pos for plant−pathogen interactions, glutathione metabolism, peroxisome, and calcium signaling, which are commonly associated with pathogen infections, compared with the healthy control. On the contrary, the number of upregulated genes was lower than that of the downregulated genes in CLas-Neg for genes involved in plant−pathogen interactions and peroxisome biogenesis/metabolism. Additionally, a time-course quantitative reverse transcription-PCR-based expression analysis visualized the induced expression of companion cell-specific genes, phloem protein 2 genes, and sucrose transport genes in young flushes triggered by CLas. This study advances our understanding of early events during CLas infection of citrus young flushes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Position prediction is the basis of guiding radar to seek, capture, and track space targets, although there's a risk of insufficient accuracy for narrow beam radar due to the influence of orbit determination and propagation error. Since the along-track error is the main factor that affects the accuracy of position prediction, this paper proposed a Constant Elevation Search (CES) method for narrow beam radar, based on the idea of along-track error compensation, to seek and capture transit targets. With along-track error estimation, all possible positions on a specified elevation can be observed, thus the success rate of capturing transit targets will be improved. Simulation shows that when the position prediction method fails, the CES method still works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interval basic uncertain information is a generalization of basic uncertain information. Due to their special structures, the induced aggregation and induced OWA operators have diversified inducing aggregation modes for them. In order to provide both normative paradigms and special ways to perform reasonable induced aggregation with vectors of interval basic uncertain information, this work systematically analyzes some substantial ways of performing induced aggregation by special means of non-induced aggregation. Numerous inducing posets are suggested to use which can help automatically generate weight vectors. Some special weights generation methods based on complex inducing information with numerical examples are also proposed and presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citrus huanglongbing (HLB) caused by ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CLas) is the most devastating citrus disease worldwide. Most commercial citrus cultivars are susceptible to HLB, with a few more tolerant exceptions such as ‘LB8-9’ Sugar Belle mandarin. Transcriptomic analyses have been widely used to investigate the potential mechanisms for disease susceptibility, resistance, or tolerance. Previous transcriptomic studies related to HLB mostly focused on single time point data collection. We hypothesize that changes in day length and temperature throughout the seasons have profound effects on citrus−CLas interactions. Here, we conducted RNA-seq analyses on HLB-susceptible Valencia sweet orange and HLB-tolerant mandarin ‘LB8-9’ in winter, spring, summer, and fall. Significant variations in differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to HLB were observed among the four seasons. For both cultivars, the highest number of DEGs were found in the spring. CLas infection stimulates the expression of immune-related genes such as NBS-LRR, RLK, RLCK, CDPK, MAPK pathway, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and PR genes in both cultivars, consistent with the model that HLB is a pathogen-triggered immune disease. HLB-positive mandarin ‘LB8-9’ trees contained higher concentrations of maltose and sucrose, which are known to scavenge ROS. In addition, mandarin ‘LB8-9’ showed higher expression of genes involved in phloem regeneration, which might contribute to its HLB tolerance. This study shed light on the pathogenicity mechanism of the HLB pathosystem and the tolerance mechanism against HLB, providing valuable insights into HLB management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of image classification depends on copious annotated images for training. Annotating histopathology images is costly and laborious. Although several successful self-supervised representation learning approaches have been introduced, they are still insufficient to consider the unique characteristics of histopathology images. In this work, we propose the novel histopathology-oriented self-supervised representation learning framework (HistoSSL) to efficiently extract representations from unlabeled histopathology images at three levels: global, cell, and stain. The model transfers remarkably to downstream tasks: colorectal tissue phenotyping on the NCTCRC dataset and breast cancer metastasis recognition on the CAMELYON16 dataset. HistoSSL achieved higher accuracies than state-of-the-art self-supervised learning approaches, which proved the robustness of the learned representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the effect of encapsulated thymol and carvacrol mixture (ETCM) on the growth performance, antioxidant capacity, immune function and intestinal health of broilers. In total, 400 one-day-old male Arbour Acres broilers were randomly allocated to two groups with eight replicates of 25 birds each and fed a basal diet (control) or a basal diet supplemented with 150 mg/kg ETCM. The trial lasted 42 days. ETCM supplementation significantly increased (p <.05) average daily gain at d 22–42 and the organ indices of the spleen, pancreas and bursa of Fabricius at d 42. Regarding the serum antioxidant indices, ETCM supplementation significantly increased (p <.05) glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and superoxide dismutase activities and decreased (p <.05) the malondialdehyde content at d 21 and 42. Furthermore, it significantly increased the villus height and villus height-to-crypt depth ratio in the jejunum at d 21 and the ileum at d 42. ETCM supplementation also up-regulated (p <.05) the intestinal mRNA levels of nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 (Nrf2), GSH-Px, occludin and zonula occludens-1 in the jejunal mucosa, while down-regulated (p <.05) the mRNA levels of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), interleukin 1β, and tumour necrosis factor-alpha. Thus, ETCM positively impacts the growth performance, antioxidant capacity and immune function of broilers. ETCM can also improve intestinal health which may be partially related to the activation of the Nrf2 signalling pathway and the suppression of the NF-κB signalling pathway. ETCM improves the growth performance, antioxidant capacity and immune function of broilers. ETCM promotes the gut health of broilers, which may be by activating the Nrf2 signalling pathway and suppressing the NF-κB signalling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graph Neural Network(GNN) has achieved remarkable performance in classification tasks due to its strong distinctive power of different graph topologies. However, traditional GNNs face great limitations in link prediction tasks since they learn vertex embeddings from fixed input graphs thus the learned embeddings cannot reflect unobserved graph structures. Graph-learning based GNNs have shown better performance by collaborative learning of graph structures and vertex embeddings, but most of them rely on available initial features to refine graphs and almost perform graph learning at once. Recently, some methods utilizes contrastive learning to facilitate link prediction, but their graph augmentation strategies are predefined only on original graphs, and do not introduce unobserved edges into augmented graphs. To this end, a self-supervised reconstructed graph learning (SRGL) method is proposed. The key points of SRGL lie in two folds: Firstly, it generates augmented graphs for contrasting by learning reconstructed graphs and vertex embeddings from each other, which brings unobserved edges into augmented graphs. Secondly, it maximizes the mutual information between edge-level embeddings of reconstructed graphs and the graph-level embedding of an original graph, which guarantees learned reconstructed graphs to be relevant to the original graph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study has examined the effect of procyanidin A1 on insulin resistance and oxidative stress in palmitic acid treated HepG2 cells. The HepG2 cells were pretreated with procyanidin A1 and then with palmitic acid. The cell viability and the levels of catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and reactive oxygen were used to assess oxidative stress. Treatment with palmitic acid significantly reduced cell viability that was alleviated by cotreatment with procyanidin A1. In addition, procyanidin A1 restored the palmitic acid induced insulin resistance and oxidative stress in the HepG2 cells. Furthermore, inactivation of P38 MAPK and JNK signaling pathways was closely associated with the procyanidin A1-regulated resistance and oxidative stress in palmitic acid treated HepG2 cells. In conclusion, procyanidin A1 inhibits insulin resistance and oxidative stress in palmitic acid treated HepG2 cells by regulating the P38 MAPK and JNK signaling pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objectives] The paper was to explore the effects of different concentrations of paclobutrazol on seedling quality of small seedless watermelon in autumn. [Methods] The leaves of watermelon seedlings were sprayed with 30, 50, 80 and 120 mg/L paclobutrazol at cotyledon expansion stage, and those sprayed with tap w'ater were used as control. [Results] All the treatments of paclobutrazol effectively inhibited the excessive growth of watermelon at seedling stage, significantly enhanced the leaf quality of watermelon seedlings and promoted root growth. The seedlings treated by 50 mg/L paclobutrazol had the best performance compared with the control; a decrease of hypocotyl by 37. 9%, an increase of plant dry weight by 46. 55%, significantly increased seedling strength index, deep green leaf color, thick, leaves, an increase of specific leaf weight by 28.13%, and significantly heavier root weight and longer length. [Conclusions] The results will provide a reference for strong seedling cultivation of small seedless watermelon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP) and tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBEP) as pollutants of emerging concern have aroused the rising attention due to their potential risks on aquatic ecosystem and public health. Nevertheless, there is a lack of toxicological mechanisms exploration of TCPP and TBEP at molecular levels. Herein, the toxicity effects and molecular mechanism of them were fully researched and summarized on Escherichia coli (E.coli). Acute exposure to them significantly activated antioxidant defense system and caused lipid peroxidation, as proved by the changes of antioxidant enzymes and MDA. The ROS overload resulted in the drop of membrane potential as well as the downregulated synthesis of ATPase, endorsing that E. coli cytotoxicity was ascribed to oxidative stress damage induced by TCPP and TBEP. The combination of GC-MS and LC-MS based metabolomics validated that TCPP and TBEP induced metabolic reprogramming in E.coli. More specifically, the responsive metabolites in carbohydrate metabolism, lipids metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and organic acids metabolism were significantly disturbed by TCPP and TBEP, confirming the negative effects on metabolic functions and key bioprocesses. Additionally, several biomarkers including PE(16:1(5Z)/15:0), PA(17:1(9Z)/18:2(9Z,12Z)), PE(19:1(9Z)/0:0), and LysoPE(0:0/18:1(11Z)) were remarkably upregulated, verifying that the protection of cellular membrane was conducted by regulating the expression of lipids-associated metabolites. Collectively, this work sheds new light on the potential molecular toxicity mechanism of TCPP and TBEP on aquatic organisms, and these findings using GC-MS and LC-MS metabolomics generate a fresh insight into assessing the effects of OPFRs on target and non-target aquatic organisms. [Display omitted] • OPFRs exposure activates defense mechanism in the antioxidant system of the E.coli. • ROS overload triggered lipid peroxidation to cause the drop of membrane potential. • Integrative analyses of GC-MS and LC-MS was adopted for identifying metabolites. • Membrane dysfunction caused by OPFRs was due to disorder of lipid metabolism. • Disturbance on molecular function and bioprocess verified the aquatic risk of OPFRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particulate matters (PMs) and airborne bacteria are among the most severe indoor air issues due to their substantial implications for human health. Therefore, it was imperative to conduct a comprehensive investigation on air filtration materials with superior filtration performance and antibacterial properties. Here, the m-Hal@Ag 3 PO 4 composite particles were prepared by using modified halloysite nanotubes (m-Hal) as the support of Ag 3 PO 4 nano-photocatalysts. These composite antibacterial particles were uniformly dispersed within a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solution and were subsequently electrospun into m-Hal@Ag 3 PO 4 /PAN composite nanofiber membranes (CNMs) possessing excellent antibacterial properties. The incorporation of 30 wt% m-Hal@Ag 3 PO 4 additionally enhanced the filtration efficiency of PM 0.3 to 99.9%, at an airflow rate of 32 L/min, while concurrently reducing the pressure drop by 36.7%. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency of CNMs towards ciprofloxacin reached 99%. The antibacterial experiments demonstrated that CNMs exhibited potent antibacterial activity against both Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli)under dark and light conditions. Under visible light irradiation, the average diameter of the inhibition zone for the composite membrane surpassed that observed under dark conditions, indicating a predominant enhancement in its antibacterial efficacy through photocatalysis. The enhanced photocatalytic performance and excellent stability can be attributed to the incorporation of Ag 3 PO 4 with m-Hal, which enhanced the dispersibility and facilitated efficient carrier separation of Ag 3 PO 4. The present type of CNMs exhibited the advantages of high efficiency and low resistance air filtration, photodegradation ability, and recyclability, thereby enhancing the efficacy and lifespan of PMs filtration, bacteria disinfection, and antibiotic degradation. This offered a novel concept and viable approach for indoor air and water purification based on electrospinning technology. • A composite photocatalytic membrane based on Hal/polymer has been fabricated via electrospinning. • The Hal enhances the dispersibility of Ag 3 PO 4 , thereby improving the photocatalytic activity. • Both high-efficiency air filtration and sterilization are accomplished using m-HNTs@Ag 3 PO 4 /PAN CNMs. • The application of clay-loaded photocatalyst in the filter element of air purifier was realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a high-efficiency dual-band filtering Doherty power amplifier (DPA) using multi-function circuits for simplifying the structure. A dual-band filtering power combiner also plays the role of real-to-real impedance matching, in which one resonator is shared by both the power combing and filtering circuits. Thus, only one extra resonator is needed for the power combiner to provide second-order dual-band filtering responses, which contributes to high efficiency of the DPA. Transmission zeros are generated between the two passbands, realizing a sharp roll-off rate and greatly enhancing the isolation between the two passbands. Meanwhile, an impedance control network is designed to simultaneously suppress the harmonics and transform the optimized complex impedance desired by the transistor to a real one. In this way, the output matching network and extra filter in conventional design are realized by the filtering power combiner and impedance control network in the proposed design, resulting in a simpler structure. A dual-band DPA operating at 2.14 and 2.6 GHz is implemented with the measured peak efficiencies of 64.4% and 69% at the output power of 43.25 and 43.3 dBm, respectively. The 6-dB back-off efficiencies are 50% and 57% at the two passbands. Under 20-MHz long term evolution (LTE) modulated signals with a peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of 7.5 dB, the DPA after digital predistortion (DPD) is measured with an adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) of better than −45.2 dBc and the efficiencies of 51.6% and 54.3% at interested bands. The peak efficiency under the excitation of the concurrent modulated signal is 48.6%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are attractive in powering sensors for smart power grids. Herein, a TENG based on a rotational magnetic ball is presented to harvest the magnetic energy of transmission lines. The magnetic ball rolls in a spherical shell under the alternating magnetic field generated by the transmission line. The centrifugal force produced during the rotation is used to drive a TENG unit (ten times the weight of the magnetic ball and shell) to generate electricity with the assistance of coil springs. The device can maintain the stability of the output performance under high current shocks; meanwhile, the open‐circuit voltage, output power, and operating frequency of a single TENG unit can reach 1.5 kV, 6.67 mW, and 20 Hz, respectively. Furthermore, a wireless alarm system for monitoring the temperature and dip angle of transmission lines is successfully driven by this device. This work demonstrates an efficient and nontraditional strategy for harvesting magnetic energy through TENG, which is applied to power‐distributed and self‐powered sensors for monitoring transmission lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a four-way low-loss reconfigurable power divider with arbitrary operating channels is designed with a simple circuit configuration. A reconfigurable transmission line (RTL) is proposed, which can be switched between two different characteristic impedances with constant electric length. When setting the constant electric length as 90°, the RTLs are used as switchable $K$ inverters to construct a four-way reconfigurable power divider. Then, by controlling the switchable $K$ inverters, the power divider can be fully reconfigured in one-channel (State 1), two-channel (State 2), three-channel (State 3), four-channel (State 4), and all-channel-OFF (State 5) operations. Without using extra impedance matching networks, good port matching is achieved in the states with arbitrary transmission channels. Thus, this simple circuit configuration can be applied in the feeding network of antenna systems to achieve flexibly reconfigurable coverages. For verification, a circuit is designed and fabricated. Good agreement between the simulated and measured results is observed. In comparison with reported multiway reconfigurable power dividers, the proposed one exhibits low insertion loss, wide bandwidth, and simple structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: 'Gold Finger' is a grape cultivar with a finger‐like shape and a milk flavor. The process by which its aroma profile evolves during ripening is unclear. Thus, changes in the free and bound volatile compounds present in 'Gold Finger' grapes during ripening were investigated using headspace sampling–solid‐phase microextraction–gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy (HS‐SPME‐GC‐MS). RESULTS: A total of 83 volatile aroma components were identified in the grapes, with aldehydes, esters, acids, and alcohols being the main components. The total aroma compound content exhibited significant differences between the bound and free forms. The total content of bound volatile compounds did not change significantly during fruit development, although the free aroma compound content was significantly higher than the bound content. The total content of free aldehydes, free alcohols, bound norisoprenoids, and ketones gradually increased for up to 70 days after flowering (DAF), while the total free ester, terpene, and acid content decreased. The characteristic aroma compounds of 'Gold Finger' grapes were identified as hexanal, (E)‐2‐hexenal, and ethyl hexanoate. CONCLUSIONS: These results give a foundation for the further development of 'Gold Finger' grapes and provide a theoretical basis for the selection and breeding of novel aromatic grape varieties. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For an overhead conductor, meteorological correlations exist among the meteorological elements that dominantly determine its thermal rating, and temporal correlations exist among the thermal ratings in sequential time periods. It is necessary to exploit these correlations to improve the performance of the probabilistic prediction of thermal ratings. To this end, a copula-based method of joint probability density prediction for multiperiod thermal ratings (JPDP-MPTR) is presented in this paper. In this method, the probability density functions (PDFs) of the thermal ratings for every 15 minutes over a 1-hour horizon are first predicted individually, considering the correlations among meteorological elements. Then, the joint probability density function (JPDF) of the multiperiod thermal ratings is further formulated based on copula theory. Finally, the probability distributions of the thermal ratings in the predicted time periods are estimated via joint sampling based on the JPDF. Numerical simulations based on actual meteorological data collected around an overhead conductor show that the proposed method can significantly improve prediction results through the integration of meteorological and temporal correlations into the probabilistic prediction of the thermal rating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detection and cataloguing of space targets are an important issue for spacecraft safety. The large number of space targets makes the workload of orbit calculation very heavy. Being fast in calculation, the analytical method however cannot handle the processing of high-precision observational data. The numerical method on the contrary is good at the orbit determination for such targets. The cataloguing of space targets generally involves the production and calculation of dense ephemeris, for which an effective technique procedure that can calculate the orbit of High Eccentricity with both high accuracy and high efficiency has not yet formed, making the cataloguing difficult. In this paper, we propose a fast processing method that is suitable for the precise calculation of dense ephemeris for orbits with High Eccentricity, and optimize the parameters through numerical experiments. The superiority of the method is verified by examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The JASMONATE ZIM DOMAIN (JAZ) proteins are a key inhibitors of the jasmonic acid (JA) signaling pathway that play an important role in the regulation of plant growth and development and environmental stress responses. However, there is no systematic identification and functional analysis of JAZ gene family members in sugarcane. In this study, a total of 49 SsJAZ genes were identified from the wild sugarcane species Saccharum spontaneum genome that were unevenly distributed on 13 chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all SsJAZ members can be divided into six groups, and most of the SsJAZ genes contained photoreactive and ABA-responsive elements. RNA-seq analysis revealed that SsJAZ1-1/2/3/4 and SsJAZ7-1 were significantly upregulated under drought stress. The transcript level of ScJAZ1 which is the homologous gene of SsJAZ1 in modern sugarcane cultivars was upregulated by JA, PEG, and abscisic acid (ABA). Moreover, ScJAZ1 can interact with three other JAZ proteins to form heterodimers. The spatial and temporal expression analysis showed that SsJAZ2-1/2/3/4 were highly expressed in different tissues and growth stages and during the day-night rhythm between 10:00 and 18:00. Overexpression of ScJAZ2 in Arabidopsis accelerated flowering through activating the expression of AtSOC1 , AtFT , and AtLFY. Moreover, the transcription level of ScJAZ2 was about 30-fold in the early-flowering sugarcane variety than that of the non-flowering variety, indicating ScJAZ2 positively regulated flowering. This first systematic analysis of the JAZ gene family and function analysis of ScJAZ1/2 in sugarcane provide key candidate genes and lay the foundation for sugarcane breeding. • Recently, the whole genome of S. spontaneum has been deciphered, which accelerates the study of gene function in sugarcane. • A total of 49 SsJAZ genes were identified from the wild sugarcane species S. spontaneum genome. • This first systematic analysis of JAZ family in sugarcane provides a basis for further function study of JAZ. • Overexpression of ScJAZ2 in Arabidopsis accelerated flowering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Styxl2, a poorly characterized pseudophosphatase, was identified as a transcriptional target of the Jak1-Stat1 pathway during myoblast differentiation in culture. Styxl2 is specifically expressed in vertebrate striated muscles. By gene knockdown in zebrafish or genetic knockout in mice, we found that Styxl2 plays an essential role in maintaining sarcomere integrity in developing muscles. To further reveal the functions of Styxl2 in adult muscles, we generated two inducible knockout mouse models: one with Styxl2 being deleted in mature myofibers to assess its role in sarcomere maintenance, and the other in adult muscle satellite cells (MuSCs) to assess its role in de novo sarcomere assembly. We find that Styxl2 is not required for sarcomere maintenance but functions in de novo sarcomere assembly during injury-induced muscle regeneration. Mechanistically, Styxl2 interacts with non-muscle myosin IIs, enhances their ubiquitination, and targets them for autophagy-dependent degradation. Without Styxl2, the degradation of non-muscle myosin IIs is delayed, which leads to defective sarcomere assembly and force generation. Thus, Styxl2 promotes de novo sarcomere assembly by interacting with non-muscle myosin IIs and facilitating their autophagic degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key segment in medicinal plant authentication is the establishment of quality markers that embody the intrinsic metabolites difference independent of instruments and experiment conditions. A strategy integrating nontargeted metabolomics and multicriteria decision‐making model for robust quality markers discovery is presented and applied to authenticate Ophiopogon japonicus (L. f.) Ker‐Gawl. First, an ultra‐performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time‐of‐flight MSE approach was established for global metabolites profiling and identification. Second, multivariate statistical analysis was performed to explore potential quality markers of different origins of ophiopogonis radix. Third, potential quality markers were ordered and filtered by multicriteria decision‐making model to infer robust quality markers and further validated in different instruments and experiment conditions by validation model. Fourth, the validation model using the robust quality markers managed to discriminate the origins of ophiopogonis radix samples procured from the herbal markets. Consequently, two robust quality markers, cixi‐ophiopogon B and ophiopogonin D, were discovered and further validated on different instruments and experiment conditions. This integrated strategy provided a practical solution for reliable and convenient authentication of geo‐authentic herb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB is a fully-liquid, hexavalent combination vaccine (Vaxelis™) approved for vaccination against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis, hepatitis B, and invasive disease due to Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). Hib capsular polysaccharide, polyribosylribitol phosphate (PRP), is conjugated to Neisseria meningitidis outer membrane protein complex (OMPC). Safety and immunogenicity of DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB were evaluated in 6 Phase III clinical studies including > 5,200 children. Studies included vaccination schedules in the United States (2, 4, 6 months of age) and Europe (2, 3, 4, 12 months of age and 2,4,11–12 months of age). Data pertaining to anti-PRP responses of DTaP-IPV-Hib-Hep B compared to control vaccines from 5 Phase III studies are summarized. Post-infant series, the percentage of participants that achieved protective antibody thresholds for PRP (anti-PRP titer ≥ 0.15 μg/mL and ≥ 1.0 μg/mL, respectively) were higher in DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB recipients compared to recipients who received control vaccines. A high level of protective responses (96.6% at ≥ 0.15 μg/mL [95% CI:94.8, 97.9%]; 72.9% at ≥ 1.0 μg/mL [95% CI:69.2,76.4%]) were seen post-dose 2 of the 2 + 1 vaccination schedule and met superiority criteria over comparator, p-value < 0.001. In the same schedule, prior to administration of the toddler dose (in the second year of life), anti-PRP titers were higher in DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB recipients (91.4% at ≥ 0.15 μg/mL; 46.8% at ≥ 1.0 μg/mL) as compared to recipients who received control vaccines (63.4% at ≥ 0.15 μg/mL; 17.1% at ≥ 1.0 μg/mL). One-month post-toddler dose, high levels of anti-PRP titers were achieved in both DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB recipients (99.8% at ≥ 0.15 μg/mL; 96.6% at ≥ 1.0 μg/mL) and recipients who received control vaccines (99.5% at ≥ 0.15 μg/mL; 94.9% at ≥ 1.0 μg/mL). These results support that DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB induces a robust and sustained early Hib response. During the high-risk period for Hib disease after the infant vaccine and prior to the toddler dose; >90% of recipients maintained superior protective anti-PRP levels compared to control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a scheme for designing single-to-balanced and balanced-to-balanced dual-channel filters using multilayer substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavities. By sharing the common SIW cavities, two single-to-balanced or two balanced-to-balanced filters are flexibly integrated as one dual-channel circuit, resulting in very high integration. The input and output ports are properly arranged to the SIW cavities, where the two modes of the TM110 degenerate modes can be separately excited by the ports of the two filter channels. Moreover, the resonance modes of one channel have no coupling to those of the other channel. Thus, isolation between the two channels is achieved even though the two channels are designed sharing the same SIW cavities. The desired balanced ports are achieved based on the inherent out-of-phase electric field property of the SIW cavity at TM110 degenerate modes. For verification, a six-port single-to-balanced dual-channel filter is implemented, exhibiting excellent single-to-balanced filtering responses of each channel and high isolation between the two channels. By converting the single-ended ports to balanced ports, second-order and third-order balanced-to-balanced dual-channel filters are proposed. Moreover, the proposed designs can also realize different channel bandwidth or channel frequencies to meet different wireless applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of rapid thermal processing (RTP) on the formation of copper precipitation in p/p+ silicon (Si) epitaxial wafers was systematically investigated by defect etching and optical microscopy. After RTP preannealing at high temperature (1250 °C/60 s, with cooling rate 30 K/s) followed by the 750 °C/8 h + 1050 °C/16 h low-high (L-H) two-step annealing, it was revealed that the bulk microdefects were found only inside the p+ substrate, manifesting no defects generated in the epitaxial layer. However, it was found that the width of denude zone (DZ) in samples only subjected to L-H two-step annealing was narrower than that of epitaxial layer, which meant that oxygen precipitation was formed in epitaxial layer. It can be concluded that RTP was beneficial to the formation of DZ. Additionally, it was found that the width of DZ has a sharp dependence on the introducing temperature of copper contamination, that is, the corresponding equilibrium concentration of interstitial copper in the Si influence the thermodynamics and kinetics process of the formation of copper precipitation significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To investigate the imaging features of hemangiomas in long tabular bones for better diagnosis.Methods: Twenty-four patients with long bone hemangiomas confirmed by pathology were enrolled. Nineteen patients had plain radiography, fourteen patients had computed tomography (CT) and eleven had magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The hemangioma was divided into medullary [13], periosteal [6] and intracortical type [5].Results: Among 19 patients with plain radiography, eleven patients were medullary, three periosteal, and five intracortical. In the medullary type, the lesion was primarily osteolytic, including five cases with irregular and unclear rims and one lesion having osteosclerotic and unclear rims. In three patients with the periosteal type, the lesion had clear rims with involvement of the cortical bone in the form of bone defect, including two cases with local thickened bone periosteum and one case having expansile periosteum. Five intracortical hemangiomas had intracortical osteolytic lesions with clear margins. Among 14 patients with CT imaging, 8 cases were medullary, three periosteal, and three intracortical. Among 8 medullary hemangiomas, one had ground glass opacity, and seven had osteolytic, expansile lesions like soft tissue density with no calcification. In three periosteal cases, the lesion was osteolytic with thickened periosteum and narrowed medullary cavity. In three intracortical hemangiomas, the lesion was of even soft tissue density with no calcification. Among 11 patients with MRI imaging, seven were medullary, two periosteal, and two intracortical. Among 7 medullary lesions, six were of hypointense signal on T1WI and hyperintensesignal on T2 WI. In two periosteal cases, the periosteum was thickened, with one case being of equal signal, and the other having no signal. Two intracortical hemangiomas were both of slightly low signal on T1WI but hyperintense signal on T2WI.Conclusions: The long bone hemangiomas had characteristic cystic honeycomb-like presentations in plain radiograph. CT and MRI imagings are helpful for diagnosis of hemangiomas in long bone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acetyl xylan esterases are among the key enzymes in the xylan degradation enzyme system. However, acetyl xylan esterases from natural microorganisms have low expression and low enzyme activity and are impure. In this study, a new xylanase gene, est1051, from the metagenomic library, was expressed in the prokaryotic system. Its enzymatic properties were explored, including optimum temperature and pH, thermal and pH stability, and tolerance against organic solvents, metal ions and salt solutions. Then the fermentation conditions of EST1051 were optimized by the response surface method, and the maximum enzyme yield reached 1909.32 U/L. Finally, the synergism with cellulase on straw degradation was evaluated. EST1051 displays high homology with acetylxylan esterases in terms of amino acid sequences and conserved active sites. EST1051 shows high stability across a broad temperature range, and retains more than 60% of its enzymatic activity between 4 and 60°C after 24 h of incubation. Single-factor analysis and orthogonal design were conducted to determine the optimal conditions for the maximizing the saccharification rate of wheat straws. Interestingly, the synergism of EST1051 with cellulase contributes to the efficient transformation of wheat straws. These findings may open the door to significant industrial applications of this novel acetylxylan esterase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimizing the photoprotection of different leaves as a whole is important for plants to adapt to fluctuations in ambient light conditions. However, the molecular basis of this leaf-to-leaf communication is poorly understood. Here, we used a range of techniques, including grafting, chlorophyll fluorescence, revers transcription quantitative PCR, immunoblotting, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and electrophoretic mobility shift assays, to explore the complexities of leaf-to-leaf light signal transmission and activation of the photoprotective response to light fluctuation in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). We established that light perception in the top leaves attenuated the photoinhibition of both PSII and PSI by triggering photoprotection pathways in the bottom leaves. Local light promoted the accumulation and movement of LONG HYPOCOTYL5 from the sunlit local leaves to the systemic leaves, priming the photoprotective response of the latter to light fluctuation. By directly activating the transcription of PROTON GRADIENT REGULATION5 and VIOLAXANTHIN DE-EPOXIDASE, LONG HYPOCOTYL5 induced cyclic electron flow, the xanthophyll cycle, and energy-dependent quenching. Our findings reveal a systemic signaling pathway and provide insight into an elaborate regulatory network, demonstrating a pre-emptive advantage in terms of the activation of photoprotection and, hence, the ability to survive in a fluctuating light environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We first described the 2019 novel coronavirus infection in 10 children occurring in areas other than Wuhan. The coronavirus diseases in children are usually mild and epidemiological exposure is a key clue to recognize pediatric case. Prolonged virus shedding is observed in respiratory tract and feces at the convalescent stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the moisture diffusion process and mass transfer resistances for the drying process of corn were studied numerically. A 3D mathematical model for the heat and mass transfer of the hot air drying of corn was established. The heterogeneity of the corn kernels' physical structure was designed by multi-component modeling of the corn geometry. The distributions of the temperature and moisture inside the kernel during the drying process were simulated by COMSOL Multi physics software. The effects of drying air temperature, relative humidity, and wind velocity on the mass transfer process of drying corn were analyzed. The pericarp resistance comprised the majority of the mass transfer resistance in the drying process. The drying air temperature significantly reduced pericarp resistance. The higher the wind velocity was, the lower the boundary layer resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A numerical investigation is presented for a free-molecular flow past two parallel circular flat plates using the test particle Monte Carlo (TPMC) method, with flow shadowing and multiple reflections analyzed. Flow shadowing and multiple reflections have a significant effect on aerodynamic forces, and the distance-to-radius ratio of the two plates has a considerable influence on flow shadowing and multiple reflections. As the distance-to-radius ratio increases, flow shadowing and multiple reflections become weaker. Different distance-to-radius ratios result in different surface pressure distributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a method for designing multichannel bandpass filters (BPFs) based on trimode dielectric-loaded cavities is presented. A large number of BPFs are integrated as one multichannel BPF with multiple inputs and multiple outputs, resulting in an ultracompact size. The cubic trimode dielectric-loaded cavities are utilized with the TE101, TE011, and TM110 modes resonating at the same frequency and orthogonal to each other. Feeding probes and coupling probes are properly arranged where the three modes in one cavity can be excited for different BPF channels without interference with each other. Consequently, excellent isolation among multiple channels can be obtained. The multichannel BPF is designed based on a 3-D structure, which can be easily extended to higher filter orders with a larger number of channels to satisfy different requirements in wireless systems. For demonstration, a 12-channel BPF is fabricated and measured, which exhibits good filtering responses of each channel and high isolation among channels. Significant size reduction is achieved compared to conventional multiple single-channel filters, which is potential in high-integration base station applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we propose a circuit model for designing the switchable filtering circuit with reconfigurable functions between a single-pole quad-throw (SPQT) filtering switch (State 1) and a four-way filtering power divider (State 2) without additional switchable impedance matching network (IMN). The proposed circuit model can be utilized as the feeding network of a switchable directive and omni-directional antenna system to eliminate the omni-directional antenna in conventional solutions to reduce the size and cost. It consists of four filter channels with a common port. In State 1, it works as a SPQT filtering switch, where only one channel is turned on to realize good filtering responses and the impedances at the other three channels are adapted to infinity to realize high isolation. The four channels are turned on simultaneously in State 2 to work as a four-way filtering power divider, and the input impedance of the common port is the same as that in State 1. Thus, a switchable IMN is not required for port matching when switching between the two states. Transmission zeros are generated to enhance the skirt selectivity. For verification, the filtering circuit is constructed using high- $Q$ coaxial resonators. Experimental results show excellent performance in both states acting as a SPQT filtering switch and a four-way filtering power divider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Irbesartan, a long acting selective angiotensin-1 receptor inhibitor, in Marfan syndrome might reduce aortic dilatation, which is associated with dissection and rupture. We aimed to determine the effects of irbesartan on the rate of aortic dilatation in children and adults with Marfan syndrome.Methods: We did a placebo-controlled, double-blind randomised trial at 22 centres in the UK. Individuals aged 6-40 years with clinically confirmed Marfan syndrome were eligible for inclusion. Study participants were all given 75 mg open label irbesartan once daily, then randomly assigned to 150 mg of irbesartan (increased to 300 mg as tolerated) or matching placebo. Aortic diameter was measured by echocardiography at baseline and then annually. All images were analysed by a core laboratory blinded to treatment allocation. The primary endpoint was the rate of aortic root dilatation. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, number ISRCTN90011794.Findings: Between March 14, 2012, and May 1, 2015, 192 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to irbesartan (n=104) or placebo (n=88), and all were followed for up to 5 years. Median age at recruitment was 18 years (IQR 12-28), 99 (52%) were female, mean blood pressure was 110/65 mm Hg (SDs 16 and 12), and 108 (56%) were taking β blockers. Mean baseline aortic root diameter was 34·4 mm in the irbesartan group (SD 5·8) and placebo group (5·5). The mean rate of aortic root dilatation was 0·53 mm per year (95% CI 0·39 to 0·67) in the irbesartan group compared with 0·74 mm per year (0·60 to 0·89) in the placebo group, with a difference in means of -0·22 mm per year (-0·41 to -0·02, p=0·030). The rate of change in aortic Z score was also reduced by irbesartan (difference in means -0·10 per year, 95% CI -0·19 to -0·01, p=0·035). Irbesartan was well tolerated with no observed differences in rates of serious adverse events.Interpretation: Irbesartan is associated with a reduction in the rate of aortic dilatation in children and young adults with Marfan syndrome and could reduce the incidence of aortic complications.Funding: British Heart Foundation, the UK Marfan Trust, the UK Marfan Association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) is a key immune checkpoint that regulates peripheral tolerance and protects against autoimmunity. Programmed death ligand-2 (PD-L2) is a less studied ligand to PD-1 and has yet to be fully explored, especially in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Methods: In this study, we performed immunohistochemistry to detect the PD-L2, CD3, CD8, transforming growth factor-β2 (TGF-β2) and FOXP3 levels in paraffin sections from 305 patients with resected PDAC as a training set. Expression levels of intratumoral and stromal immune markers were compared in relation to survival using Kaplan- Meier curves, random survival forest model and survival tree analysis. A multivariable Cox proportional-hazards model of associated markers was used to calculate the risk scores. Results: PD-L2 was expressed in 71.5% of PDAC samples and showed strong correlations with CD3+, CD8+ T cells and FOXP3+ regulatory T cell densities. High levels of intratumoral PD-L2 and FOXP3 were related to poor survival; only stromal FOXP3 overexpression was associated with worse prognosis. Four patterns generated from survival tree analysis demonstrated that PD-L2lowstromalFOXP3low patients had the longest survival, while PDL2highintratumoralCD3low patients had the shortest survival (P < 0.001). The area under the curve was 0.631(95% confidence interval (CI): 0.447-0.826) for the immune marker-based signature and 0.549 (95% CI: 0.323-0.829; P < 0.001) for the clinical parameter-based signature, which was consistent with the results in the validation set including 150 patients (P < 0.001). A higher risk score indicated shorter survival and could serve as an independent prognostic factor. PD-L2 was also showed associated with TGF-β2 and other immune molecules based on bioinformatics analysis. Conclusions: Our work highlighted PD-L2 as a promising immunotherapeutic target with prognostic value combined with complex tumor infiltrating cells in PDAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this paper, we develop an adaptive control algorithm for addressing security for a class of networked vehicles that comprise a formation of n^ human‐driven vehicles sharing kinematic data and an autonomous vehicle in the aft of the vehicle formation receiving data from the preceding vehicles through wireless vehicle‐to‐vehicle communication devices. Specifically, we develop an adaptive controller for mitigating time‐invariant state‐dependent adversarial sensor and actuator attacks while guaranteeing uniform ultimate boundedness of the closed‐loop networked system. Furthermore, an adaptive learning framework is presented for identifying the state space model parameters based on input‐output data. This learning technique utilizes previously stored data as well as current data to identify the system parameters using a relaxed persistence of excitation condition. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated by an illustrative numerical example involving a platoon of connected vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The endowment of tourism resources is the material foundation for the development of tourism industry. However, at present, there is no special study about Kiribati's tourism resources, landscape features, and industrial development inside and outside of Kiribati. Through review and analysis, the author believes that Kiribati's national tourism resources are rich, distinctive and have high development potential, and it will play a major role in Kiribati's economic and social development. Its tourism resources could be exploited from 9 aspects including characteristic geography, human landscape, ecological environment, water sports and historical sites. At present, the infrastructure such as transportation and communication in Kiribati is poor, and the tourism industry is still weak and small, remains at starting stage, lacks overall planning, and professional talents are short. In summary, it is necessary to be improved in many ways. It is recommended that Kiribati should vigorously develop cultural and educational undertakings, strengthen the infrastructure construction across the country, formulate national tourism development plans, focus on the construction of five major scenic tourist areas, and stick to the green, ecological and sustainable development principle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proteins usually undergo conformational transitions between structurally disparate states to fulfill their functions. The large-scale allosteric conformational transitions are believed to involve some key residues that mediate the conformational movements between different regions of the protein. In the present work, a thermodynamic method based on the elastic network model is proposed to predict the key residues involved in protein conformational transitions. In our method, the key functional sites are identified as the residues whose perturbations largely influence the free energy difference between the protein states before and after transition. Two proteins, nucleotide binding domain of the heat shock protein 70 and human/rat DNA polymerase β, are used as case studies to identify the critical residues responsible for their open-closed conformational transitions. The results show that the functionally important residues mainly locate at the following regions for these two proteins: (1) the bridging point at the interface between the subdomains that control the opening and closure of the binding cleft; (2) the hinge region between different subdomains, which mediates the cooperative motions between the corresponding subdomains; and (3) the substrate binding sites. The similarity in the positions of the key residues for these two proteins may indicate a common mechanism in their conformational transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, building materials emit many hazardous gases in the event of a fire, causing great harm to human health and the environment. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop bio-based flame retardant materials and to realize preventive measures to reduce fires or their damage. In this work, we fabricated a novel multifunctional fire early-warning polylactic acid-based fabric (MFR-PBF) by coating MXene nanosheet, phytic acid @ furfurylamine (PA@FA) and ammonium polyphosphate (APP) via an eco-friendly layer-by-layer assembly method. MFR-PBF showed outstanding flame retardancy including a limiting oxygen index value of 35 % and better char formation capacity. More importantly, MFR-PBF exhibited sensitive fire early-warning capability (∼1 s) and excellent cyclic alarm stability (>15 cycles) due to the excellent semiconductor responsiveness (light and heat) and the significant catalytic char formation effect. Moreover, MFR-PBF is comfortable, flexible and strong enough to sew onto firefighter uniform to detect a variety of human motions, which can be monitored in the internet by using a LoRa emitter and a gateway. In addition, the controllable heating performance rendered MFR-PBF as a potential portable heater. This work provides new insights into the preparation and application of intelligent fire early-warning fabrics in the smart fire protection and Internet of Things. It is of great significance to develop bio-based flame retardant materials and to realize preventive measures to reduce fires or their damage. Integrating bio-based flame retardants into polylactic acid (PLA) fabric, our work proposes a new multifunctional green fabric that combines passive flame retardancy and active warning strategies. It achieves intelligent fire early-warning and is expected to be a footstone for constructing smart homes and smart firefighting in the future. [Display omitted] • A multifunctional polylactic acid-based fabric was constructed with MXene and N@P FR. • The intelligent fabric shows an ultrasensitive fire-warning capacity and high fire prevention. • Structure evolution of MFR-PBF is elucidated for fire early-warning mechanism. • A wireless smart fire warning system based on IoT • The Joule heating and photothermal conversion performance makes MFR-PBF a portable heater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]