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Although colloidal perovskite nanocrystal (PNC) solution has exhibited near‐unity photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY), the luminance would be severely quenched when the PNC solution is assembled into thin films due to the agglomeration and fusion of NCs caused by the exfoliation of surface ligands and non‐radiative Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from small to large particle sizes, which seriously affected the performances of light‐emitting diodes (LEDs). Here, we used Guanidine thiocyanate (GASCN) and Sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN) to achieve effective CsPbI3 PNC surface reconstruction. Due to the strong coordination ability of these small molecules with the anions and cations on the surface of the PNCs, they can provide strong surface protection against PNC fusion during centrifugal purification process and repair the surface defects of PNCs, so that the original uniform size distribution of PNCs can be maintained and FRET between close‐packed PNC films is effectively suppressed, which allows the emission characteristics of the films to be preserved. As a result, highly oriented, smooth and nearly defect‐free high‐quality PNC thin films are obtained, with PLQY as high as 95.1 %, far exceeding that of the original film, and corresponding LEDs exhibit a maximum external quantum efficiency of 24.5 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although colloidal perovskite nanocrystal (PNC) solution has exhibited near‐unity photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY), the luminance would be severely quenched when the PNC solution is assembled into thin films due to the agglomeration and fusion of NCs caused by the exfoliation of surface ligands and non‐radiative Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from small to large particle sizes, which seriously affected the performances of light‐emitting diodes (LEDs). Here, we used Guanidine thiocyanate (GASCN) and Sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN) to achieve effective CsPbI3 PNC surface reconstruction. Due to the strong coordination ability of these small molecules with the anions and cations on the surface of the PNCs, they can provide strong surface protection against PNC fusion during centrifugal purification process and repair the surface defects of PNCs, so that the original uniform size distribution of PNCs can be maintained and FRET between close‐packed PNC films is effectively suppressed, which allows the emission characteristics of the films to be preserved. As a result, highly oriented, smooth and nearly defect‐free high‐quality PNC thin films are obtained, with PLQY as high as 95.1 %, far exceeding that of the original film, and corresponding LEDs exhibit a maximum external quantum efficiency of 24.5 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the response of vegetation phenology in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau to various climatic variables is paramount to unveiling the reaction of alpine ecosystems to worldwide climate alterations. Nonetheless, the lagged and cumulative effects of various climatic variables on vegetation phenology in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau remain unclear. Therefore, based on MODIS NDVI data, we extracted vegetation phenological parameters from 2001 to 2020, including the start of the vegetation growing season (SOS) and the end of the vegetation growing season (EOS), and then analyzed the response mechanisms of vegetation phenology to pre-seasonal air temperature (T), precipitation (P), and daytime and nighttime land surface temperatures (DLST, NLST) in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau on the basis of an investigation of the lag and cumulative effects. The results showed that: (1) the multiyear mean values of the SOS mainly occurred from 120 to 160 days, accounting for 86.17% of the study area, while the multiyear mean values of the EOS were mainly concentrated between 260 and 280 days, accounting for 77.05% of the study area; (2) air temperature (T), precipitation (P), and daytime and nighttime land surface temperatures (DLST, NLST) had different degrees of lagging effects on the SOS and the EOS. Among them, the time lag effect of precipitation on vegetation phenology was more pronounced; (3) different climatic variables had distinct cumulative effects on vegetation phenology. In contrast to the insignificant cumulative effects of temperature and nighttime surface temperature on the SOS and the EOS, the cumulative effects of precipitation and daytime land surface temperature on the SOS were more pronounced than those on the EOS; (4) the SOS and air temperature, precipitation, and NLST were mainly negatively correlated, in which the proportion of the negative correlation between SOS and NLST was up to 68.80%, and SOS and DLST were mainly positively correlated with a positive correlation proportion of 73.27%, EOS and air temperature, precipitation, and NLST were positively correlated with a positive correlation proportion of EOS and precipitation of up to 71.52%, and EOS and DLST were mainly negatively correlated with a negative correlation ratio of 55.87%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To re-assess cardiovascular metrics on computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) in predicting pulmonary hypertension (PH) under the 2022 ESC/ERS guidelines. Materials and methods: This observational study retrospectively included 272 patients (female 143, mean age = 54.9 ± 12.5 years old) with suspected PH. 218 patients were grouped to evaluate cardiovascular metrics on CTPA and develop a binary logistic regression model. The other 54 patients were grouped into the validation group to assess the performance of the prediction model under the updated criteria. Based on mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP), patients were divided into three groups: group A consisted of patients with mPAP ≤ 20 mmHg, group B included patients with 20 mmHg < mPAP < 25 mmHg, and group C comprised patients with mPAP ≥ 25 mmHg. Cardiovascular metrics among the three groups were compared, and receiver operating characteristic curves (ROCs) were used to evaluate the performance of cardiovascular metrics in predicting mPAP > 20 mmHg. Results: The main pulmonary arterial diameter (MPAd), MPAd/ascending aorta diameter ratio (MPAd/AAd ratio), and right ventricular free wall thickness (RVFWT) showed significant differences among the three groups (p < 0.05). The area under curve (AUC) of MPAd was larger than MPAd/AAd ratio and RVFWT. A MPAd cutoff value of 30.0 mm has a sensitivity of 83.1% and a specificity of 90.4%. The AUC of the binary logistic regression model (Z = − 12.98187 + 0.31053 MPAd + 1.04863 RVFWT) was 0.938 ± 0.018. In the validation group, the AUC, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the prediction model were 0.878, 92.7%, 76.9%, and 88.9%, respectively. Conclusion: Under the updated criteria, MPAd with a threshold value of 30.0 mm has better sensitivity and specificity in predicting PH. The binary logistic regression model may improve the diagnostic accuracy. Critical relevance statement: Under the updated criteria, the main pulmonary arterial diameter with a threshold value of 30.0 mm has better sensitivity and specificity in predicting pulmonary hypertension. The binary logistic regression model may improve diagnostic accuracy. Key points: • According to 2022 ESC/ERS guidelines, a MPAd cutoff value of 30.0 mm has better sensitivity and specificity in predicting mPAP > 20 mmHg • A binary logistic regression model (Z = − 12.98187 + 0.31053 MPAd + 1.04863 RVFWT) was developed and had a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 92.7%, 76.9%, and 88.9% in predicting mPAP > 20 mmHg. • A binary logistic regression prediction model outperforms MPAd in predicting mPAP > 20 mmHg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, single image super-resolution based on convolutional neural network (CNN) has been extensively researched. However, most CNN-based methods only focus on mining features at a single resolution or processing features at different resolutions in series, which will cause the loss of broad context or spatial details. To address these issues, we design a cross-resolution feature attention network, which can progressively reconstruct images at different scale factors. Specifically, the reconstruction of each scale factor contains cascaded cross-resolution residual block (CRRB) and a resolution-wise attention block (RAB). CRRB can extract features at different resolutions in parallel rather than in series, which enriches not only global contextual information but also spatial details. RAB can adaptively capture the importance of features from different resolutions, making the feature fusion more effective. We have tested our network on Set5, Set14, BSD100, Urban100 and Manga109 dataset for × 2, × 4 and × 8 SR. Experimental results on the five datasets show that our proposed method achieves 0.24 dB, 0.09 dB and 0.21 dB higher PSNR than that of MS-LapSRN, MGBP and RMUN for × 8 SR, respectively, and also achieves favorable performance against the state-of-the-art methods on × 2 and × 4 SR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Our objective is to compare the right/left ventricular blood pool T1 ratio (RVT1/LVT1), and right/left ventricular blood pool T2 ratio (RVT2/LVT2) on Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CMR) between patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) and normal controls, to analyze the correlation of RVT1/LVT1, RVT2/LVT2 and hemodynamics measured with right heart catheterization (RHC) in patients with PH. Methods: Forty two patients with PH and 40 gender-and age-matched healthy controls were prospectively included. All patients underwent RHC and CMR within 24 h. The right and left ventricular blood pool T1 and T2 values were respectively measured, and RVT1/LVT1 and RVT2/LVT2 between the PH group and the healthy control were compared. Meanwhile, the correlation between RVT1/LVT1, RV/LVT2 ratio and hemodynamic parameters in patients with PH respectively was analyzed. Results: In the control group, RVT2 was significantly lower than LVT2 (t = 6.782, p < 0.001) while RVT1 also was lower than LVT1 (t = 8.961, p < 0.001). In patients with PH, RVT2 was significantly lower than LVT2 (t = 9.802, p < 0.001) while RVT1 was similar to LVT1 (t = − 1.378, p = 0.176). RVT2/LVT2 in the PH group was significantly lower than that in the control group (p < 0.001). RVT1/LVT1 in PH patients increased in comparison with the control group (p < 0.001). RVT2/LVT2 negatively correlated with pulmonary vascular resistance (r = − 0.506) and positively correlated with cardiac index (r = 0.521), blood oxygen saturation in Superior vena cava, right atrium, right ventricle and pulmonary artery (r = 0.564, 0.603, 0.648, 0.582). Conclusions: RVT2/LVT2 on T2 mapping could be an additional CMR imaging marker that may assist to evaluate the severity of PH. Key points: Ventricular blood pool T1 and T2 values on T1 and T2 Mapping on four-chamber slice have good repeatability. LVT2 is higher than RVT2 in both normal control and PH patients. However, RVT2 in PH patients has a significant reduction, compared with the normal control. RVT2/LVT2 ratio in PH patients correlated with hemodynamics such as PVR, CI, blood oxygen saturation in SVC, right atrium, right ventricle and pulmonary artery [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of lasers since their launch has given a new lease to traditional optical technology and immensely boosted the development of natural science. Benefiting from the salient light absorption and light emission traits, perovskite lasers show incalculable prospects in applications of optical storage, optical interconnects, high‐quality displays, on‐chip photonic communications, etc. For perovskite lasers, device structure and working principle rather than just material property are also profound, especially for the realization and assessment of electrically pumped lasers, which is the prerequisite for the ultimate practical application of perovskite lasers. With this in mind, the key characteristic parameters of possible future electrically pumped lasers are discussed herein, and a systematic review of perovskite lasers is presented in a sequential order of development. To begin, the components of lasers are introduced in detail, with an emphasis on optical microcavities and diverse proposed working mechanisms, followed by introductions of representative advances in pulsed optically pumped perovskite lasers with various lasing modes, as well as state‐of‐the‐art developments in lasing phenomenon under continuous‐wave optical pumping. Finally, the challenges and fruitful progress toward electrically pumped perovskite lasers are discussed emphatically. It is hoped that this review will promote the realization of perovskite electrically pumped lasers and commercialization of perovskite lasers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel performance improvement technology is developed for an ultrathin Double Silicon-on-Insulator (DSOI) Lateral Double-diffused Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor (LDMOS) with a heavy doping drift region, which is simulated using TCAD and an advanced application module for circuit analysis (CA-AAM). A peripheral circuit was proposed to dynamically control the independent back-gate electrode of the DSOI, with a zero bias for the ON-state and a negative bias for the OFF-state. A heavily doped drift region was designed to maintain a low specific on-resistance (Ron,sp), where a negative back-gate bias would induce positive charges to compensate for the heavily doped ionized acceptors. This results in an improved breakdown voltage (BV). Therefore, it rebuilds the traditional reduced surface field (RESURF) condition. Results indicate that the developed technology exhibits optimization in terms of the BV, Ron,sp, OFF-state leakage current, ON-state current, peak transconductance, cut-off frequency, turn-off time, Baliga’s figure of merits (BFOM), and figure of merits (FOM) when compared with the conventional RESURF technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large amount of oil storage tank possesses significant risks of leakage, and once leakage occurs, the combustible gas is prone to fire and explosion accidents. When the combustible gas cloud is exposed to the ignition source, there are possibilities of triggering the domino effect with more serious consequences. As one important kind of protective layers, the combustible gas detectors continuously monitor the leakage of combustible gas, guaranteeing the safety performance of the site. Using the computational fluid dynamics software FLACS as a tool, the impact of the consequences of the raw material leakage with a vapor cloud explosion accident in a large chemical fiber manufacturer's storage tank area is studied, and the risk of domino effect in the tank area during the course of the accident is predicted. The study shows that FLACS can be applied to the simulation study of gas diffusion explosion phenomenon in complex operation and storage areas, with the great capability of the explosion risk quantitative assessment and the reliable prediction to the risk of domino effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The RSF of 14 metal and metal oxide samples were determined by GD-MS, and their correlation with discharge parameters, matrix effects, the first ionization energies and sample shapes were investigated. [Display omitted] • RSF values for 14 metals and metal oxide matrices were determined through GD-MS with optimized discharge parameters. • The study explored the relationship between RSF values and discharge parameters, matrix effects, the first ionization energy and sample shapes. • The accuracy of the RSF was confirmed through standard and reference samples, and the obtained RSF values were then utilized in analyzing three practical samples returned from China Space Station. The determination of relative sensitivity factor (RSF) plays a crucial role in achieving accurate quantitative analysis in glow discharge mass spectrometry (GD-MS). In this study, the RSF of typical elements in 14 metal and metal oxide matrices were determined, and their correlation with discharge parameters, matrix effects, the first ionization energies and sample shapes were investigated. It was found that discharge gas flow exerted a minor influence on RSF values in a nickel (Ni) metal sample, whereas discharge current significantly affected RSF, with variations up to 57.00 % for cobalt (59Co). The results revealed that matrix effects were more pronounced in metal oxides, with the relative standard deviation (RSD) of RSF for typical elements ranging from 25.17 % to 101.04 %. RSF values for the same element across different metal oxides showed a correlation with lattice binding energy (U 0). Particularly, RSF values for 12 elements including 23Na, 27Al, 28Si, 45Sc, 52Cr, 56Fe, 59Co, 88Sr, 130Te, 138Ba, 139La and 140Ce within 7 metal oxides showed a significant correlation with U 0 of the metal oxides. In terms of sample shape, pin samples generally yielded higher RSF values than flat samples in both metals and oxides. RSF accuracy was confirmed with standard samples of zirconium (Zr 73 MR10002 and Zr IARM 705–18) and iron oxides (Fe 2 O 3 -1 and Fe 2 O 3 -2) with relative errors within 17.50 % except for 12C. Subsequently, these RSF values were effectively utilized for the quantitative analysis of samples collected from the China Space Station (CSS). This comprehensive analysis elucidates the multifaceted influences on RSF values, enhancing the precision of trace element quantification in GD-MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grafting flame retardant groups onto common polymer molecule can be a good strategy to constructing superior flame retardant macromolecules, which provides a promising direction to fabricate fire safety polymer materials with satisfied comprehensive mechanical properties. In this thesis, a rubber-based phosphaphenanthrene grafted polymeric molecule (P-SBS) was synthesized via the grafting reaction of 9, 10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO) with thermoplastic styrene-butadiene-styrene copolymer (SBS), and then applied to melt blending with polycarbonate (PC) to form P-SBS/PC blend with sea-island structure. The incorporated P-SBS not only brought PC much higher comprehensive flame retardancy, including higher limited oxygen index, shorter self-extinguishing time, less heat release during burning process, higher-quality char layer structure, and fewer amount of flammable volatile emission; but also endowed it with more satisfied comprehensive mechanical properties, including larger elongation at break, better anti-impact, higher flexural strength, and maintained tensile strength. By analysing burning residue, tracking thermal decomposition volatile emission, and inferring the pyrolysis route of P-SBS, the gas- and condensed-phase flame retardant mechanisms of P-SBS in suppressing the flammability of PC matrix were disclosed. The morphology analysis on the matrix fracture section and the embeded P-SBS particles before and after mechanical fracture, revealed the behavioral mechanism of P-SBS particles in improving the ductility, toughness, and stiffness of PC matrix. This study provides a beneficial reference to superior flame retardant molecule constructing and advanced flame retardant polymer material manufacturing. [Display omitted] • Rubber-based phosphaphenanthrene grafted polymer P-SBS. • P-SBS significantly improved the comprehensive flame retardancy of PC. • Plastic deformable P-SBS improved the ductility, toughness, and rigidity of PC. • Mechanisms of P-SBS in combustibility inhibition and mechanical enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sepsis is the third leading cause of death worldwide. Antibiotics are an important component in the treatment of sepsis. The use of antibiotics is currently facing the challenge of increasing antibiotic resistance (Evans et al., 2021). Sepsis medication prediction can be modeled as a Markov decision process, but existing methods fail to integrate with medical knowledge, making the decision process potentially deviate from medical common sense and leading to underperformance. (Wang et al., 2021). In this paper, we use Deep Q-Network (DQN) to construct a Sepsis Anti-infection DQN (SAI-DQN) model to address the challenge of determining the optimal combination and duration of antibiotics in sepsis treatment. By setting sepsis clinical knowledge as reward functions to guide DQN complying with medical guidelines, we formed personalized treatment recommendations for antibiotic combinations. The results showed that our model had a higher average value for decision-making than clinical decisions. For the test set of patients, our model predicts that 79.07% of patients will achieve a favorable prognosis with the recommended combination of antibiotics. By statistically analyzing decision trajectories and drug action selection, our model was able to provide reasonable medication recommendations that comply with clinical practices. Our model was able to improve patient outcomes by recommending appropriate antibiotic combinations in line with certain clinical knowledge. [Display omitted] • Using deep reinforcement learning to provide antibiotic treatment recommendations for sepsis. • Integrated with clinical data to formulate highly targeted antibiotic combination recommendations. • Guided by clinical expert knowledge and relevant medical guidelines. • Improving patient prognosis and reducing duration of antibiotic use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The image mapping spectrometer (IMS) is a kind of snapshot spectral imaging system that modulates the 3D spatial-spectral datacube (x , y , λ) to a 2D sensor for simultaneous measurement. Since the IMS utilizes an image mapper for mapping the spatial information, a calibration method is required to generate the lookup table between the measured raw image pixels and the desired datacube voxels. However, the current calibration methods are either time-consuming or low-accurate. We present a combined slit scan calibration and data processing approach that can balance the calibration efficiency and accuracy, by taking in account the irregularity of field of view (FOV) of the image mapper in the calibrating setup. Additionally, we analyze the spatial-spectral mixing phenomenon of the IMS datacube recovered from the calibrated lookup table. To reconstruct high-quality spectral datacube from the spatial-spectral mixed datacube, a spatial-spectral unmixing network (SSUNet) based on multi-head multi-attention mechanism is presented. Experimental results validated the effectiveness of both the calibration strategy and the datacube restoration network. • A high-resolution calibration method is proposed for image mapping spectrometer. • The combined slit scan methodology makes a tradeoff between calibration efficiency and accuracy. • A spatial-spectral unmixing network is constructed to improve the quality of the directly reconstructed datacube. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While numerous studies have evaluated the role of international borders, few efforts have been made to assess the influence of domestic borders on travel during COVID-19. In China, the nearly three-year travel control, starting in early 2020, has caused considerable fluctuations in public perceptions and sentiments. Domestic travel behaviors were disrupted, and in some regions, even reshaped. This study evaluates border effects for domestic travel in China from 2019 to 2021. Utilizing short-term intercity travel flow data obtained from Baidu Map, we configured and performed a series of modified gravity models to reveal provincial border effects at three levels of detail. Several major conclusions can be drawn from the results: First, there is a consistent border effect on domestic travel within China, both pre-pandemic and during the pandemic. Second, border effects are directional, as they vary for inbound and outbound travel and depend on the origin and destination. Third, border effects exhibit clear spatial patterns that are associated with location and travel distance. Fourth, the impacts of COVID-19 on border effects are predominantly temporary; however, in some instances, they may be long-term. The results highlight the necessity of considering borders when estimating travel flows using spatial interaction models. This study also sheds light on related policymaking, as restricting or loosening travel controls at borders can have profound impacts on economic activities and disease transmission. • Several modified gravity models are configured to reveal border effects in different levels of detail. • There exists consistent border effect for domestic travel in China, even before COVID-19. • Border effects are found to vary for inbound and outbound travel and depend on the origin and destination. • Border effects exhibit clear spatial patterns that are associated with location and travel distance. • The impacts of COVID-19 on border effects are predominantly temporary; however, in some instances, they may be long-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sturgeon, as a high‐yield economic fish species, is widely consumed, while large quantities of the liver are discarded. Three‐phase partitioning (TPP) was developed in this study as an emerging technology which can well extract oil and protein from sturgeon liver at the same time. Through single‐factor experiments and response surface analysis, we determined that the optimum extraction conditions were as follows: 36.65% mass fraction of ammonium sulfate, 2.88:1 liquid–solid ratio and pH 4.70. The yields of protein and oil were 70.08% and 86.77%, respectively, with an average yield of 78.44%. The qualities of obtained protein and oil were studied, and the results show that the protein and oil prepared by TPP both have high nutritional value and application value. Therefore, TPP would be a better alternative for extracting the oil and protein from sturgeon liver. Practical applications: Both protein and lipid can be extracted from sturgeon liver by three‐phase partitioning (TPP). The results show that TPP is a feasible method for simultaneously obtaining protein and oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detection of pavement diseases is crucial for road maintenance. Traditional methods are costly, time-consuming, and less accurate. This paper introduces an enhanced pavement disease recognition algorithm, MS-YOLOv8, which modifies the YOLOv8 model by incorporating three novel mechanisms to improve detection accuracy and adaptability to varied pavement conditions. The Deformable Large Kernel Attention (DLKA) mechanism adjusts convolution kernels dynamically, adapting to multi-scale targets. The Large Separable Kernel Attention (LSKA) enhances the SPPF feature extractor, boosting multi-scale feature extraction capabilities. Additionally, Multi-Scale Dilated Attention in the network's neck performs Spatially Weighted Dilated Convolution (SWDA) across different dilatation rates, enhancing background distinction and detection precision. Experimental results show that MS-YOLOv8 increases background classification accuracy by 6%, overall precision by 1.9%, and mAP by 1.4%, with specific disease detection mAP up by 2.9%. Our model maintains comparable detection speeds. This method offers a significant reference for automatic road defect detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Previously, we have demonstrated the use of lipidoid (lipid-like) nanoparticles (e.g., "1-O16B") for gene delivery to live cells, as an alternative to viral vectors. Here, we encapsulate VEGF siRNA (siVEGF) in bioreducible lipidoid nanoparticles and examine whether these nanocomplexes can reduce intravitreal neovascularization in a rodent model of oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR). Methods: Firstly, we constructed siVEGF-nanoparticles (NPs) and transfected human umbilical vein endothelial cells, which caused significantly reduced expression of VEGF, compared to exposure to siVEGF in solution. Secondly, we compared the effect of intravitreal siVEGF-NPs and an anti-VEGF drug (ranibizumab) on retinal vascular development and VEGF mRNA/protein expression in the retinas of a rat model of OIR. Results: Compared to a non-functional lipid vehicle control group, the level of VEGF mRNA and protein was significantly lower in the siVEGF-NP group (p < 0.01), but the level of VEGF mRNA was not significantly lower in the ranibizumab group. Anatomically, the number of retinal neovascular endothelial nuclei that had protruded through the internal limiting membrane and the number of areas of non-perfusion of the retina were both significantly lower in the siVEGF-NP group and the ranibizumab group than in the OIR group (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that bioreducible lipidoid nanoparticles conveying VEGF siRNA can effectively inhibit retinal neovascularization in a rodent model of OIR, and reduce the expression of VEGF mRNA and protein. This novel treatment modality could have profound implications for treating retinal angiogenic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New media entertainment is currently being spotlighted by business practitioners and researchers. This article highlighted this issue of elder online users and explored the factors affecting their acceptance decisions in new media entertainment. Older adults prefer to status and value orientations, so their online acceptance of new media entertainment is significantly influenced by the perceived usefulness and social benefits. In addition, types of living arrangement significantly affect technology acceptance model of older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interplay between bacteria and their host influences the homeostasis of the human immune microenvironment, and this reciprocal interaction also affects the process of tissue damage repair. A variety of immunomodulatory commensal bacteria reside in the body, capable of delivering membrane vesicles (MVs) to host cells to regulate the local immune microenvironment. This research revealed, for the initial time, the significant enhancement of mucosal and cutaneous wound healing by MVs secreted by the human commensal Lactobacillus reuteri (RMVs) through modulation of the inflammatory environment in wound tissue. Local administration of RMVs reduces the proportion of pro‐inflammatory macrophages in inflamed tissues and mitigates the level of local inflammation, thereby facilitating the healing of oral mucosa and cutaneous wounds. The elevated oxidative stress levels in activated pro‐inflammatory macrophages can be modulated by RMVs, resulting in phenotypic transformation of macrophages. Furthermore, 3‐hydroxypropionaldehyde present in RMVs can decrease the mitochondrial permeability of macrophages and stabilize the mitochondrial membrane potential, thereby promoting the conversion of macrophages to an anti‐inflammatory phenotype. This study pioneers the significance of commensal bacterial MVs in tissue injury repair and presents a novel concept for the repair of tissue damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generating highly organized skeletal muscle tissues that mimics the cellular alignment, maturation, and contraction of native skeletal muscle remains a challenge in disease modeling and regenerative therapies. Existing methodologies are constrained by complexity in fabrication and difficulty in achieving aligned 3D myofibers. Here, a functional skeletal muscle organoid‐on‐a‐chip (SMO) is engineered by establishing mechanical boundary constraints at either end of the cell‐laden extracellular matrix hydrogel within polydimethylsiloxane microstructures to promote the formation of an anisotropic biophysical microenvironment in tissues. The linearly aligned tissue, featuring multinucleated myofibers with distinct cross‐striations, exhibited a positive force‐frequency relationship and stable calcium transients under electrical stimulation. SMOs applicability is demonstrated by systematically evaluating muscle response to varying degrees of intermittent hypoxia. Murine‐ or human‐derived SMOs revealed that, with increasing hypoxia severity, muscles transitioned from a compensatory phase‐characterized by enhanced contractile function, vacuolation and hypertrophic‐like changes in myofibers, fiber type switching, and metabolic shift, to a decompensatory stage, paralleling in vivo muscle responses and highlighting interspecies differences. Human‐derived SMOs are also utilized to assess self‐repair capabilities and pharmaceuticals protective effects on damaged muscle. Together, the platform, with its simplicity of operation and reliable phenotypic readouts, demonstrates significant potential for future disease modeling and regenerative therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strontium incorporation activated Erk1/2 MAPK and PI3K/AKT pathways for vascularized bone regeneration. [Display omitted] • Strontium incorporation promoted osteogenesis coupled with angiogenesis. • Strontium incorporation activated Erk1/2 MAPK and PI3K/AKT pathways for vascularized bone regeneration. • Strontium incorporation mediated crosstalk between bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell and umbilical vein endothelial cells. Angiogenesis, well-coupled with osteogenesis, plays an indispensable and vital role in modulating hard tissue regeneration. Thus, simultaneously promoting osteogenesis and angiogenesis in bone reconstruction process is important. Essential trace elements have shown great potential in enhancing osteogenesis and angiogenesis, providing an effective strategy to design grafts for vascularized bone regeneration. In this study, four types of bioactive bioceramic, including hydroxyapatite (HA), strontium (Sr)-incorporated hydroxyapatite (Sr5-HA, Sr10-HA, Sr20-HA) with Sr ions concentrations of 0, 5, 10 and 20%, were investigated for their osteogenic and angiogenic properties. The in vitro results showed that Sr-HA could enhance the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs via Erk1/2 MAPK and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways, and promote the proliferation and angiogenic gene expression of HUVECs via PI3K/AKT pathways. Moreover, HUVECs conditioned medium could apparently promote the osteogenesis of BMSCs, and BMSCs conditioned medium could enhance the angiogenic capacity of HUVECs. Furthermore, in vivo angiogenesis evaluation and bone formation estimation indicated that enhanced newly-formed vessels and new bone formation were observed in Sr-HA porous scaffolds compared to pure HA scaffold. Thus, this study suggests that Sr-incorporation is a promising modification strategy for bone implants to achieve enhanced angiogenic and osteogenic capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary of main observation and conclusion: Stimuli‐responsive hydrogels crosslinked by weak noncovalent bonds such as hydrogen bonds, ionic interactions, host‐guest interactions and hydrophobic interactions have been extensively investigated. Herein, azobenzene and spiropyran acting as two hydrophobic pendant groups were introduced into a hydrophilic polyacrylamide (PAM) via free radical copolymerization to construct a hydrophobic interaction based thermo‐, light‐ responsive polymer hydrogel. Its viscosity and color could be reversibly regulated by heating and cooling. Meanwhile, its color could be specifically switched by light without obvious viscosity change. The gel was also capable of being transited to sol by addition of β‐cyclodextrin (β‐CD), which encaged the hydrophobic groups and then increased the solubility of polymer in water. The hydrogel could be regained after UV irradiation at λ = 365 nm, and after irradiation at λ = 440 nm, the hydrogel changed into a clear sol again. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The main purpose of this paper was to model the process by which patients enter the ED, are seen by physicians, and discharged from the Emergency Department at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, as well as identify modifiable factors that are associated with ED lengths of stay through use of multistate modeling. Methods: In this study, 75,591 patients admitted to the ED from March 1st, 2016 to February 28th, 2017 were analyzed using a multistate model of the ED process. Cox proportional hazards models with transition-specific covariates were used to model each transition in the multistate model and the Aalen-Johansen estimator was used to obtain transition probabilities and state occupation probabilities in the ED process. Results: Acuity level, season, time of day and number of ED physicians had significant and varying associations with the six transitions in the multistate model. Race and ethnicity were significantly associated with transition to left without being seen, but not with the other transitions. Conversely, age and gender were significantly associated with registration to room and subsequent transitions in the model, though the magnitude of association was not strong. Conclusions: The multistate model presented in this paper decomposes the overall ED length of stay into constituent transitions for modeling covariate-specific effects on each transition. This allows physicians to understand the ED process and identify which potentially modifiable covariates would have the greatest impact on reducing the waiting times in each state in the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current studies have shown that type I or II interferon-modified mesenchymal stem cells have great potential for the application of tumor-targeted therapy, but the underlying mechanism remains largely elusive. Here, we compared the different effects of IFN-β and IFN-γ on the antitumor activity of human amniotic fluid-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AFMSCs) and revealed the potential mechanism. In detail, AFMSCs primed with IFN-β or IFN-β plus IFN-γ, not IFN-γ, inhibited the proliferation of cancer cells in an immunocompetent mouse H460 subcutaneous model, although they all inhibited the proliferation of cancer cells in an immunocompromised mouse H460 subcutaneous model. TRAIL expressed by IFN-β- or IFN-γ-primed AFMSCs specifically exerted the antitumor effect of AFMSCs. AFMSCs primed with IFN-γ highly expressed immunosuppressive molecule IDO1, but IFN-β counteracted the IFN-γ-initiated IDO1 expression. 1-MT (IDO1 inhibitor) decreased TRAIL, but increased IDO1 expression in AFMSCs primed with interferon. As a result, AFMSCs primed with IFN-β or IFN-γ had the antitumor activity, and 1-MT failed to enhance the antitumor effect of IFN-γ-primed AFMSC in vitro and in the immunocompromised mouse H460 subcutaneous model. Furthermore, the expression of TRAIL in AFMSCs was upregulated by apoptotic cancer cells and this positive feedback intensified the antitumor effects of IFNs-primed AFMSCs. The different target gene expression profiles of AFMSCs regulated by IFN-β and IFN-γ determined the different antitumor effects of IFN-β- and IFN-γ-primed AFMSCs on tumor cells. Our finding may help to explore a clinical strategy for cancer intervention by understanding the antitumor mechanisms of MSCs and interferon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oncoprotein RUNX1–ETO is the fusion product of t(8;21)(q22;q22) and constitutes one of the most common genetic alterations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Abnormal c‐KIT overexpression is considered an independent negative prognostic factor for relapse and survival in t(8;21) AML patients. However, the molecular mechanism of high c‐KIT expression in t(8;21) AML remains unknown. In this study, we detected RUNX1–ETO and c‐KIT gene expression in AML‐M2 patients and verified the overexpression of c‐KIT in t(8;21) AML patients. We also found that c‐KIT overexpression was a poor prognostic indicator in RUNX1–ETO positive AML patients, but not in RUNX1–ETO negative AML patients. We used the dual‐luciferase and ChIP assays to demonstrate that the RUNX1–ETO protein epigenetically trans‐activates c‐KIT by binding to the c‐KIT promoter and recruiting the histone acetyltransferase P300 to the c‐KIT promoter, elucidating the mechanism of the abnormally increased c‐KIT expression in t(8;21) AML patients. Moreover, pharmacological studies revealed that C646, a P300 inhibitor, could inhibit proliferation, induce apoptosis and arrest the cell cycle more effectively in RUNX1–ETO positive cells than in negative ones. The levels of c‐KIT and RUNX1–ETO proteins were also decreased with C646 treatment in RUNX1–ETO positive cells. These findings suggested that P300 could be a therapeutic target and that C646 could be used as a potential treatment for RUNX1–ETO positive AML patients. Interestingly, using the dual‐luciferase assay, we also found that the binding capacity of RUNX1–ETO9a, a truncated RUNX1–ETO isoform, to the c‐KIT promoter was stronger than that of RUNX1–ETO, suggesting RUNX1–ETO9a as another valuable therapeutic target in t(8;21) AML. Abnormal c‐KIT overexpression is considered an independent negative prognostic factor in t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia patients. The RUNX1–ETO/RUNX1–ETO9a protein, the fusion products of t(8;21)(q22;q22), epigenetically trans‐activates c‐KIT by binding to the c‐KIT promoter and recruiting the histone acetyltransferase P300 to the c‐KIT promoter. Moreover, the binding capacity of RUNX1–ETO9a to the c‐KIT promoter was stronger than that of RUNX1–ETO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular simulations are used to study the adsorption of benzene at 300 K in atomistic models of disordered nanoporous carbons. These models, named as CS400, CS1000 and CS1000a, differ in density and chemical compositions, and reproduce the morphological and topological features present in real nanoporous carbons. We found that the adsorption phenomena depend upon the local structure of nanoporous carbons. To understand the effect of surface chemistry on adsorption and structure of confined benzene, functional groups (-COOH and -C=O) were added to these models. The presence of functional groups led to the onset of adsorption process at a low pressure. The carboxyl groups (-COOH) have a greater impact on adsorption as compared to carbonyl (-C=O) groups. The CS1000a models have wide micropores and thus it exhibits a jump in adsorption isotherm. The jump shifts towards lower pressure on the addition of functional groups, with -COOH groups showing a larger shift. The presence of functional groups also increases the isosteric heat of adsorption, with -COOH groups showing higher values. The coulombic contribution to total fluid-wall interaction energy is higher for -COOH functional groups and decreases on increasing pressure. Benzene confined in CS1000a models exhibit a liquid-like structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the complex interactions between market events and investor sentiment, we employ a multivariate Hawkes process to evaluate dynamic effects among four types of distinct events: positive returns, negative returns, positive sentiment, and negative sentiment. Using both intraday S&P 500 return data and Thomson Reuters News sentiment data from 2008 to 2014, we find: (a) self-excitation is strong for all four types of events at 15 min time scale; (b) there is a significant mutual-excitation between positive returns and positive sentiment and negative returns and negative sentiment; (c) decay of return events is almost twice as fast as sentiment events, which means market prices move faster than investor sentiment changes; (d) positive sentiment shocks tend to generate negative price jumps; and (e) the cross-excitation between positive and negative sentiments is stronger than their self-excitation. These findings provide further understanding of investor sentiment and its intricate interactions with market returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we apply learning-to-rank algorithms to design trading strategies using relative performance of a group of stocks based on investors’ sentiment toward these stocks. We show that learning-to-rank algorithms are effective in producing reliable rankings of the best and the worst performing stocks based on investors’ sentiment. More specifically, we use the sentiment shock and trend indicators introduced in the previous studies, and we design stock selection rules of holding long positions of the top 25% stocks and short positions of the bottom 25% stocks according to rankings produced by learning-to-rank algorithms. We then apply two learning-to-rank algorithms, ListNet and RankNet, in stock selection processes and test long-only and long-short portfolio selection strategies using 10 years of market and news sentiment data. Through backtesting of these strategies from 2006 to 2014, we demonstrate that our portfolio strategies produce risk-adjusted returns superior to the S&P 500 index return, the hedge fund industry average performance - HFRIEMN, and some sentiment-based approaches without learning-to-rank algorithm during the same period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, four novel perfluoroalkylsilanes were included to fabricate hydrophobic coatings on silicon substrates by the method of self-assembled films. The surface chemical compositions and structures of self-assembled perfluoroalkylsilane films were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer, and results showed that perfluoroalkylsilane molecules have uniformly assembled onto the surface of hydroxylated silicon substrate successfully. Water contact angles and surface free energy were tested to characterize the surface wettability of self-assembled perfluoroalkylsilane films. Results showed that the self-assembled bisfluorooctyltrichlorosilane film with annealing process (BPFOTS-Si-heat) had the highest water contact angle as 117.6 ± 0.9° and hexadecane contact angle as 76.7 ± 1.3°. This may be attributed to the incorporation of two longer perfluoroalkyl groups into the silane molecule. On the other hand, annealing process also contributed much to improve the hydrophobicity of self-assembled films. The adhesive force of annealed self-assembled perfluoroalkylsilane films was lower than that of untreated ones. Dynamic contact angle measurement showed that the BPFOTS-Si-heat had the smallest water contact angle hysteresis (14 ± 2°) and hexadecane contact angle hysteresis (10 ± 2°). Surface morphology of self-assembled films with different assembling time was obtained through atomic force microscopy, and the surface was found to be gradually covered by dense sharp peaks with the extension of assembling time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To further reveal the role of feruloylation of arabinoxylan (AX) in regulating the heat-evoked polymerization behavior of gluten, AX was extracted from wheat bran and in situ modified with lime to obtain AX with controlled ferulic acid (FA) content. The effects of AX with varied FA level on the heat-evoked polymerization of gluten were comparatively studied. The results suggested that AX postponed the disulfide bond mediated polymerization behavior of glutenins and enhanced polymerization degree of glutenin-glutenin and glutenin-gliadin crosslinks upon thermal treatment, while FA moiety suppressed the facilitated polymerization behavior compared with AX free of FA. iTARQ analysis demonstrated that FA moiety of AX mainly suppressed the polymerization of low molecular weight glutenin subunits and α/γ-gliadins in glutenin-gliadin crosslinks. The complete polymerization of glutenin and gliadin elevated the intermolecular β-sheet and ordered α-helix structures at the expense of other structures, while AX stabilized the transformation of secondary structures and was irrelevant with FA level. FA moiety of AX contributed to stabilizing the microenvironment of tryptophan, and evoked the disulfide bond conformation with reduced gauche-gauche-gauche conformation upon formation of glutenin-gliadin crosslinks. AX with the highest FA level exhibited the optimum elevation effect on the viscoelasticity of gluten, which might be attributed to the moderate polymerization of glutenin-gliadin and potential covalent linkage formed between the FA moiety of AX and gluten. This study could contribute to depicting the interacting mechanism of AX and gluten proteins, and further provide basis for exploiting nutritious high-fiber wheat-based products with superior organoleptic quality. [Display omitted] • Arabinoxylan (AX) was in situ modified to control the ferulic acid (FA) content. • FA of AX contributed to suppressing the heat-evoked polymerization of gluten proteins. • Suppressed polymerized subunits of gluten upon heating by FA were identified. • FA moiety of AX contributed to stabilizing the microenvironment of tryptophan. • AX with high FA level exhibit optimum elevation effect on viscoelasticity of gluten. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the relationship between the Big Five personality traits, rumination, resilience, and anxiety in a sample of Chinese undergraduates (N = 323) from a cross-sectional perspective. Results showed that neuroticism, conscientiousness, and agreeableness significantly predicted anxiety of college students and that rumination mediated the association between neuroticism and anxiety, and between agreeableness and anxiety. In addition, resilience had a significant moderating effect on neuroticism and rumination, agreeableness and anxiety. Overall, higher level of resilience led to less rumination and anxiety in individuals with low neuroticism and high agreeableness, but there were adverse effects in those with high neuroticism and low agreeableness. This study is valuable to understand the complex mechanisms of the relationship between personality traits and anxiety and provides a direction for reducing anxiety of college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vascular calcification (VC) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease and mortality in uremia. Post-translational core fucosylation is implicated in a number of pathological processes. First, we investigated the role of core fucosylation and key TGF-β1 pathway receptors in calcified arteries in vivo . To determine whether blocking core fucosylation effectively inhibited VC and TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway, we established an in vitro model of phosphate-induced calcification in rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) to assess the role of core fucosylation in VC. Core fucose could be detected at markedly higher levels in calcified VSMCs than control cells. Fut8 (α-1,6 fucosyltransferase), the only enzyme responsible for core fucosylation in humans, was significantly upregulated by high phosphate. Exposed to high phosphate media and blocking core fucosylation in VSMCs by knocking down Fut8 using a siRNA markedly reduced calcium and phosphorus deposition and Cbfα1 expression (osteoblast-specific transcription factor), and increased α-Sma expression (smooth muscle cell marker). Fut8 siRNA significantly inhibited TGF-β/Smad2/3 signaling activation in VSMCs cultured in high phosphate media. In conclusion, this study provides evidence to suggest core fucosylation plays a major role in the process of VC and appropriate blockade of core fucosylation may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for treating VC in end-stage renal disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) systematically investigate the association of genetically predicted gene expression with disease risk, providing an effective approach to identify novel susceptibility genes. Osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease, associated with reduced bone mineral density (BMD) and increased risk of osteoporotic fractures, whereas genetic factors explain approximately 70% of the variance in phenotypes associated with bone. BMD is commonly assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to obtain measurements (g/cm2) of areal BMD. However, quantitative computed tomography (QCT) measured 3D volumetric BMD (vBMD) (g/cm3) has important advantages compared with DXA since it can evaluate cortical and trabecular microstructural features of bone quality, which can be used to directly predict fracture risk. Here, we performed the first TWAS for volumetric BMD (vBMD) by integrating genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data from two independent cohorts, namely the Framingham Heart Study (FHS, n = 3298) and the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS, n = 4641), with tissue-specific gene expression data from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project. We first used stratified linkage disequilibrium (LD) score regression approach to identify 12 vBMD-relevant tissues, for which vBMD heritability is enriched in tissue-specific genes of the given tissue. Focusing on these tissues, we subsequently leveraged GTEx expression reference panels to predict tissue-specific gene expression levels based on the genotype data from FHS and MrOS. The associations between predicted gene expression levels and vBMD variation were then tested by MultiXcan, an innovative TWAS method that integrates information available across multiple tissues. We identified 70 significant genes associated with vBMD, including some previously identified osteoporosis-related genes such as LYRM2 and NME8 , as well as some novel loci such as DNAAF2 and SPAG16. Our findings provide novel insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms of osteoporosis and highlight several novel vBMD-associated genes that warrant further investigation. • We performed the first TWAS for volumetric BMD across multiple tissues. • We identified 70 significant genes associated with vBMD. • NME8 and LYRM2 have been revalidated to have a connection with BMD/osteoporosis. • DNAAF2 and SPAG16 were identified to be putative vBMD associated genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toxoplasma gondii is a widespread eukaryotic pathogen that causes life-threatening diseases in humans and diverse animals. It has a complex life cycle with multiple developmental stages, which are timely adjusted according to growth conditions. But the regulatory mechanisms are largely unknown. Here we show that the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a key regulator of energy homeostasis in eukaryotes, plays crucial roles in controlling the cell cycle progression and bradyzoite development in Toxoplasma. Deleting the β regulatory subunit of AMPK in the type II strain ME49 caused massive DNA damage and increased spontaneous conversion to bradyzoites (parasites at chronic infection stage), leading to severe growth arrest and reduced virulence of the parasites. Under alkaline stress, all Δampkβ mutants converted to a bradyzoite-like state but the cell division pattern was significantly impaired, resulting in compromised parasite viability. Moreover, we found that phosphorylation of the catalytic subunit AMPKα was greatly increased in alkaline stressed parasites, whereas AMPKβ deletion mutants failed to do so. Phosphoproteomics found that many proteins with predicted roles in cell cycle and cell division regulation were differentially phosphorylated after AMPKβ deletion, under both normal and alkaline stress conditions. Together, these results suggest that the parasite AMPK has critical roles in safeguarding cell cycle progression, and guiding the proper exist of the cell cycle to form mature bradyzoites when the parasites are stressed. Consistent with this model, growth of parasites was not significantly altered when AMPKβ was deleted in a strain that was naturally reluctant to bradyzoite development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Osteoporosis is a major global health issue, weakening bones and increasing fracture risk. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is the standard for measuring bone mineral density (BMD) and diagnosing osteoporosis, but its costliness and complexity impede widespread screening adoption. Predictive modeling using genetic and clinical data offers a cost-effective alternative for assessing osteoporosis and fracture risk. This study aims to develop BMD prediction models using data from the UK Biobank (UKBB) and test their performance across different ethnic and geographical populations. Methods and findings: We developed BMD prediction models for the femoral neck (FNK) and lumbar spine (SPN) using both genetic variants and clinical factors (such as sex, age, height, and weight), within 17,964 British white individuals from UKBB. Models based on regression with least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), selected based on the coefficient of determination (R2) from a model selection subset of 5,973 individuals from British white population. These models were tested on 5 UKBB test sets and 12 independent cohorts of diverse ancestries, totaling over 15,000 individuals. Furthermore, we assessed the correlation of predicted BMDs with fragility fractures risk in 10 years in a case-control set of 287,183 European white participants without DXA-BMDs in the UKBB. With single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) inclusion thresholds at 5×10−6 and 5×10−7, the prediction models for FNK-BMD and SPN-BMD achieved the highest R2 of 27.70% with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of [27.56%, 27.84%] and 48.28% (95% CI [48.23%, 48.34%]), respectively. Adding genetic factors improved predictions slightly, explaining an additional 2.3% variation for FNK-BMD and 3% for SPN-BMD over clinical factors alone. Survival analysis revealed that the predicted FNK-BMD and SPN-BMD were significantly associated with fragility fracture risk in the European white population (P < 0.001). The hazard ratios (HRs) of the predicted FNK-BMD and SPN-BMD were 0.83 (95% CI [0.79, 0.88], corresponding to a 1.44% difference in 10-year absolute risk) and 0.72 (95% CI [0.68, 0.76], corresponding to a 1.64% difference in 10-year absolute risk), respectively, indicating that for every increase of one standard deviation in BMD, the fracture risk will decrease by 17% and 28%, respectively. However, the model's performance declined in other ethnic groups and independent cohorts. The limitations of this study include differences in clinical factors distribution and the use of only SNPs as genetic factors. Conclusions: In this study, we observed that combining genetic and clinical factors improves BMD prediction compared to clinical factors alone. Adjusting inclusion thresholds for genetic variants (e.g., 5×10−6 or 5×10−7) rather than solely considering genome-wide association study (GWAS)-significant variants can enhance the model's explanatory power. The study highlights the need for training models on diverse populations to improve predictive performance across various ethnic and geographical groups. Yong Liu and co-workers compare Author summary: Why was this study done?: Osteoporosis diagnosis via bone mineral density (BMD) measurements by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is impractical for large-scale screening, especially in resource-limited areas. Genomic data offers a cost-effective alternative for predicting disease risk, but current methods often overlook sub-significant variants and clinical factors. Most existing genomic prediction methods are based on European ancestry, with limited evaluation in other ethnic populations. What did the researchers do and find?: We developed BMD prediction models for femoral neck (FNK) and lumbar spine (SPN) using a training set of 17,964 individuals from British white ancestry in UK Biobank (UKBB), integrating clinical and genetic factors. We observed that strong correlations between predicted and true BMDs (R2≈25% for FNK-BMD and R2≈45% for SPN-BMD) and significant associations with fracture risk in European ancestry populations. And we identified the optimal P-value thresholds for FNK-BMD (5×10−6) and SPN-BMD (5×10−7), noting that these thresholds vary by trait and sample size. By applying the prediction models on 5 UKBB test sets and 12 independent cohorts of diverse ancestries, totaling over 15,000 individuals, we observed that the BMD prediction models performed well in UKBB European populations but less effectively in other ancestry groups and independent cohorts. What do these findings mean?: We show that genetic factors could improve the performance of DXA-BMD prediction. Within the same population, the predicted BMDs can help prioritize individuals at high risk of fragility fracture for tailored treatments. Genetic prediction methods need rigorous evaluation before application to different populations, emphasizing the importance of diverse population training. Study limitations include differences in the distribution of clinical factors such as sex and age between the UKBB data sets and the independent cohorts, as well as the inclusion of only single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as genetic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (MSC-exos), with its inherent capacity to modulate cellular behavior, are emerging as a novel cell-free therapy for bone regeneration. Herein, focusing on practical applying problems, the osteoinductivity of MSC-exos produced by different stem cell sources (rBMSCs/rASCs) and culture conditions (osteoinductive/common) were systematically compared to screen out an optimized osteogenic exosome (BMSC-OI-exo). Via bioinformatic analyses by miRNA microarray and in vitro pathway verification by gene silencing and miRNA transfection, we first revealed that the osteoinductivity of BMSC-OI-exo was attributed to multi-component exosomal miRNAs (let-7a-5p, let-7c-5p, miR-328a-5p and miR-31a-5p). These miRNAs targeted Acvr2b/Acvr1 and regulated the competitive balance of Bmpr2/Acvr2b toward Bmpr-elicited Smad1/5/9 phosphorylation. On these bases, lyophilized delivery of BMSC-OI-exo on hierarchical mesoporous bioactive glass (MBG) scaffold was developed to realize bioactivity maintenance and sustained release by entrapment in the surface microporosity of the scaffold. In a rat cranial defect model, the loading of BMSC-OI-exo efficiently enhanced the bone forming capacity of the scaffold and induced rapid initiation of bone regeneration. This paper could provide empirical bases of MSC-exo-based therapy for bone regeneration and theoretical bases of MSC-exo-induced osteogenesis mechanism. The BMSC-OI-exo-loaded MBG scaffold developed here represented a promising bone repairing strategy for future clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase genes (XTHs) are a multigene family and play key roles in regulating cell wall extensibility in plant growth and development. Brassica rapa and Brassica oleracea contain XTHs, but detailed identification and characterization of the XTH family in these species, and analysis of their tissue expression profiles, have not previously been carried out. Results: In this study, 53 and 38 XTH genes were identified in B. rapa and B. oleracea respectively, which contained some novel members not observed in previous studies. All XTHs of B. rapa, B. oleracea and Arabidopsis thaliana could be classified into three groups, Group I/II, III and the Early diverging group, based on phylogenetic relationships. Gene structures and motif patterns were similar within each group. All XTHs in this study contained two characteristic conserved domains (Glyco_hydro and XET_C). XTHs are located mainly in the cell wall but some are also located in the cytoplasm. Analyses of the mechanisms of gene family expansion revealed that whole-genome triplication (WGT) events and tandem duplication (TD) may have been the major mechanisms accounting for the expansion of the XTH gene family. Interestingly, TD genes all belonged to Group I/II, suggesting that TD was the main reason for the largest number of genes being in these groups. B. oleracea had lost more of the XTH genes, the conserved domain XET_C and the conserved active-site motif EXDXE compared with B. rapa, consistent with asymmetrical evolution between the two Brassica genomes. A majority of XTH genes exhibited different tissue-specific expression patterns based on RNA-seq data analyses. Moreover, there was differential expression of duplicated XTH genes in the two species, indicating that their functional differentiation occurred after B. rapa and B. oleracea diverged from a common ancestor. Conclusions: We carried out the first systematic analysis of XTH gene families in B. rapa and B. oleracea. The results of this investigation can be used for reference in further studies on the functions of XTH genes and the evolution of this multigene family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Retinal degeneration (RD) is a serious, irreversible, and blinding eye disease, which seriously affects the visual function and quality of life of patients. At present, there is no effective method to treat RD. The final outcome of its development is photoreceptor cell oxidation and apoptosis. Therefore, looking for safe, convenient, and effective antioxidant therapy is still the key research field of Rd. In this study, the mice model of RD was induced by N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) in vivo to explore the therapeutic effect and mechanism of salvianolic acids (Sal A) on RD. In vitro, the protective effect of Sal A on MNU injured 661 W cell line of mouse retina photoreceptor cone cells was investigated preliminarily. Methods. Male C57BL/6 mice (7–8 weeks old) received a single intraperitoneal injection (ip) of 60 mg/kg MNU or vehicle control. Treatment groups then received Sal-A 0.5 mg/kg and 1.0 mg/kg via daily intravenous injections. On day 7, functional and morphological examinations were performed, including photopic and scotopic electroretinography (ERG) and hematological analyses to observe functional changes and damage to the outer nuclear layer (ONL). On the 3rd and 7th days, the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were determined. The expression of retinal Bax, Bcl-2, and caspase-3 was quantified by Western blot and RT-PCR assays. 661 W strain of mice retinal photoreceptor cone cells were cultured in vitro and treated with 1 µm MNU. The cells in the treatment group were given 50 μM Sal A as an intervention. The growth of 661 W cells was observed and recorded under an inverted light microscope, and the activity of cells was detected by the MTT method. Results. Sal A treatment was effective against MNU-induced RD in mice at both 0.5 mg/kg/d and 1.0 mg/kg/d doses, and the protective effect was dose-dependent. Sal A can alleviate MNU-mediated alterations to retinal ERG activity and can support maintenance of the thickness of the ONL layer. Sal A treatment increases the expression of retinal SOD and reduces the lipid peroxidation product MDA, suggesting that its protective effect is related to the oxidation resistance. It can offset changes to the expression of apoptotic factors in the retina caused by MNU treatment. Sal A mitigates MNU-mediated damage to cultured mice photoreceptor cone cells 661 W in vitro. Conclusion. Sal A alleviates the damage caused by MNU to retinal photoreceptor cells in vivo and in vivo, and its protective effect is related to its antioxidant and antiapoptotic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active school commuting provides a convenient opportunity to promote physical activity for children, while also reducing car dependence and its associated environmental impacts. School–home distance is a critical factor in school commuting mode choice, and longer distances have been proven to increase the likelihood of driving. In this study, we combine open-access data acquired from Baidu Map application programming interface (API) with GIS (Geographic Information System) technology to estimate the extent to which the present school–home distances can be reduced for public middle schools in Jianye District, Nanjing, China. Based on the policies for school planning and catchment allocation, we conduct a scenario analysis of school catchment reassignment whereby residences are reassigned to the nearest school. The results show that, despite the government's 'attending nearby school' policy, some students in the study area are subjected to excess school–home distances, and the overall journey-to-school trips can be reduced by 20.07%, accounting for 330.8 km. This excess distance indicates the extent to which the need for vehicle travel can be potentially reduced in favor of active school commuting and a low-carbon lifestyle. Therefore, these findings provide important insights into school siting and school catchment assignment policies seeking to facilitate active school commuting, achieve educational spatial equity and reduce car dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we use entropy-based measures to identify different types of trading behaviors. We detect the return-driven trading using the conditional block entropy that dynamically reflects the "self-causality" of market return flows. Then we use the transfer entropy to identify the news-driven trading activity that is revealed by the information flows from news sentiment to market returns. We argue that when certain trading behavior becomes dominant or jointly dominant, the market will form a specific regime, namely return-, news- or mixed regime. Based on 11 years of news and market data, we find that the evolution of financial market regimes in terms of adaptive trading activities over the 2008 liquidity and euro-zone debt crises can be explicitly explained by the information flows. The proposed method can be expanded to make "causal" inferences on other types of economic phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liu, A.Q., 2020. Modeling and rendering of ocean plane visual communication scene based on SLIP model. In: Bai, X. and Zhou, H. (eds.), Advances in Water Resources, Environmental Protection, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 115, pp. 313-316. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. With the continuous progress of earth observation, data processing and other technologies, 3d modeling and rendering of the sea surface have a vital impact on the visual reality of the application system. In some applications, the sea surface itself is the focus of visualization and the basic environment for other applications. The purpose of this paper is to realize the rapid and realistic rendering of the sea surface based on the wave model and grid generation. Based on the SLIP model, a new algorithm for image enhancement is proposed. The sea surface image was analyzed and studied, and the video image method based on SLIP model was proposed to achieve the purpose of video image sharpening, and the ocean surface effect communication modeling was established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liu, A.Q., 2020. Modeling and rendering of ocean plane visual communication scene based on SLIP model. In: Bai, X. and Zhou, H. (eds.), Advances in Water Resources, Environmental Protection, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 115, pp. 313-316. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. With the continuous progress of earth observation, data processing and other technologies, 3d modeling and rendering of the sea surface have a vital impact on the visual reality of the application system. In some applications, the sea surface itself is the focus of visualization and the basic environment for other applications. The purpose of this paper is to realize the rapid and realistic rendering of the sea surface based on the wave model and grid generation. Based on the SLIP model, a new algorithm for image enhancement is proposed. The sea surface image was analyzed and studied, and the video image method based on SLIP model was proposed to achieve the purpose of video image sharpening, and the ocean surface effect communication modeling was established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raw syngas conditioning using molten salts was carried out in a fixed-bed reactor. The effects of the reaction conditions, including temperature, gas velocity, bubble diameter, molten salt static liquid heights, and inlet gas composition, on the composition of the syngas product and the properties of the spent molten salts were investigated. The molten salt absorbed CO2 in all of the experiments (at temperatures from 350 °C to 500 °C) and decreased its concentration down to 1%. The H2/CO increased from 0.94 to a maximum of 11.0, which may meet most of the synthetic process' requirements. The temperature, gas velocity, and molten salt static liquid heights had significant effects on the H2 and CO concentrations in the gas product. Molten salt raw syngas conditioning can be a suitable follow-up procedure for gasification and pyrolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Mesoproterozoic Xiamaling carbonate concretions were formed in early diagenesis. • Non-zero I/(Ca + Mg) values of the concretions suggest oxygenated porewater. • Atmospheric oxygen level was estimated >6–9% of the present atmospheric level. Oxygen availability is crucial for the evolution of eukaryotes in geological history. However, the evolution of mid-Proterozoic oceanic–atmospheric redox conditions remains heavily debated, e.g., [O 2 ] <0.1–1% PAL vs. >4–8% PAL (present atmospheric level). In order to further constrain the surface oxygen levels during Mesoproterozoic, an investigation on the I/(Ca + Mg) ratios of deep-water (>100 m) early diagenetic carbonate concretions from the shale-predominated Member IV of the Xiamaling Formation (~ 1.4 Ga) in three sections of the North China Platform was conducted. The results show that more than half (36/47) of the I/(Ca + Mg) values obtained from the concretions are higher than 0.5 μmol/mol (avg. 0.68), indicating non-negligible iodate retained in the porewaters where the concretions were formed. Compared with the iodine redox cycle and oxygen transportation pathway from bottom seawater to surface sediments in modern oceans, the oxygen concentration of the bottom seawater was estimated to be higher than 16–22 μM, and the minimal atmospheric oxygen level should be higher than 6–9% PAL. This result differs from the previous estimation that the atmospheric oxygen level is lower than 0.1–1% PAL, but is consistent with the estimation of >4–8% PAL at ~1.4 Ga. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stimuli-responsive hydrogels have been well known as a kind of promising functional material. Among them, intelligent supramolecular hydrogels constructed by covalent and non-covalent bonds have received increasing attention and been extensively researched. In this work we demonstrate a class of supramolecular hydrogels formed via host-guest interactions between coumarin and γ-cyclodextrin. Its stiffness can be modulated by photo-switching the weak physical crosslinking points to strong chemical crosslinking points. It is a simple and effective way to construct a dual-modality supramolecular hydrogel. Owing to the dynamic and reversible nature, the supramolecular hydrogels exhibit a bright future for the usage in self-healing and shape memory materials. A class of supramolecular hydrogels formed via host-guest interactions between coumarin and γ-cyclodextrin was constructed. The hydrogel stiffness can be modulated by photo-switching the weak physical crosslinking points to strong chemical crosslinking points. Image 1 • A class of supramolecular hydrogels formed via host-guest interactions between coumarin and γ-cyclodextrin was demonstrated. • Its stiffness can be modulated by photo-switching the weak physical crosslinking points to strong chemical crosslinking points. • It is a simple and effective way to construct a dual-modality supramolecular hydrogel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We discuss the impact that the size of the root system may have on solute transport and distribution in the root zone. • Tomatoes were irrigated with salty water and soil salinization, wetness and root distribution were measured. • Results have shown that larger and well-developed root systems had favorable conditions in respect to soil salinization. Soil salinization in agricultural environments is a major soil degradation process, particularly in dry regions. Soil salinization puts at risk the natural ecosystem and the agricultural crops, which are usually sensitive to elevated salinities. In this work, a conceptual model is proposed and tested experimentally, to examine the impact of root system dimension and distribution on solute transport and accumulation in the root zone. For this purpose, tomatoes were grown in growing chambers, under conditions of salty water irrigation. Root density, salt concentration and soil water content distributions were measured and correlations between the three parameters were found for different root system sizes. Results show that confined root systems were highly salinized with a strong correlation between root location and salt distribution in the soil. Broad root systems, on the other hand, showed a reduction in soil bulk salinity at the root zone and that about 50 % of the root system is under conditions of low salinity. The physical reasons for this observation are proposed herein and it is suggested that in the future, development of crops with large root systems could be considered as another tool to cope with soil salinization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uniformly dispersed graphene effectively improves the strain-sensing capability of the composite film under a low graphene load in nanocomposites prepared with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and graphene (GNP) monolayer powder. The threshold concentration of graphene was determined by loading nanocomposites at different temperatures. For different concentrations, when using traditional uniaxial stretching, the rate of resistance change of films near the threshold concentration is five times higher than the rate of films with a high concentration. Compared with traditional uniaxial stretching, the biaxial stretching we introduced can effectively improve the sensitivity of the film by an order of magnitude. The change in the resistance of the film near the threshold concentration is due to the change of the tunnel length and the cross-section of the tunnel, whereas the high concentration of the film is due to the change of the conductive path inside the film. Biaxial stretching has different effects on films with different concentrations, but the final effect of increasing sensitivity is the same. This study provides guidance for improving the strain-sensing sensitivity of GNP/PDMS composite films and the application of biaxial tension in detecting human motions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • BiOI/CdWO 4 with large specific surface area was synthesized by hydrothermal method. • The combination of aptamers and new materials improves the performance of aptamer-based sensors significantly. • A novel label- free PEC aptamer sensor for the detection of ochratoxin A was developed. • The photocurrent signal of BiOI/CdWO 4 could be effectively enhanced by in-situ growth of Ag 2 S quantum dots. • The photoelectrochemistry aptamer sensor has the advantages of high sensitivity, strong stability, strong selectivity, low detection limit and wide detection range. Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a kind of mycotoxin. It widely exists in all kinds of mammals and has teratogenicity and cytotoxicity. In this paper, a label-free photoelectrochemical (PEC) aptamer sensor based on bismuth oxyiodide/cadmium tungstate (BiOI/CdWO 4) was designed to detect OTA. The BiOI/CdWO 4 heterojunction is an excellent optoelectronic active material with remarkable chemical stability. AgNO 3 and Na 2 S were selected to grow in situ to form Ag 2 S quantum dots, which were sensitized to enhance the absorption of visible light and promote the generation of photocurrent. In this system, with the increasing of OTA concentration, the photoelectric signal intensity reduces as the specific binding with aptamer. When the concentration of OTA is between 0.01 ng/mL and 50.00 ng/mL, the linear equation is I (μA) = 48.95 – 10.276 lg c (c OTA , ng/mL), R2 = 99.281, and the detection limit is 0.823 pg/mL. The newly designed PEC aptamer sensor has exceptional stability, sensitivity, and reproducibility, making it capable of detecting OTA effectively and sensitively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Hip fracture risk assessment is an important but challenging task. Quantitative CT-based patient-specific finite element (FE) analysis (FEA) incorporates bone geometry and bone density in the proximal femur. We developed a global FEA-computed fracture risk index to increase the prediction accuracy of hip fracture incidence. Purpose: Quantitative CT-based patient-specific finite element (FE) analysis (FEA) incorporates bone geometry and bone density in the proximal femur to compute the force (fracture load) and energy necessary to break the proximal femur in a particular loading condition. The fracture loads and energies-to-failure are individually associated with incident hip fracture, and provide different structural information about the proximal femur. Methods: We used principal component analysis (PCA) to develop a global FEA-computed fracture risk index that incorporates the FEA-computed yield and ultimate failure loads and energies-to-failure in four loading conditions of 110 hip fracture subjects and 235 age- and sex-matched control subjects from the AGES-Reykjavik study. Using a logistic regression model, we compared the prediction performance for hip fracture based on the stratified resampling. Results: We referred the first principal component (PC1) of the FE parameters as the global FEA-computed fracture risk index, which was the significant predictor of hip fracture (p-value < 0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) using PC1 (0.776) was higher than that using all FE parameters combined (0.737) in the males (p-value < 0.001). Conclusions: The global FEA-computed fracture risk index increased hip fracture risk prediction accuracy in males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]