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Obligate biotrophs depend on living hosts for nutrient acquisition to complete their life cycle, yet the mechanisms by which hosts restrict nutrient availability to pathogens remain largely unknown. The fungal pathogen Sporisorium reilianum infects maize seedlings and causes head smut disease in inflorescences at maturity, while a cell wall-associated kinase, ZmWAK, provides quantitative resistance against it. In this study, we demonstrate that S. reilianum can rapidly activate ZmWAK kinase activity, which is sustained by the 407th threonine residue in the juxtamembrane domain, enabling it to interact with and phosphorylate ZmSnRK1α2, a conserved sucrose non-fermenting-related kinase α subunit. The activated ZmSnRK1α2 translocates from the cytoplasm to the nucleus, where it phosphorylates and destabilizes the transcription factor ZmWRKY53. The reduced ZmWRKY53 abundance leads to the downregulation of genes involved in transmembrane transport and carbohydrate metabolism, resulting in nutrient starvation for S. reilianum in the apoplast. Collectively, our study uncovers a WAK-SnRK1α2-WRKY53 signaling module in maize that conveys phosphorylation cascades from the plasma membrane to the nucleus to confer plant resistance against head smut in maize, offering new insights and potential targets for crop disease management. The fungal pathogen Sporisorium reilianum causes maize head smut disease. Upon detecting S. reilianum, the plasma membrane-localized receptor ZmWAK phosphorylates ZmSnRK1α2, which then translocates to the nucleus and phosphorylates ZmWRKY53. The reduction of ZmWRKY53 downregulates genes involved in nutrient transport and metabolism, leading to nutrient starvation for the pathogen and helping to control head smut disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractBackgroundAimsMethodsResultsConclusionsThe association between objective imaging findings and subjective symptoms remains undefined.To investigate the correlation between objective imaging findings and symptom severity in the overall chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) population as well as its subendotypes according to the eosinophilic inflammation.Patients with CRSwNP undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery were included. All participants completed the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22) questionnaire. The Lund-Mackay (LM) CT scores was also obtained. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to evaluate the correlation between CT scores and SNOT-22 scores.Forty-four non-eosinophilic CRSwNP(neCRSwNP) and 93 eosinophilic CRSwNP (eCRSwNP) patients were recruited. There was significant association between LM total score and nasal subdomain of SNOT-22 in the overall CRSwNP patients. The nasal symptom of SNOT-22 was significantly associated with maxillary, frontal, sphenoid, anterior drainage, and posterior drainage in all CRSwNP patients. In eCRSwNP and neCRSwNP patients, the sense of smell/taste was associated with sphenoid and posterior drainage. Thick nasal discharge was positively correlated with maxillary, frontal, and anterior drainage only in eCRSwNP patients.The high score of sphenoid and posterior drainage may suggest the occurrence of loss of sense of smell/taste, while high score of maxillary sinus may indicate suffering from thick nasal discharge in eCRSwNP patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the wide application of wind energy as a clean energy source, to cope with the challenge of increasing maintenance difficulty brought about by the development of large-scale wind power equipment, it is crucial to monitor the operating status of wind turbines in real time and accurately identify the specific location of faults. In this study, a CNN-LSTM-based wind motor fault detection model is constructed for four types of typical faults, namely gearbox faults, electrical faults, yaw faults, and pitch faults of wind motors, combining CNN's advantages of excelling in feature extraction and LSTM's advantages of dealing with long-time sequence data, to achieve the simultaneous detection of multiple fault types. The accuracy of the CNN-LSTM-based wind turbine fault detection model reaches 90.06%, and optimal results are achieved for the effective discovery of yaw system faults, pitch system faults, and gearbox faults, obtaining 94.09%, 96.46%, and 97.39%, respectively. The CNN-LSTM wind turbine fault detection model proposed in this study improves the fault detection effect, avoids the further deterioration of faults, provides direction for preventive maintenance, reduces downtime loss due to restorative maintenance, and is essential for the sustainable use of wind turbines and maintenance of wind turbine service life, which helps to improve the operation and maintenance level of wind farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photocatalytic water splitting using semiconductors is a promising approach for converting solar energy to clean energy. However, challenges such as sluggish water oxidation kinetics and limited light absorption of photocatalyst cause low solar‐to‐hydrogen conversion efficiency (STH). Herein, we develop a photocatalytic overall water splitting system using I3−/I− as the shuttle redox couple to bridge the H2‐producing half‐reaction with the O2‐producing half‐reaction. The system uses the halide perovskite of benzylammonium lead iodide (PMA2PbI4, PMA=C6H5CH2NH2) loaded with MoS2 (PMA2PbI4/MoS2) as the H2 evolution photocatalyst, and the RuOx‐loaded WO3 (WO3/RuOx) as the O2 evolution photocatalyst, achieving a H2/O2 production in stoichiometric ratio with an excellent STH of 2.07 %. This work provides a detour route for photocatalytic water splitting with the help of I3−/I− shuttle redox couple in the halide perovskite HI splitting system and enlightens one to integrate and utilize multi catalytic strategies for solar‐driven water splitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, manifest in outbreaks of varying magnitudes. For large-scale epidemics, continuous models are often employed for forecasting, while discrete models are preferred for smaller outbreaks. We propose a discrete susceptible-infected-susceptible model that integrates interaction between parasitism and hosts, as well as saturation recovery mechanisms, and undertake a thorough theoretical and numerical exploration of this model. Theoretically, the model incorporating nonlinear recovery demonstrates complex behavior, including backward bifurcations and the coexistence of dual equilibria. And the sufficient conditions that guarantee the global asymptotic stability of a disease-free equilibrium have been obtained. Considering the challenges posed by saturation recovery in theoretical analysis, we then consider the case of linear recovery. Bifurcation analysis for of the linear recovery model displays a variety of bifurcations at the endemic equilibrium, such as transcritical, flip, and Neimark–Sacker bifurcations. Numerical simulations reveal complex dynamic behavior, including backward and fold bifurcations, periodic windows, period-doubling cascades, and multistability. Moreover, the proposed model could be used to fit the daily COVID-19 reported cases for various regions, not only revealing the significant advantages of discrete models in fitting, evaluating, and predicting small-scale epidemics, but also playing an important role in evaluating the effectiveness of prevention and control strategies. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses for the key parameters underscore their significant impact on the effective reproduction number during the initial months of an outbreak, advocating for better medical resource allocation and the enforcement of social distancing measures to curb disease transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As one of the most common types of primary bone sarcomas in adolescents and young adults, osteosarcoma has a high probability of local invasion and distant metastasis with a poor prognosis. Case Presentation: Here, we report the case of a 34-year-old patient with advanced metastatic osteosarcoma. Considering the high expression of PD-L1 and the inability of the patient to tolerate chemotherapy, anti-PD-1 antibody (sintilimab 200 mg, q3w) and anti-angiogenesis drug (anlotinib 8 mg D1-14, q3w) were administered. The metastatic lesions were treated with local radiotherapy. The patient obtained an 11.7-month-sustained remission period, and he also enjoyed a better quality of life. Conclusion: This case demonstrates that sintilimab plus anlotinib may be a feasible treatment regimen for osteosarcoma patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nominalization is an important resource for creating grammatical metaphor (GM). Previous research shows that nominalization is characteristic of academic writing but does not demonstrate discipline sensitivity within the academic genre. The reason might be that some nominalizations have developed into dead GM. This study aims to identify nominalizations that create live GM and explore the discipline sensitivity of live GMs based on a corpus of academic article abstracts across three discipline groups. The findings indicate that a clause construes an event or a status, which is either conveyed by the verbal group or a nominal group functioning as a participant of the verbal group. Verb nominalizations construing events and adjective nominalizations construing statuses are the key factors in identifying live GM. Notably, nominalizations not cooccurring with verbalizations are not necessarily dead GMs. The corpus-based research shows that both verb and adjective nominalizations exhibit discipline sensitivity. Verb nominalizations are more prevalent in natural science texts, whereas adjective nominalizations are more prevalent in the humanities and social science texts. However, live GMs are not inherently discipline sensitive; rather, it is those GMs contributing to the lexical density of the text that are discipline sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intrinsic relationship of the thermal stress intensity factor and temperature difference between the upper and lower surface of the crack have been studied in this paper. The results show the thermal stress intensity factor is always proportional to the temperature difference between the upper and lower crack surface, and the ratio depends only on material parameters and crack length, but is independent of loading condition. For a finite medium problem, the above conclusion is still valid by simply adding a size related correction factor. When the size of medium is 10 times larger than the crack size, the size related correction factor is less than 1.019, that is, the error is less than 2%. Our conclusion provides a theoretical basis to estimate the localization thermal stress intensity factor simply by measuring the temperature difference of the crack surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through loading photo-reduced graphene oxide (rGO), photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity of CH(NH 2) 2 PbBr 3 is greatly elevated from 74.5 µmol/h to 386.7 µmol/h (100 mg, AM1.5G, 100 mW cm−2), making CH(NH 2) 2 PbBr 3 /rGO composite an efficient photocatalyst in aqueous HBr solution saturated with CH(NH 2) 2 PbBr 3 perovskite. [Display omitted] Solar hydrobromic acid (HBr) splitting using perovskite photocatalysts provides an attractive avenue to store solar energy into hydrogen (H 2) and bromine (Br 2), while an efficient photocatalytic system is still demanded. As for the semiconductor photocatalyst, formamidinium perovskites show some superiorities in structural stability, light adsorption and charge dynamics compared to their methylammonium counterparts, which are fitter for the photocatalysis process. Herein, the composite of formamidinium lead bromide perovskite (FAPbBr 3) with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) is prepared using a facile photoreduction method. Under simulated sunlight irradiation (AM1.5G, 100 mW cm−2), this FAPbBr 3 /rGO composite (100 mg) demonstrates a noteworthy enhancement in photocatalytic H 2 evolution activity of 386.7 μmol h−1, and it exhibits a notable stability with no significant decrease after 50 h of repeated tests. The single particle PL (photoluminescence) microscope is employed to study the charge dynamics, revealing that rGO in the composite effectively promotes the carrier separation. This work provides a highly efficient and stable photocatalyst for HBr splitting, and offers an effective modification strategy on lead bromide perovskites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) infrared detection has problems such as weak and small targets, complex backgrounds, and poor real-time detection performance. It is difficult for general target detection algorithms to achieve the requirements of a high detection rate, low missed detection rate, and high real-time performance. In order to solve these problems, this paper proposes an improved small target detection method based on Picodet. First, to address the problem of poor real-time performance, an improved lightweight LCNet network was introduced as the backbone network for feature extraction. Secondly, in order to solve the problems of high false detection rate and missed detection rate due to weak targets, the Squeeze-and-Excitation module was added and the feature pyramid structure was improved. Experimental results obtained on the HIT-UAV public dataset show that the improved detection model's real-time frame rate increased by 31 fps and the average accuracy (MAP) increased by 7%, which proves the effectiveness of this method for UAV infrared small target detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) in older individuals has been implicated as a possible precursor to Alzheimer's disease. Poor sleep quality and anxiety/depressive symptoms have been linked to the progression of SCD, but these associations and older adults' worries have yet to be fully established in the Chinese older adult population, which is one of the largest in the world. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between sleep quality, anxiety/depression symptoms, and worries, and SCD prevalence among Chinese community-dwelling older individuals. Methods. A total of 707 adults aged between 60 and 99 from Shanghai, China, completed self-report questionnaires that covered their cognitive and mental well-being, as well as demographic information. Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) was evaluated using the memory/cognition syndromes of the old adult self-report (OASR). Sleep quality, anxiety/depression, and worries were measured from their respective sections of the OASR. Results. The general linear regression models showed that poorer sleep quality was associated with an increased prevalence of anxiety/depression symptoms, worries, and SCD among older adults. As suggested by the mediation analysis, anxiety/depression and worries were significant mediators in the relationship between sleep quality and SCD prevalence, and these two factors also have a serial mediation effect between sleep quality and SCD prevalence. Conclusions. Poorer sleep quality is associated with a higher rate of SCD among older adults, and a higher prevalence of anxiety/depression and worries mediate this relationship, suggesting possible mechanism pathways that lead to SCD. These factors may provide the basis for early, targeted interventions for older adults' mental health preservation and improved quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cimicifugae Rhizoma, generally known as "Sheng Ma" in China, has great medicinal and dietary values. Cimicifugae Rhizoma is the dried rhizome of Cimicifuga foetida L., Cimicifuga dahurica (Turcz.) Maxim. and Cimicifuga heracleifolia Kom., which has been used to treat wind-heat headache, tooth pain, aphtha, sore throat, prolapse of anus and uterine prolapse in traditional Chinese medicine. This review systematically presents the traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, clinical studies, quality control and toxicity of Cimicifugae Rhizoma in order to propose scientific evidence for its rational utilization and product development. Herein, 348 compounds isolated or identified from the herb are summarized in this review, mainly including triterpenoid saponins, phenylpropanoids, chromones, alkaloids, terpenoids and flavonoids. The crude extracts and its constituents had various pharmacological properties such as anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antiviral, antioxidant, neuroprotective, anti-osteoporosis and relieving menopausal symptoms. The recent research progress of Cimicifugae Rhizoma in ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry and pharmacological effects demonstrates the effectiveness of its utilization and supplies valuable guidance for further research. This review will provide a basis for the future development and utilization of Cimicifugae Rhizoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Acetate-ion-intercalated has significantly effect on electrochemical performance of NiCo-LDH. • NCLA-8 has the largest specific capacitance of 1032.2 F/g at 1 A/g. • It has demonstrating that a rate performance of 89.3% was obtained by NCLA-8. • ASCs has superior energy density of 67.7 Wh/kg at 800 W/kg. • An incredible cycle life of 82.8% after 10,000 cycles were obtained from ASCs. Enhancing the performance of layered nickel–cobalt double hydroxides (NiCo-LDH) as electrode materials for supercapacitors represents a promising strategy for optimizing energy storage systems. However, the complexity of the preparation method for electrode materials with enhanced electrochemical performance and the inherent defects of nickel–cobalt LDH remain formidable challenges. In this study, we synthesized acetate-ion-intercalated NiCo-LDH (NCLA) through a simple one-step hydrothermal method. The physical and chemical structural properties and supercapacitor characteristics of the as-prepared NCLA were systematically characterized. The results indicated that the introduction of Ac− engendered a distinctive tetragonal crystal structure in NiCo-LDH, concomitant with a reduced interlayer spacing, thus enhancing structural stability. Electrochemical measurements revealed that NCLA-8 exhibited a specific capacitance of 1032.2 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 and a high specific capacitance of 922 F g−1 at 10 A g−1, demonstrating a rate performance of 89.3%. Furthermore, NCLA-8 was used to construct the positive electrode of an asymmetric supercapacitor, while the negative electrode was composed of activated carbon. This configuration resulted in an energy density of 67.7 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 800 W kg−1. Remarkably, the asymmetric supercapacitor retained 82.8% of its initial capacitance following 3000 charge–discharge cycles at a current density of 10 A g−1. Thus, this study demonstrates the efficacy of acetate-ion intercalation in enhancing the electrochemical performance of NiCo-LDH, establishing it as a viable electrode material for supercapacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The driving mechanism of high NO 3 – level was revealed for first time in the LRYR. • The contribution of sources to NO 3 – was identified in the LRYR. • Combining multi-isotopic method can accurately identify nitrate sources. • The main sources of nitrate were SAM, CF and SN in the LRYR. • Nitrification was the most key process of nitrogen cycling. The continuous increase of nitrate (NO 3 –) level in rivers is a hot issue in the world. However, the driving mechanism of high NO 3 – level in large rivers is still lacking, which has limited the use of river water and increased the cost of water treatment. In this study, multiple isotopes and source resolution models are applied to identify the driving mechanism of high NO 3 – level and key processes of nitrogen cycling in the lower reaches of the Yellow River (LRYR). The major sources of NO 3 – were sewage and manure (SAM) in the low-flow season and soil nitrogen (SN) and chemical fertilizer (CF) in the high-flow season. Nitrification was the most key process of nitrogen cycling in the LRYR. However, in the biological removal processes, denitrification may not occur significantly. The temporal variation of contributions of NO 3 – sources were estimated by a source resolution model in the LRYR. The proportional contributions of SAM and CF to NO 3 – in the low-flow and high-flow season were 32.5%-52.3%, 44.2%-46.2% and 36.0%-40.8%, 54.9%-56.9%, respectively. The driving mechanisms of high NO 3 – level were unreasonable sewage discharge, intensity rainfall runoff, nitrification and lack of nitrate removal capacity. To control the NO 3 – concentration, targeted measures should be implemented to improve the capacity of sewage and wastewater treatment, increase the utilization efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer and construct ecological engineering. This study deepens the understanding of the driving mechanism of high nitrate level and provides a vital reference for nitrogen pollution control in rivers to other area of the world. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid emergence of drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), various levels of resistance against existing anti-tuberculosis (TB) drugs have developed. Consequently, the identification of new anti-TB targets and drugs is critically urgent. DNA gyrase subunit B (GyrB) has been identified as a potential anti-TB target, with novobiocin and SPR719 proposed as inhibitors targeting GyrB. Therefore, elucidating the molecular interactions between GyrB and its inhibitors is crucial for the discovery and design of efficient GyrB inhibitors for combating multidrug-resistant TB. In this study, we revealed the detailed binding mechanisms and dissociation processes of the representative inhibitors, novobiocin and SPR719, with GyrB using classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, tau-random acceleration molecular dynamics (τ-RAMD) simulations, and steered molecular dynamics (SMD) simulations. Our simulation results demonstrate that both electrostatic and van der Waals interactions contribute favorably to the inhibitors' binding to GyrB, with Asn52, Asp79, Arg82, Lys108, Tyr114, and Arg141 being key residues for the inhibitors' attachment to GyrB. The τ-RAMD simulations indicate that the inhibitors primarily dissociate from the ATP channel. The SMD simulation results reveal that both inhibitors follow a similar dissociation mechanism, requiring the overcoming of hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding interactions formed with the ATP active site. The binding and dissociation mechanisms of GyrB with inhibitors novobiocin and SPR719 obtained in our work will provide new insights for the development of promising GyrB inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: The transcription factor AmCBF1 deepens the leaf colour of transgenic cotton by binding to the promoter of the chloroplast development-related protein GhClpR1 to promote photosynthesis. The ATP-dependent caseinolytic protease (Clp protease) family plays a crucial role within chloroplasts, comprising several Clp proteins to maintain chloroplast homeostasis. At present, research on Clp proteins mainly focuses on Arabidopsis, leaving its function in other plants, particularly in crops, less explored. In this study, we overexpressed AmCBF1 from Ammopiptanthus mongolicus (A. mongolicus) in wild type (R15), and found a significant darkening of leaf colour in transgenic plants (L28 and L30). RNA-seq analysis showed an enrichment of pathways associated with photosynthesis. Subsequent screening of differentially expressed genes revealed a significant up-regulation of GhClpR1, a gene linked to chloroplast development, in the transgenic strain. In addition, GhClpR1 was consistently expressed in upland cotton, with the highest expression observed in leaves. Subcellular localization analysis revealed that the protein encoded by GhClpR1 was located in chloroplasts. Yeast one hybrid and dual luciferase experiments showed that the AmCBF1 transcription factor positively regulates the expression of GhClpR1. VIGs-mediated silencing of GhClpR1 led to a significant yellowing phenotype in the leaves. This was accompanied by a reduction in chlorophyll content, and microscopic examination of chloroplast ultrastructure revealed severe developmental impairment. Finally, yeast two-hybrid assays showed that GhClpR1 interacts with the Clp protease complex accessory protein GhClpT2. Our study provides a foundation for studying the function of the Clp protease complex and a new strategy for cultivating high-light-efficiency cotton resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reciprocal self‐disclosure has reportedly been associated with increased interpersonal trust. However, existing research mainly focuses on online disclosure between acquaintances and overlooks the types of reciprocal disclosure, especially in the initial interactions between strangers communicating online. This study aimed to investigate how three types of reciprocal self‐disclosure (turn‐taking reciprocity, extended reciprocity and non‐reciprocity) contribute to trust and the mechanism of positive interpersonal liking, and whether any effect was instant and stable or increased across two interactions during computer‐mediated communication (CMC). Participants were assigned to one of the three reciprocal disclosure conditions and engaged in online interactions. Self‐reported and behavioural results demonstrated higher levels of interpersonal trust and liking in the second interaction phase than in the first across all conditions. The turn‐taking reciprocity condition showed higher interpersonal trust than did the extended condition, and higher interpersonal liking than did the extended and non‐reciprocity conditions; this effect was apparent in both interactions. These findings help us understand the relationship between online self‐disclosure and interpersonal trust, suggesting that certain patterns of communication with strangers (e.g., turn‐taking reciprocity) may foster more positive social outcomes during CMC over time, while demonstrating the importance of immediacy in synchronous conversations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a detector that focuses on multi-scale detection problems and effectively enhances the detection performance to solve the problem that is hard to detect minor traffic signs. This detector, called YOLOF-F (you only look one-level feature fusion), is a single-stage detector that extracts multi-scale feature information from a single layer of fusion feature. First, we propose FFM (feature fusion module) to fuse different scales. Next, we offer a new encoder CDE (corner dilated encoder) to enhance the angular point information in the feature map, improve position regression accuracy, and maintain a faster detection speed. Finally, YOLOF-F achieved 74.57% and 77.23% of the AP on the GTSDB and CTSD datasets and reached 32 FPS. Extensive experiments validate that YOLOF-F is faster and more effective than most traffic sign detection methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Observational studies have suggested a suspected association between gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and respiratory diseases, but the causality remains equivocal. The goal of this study was to evaluate the causal role of GERD in respiratory diseases by employing Mendelian randomization (MR) studies. Methods: We conducted Mendelian randomization analysis based on summary data of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and three MR statistical techniques (inverse variance weighted, weighted median and MR-Egger) were employed to assess the probable causal relationship between GERD and the risk of respiratory diseases. Sensitivity analysis was also carried out to ensure more trustworthy results, which involves examining the heterogeneity, pleiotropy and leave-one-SNP-out method. We also identified 33 relevant genes and explored their distribution in 26 normal tissues. Results: In the analysis, for every unit increase in developing GERD, the odds ratio for developing COPD, bronchitis, pneumonia, lung cancer and pulmonary embolism rose by 72% (ORIVW = 1.72, 95% CI 1.50; 1.99), 19% (ORIVW = 1.19, 95% CI 1.11; 1.28), 16% (ORIVW = 1.16, 95% CI 1.07; 1.26), 0. 3% (ORIVW = 1.003, 95% CI 1.0012; 1.0043) and 33% (ORIVW = 1.33, 95% CI 1.12; 1.58), respectively, in comparison with non-GERD cases. In addition, neither heterogeneity nor pleiotropy was found in the study. This study also found that gene expression was higher in the central nervous system and brain tissue than in other normal tissues. Conclusions: This study provided evidence that people who developed GERD had a higher risk of developing COPD, bronchitis, pneumonia, lung cancer and pulmonary embolism. Our research suggests physicians to give effective treatments for GERD on respiratory diseases. By exploring the gene expression, our study may also help to reveal the role played by the central nervous system and brain tissue in developing respiratory diseases caused by GERD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bi 2 MoO 6 (BMO) micro nanocrystals doped with rare earth ion samarium (Sm) were synthesized by hydrothermal method combined with high-temperature calcination method. SEM analysis showed that Sm element was uniformly distributed into BMO microspheres. By comparing the gas sensitivity test results of BMO and different concentrations of Sm-doped BMO, it is found that 4 mol% Sm-BMO has a lower optimal operating temperature. Eight VOC gases were tested and it was found that the sensor has a good selectivity for ethylene glycol, and at 240 °C, The glycol response values were 6.1 and 60.1 for 5 ppm and 100 ppm, respectively. The adsorption and desorption times are 20 s and 78 s. The reason for the improvement of gas sensitivity may be that the successful incorporation of rare earth ion Sm into the lattice of BMO increases the content of vacancy oxygen (O v), makes the sample coarser, changes its band gap energy, induces the effective separation of electrons and holes, and improves the gas sensitivity of Sm-BMO. This work provides a research idea for improving gas sensitive performance of multi-component semiconductors doped with the optimal concentration of rare earth elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, an optical thermometer based on the dual‐emitting fluorescent intensity ratio (FIR) in the visible light (VIS) region has achieved great development. However, there is very little progress in thermometers from NIR light. In this work, a novel optical thermometer based on highly efficient NIR dual‐emission of Cr3+ and Ni2+ in LaZnGa11O19 (LZG) with a magnetoplumbite structure is designed. Utilizing energy transfer from Cr3+ to Ni2+, the dual‐emission shows a wide coverage in the 650–1600 nm region, covering the NIR I and II windows, respectively. The as‐reported LZG:0.3Cr3+ and LZG:0.3Cr3+,0.01Ni2+ phosphors can reach internal/external quantum efficiency (IQE/EQE) of 94%/64% and 77%/53%, respectively. The electroluminescence property and potential applications in spectroscopic analysis, night‐vision, and bioimaging of fabricated NIR‐LED with LZG:0.3Cr3+,0.01Ni2+ have also been investigated. In addition, the designed ratiometric optical thermometer responds to wide temperature ranges (100‐175 K, 200–475 K) and shows a maximum relative sensitivity value (Sr) of 2.4% K−1 at 475 K. The optical performance of absorption in the red region and emission in the NIR region enables the LZG:0.3Cr3+,0.01Ni2+ to become a candidate for NIR optical thermometers in biotechnological applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does health expenditure decentralization improve a nation's health? Should countries care about governance quality when they decentralize healthcare spending to local governments? We answer these questions using cross-country data comprising fifty countries from 1996 to 2018. We find that health spending decentralization worsens health outcomes, which are offset by better governance of government. We calibrate the maximum feasible degree of health expenditure decentralization to have positive effects on health outcomes for a given percentile distribution of governance quality. Countries should be mindful of this negative consequence of health spending decentralization and should ensure that the quality of their governance exceeds a certain threshold to offset this negative externality. We also find that vertical fiscal imbalance is negatively associated with health outcomes, underscoring the role of revenue decentralization in improving the fiscal discipline of local governments by avoiding moral hazard caused by soft budget constraints and the common pool problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pinecone oil (PO) of Pinus koraiensis mainly contains α‐pinene, β‐pinene, and limonene that may ameliorate animal well‐being and growth performance. This study evaluated its effects on feed intake, milk composition and yield, serum parameters, and litter growth of sows. Twenty‐seven pregnant sows (parity 2–4) were distributed to three dietary treatments. The trial started on Day 107 of gestation and ended on Day 21 of lactation. Sows were given either a basal diet or the basal diet + 200 or 400 mg/kg PO. Each treatment contained nine sows and each sow was considered an experimental unit. Results showed that the average daily gain and weaned body weight of piglets from the sows fed 400 mg/kg PO supplements were higher (p < 0.05) than the piglets from the control sows. Lactose content in colostrum samples and fat content in milk samples were higher (p < 0.05) in 400 mg/kg PO‐treated sows, respectively, than those from the sows fed basal diet. Additionally, cortisol concentration and aspartate aminotransferase concentration in sow serum was lowered (p < 0.05) by 400 mg/kg PO on Day 21 of lactation. In conclusion, supplementation of 400 mg/kg PO during late gestation and lactation contributed to greater offspring growth performance, possibly by enhanced milk quality and alleviated maternal stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Proinflammatory necroptosis is the main pathological mechanism of ischemic stroke. Homer scaffolding protein 1 (Homer1) is a postsynaptic scaffolding protein that exerts anti-inflammatory effects in most central nervous system diseases. However, the relationship between Homer1 and proinflammatory necroptosis in ischemic stroke remains unclear. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the role of Homer1 in ischemia-induced necroptosis. Methods: C57BL/6 mice were used to establish a model of permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion model (pMCAO). Homer1 knockdown mice were generated using adeno-associated virus (AAV) infection to explore the role of Homer1 and its impact on necroptosis in pMCAO. Finally, Homer1 protein was stereotaxically injected into the ischemic cortex of Homer1flox/flox/Nestin-Cre +/− mice, and the efficacy of Homer1 was investigated using behavioral assays and molecular biological assays to explore potential mechanisms. Results: Homer1 expression peaked at 8 h in the ischemic penumbral cortex after pMCAO and colocalized with neurons. Homer1 knockdown promoted neuronal death by enhancing necroptotic signaling pathways and aggravating ischemic brain damage in mice. Furthermore, the knockdown of Homer1 enhanced the expression of proinflammatory cytokines. Moreover, injection of Homer1 protein reduced necroptosis-induced brain injury inhibited the expression of proinflammatory factors, and ameliorated the outcomes in the Homer1flox/flox/Nestin-Cre+/− mice after pMCAO. Conclusions: Homer1 ameliorates ischemic stroke by inhibiting necroptosis-induced neuronal damage and neuroinflammation. These data suggested that Homer1 is a novel regulator of neuronal death and neuroinflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) continues to spread worldwide and remains one of the leading causes of death among infectious diseases. The enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase (InhA) belongs to FAS-II family and is essential for the formation of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell wall. Recent years, InhA direct inhibitors have been extensively studied to overcome MDR-TB. However, there are still no inhibitors that have entered clinical research. Here, the ensemble docking-based virtual screening along with biological assay were used to identify potent InhA direct inhibitors from Chembridge, Chemdiv, and Specs. Ultimately, 34 compounds were purchased and first assayed for the binding affinity, of which four compounds can bind InhA well with KD values ranging from 48.4 to 56.2 µM. Among them, compound 9,222,034 has the best inhibitory activity against InhA enzyme with an IC50 value of 18.05 µM. In addition, the molecular dynamic simulation and binding free energy calculation indicate that the identified compounds bind to InhA with "extended" conformation. Residue energy decomposition shows that residues such as Tyr158, Met161, and Met191 have higher energy contributions in the binding of compounds. By analyzing the binding modes, we found that these compounds can bind to a hydrophobic sub-pocket formed by residues Tyr158, Phe149, Ile215, Leu218, etc., resulting in extensive van der Waals interactions. In summary, this study proposed an efficient strategy for discovering InhA direct inhibitors through ensemble docking-based virtual screening, and finally identified four active compounds with new skeletons, which can provide valuable information for the discovery and optimization of InhA direct inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the thermo-elastic behavior of an elliptical nano-inclusion incorporating interface conduction and interface stress effects when embedded in an infinite matrix under plane deformation. The effect of interface conduction is represented by a highly conductive interface model, while that of interface stress is described via the complete version of the Gurtin–Murdoch model with the residual interface tension. Based on the complex variable method, we obtain, for the case of a constant heat flux applied remotely on the matrix, the uncoupled steady-state temperature field and thermal stress field using conformal mapping and series expansion techniques. We present also a group of numerical examples to illustrate the influence of interface conduction and interface effects on the stress field around the inclusion relative to the aspect ratio and relative stiffness of the inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning powerful discriminative features is the key for machine fault diagnosis. Most existing methods based on convolutional neural network (CNN) have achieved promising results. However, they primarily focus on global features derived from sample signals and fail to explicitly mine relationships between signals. In contrast, graph convolutional network (GCN) is able to efficiently mine data relationships by taking graph data with topological structure as input, making them highly effective for feature representation in non-Euclidean space. In this article, to make good use of the advantages of CNN and GCN, we propose a graph attentional convolutional neural network (GACNN) for effective intelligent fault diagnosis, which includes two subnetworks of fully CNN and GCN to extract the multilevel features information, and uses Efficient Channel Attention (ECA) attention mechanism to reduce information loss. Extensive experiments on three datasets show that our framework improves the representation ability of features and fault diagnosis performance, and achieves competitive accuracy against other approaches. And the results show that GACNN can achieve superior performance even under a strong background noise environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the understanding of underlying mechanism concerning the change in concrete properties after pumping, the effect of pressure (from atmospheric pressure to 15 MPa) on the time-dependent rheological properties of cement paste was investigated by a rotational rheometer with a high-pressure cell. It is suggested that effect of pressurization on yield stress was mainly related to cement hydration. Under high pressure, cement hydration was accelerated and more ettringite was formed, which resulted in a remarkably increased specific surface area of hydrated cement. Moreover, morphology of hydration products changed under high pressure, and longer rodlike precipitated gypsum was formed, which was disadvantage for improving packing density. The higher specific surface area of hydrated cement, longer rodlike precipitated gypsum, and more mixing water consumed by hydration reduced the average separation distance of particles and increased the relative solid volume fraction, thereby resulting in a significant increase in yield stress of cement pastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The protozoan parasite Babesia microti that causes the zoonotic disease babesiosis resides in the erythrocytes of its mammalian host during its life-cycle. No effective vaccines are currently available to prevent Babesia microti infections. Methods: We previously identified a highly seroactive antigen, named Bm8, as a B. microti conserved erythrocyte membrane-associated antigen, by high-throughput protein chip screening. Bioinformatic and phylogenetic analysis showed that this membrane-associated protein is conserved among apicomplexan hemoprotozoa, such as members of genera Babesia, Plasmodium and Theileria. We obtained the recombinant protein Bm8 (rBm8) by prokaryotic expression and purification. Results: Immunofluorescence assays confirmed that Bm8 and its Plasmodium homolog were principally localized in the cytoplasm of the parasite. rBm8 protein was specifically recognized by the sera of mice infected with B. microti or P. berghei. Also, mice immunized with Bm8 polypeptide had a decreased parasite burden after B. microti or P. berghei infection. Conclusions: Passive immunization with Bm8 antisera could protect mice against B. microti or P. berghei infection to a certain extent. These results lead us to hypothesize that the B. microti conserved erythrocyte membrane-associated protein Bm8 could serve as a novel broad-spectrum parasite vaccine candidate since it elicits a protective immune response against Babesiosis and Plasmodium infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the control of a prey species (as an unwanted species) in a predator-prey system. We consider a scenario where there are two control means available and they are applied in a state-dependent impulsive way, meaning that when the population of the harmful species is lower than a preset threshold, no control measure will be implemented; while when it reaches the threshold, the two control means will be used either in alternating order or random order. We formulate a general mathematical model for this scenario to evaluate the effect of such a control strategy by exploring the dynamics of this model. We define a one-dimensional map (Poincaré map) and by using the properties of this map, we derive sufficient conditions for the existence and global stability of an order-k periodic solution. By using the analogue of Poincaré criterion and bifurcation theory, we also establish sufficient conditions for a transcritical bifurcation near the predator-free periodic solution. Finally, we apply the results for the general model to two particular cases from two distinct fields: (I) integrated pest control and (II) tumour control with a comprehensive therapy. For (I), theoretical and numerical results show that the outbreak period of the pest is longer when two pesticides are applied randomly than when the alternating strategy is used. For (II), we find that the treatment frequency of drug rotation strategy is lower than that of no drug change strategy, and that the higher the control intensity, the lower the treatment frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this study, the paper‐containing 1‐methylcyclopropene (1‐MCP) and 100% nitrogen (modified atmosphere packaging, MAP) were used to treat plums during logistics process of e‐commerce (about 24 h). Quality changes of plums were analysed during shelf life at 25 °C and 4 °C for 6 and 12 days, respectively. Results showed that compared with control, 1‐MCP, MAP and 1‐MCP + MAP decreased respiration rate and ethylene production, maintained lower weight loss, higher green (a*) and firmness, maintained titratable acidity (TA) and ascorbic acid (ASA) content, reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation, inhibited polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity and maintained peroxidase (POD) activity. The quality of 1‐MCP + MAP group was the best, followed by the 1‐MCP group and MAP group. Overall, the combination of 1‐MCP with MAP treatments in the logistics process of e‐commerce has potential prospects for application to maintain the shelf life quality of fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inorganic phosphate (Pi) availability is an important factor which affects the growth and yield of crops, thus an appropriate and effective response to Pi fluctuation is critical. However, how crops orchestrate Pi signaling and growth under Pi starvation conditions to optimize the growth defense tradeoff remains unclear. Here we show that a Pi starvation‐induced transcription factor NIGT1 (NITRATE‐INDUCIBLE GARP‐TYPE TRANSCRIPTIONAL REPRESSOR 1) controls plant growth and prevents a hyper‐response to Pi starvation by directly repressing the expression of growth‐related and Pi‐signaling genes to achieve a balance between growth and response under a varying Pi environment. NIGT1 directly binds to the promoters of Pi starvation signaling marker genes, like IPS1, miR827, and SPX2, under Pi‐deficient conditions to mitigate the Pi‐starvation responsive (PSR). It also directly represses the expression of vacuolar Pi efflux transporter genes VPE1/2 to regulate plant Pi homeostasis. We further demonstrate that NIGT1 constrains shoot growth by repressing the expression of growth‐related regulatory genes, including brassinolide signal transduction master regulator BZR1, cell division regulator CYCB1;1, and DNA replication regulator PSF3. Our findings reveal the function of NIGT1 in orchestrating plant growth and Pi starvation signaling, and also provide evidence that NIGT1 acts as a safeguard to avoid hyper‐response during Pi starvation stress in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) and psychological distress are common psychological problems in breast cancer (BC) patients and ultimately affecting their health‐related quality of life (HRQoL). Heart rate variability (HRV) can reflect the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system. However, the pathways through which HRV influences between FCR and HRQoL are unclear. This study preliminarily explored the intermediary role of HRV in FCR and HRQoL in BC patients. Methods: A total of 101 BC patients participated in this study. HRV parameters were measured by a 5‐min dynamic electrocardiogram. FCR, psychological distress and HRQoL were evaluated by the Fear of disease progression simplified scale (FOP‐Q‐SF), Distress thermometer and SF‐36 concise health survey. The intermediary effect model was established to test the intermediary effect of high frequency‐HRV (HF‐HRV) on FCR and HRQoL. Results: FCR and psychological distress were negatively correlated with HRV in the time domain, negatively correlated with HF‐HRV in the frequency domain, and positively correlated with low frequency/high frequency (LF/HF). HF‐HRV had a partial mediating effect on the FCR and physical health and mental health, with effects of 30.23% and 9.53%, respectively. Conclusion: FCR and psychological distress are correlated with HRV parameters in the time domain and the frequency domain, and we preliminarily believe that parasympathetic nerves play an important intermediary role between FCR and subjective physical and mental health. This may provide intervention information for improving the HRQoL of BC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the wide application of intelligent manufacturing and the development of diversified functions of industrial manipulator, the requirements for the control accuracy and stability of the manipulator servo system are also increasing. The control of industrial manipulator is a time-varying system with nonlinear and strong coupling, which is often affected by uncertain factors, including parameter changing, environmental interference, joint friction and so on. Aiming at the problem of the poor control accuracy of the manipulator. Under the complex disturbance environment, control accuracy of the manipulator will be greatly affected, so this paper proposes an adaptive type-2 fuzzy sliding mode control (AT2FSMC) method applied to the servo control of the industrial manipulator, which realizes the adaptive adjustment of the boundary layer thickness to suppress the trajectory error caused by the external disturbance and weakens the chattering problem of the sliding mode control. The simulation results on a two-axis manipulator indicate that, with the presence of external disturbances, the proposed control method can help the manipulator maintain control signal stability and improve tracking accuracy. It also suppressed chattering produced by sliding mode control (SMC) and strengthening the robustness of the system. Compared with other conventional trajectory tracking control methods, the effectiveness of the proposed method can be reflected. Finally, the proposed method is tested in an actual manipulator to complete a practical trajectory to prove its feasibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Internationally, several clinical practice guidelines recommend active surveillance as a nonsurgical management strategy for select patients with low-risk papillary thyroid carcinoma. However, patient's decision making when choosing active surveillance as a management approach is not well understood. Thus, our aim was to examine the barriers and facilitators to selecting active surveillance among patients with low-risk papillary thyroid carcinoma in China. Methods: Thirty-nine participants diagnosed with low-risk papillary thyroid carcinoma were purposively recruited between July and November 2021 for semistructured interviews; 24 of whom rejected and 15 patients chose "active surveillance" as a management approach in our sample. Inductive content analysis illustrated emerging themes. Audit trails, member checks, and thematic discussions were used to assert rigor. Results: Barriers and facilitators were classified as patient-related, disease-related, and external factors. Patient-related factors included patient's knowledge, attitudes, and emotions. Disease-related factors included the response to having cancer, the constant state of being diseased, and perceived value of the thyroid gland. External factors included the residual effects of surgery, the active surveillance protocol, and physicians' recommendations. Conclusions: Patient's acceptability of the active surveillance as a management approach are complex with many influencing factors. The public acceptance of active surveillance as a disease management approach needs to be improved, through the presentation of active surveillance as an evidence-based and optimized dynamic management strategy. Clinicians must address their patients' psychological struggles when patients choose active surveillance and patients require more attention and supportive intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-performance electrodes of activated carbons (PNOACs) with P, N, and O heteroatoms were prepared through a simple one-step phosphoric acid activation method without the need for any dopants or post-treatment. In the preparation procedure, cork biomass material from Quercus variabilis was used as the precursor, and phosphoric acid was used as both the phosphoric resource and the activation agent. The pore structure, morphology, and physicochemical properties of the as-prepared carbons were investigated. In addition, the electrochemical performances of the PNOACs were evaluated using three-electrode and two-electrode systems (symmetric supercapacitor, AS). The results indicated that cork is promising as a low-cost and environmental-friendly precursor for producing high-performance supercapacitors electrode. Furthermore, galvanostatic charge–discharge analysis revealed a specific capacitance of 206 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1, which can be attributed to the excellent hierarchical pore structure (micro-, meso-, and macropores) and suitable pore size distribution of the PNOACs. The specific surface area and total pore volume as high as 515.80 m2 g−1 and 0.29 cm3 g−1 were obtained, respectively. The presence of heteroatoms, namely N (0.81–1.07%), P (0.52–2.06%), and O (15.87–19.18%) content, on the carbon surface resulted in a considerable enhancement in the capacitive performance. Furthermore, a PNOAC sample, prepared at 600 °C with a mass ratio of 1:1, exhibited high long-term cycling stability (84.5%) and an energy density of 15.03 W h kg−1. Therefore, cork is highly promising as an electrode material for supercapacitors to attain exceptional electrochemical performance, as well as provide a new possibility for the utilization and valorization of high-value cork waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: HMGB1 and ER stress have been considered to participate in the progression of pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH). However, the molecular mechanism underlying HMGB1 and ER stress in PAH remains unclear. This study aims to explore whether HMGB1 induces pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) functions and pulmonary artery remodeling through ER stress activation. Methods: Primary cultured PASMCs and monocrotaline (MCT)-induced PAH rats were applied in this study. Cell proliferation and migration were determined by CCK-8, EdU and transwell assay. Western blotting was conducted to detect the protein levels of protein kinase RNA-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK), activating transcription factor-4 (ATF4), seven in absentia homolog 2 (SIAH2) and homeodomain interacting protein kinase 2 (HIPK2). Hemodynamic measurements, immunohistochemistry staining, hematoxylin and eosin staining were used to evaluate the development of PAH. The ultrastructure of ER was observed by transmission electron microscopy. Results: In primary cultured PASMCs, HMGB1 reduced HIPK2 expression through upregulation of ER stress-related proteins (PERK and ATF4) and subsequently increased SIAH2 expression, which ultimately led to PASMC proliferation and migration. In MCT-induced PAH rats, interfering with HMGB1 by glycyrrhizin, suppression of ER stress by 4-phenylbutyric acid or targeting SIAH2 by vitamin K3 attenuated the development of PAH. Additionally, tetramethylpyrazine (TMP), as a component of traditional Chinese herbal medicine, reversed hemodynamic deterioration and vascular remodeling by targeting PERK/ATF4/SIAH2/HIPK2 axis. Conclusions: The present study provides a novel insight to understand the pathogenesis of PAH and suggests that targeting HMGB1/PERK/ATF4/SIAH2/HIPK2 cascade might have potential therapeutic value for the prevention and treatment of PAH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This research investigated the dynamic changes and correlations of protease activity, material texture and flavour compounds during the fermentation (13 days) of crucian (Carassius auratus). Mixed starter fermentation (Enterococcus rivorum and Enterococcus lactis) and natural fermentation were used for the study. Results showed that the protease activity, TCA‐soluble protein and flavour substances were increased with fermentation time and were higher in the mixed fermentation group. The results of relative odour activity value showed that some aldehydes played a major role in the flavour of the product, such as octanal, nonanal and (E)‐2‐nonenal. The correlation analysis showed that protease activity and material texture (hardness and chewiness) had a significantly positive correlation with many flavour compounds (octanal, nonanal, glutamic acid, etc.). This work will provide a theoretical reference for the application of mixed starter cultures and for improving the quality of suanyu by increasing protease activity and changing the texture of the material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to explore the quantitative and qualitative condylar changes following stabilization splint (S.S) therapy, including condylar position, morphology, and bone mineral density (BMD) in subjects with temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Materials and methods: In this retrospective clinical study, we enrolled 40 TMD subjects (80 joints) aged 18 to 35 years, for whom a S.S was used to treat TMD. The 80 TMD consists of 32 masticatory muscle disorders (myalgia) and 48 TMJ disorders (arthralgia). Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) was used to scan the TMJs of subjects pre- and post-treatment for three-dimensional analysis (3D). Using Mimics software v.21.0, quantitative (3D condylar and joint spaces dimensions parameters were measured using linear measurements in millimeters, according to the Kamelchuk method and Ikeda method, while the assessment of anteroposterior condyle position within the glenoid fossa was based on the method of Pullinger and Hollender), and qualitative (a round bone tissue with an area of 2 mm2 in three representative areas according to the Kamelchuk method to measure condylar BMD) pre- and post-treatment. Intra- and inter-group statistical comparisons were performed using the Wilcoxon signed ranks and the Kruskal–Wallis test, respectively. Results: The course of treatment was 6–12 months, with an average of 9.1 months. For the pre- and post-treatment quantitative comparisons, there was a statistically significant difference in the anterior joint space (AJS) and coronal medial space, as well as the condyle length in the myalgia group and condylar width in the arthralgia group. For qualitative measurements, a significant difference was observed in the posterior slope of the myalgia group and the arthralgia group's anterior, superior, and posterior slopes. The inter-group comparisons revealed significant differences in AJS, condylar length, and anterior slope density. Conclusion: In short-term follow-up, the S.S influenced patients with TMD from different origins; it changes anterior and coronal medial joint space, condyle length in myalgia, and width in arthralgia. Furthermore, it improved the condyle bone density more evidently in arthralgia. Clinical relevance: This study highlights the influence of S.S on symptomatic populations with TMD of different origins from a qualitative and quantitative perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonlinear systems constantly suffer from time-varying delays, which cover slow delays and nonslow delays. The existing results were used to impose slow delay conditions and were used to study the control problems, but few pieces of research studies have discussed the case of systems with nonslow delay. In this work, we remove the slow time-delay condition and consider the nonlinear delayed system with complicated polynomial terms. By proposing a dynamic gain method and constructing a new Lyapunov–Razumikhin (L-R) function, we successfully construct a stable controller, which guarantees that the plant is globally asymptotically stable (GAS). An example is utilized to verify the raised control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the characteristics of global coverage, on-demand access, and large capacity, the low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication (SatCom) has become one promising technology to support the Internet-of-Things (IoT). However, due to the scarcity of satellite spectrum and the high cost of designing satellites, it is difficult to launch a dedicated satellite for IoT communications. To facilitate IoT communications over LEO SatCom, in this paper, we propose the cognitive LEO satellite system, where the IoT users act as the secondary user to access the legacy LEO satellites and cognitively use the spectrum of the legacy LEO users. Due to the flexibility of code division multiple access (CDMA) in multiple access and the wide use of CDMA in LEO SatCom, we apply CDMA to support cognitive satellite IoT communications. For the cognitive LEO satellite system, we are interested in the achievable rate analysis and resource allocation. Specifically, considering the randomness of spreading codes, we use the random matrix theory to analyze the asymptotic signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios (SINRs) and accordingly obtain the achievable rates for both legacy and IoT systems. The power of the legacy and IoT transmissions at the receiver are jointly allocated to maximize the sum rate of the IoT transmission subject to the legacy satellite system performance requirement and the maximum received power constraints. We prove that the sum rate of the IoT users is quasi-concave over the satellite terminal receive power, based on which the optimal receive powers for these two systems are derived. Finally, the resource allocation scheme proposed in this paper has been verified by extensive simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Cluster of differentiation 86 (CD86), also known as B7-2, is a molecule expressed on antigen-presenting cells that provides the costimulatory signals required for T cell activation and survival. CD86 binds to two ligands on the surface of T cells: the antigen CD28 and cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4). By binding to CD28, CD86—together with CD80—promotes the participation of T cells in the antigen presentation process. However, the interrelationships among CD86, immunotherapy, and immune infiltration in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are unclear. Methods. The immunological effects of CD86 in various cancers (including on chemokines, immunostimulators, MHC, and receptors) were evaluated through a pan-cancer analysis using TCGA and GEO databases. The relationship between CD86 expression and mononucleotide variation, gene copy number variation, methylation, immune checkpoint blockers (ICBs), and T-cell inflammation score in AML was subsequently examined. ESTIMATE and limma packages were used to identify genes at the intersection of CD86 with StromalScore and ImmuneScore. Subsequently, GO/KEGG and PPI network analyses were performed. The immune risk score (IRS) model was constructed, and the validation set was used for verification. The predictive value was compared with the TIDE score. Results. CD86 was overexpressed in many cancers, and its overexpression was associated with a poor prognosis. CD86 expression was positively correlated with the expression of CTLA4, PDCD1LG2, IDO1, HAVCR2, and other genes and negatively correlated with CD86 methylation. The expression of CD86 in AML cell lines was detected by QRT-PCR and Western blot, and the results showed that CD86 was overexpressed in AML cell lines. Immune infiltration assays showed that CD86 expression was positively correlated with CD8 T cell, Dendritic cell, macrophage, NK cell, and Th1_cell and also with immune examination site, immune regulation, immunotherapy response, and TIICs. ssGSEA showed that CD86 was enriched in immune-related pathways, and CD86 expression was correlated with mutations in the genes RB1, ERBB2, and FANCC, which are associated with responses to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The IRS score performed better than the TIDE website score. Conclusion. CD86 appears to participate in immune invasion in AML and is an important player in the tumor microenvironment in this malignancy. At the same time, the IRS score developed by us has a good effect and may provide some support for the diagnosis of AML. Thus, CD86 may serve as a potential target for AML immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aggregation of alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) is closely related to the occurrence of some neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease. The misfolding of α-Syn monomer plays a key role in the formation of aggregates and extension of fibril. However, the misfolding mechanism of α-Syn remains elusive. Here, three different α-Syn fibrils (isolated from a diseased human brain, generated by in vitro cofactor-tau induction, and obtained by in vitro cofactor-free induction) were selected for the study. The misfolding mechanisms of α-Syn were uncovered by studying the dissociation of the boundary chains based on the conventional molecular dynamics (MD) and Steered MD simulations. The results showed that the dissociation paths of the boundary chains in the three systems were different. According to the reverse process of dissociation, we concluded that in the human brain system, the binding of the monomer and template starts from the C-terminal and gradually misfolds toward the N-terminal. In the cofactor-tau system, the monomer binding starts from residues 58–66 (contain β3), followed by the C-terminal coil (residues 67–79). Then, the N-terminal coil (residues 36–41) and residues 50–57 (contain β2) bind to the template, followed by residues 42–49 (contain β1). In the cofactor-free system, two misfolding paths were found. One is that the monomer binds to the N/C-terminal (β1/β6) and then binds to the remaining residues. The other one is that the monomer binds sequentially from the C- to N-terminal, similar to the human brain system. Furthermore, in the human brain and cofactor-tau systems, electrostatic interactions (especially from residues 58–66) are the main driving force during the misfolding process, whereas in the cofactor-free system, the contributions of electrostatic and van der Waals interactions are comparable. These results may provide a deeper understanding for the misfolding and aggregation mechanism of α-Syn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly efficient luminescence material covering near‐infrared (NIR) I (700–1000 nm) and II (1000–1700 nm) is of great importance for phosphor‐converted NIR light‐emitting diodes (pc‐LEDs) light sources. The lack of ultra‐wide emission NIR luminescent materials that can be excited by cheap blue‐LEDs, suspends the applications of NIR pc‐LEDs. Ni2+‐activated phosphor usually gives an NIR‐II region emission, however, it presents low quantum efficiency due to poor absorption in blue light region. Here, a blue‐LED‐excitable (400–480 nm) LaMgGa11O19(LMG):Cr3+,Ni2+ NIR‐emitting phosphor is reported. Significantly, by constructing energy transfer from Cr3+ to Ni2+, it demonstrates an ultra‐wide NIR emission from 650 to 1600 nm, and greatly improves external quantum efficiency (EQE) from 2% to 53%. Besides, the weakened exchange coupling of Ni2+−Ni2+ pairs leads to an abnormal blue‐shift of Ni2+ emission with increasing temperature. The fabricated NIR pc‐LED gives a high output power of 8 mW at 20 mA with the photoelectric efficiency of 14%, which favors potential applications in night‐vision technology, medical applications, non‐destructive analysis, and spectroscopic analysis. This exploration of Cr3+‐Ni2+ co‐doped strategy for realizing high‐performance NIR‐emitting phosphor provides novel and effective design insights into developing more ultra‐broadband NIR pc‐LEDs based on cheap blue LEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) and mental fatigue are becoming increasingly prevalent as global demographics shifts indicate our aging populations. SCD is a reversible precursor for Alzheimer's disease, and early identification is important for effective intervention strategies. We aim to investigate the association between mental fatigue—as well as other factors—and SCD. A total of 707 old adults (aged from 60 to 99) from Shanghai, China, participated in this study and completed self-reported instruments covering their cognitive and mental status as well as demographic information. Mental fatigue status was assessed by using four items derived from the functional impairment syndrome of the Old Adult Self Report (OASR). SCD was assessed by using the Memory/Cognition syndrome of OASR. A total of 681 old adults were included in the current study. The means of SCD significantly differed between each group of factors (age, gender, and mental fatigue). The general linear regression models showed that SCD increased with age, females scored higher than males, and SCD was positively associated with mental fatigue factors including difficulty getting things done, poor task performance, sleeping more, and a lack of energy among old adults. The study also found that SCD is negatively associated with the high-income group among young-old (aged from 60 to 75) males and associated with good marital/living status with the companion of spouses/partners among young-old females. These results suggest that gender, income level, marital/living status, and mental fatigue are crucial factors in preventing SCD among old adults and are pivotal in developing early intervention strategies to preserve the mental health of an increasingly aging population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer is the most common tumor and the leading cause of cancer death in women. Cuproptosis is a new type of cell death, which can induce proteotoxic stress and eventually lead to cell death. Therefore, regulating copper metabolism in tumor cells is a new therapeutic approach. Long non-coding RNAs play an important regulatory role in immune response. At present, cuproptosis-related lncRNAs in breast cancer have not been reported. Breast cancer RNA sequencing, genomic mutations, and clinical data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Patients with breast cancer were randomly assigned to the train group or the test group. Co-expression network analysis, Cox regression method, and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method were used to identify cuproptosis-related lncRNAs and to construct a risk prognostic model. The prediction performance of the model is verified and recognized. In addition, the nomogram was used to predict the prognosis of breast cancer patients. Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and immunoassay were used to detect the differences in biological function. Tumor mutation burden (TMB) was used to measure immunotherapy response. A total of 19 cuproptosis genes were obtained and a prognostic model based on 10 cuproptosis-related lncRNAs was constructed. Kaplan–Meier survival curves showed statistically significant overall survival (OS) between the high-risk and low-risk groups. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and principal component analysis (PCA) show that the model has accurate prediction ability. Compared with other clinical features, cuproptosis-related lncRNAs model has higher diagnostic efficiency. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that risk score was an independent prognostic factor for breast cancer patients. In addition, the nomogram model analysis showed that the tumor mutation burden was significantly different between the high-risk and low-risk groups. Of note, the additive effect of patients in the high-risk group and patients with high TMB resulted in reduced survival in breast cancer patients. Our study identified 10 cuproptosis-related lncRNAs, which may be promising biomarkers for predicting the survival prognosis of breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Midazolam and α2-adrenoceptor agonists have been widely used off-label as intranasal sedatives for children. The present meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effects of two interventions in pediatric sedation. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched from inception to April 2022. All randomized controlled trials used intranasal α2-adrenoceptor agonists and midazolam as sedatives in children were enrolled. Parental separation, anesthesia induction or facemask acceptance, sedation level, different hemodynamic parameters and adverse events were considered as outcomes. Results: Totally 21 studies with 1,495 patients were included. Only one study reported comparison between midazolam and clonidine met the inclusion criteria, and patients in clonidine group had significantly better mask acceptance compared to midazolam group. Compared with midazolam, using of dexmedetomidine was associated with higher rate of satisfactory parental separation (52.88% vs 75.18%, RR = 0.70, with 95%CI [0.55, 0.90]), anesthesia induction or facemask acceptance (60.92% vs 81.47%, RR = 0.76, 95% CI [0.68, 0.84]) and less incidence of postoperative pain and nasal irritation. Conclusion: Compared with midazolam, dexmedetomidine should be considered as the preferred intranasal sedative option for pediatric patients, since it provides more satisfactory sedative level with less incidence of several side effects. But insufficient evidences about effects of intranasal clonidine and overall low and moderate quality evidences evaluated by GRADE system indicate that superiority of intranasal α2-adrenoceptor agonists in pediatric sedation needs to be validated by more studies with high quality and large sample size in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Camera surveillance is widely used in residential areas, highways, schools and other public places. The monitoring and scanning of sudden abnormal events depend on humans. Human anomaly monitoring not only consumes a lot of manpower and time but also has a large error in anomaly detection. Video anomaly detection based on AE (Auto-Encoder) is currently the dominant research approach. The model has a highly symmetrical network structure in the encoding and decoding stages. The model is trained by learning standard video sequences, and the anomalous events are later determined in terms of reconstruction error and prediction error. However, in the case of limited computing power, the complex model will greatly reduce the detection efficiency, and unnecessary background information will seriously affect the detection accuracy of the model. This paper uses the AE loaded with dynamic prototype units as the basic model. We introduce an attention mechanism to improve the feature representation ability of the model. Deep separable convolution operation can effectively reduce the number of model parameters and complexity. Finally, we conducted experiments on three publicly available datasets of real scenarios (UCSD Ped1, UCSD Ped2 and CUHK Avenue). The experimental results show that compared with the baseline model, the accuracy of our model improved by 1.9%, 1.4% and 6.6%, respectively, across the three datasets. Compared with many popular models, the validity of our model in anomaly detection is verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibacterial wound dressings are promising materials to treat infected skin wounds, which greatly affect the wound-healing process. In this study, tannic acid (TA), a natural antibacterial agent, was successfully loaded by electrospinning into poly(caprolactone) (PCL) fibers in a high concentration. It is suggested that the addition of TA was beneficial for producing uniform and continuous PCL nanofibers. Hydrogen bonds existed between the PCL and TA molecules based on the analysis of FTIR spectra and DSC results. The interactions and continuous network improved the mechanical properties of the scaffolds. Meanwhile, increasing the amount of TA also enhanced the hydrophilicity and water absorption capacity of the scaffold, both of which are beneficial for accelerating wound healing. Moreover, a burst release of the TA in the initial stage and a controlled, steady release behavior over time contributed to the highly antibacterial properties of the PCL/TA scaffolds. The fabrication of the composite scaffold supplies a facile, efficient, and controllable approach to address the issue of antibacterial treatment in wound dressing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The choice between endoscopic surgery and re‐radiotherapy as the main treatment modality in patients with advanced recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma (rNPC) remains controversial. Therefore, in this study, we compared the efficacies of endoscopic surgery and intensity‐modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) in patients with rNPC. Methods: All patients with advanced rNPC (T3 and T4) who underwent salvage treatment were enrolled from January 2009 to December 2020. Overall survival (OS) was analyzed using a log‐rank analysis. Univariate and multivariate analyses of OS were performed using a Cox regression model. Common treatment‐related complications of endoscopic surgery were compared with those of IMRT. Results: The numbers of patients with T3 and T4 tumors were 163 (64.2%) and 91 (35.8%), respectively; 192 patients underwent endoscopic surgery, 51 received IMRT, and 11 received three‐dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D‐CRT). The 3‐year OS of patients treated with endoscopic surgery was 59.3%, which was significantly higher than that of patients treated with IMRT (34.7%, p < 0.001) or 3D‐CRT (43.6%, p = 0.012). Multivariate analyses showed that IMRT was an independent risk factor for OS compared with endoscopic surgery (hazard ratio, 2.068; 95% confidence interval, 1.395–3.069, p < 0.001). Complications of aural fullness (p = 0.001), nasopharyngeal necrosis (p = 0.004), nasopharyngeal hemorrhage (p = 0.004), dysphagia (p < 0.001), and cerebral infarction (p = 0.030) were significantly lower in the endoscopic surgery group than in the IMRT group. Conclusion: Endoscopic surgery may be a more promising salvage treatment than IMRT to maximize survival and minimize treatment‐related complications in advanced rNPC. These results will be significant in deciding the optimal treatment for patients with advanced rNPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]