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Objective: Most paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia (PKD) cases are hereditary, yet approximately 60% of patients remain genetically undiagnosed. We undertook the present study to uncover the genetic basis for undiagnosed PKD patients. Methods: Whole‐exome sequencing was performed for 106 PRRT2‐negative PKD probands. The functional impact of the genetic variants was investigated in HEK293T cells and Drosophila. Results: Heterozygous variants in KCNJ10 were identified in 11 individuals from 8 unrelated families, which accounted for 7.5% (8/106) of the PRRT2‐negative probands. Both co‐segregation of the identified variants and the significantly higher frequency of rare KCNJ10 variants in PKD cases supported impacts from the detected KCNJ10 heterozygous variants on PKD pathogenesis. Moreover, a KCNJ10 mutation‐carrying father from a typical EAST/SeSAME family was identified as a PKD patient. All patients manifested dystonia attacks triggered by sudden movement with a short episodic duration. Patch‐clamp recordings in HEK293T cells revealed apparent reductions in K+ currents of the patient‐derived variants, indicating a loss‐of‐function. In Drosophila, milder hyperexcitability phenotypes were observed in heterozygous Irk2 knock‐in flies compared to homozygotes, supporting haploinsufficiency as the mechanism for the detected heterozygous variants. Electrophysiological recordings showed that excitatory neurons in Irk2 haploinsufficiency flies exhibited increased excitability, and glia‐specific complementation with human Kir4.1 rescued the Irk2 mutant phenotypes. Interpretation: Our study established haploinsufficiency resulting from heterozygous variants in KCNJ10 can be understood as a previously unrecognized genetic cause for PKD and provided evidence of glial involvement in the pathophysiology of PKD. ANN NEUROL 2024;96:758–773 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tests are commonly and heavily used in fundamental engineering courses (FECs) to assess student learning of concepts. With existing literature presenting mixed benefits and disadvantages of testing to students' motivation to learn and documenting widely alternative assessments, the lack of questioning of heavy and common test usage must be addressed to diversify classroom assessment and promote intentionality in test usage. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study begins to address the lack of questioning by exploring and uncovering test usage beliefs and behaviors of seven FEC instructors from two engineering departments in a land‐grant, public, Research 1 university Design/Method: Grounded in the Situated Expectancy–Value Theory (SEVT), we conducted a multicase study. Data include two interviews, course syllabi, and sample tests provided by the participants, and public documents from the institution and departments. We conducted a priori and emergent coding and thematic analysis to identify the beliefs and behaviors before developing individual case summaries for cross‐case analysis to identify groupings. Results: Three test usage groups emerged: enthusiastic, default, and questioning. All test usage groups featured tests heavily in their FECs, resulting in varying alignment between these participants' test usage beliefs and behaviors. Conclusions: Our findings reveal the various factors that can shape FEC instructors' test usage beliefs and behaviors, and the complexity in terms of alignment. This work lays important implications, including laying the foundations for future scholarship on testing in engineering education research and leveraging findings to begin efforts in diversifying assessment approaches and promoting intentional test usage in FECs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Butterflies are important indicator species for evaluating the impact of urbanization on the biodiversity. In order to explore the relationship among the butterfly community diversity, habitat types, and urbanization in Guangzhou. In 2023, based on the urbanization gradient, six sampling lines were selected from the range of 0-2 000 m, 2 000-4 000 m and 10 000 m away, and were divided into the near-natural plant communities and artificial plant communities according to the vegetation forms within the sampling lines. The line transect sampling method was used to investigate and statistically analyze the species and quantity of butterflies. The results showed that a total of 45 species belonging to 32 genera and 8 families of butterflies were investigated in the six sampling lines, with the dominant species being Ypthima balda. The Margalef species richness index, Shannon-Wiener index, Simpson index, Pielou species evenness index and Simpson dominance index of butterflies in the study area were all near-natural plant community sampling lines artificial plant community sampling lines. The number of families, genera and species, Margalef species richness index, Simpson dominance index, Shannon-Wiene index, and Simpson index in the community characteristics of butterfly were positively correlated with the distance from the city center and negatively correlated with the accessibility. The Pielou evenness index was negatively correlated with the distance from the city center and positively correlated with the accessibility. The number of butterflies and the Shannon-Wiene index were significantly influenced by human activities. It could be seen that the habitat types and human activities had important impact on the distribution of butterfly species, and the urbanization had relatively significant impact on the butterfly diversity in Guangzhou. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the age-related changes of the mandibular third molar root pulp visibility in individuals in East China, and to explore the feasibility of applying this method to determine whether an individual is 18 years or older. Methods A total of 1 280 oral panoramic images were collected from the 15-30 years old East China population, and the mandibular third molar root pulp visibility in all oral panoramic images was evaluated using OLZE 0-3 four-stage method, and the age distribution of the samples at each stage was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Stages 0, 1, 2 and 3 first appeared in 16.88, 19.18, 21.91 and 25.44 years for males and in 17.47, 20.91, 22.01 and 26.01 years for females. In all samples, individuals at stages 1 to 3 were over 18 years old. Conclusion It is feasible to determine whether an individual in East China is 18 years or older based on the mandibular third molar root pulp visibility on oral panoramic images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thyroid storm is an acute life-threatening condition of hyperthyroidism that can present with cardiac failure, requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). We present the first case reported of total thyroidectomy successfully performed while on ECMO for thyroid storm in a 32-year-old male. This case highlights the challenges of managing refractory thyroid storm with multi-organ failure. We demonstrate that total thyroidectomy may still be safely performed while on ECMO for thyroid storm, if steps are taken to optimise the patient perioperatively, with careful surgical and anaesthesia planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSP) are neurologic disorders characterized by progressive lower‐extremity spasticity. Despite the identification of several HSP‐related genes, many patients lack a genetic diagnosis. Objectives: The aims were to confirm the pathogenic role of biallelic COQ4 mutations in HSP and elucidate the clinical, genetic, and functional molecular features of COQ4‐associated HSP. Methods: Whole exome sequences of 310 index patients with HSP of unknown cause from three distinct populations were analyzed to identify potential HSP causal genes. Clinical data obtained from patients harboring candidate causal mutations were examined. Functional characterization of COQ4 variants was performed using bioinformatic tools, single‐cell RNA sequencing, biochemical assays in cell lines, primary fibroblasts, induced pluripotent stem cell–derived pyramidal neurons, and zebrafish. Results: Compound heterozygous variants in COQ4, which cosegregated with HSP in pedigrees, were identified in 7 patients from six unrelated families. Patients from four of the six families presented with pure HSP, whereas probands of the other two families exhibited complicated HSP with epilepsy or with cerebellar ataxia. In patient‐derived fibroblasts and COQ4 knockout complementation lines, stable expression of these missense variants exerted loss‐of‐function effects, including mitochondrial reactive oxygen species accumulation, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, and lower ubiquinone biosynthesis. Whereas differentiated pyramidal neurons expressed high COQ4 levels, coq4 knockdown zebrafish displayed severe motor dysfunction, reflecting motor neuron dysregulation. Conclusions: Our study confirms that loss‐of‐function, compound heterozygous, pathogenic COQ4 variants are causal for autosomal recessive pure and complicated HSP. Moreover, reduced COQ4 levels attributable to variants correspond with decreased ubiquinone biosynthesis, impaired mitochondrial function, and higher phenotypic disease severity. © 2023 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parasitoid wasps control pests via a precise attack leading to the death of the pest. However, parasitoid larvae exhibit self-protection strategies against bracovirus-induced reactive oxygen species impairment. This has a detrimental effect on pest control. Here, we report a strategy for simulating Microplitis bicoloratus bracovirus using Mix-T dsRNA targeting 14 genes associated with transcription, translation, cell–cell communication, and humoral signaling pathways in the host, and from wasp extracellular superoxide dismutases. We implemented either one-time feeding to the younger instar larvae or spraying once on the corn leaves, to effectively control the invading pest Spodoptera frugiperda. This highlights the conserved principle of “biological pest control,” as elucidated by the triple interaction of parasitoid-bracovirus-host in a cooperation strategy of bracovirus against its pest host. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that curcumin has a therapeutic effect on diabetic erectile dysfunction (ED), but the exact mechanism of action remains unclear. In order to ascertain the involvement of ferroptosis in diabetic ED and explore the underlying mechanism by which curcumin mitigates ferroptosis in penile endothelial cells under conditions of high-glucose stimulation, we conducted an investigation utilizing a rat model of diabetes induced by a high-fat diet and streptozotocin injection. The 40 male Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups: blank control, diabetes control, ferroptosis inhibitor treatment, and curcumin treatment. After 8 weeks, the erectile function of all rats was evaluated through electrical stimulation of the cavernous nerve. Histological and molecular changes of the cavernous body were analyzed using western blot and immunohistochemistry. Penile endothelial cells were then treated with appropriate concentrations of high glucose and curcumin to explore the mechanism of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) signaling in curcumin's ability to alleviate ferroptosis in endothelial cells stimulated by high glucose. According to research, diabetic rats experience a decrease in erectile function, damaged endothelial cells, and ferroptosis in tissues. However, curcumin treatment has been shown to be effective in improving erectile function and related tissue and molecular changes in diabetic rats. Furthermore, in vitro experiments have confirmed that curcumin can inhibit the occurrence of ferroptosis in penile endothelial cells that are stimulated by high glucose through Nrf2/HO-1 signaling. Curcumin has been found to improve the occurrence of penile ED in diabetic penile endothelial cells. This is achieved by inhibiting the level of ferroptosis, and the mechanism behind this improvement may be linked to the upregulation of the expression level of Nrf2/HO-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Previous studies suggested that the Y-chromosome haplogroups O2-N6-B451-AM01756 and O1a-M119 are two founder lineages of proto-Austronesians at about five thousand years ago. The objective of this study was to investigate the formation of proto-Austronesians from the perspective of the paternal gene pool. Materials and methods: In this study, we developed a highly evised phylogenetic tree with age estimates for haplogroup O2-N6 and early branches of O1a-M119 (M110, F1036, and F819). In addition, we also explored the geographical distribution of eight sub-branches of O2-N6 and O1a-M119, and spatial autocorrelation analysis was conducted for each sub-branch. Results: The paternal lineage combination of proto-Austronesians is a small subset of a diverse gene pool of populations from the mainland of East Asia. The distribution map and results of the spatial autocorrelation analysis suggested that the eastern coastal region of northern China is likely the source of lineage O2-N6 while the coastal region of southeastern China is likely the diffusion center of early branches of O1a-M119. We developed an evolutionary diagram for Austronesians and their ancestors in the past 18,000 years. Discussion: We proposed that the millet farming community in North China is the common ancestor group of the Austronesians and the Han people, while the diverse ancient people in the southeast coastal areas of East Asia form the common ancestor group of the Austronesians and the East Asian mainland population. The demographic history of multiple ancestral groups of the most recent common ancestor group itself in the more ancient period is helpful to understand the deep roots of the genetic components and cultural traditions of Austronesians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present an integrated study of petrology, zircon U–Pb geochronology, whole-rock geochemistry, and zircon Lu–Hf isotopes for the basic–intermediate dykes in the western Gonghe basin, northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. LA–MC–ICP–MS zircon U–Pb dating indicates that these dykes were emplaced in the Middle Triassic (240 ± 1.6 Ma). Geochemically, these basic–intermediate dykes are characterized by enrichments in light rare earth elements (LREEs) and large-ion lithophile elements (LILEs; e.g. K, Rb, and Pb), coupled with depletions in high-field-strength elements (HFSEs; e.g. Nb, Ta, and Ti). These geochemical features, along with the relatively low zircon εHf values (−7.2 to 1.6), suggest that these mafic dykes were originated from enriched mantle metasomatized by subduction-related fluids in a back-arc extensional environment. Literature investigations indicate that Middle Triassic mafic dykes are widespread in central China and are geochemically of arc affinities. Therefore, a regional back-arc extensional event occurred in central China during Middle Triassic time, which was likely caused by rollback of the subducting Kunlun–Animaqin Paleo-Tethyan slab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In previous reports, proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use increased the risk of gout. However, there is no epidemiological study investigating this association. We aimed to examine the potential impact of PPI treatment on the risk of developing gout. Methods: A population‐based case–control study was performed using a Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000 from Taiwan (population 23 million). We identified gout cases and non‐gout controls through propensity score matching at 1:1, which was matched by sex and age. We used a conditional logistic regression model to estimate an odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for gout population versus controls. Results: Esomeprazole increased the risk of gout after adjusting confounding variables (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.3; 95% CI 1.0–1.6). The risk of gout was highest within 30 days of PPI treatment (aOR 1.7; 95% CI 1.4–1.9) and attenuated thereafter. The risk of gout was increased among female users of PPI compared with male users (aOR 2.2; 95% CI 1.7–2.8). The aOR of gout in people with PPI use was higher in middle‐aged individuals (41–60 years: aOR 2.1; 95% CI 1.7–2.7) than in the older group (≥60 years: aOR 1.8; 95% CI 1.5–2.2). Conclusions: Our findings provide population‐level evidence for the hypothesis that PPI treatment is positively associated with the risk of developing gout. Further research on the mechanism underlying this association is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metamaterial-based technologies offer opportunities to realize spin-selective encryption platforms for key encoding, yet the flexibility and controllability of encrypted imaging are not satisfactory well enough. In this paper, we propose a temperature tunable chirality-selective meta-absorber based on the thermal phase change material of vanadium dioxide (VO2). The meta-absorber has the functionality of spin-selective absorption in high temperature, which enables perfect absorption at resonant frequency for one spin state of light, and a little loss for the other, resulting in a significant absorption circular dichroism (CD). The CD can be actively manipulated by ambient temperature (i.e., conductivity of VO2). Importantly, spin-encoded near-field imaging of letters and quick response codes are achieved using the CD effect of VO2 resonators and their enantiomers. The image contrast decreases with the reduction of ambient temperature and disappears at room temperature, which enables thermal-control electromagnetic encrypted imaging and hiding. This work provides a route for the development of tunable chiroptical systems, information encryption technologies, and temperature-control imaging devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies demonstrated Y chromosome haplogroup C2a-M48-SK1061 is the only founding paternal lineage of all Tungusic-speaking populations. To infer the differentiation history of these populations, we studied more sequences and constructed downstream structure of haplogroup C2a-M48-SK1061 with better resolution. In this study, we generated 100 new sequences and co-analyzed 140 sequences of C2a-M48-SK1061 to reconstruct a highly revised phylogenetic tree with age estimates. We also performed the analysis of the geographical distribution and spatial autocorrelation of sub-branches. Dozens of new subbranches were discovered, many sub-branches were nearly unique for Ewenki, Evens, Oroqen, Xibe, Manchu, Daur, and Mongolian. The topology of these unique sub-branches is the key evidence for understanding the complex evolutionary relationship between different Tungusic-speaking populations. The revised phylogeny provided a clear pattern for the differentiation history of haplogroup C2a-M48-SK1061 in the past 2,000 years. This study showed that the divergence pattern of founder lineage is essential to understanding the differentiation history of populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deposition of dust on the surface of a solar panel affects the power generation of the solar panel and even shortens its service life. Thus, it is necessary to evaluate the effect of dust deposition on power generation quantitatively. We designed an automatic dust measurement platform with a micro-weather station that can be installed on the solar panel to evaluate the effect of dust deposition on the solar panel. The platform comprised a glass cover, a programmable logic controller (PLC), light transmittance sensors, and a sliding rail motor, and measured the irradiance and light transmittance every 10 s. We compared the measured values with the generated power of the solar panel. To understand the effect of dust deposition, we installed two solar power generation systems with measurement platforms at the same location. One platform was cleaned daily and maintained a light transmittance of 94%. The other platform was left without cleaning for 3.5 days. Then, measurements were carried out on the two solar power generation systems from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM on a sunny day and a cloudy and rainy day. On the sunny day, dust deposition decreased the light transmittance from 94 to 87.36% (an average of 25 measuring points), resulting in a 2.14% decrease in daily cumulative power generation. On a cloudy day, the average light transmittance decreased to 51.40%, and the daily cumulative power generation decreased by 10.83%. These results confirmed that the effect of dust deposition on power generation was more significant than that of weather, and that cleaning the dust was beneficial to power generation. It was found that the automatic dust measurement platform could be used effectively to monitor dust deposition on the solar panel. The results of this study can be used as the basis for installing and managing solar panels so as to achieve their effective use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study developed and implemented a driving power supply for light-emitting diode (LED) array streetlamps. The power stage was a quasi-resonant (QR)-flyback converter, its input power was the alternating-current power, and the LED array streetlamp was driven by the direct-current output power. The developed QR-flyback converter was operated in discontinuous conduction mode, and the pulse-width modulation (PWM) control chip was used to switch and conduct at the resonant valley of the drain-source voltage on the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) switch to reduce the switching loss. Moreover, the PWM control chip had a disable function, which was connected with a bright and extinguishable control circuit, and the high/low voltage level signal output by the Arduino development board can be used to control the output power of the QR-flyback converter, achieving bright and extinguishable controls for the LED array streetlamp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Objective To study the differences in the clinical features of children with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in different age groups during the epidemic of Omicron variant. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 211 children with COVID-19 who were admitted to the Department of General Pediatrics, Zhongshan People's Hospital, from December 9, 2022 to January 8, 2023. According to their age, they were divided into 4 groups: 1 month-<1 year (n=84), 1-<3 years group (n=64), 3-<5 years (n=29), and 55 years (n=34). The above groups were compared in terms of general status, clinical features, ancillary examination results, treatment, and outcome. Results The children aged <3 years accounted for 70.1% (148/211) of all hospitalized children with COVID- 19, and the 3-<5 years group and the 55 years group had a significantly higher proportion of children with underlying diseases than the 1 month-<1 year group and the 1-<3 years group (P<0.05). Compared with the other three groups, the 1 month-<1 year group had significantly higher incidence rates of dyspnea, nasal congestion/nasal discharge, diarrhea and significantly lower incidence rates of convulsion and nervous system involvement (P<0.05). Moreover, compared with the other three groups, the 1 month-<1 year group had significantly higher incidence rates of increases in bile acid and creatine kinase isoenzyme and significantly lower incidence rates of decreased platelet count, increased neutrophil percentage, and decreased lymphocyte percentage (P<0.05). The 1 month-<1 year group had a significantly higher incidence rate of mild COVID-19 than the 1-<3 years group and a significantly lower incidence rate of severe/critical COVID-19 than the other three groups (P<0.05). Compared with the other three groups, the 1 month-<1 year group had a significantly higher proportion of children receiving oxygen inhalation therapy (P<0.05). Conclusions Children with COVID-19 in different age groups have different clinical features during the epidemic of Omicron variant, especially between the children aged 1 month to <1 year and those aged 51 year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we compare the performances of radio frequency interference (RFI) suppression between radio frequency interference mitigation (RFIM) and frequency-domain adaptive clutter suppression (FACS) algorithms that apply to ionograms for foF2 scaling through true height analysis. We find that the use of RFIM and FACS can both effectively suppress RFIs in ionograms to improve the signal-to-clutter (SCR) of the original ionogram. Overall, the RFI clutter suppressed by FACS is about 5–7 dB better than that by RFIM. In addition, the SCR improvement made by FACS with neighboring range cells in a range of 10–40 is also better than that made by RFIM, which is about 5–10 dB for FACS and 4–8 dB for RFIM, respectively. However, the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of the ionospheric echoes of the ionograms with FACS are about 3–5 dB (2–3 dB) smaller than those of RFIM during daytime (nighttime). Intercomparisons reveal that the correlations of the scaled foF2 values between the original and RFIM ionograms are slightly higher than those between the original and FACS ionograms, while the root-mean-square-error (RMSE) and mean bias of the former are slightly larger than the latter. These results indicate that the use of RFIM and FACS algorithms to suppress RFIs in ionograms can conditionally improve the quality of scaled foF2 using Ke et al.'s autoscaling algorithm. Statistical results reveal that the use of FACS algorithms can result in about a 5–12% improvement in uncertainty and a 9–80% improvement in accuracy, provided that 5–20 neighboring range cells are selected. As for the RFIM algorithm with a threshold of 2–2.5 times standard deviation, the improvements in uncertainty and accuracy are, respectively, about 0.9–10% and 11–90%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dust comprises particles usually present in the atmosphere. The deposition of dust on the surface of the solar panel seriously affects the light transmittance, resulting in lower pow-er generation efficiency and shortening the service life of the solar panel. Therefore, it is important to understand the dust distribution on the surface of solar panels and discuss the influence of dust on the power generation efficiency of solar panels for the efficient prevention of dust deposition on the panel. In this study, to analyze the dust distribution on the surface of the solar panel, the discrete element method was used to establish the contact mechanics model between dust particles and the solar panel. The number of dust particles on the surface of solar panels was calculated at different solar panel inclination angles, wind speeds, and wind directions. The wind speed of 1 and 3 m/s did not affect the dust deposition significantly but the speed over 5 m/s reduced the dust particles from the surface of the solar panel. The inclination angle of 23° influenced dust deposition on the surface of the solar panel. Wind direction did not show a significant effect on dust deposition. The longer the deposition time, the more particles remained on the surface due to the increased force between the particles and the surface of the solar panel. The results from calculation and measurement from transmittance were similar with a different rate of 3.41%. Thus, the result of the proposed calculation in this study provides a basis for de-signing the solar power generation plant and decision-making on the maintenance of the solar panel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Previous studies of archaeology and history suggested that the rise and prosperity of Bronze Age culture in East Asia had made essential contribution to the formation of early state and civilization in this region. However, the impacts in perspective of genetics remain ambiguous. Previous genetic researches indicated the Y-chromosome Q1a1a-M120 and N1a2a-F1101 may be the two most important paternal lineages among the Bronze Age people in ancient northwest China. Here, we investigated the 9,000-years history of haplogroup N1a2a-F1101 with revised phylogenetic tree and spatial autocorrelation analysis. Materials and Methods: In this study, 229 sequences of N1a2a-F1101 were analyzed. We developed a highly-revised phylogenetic tree with age estimates for N1a2a-F1101. In addition, we also explored the geographical distribution of sub-lineages of N1a2a-F1101, and spatial autocorrelation analysis was conducted for each sub-branch. Results: The initial differentiation location of N1a2a-F1101 and its most closely related branch, N1a2b-P43, a major lineage of Uralic-speaking populations in northern Eurasia, is likely the west part of northeast China. After ~4 thousand years of bottleneck effect period, haplgroup N1a2a-F1101 experienced continuous expansion during the Chalcolithic age (~ 4.5 kya to 4 kya) and Bronze age (~ 4 kya to 2.5 kya) in northern China. Ancient DNA evidence supported that this haplogroup is the lineage of ruling family of Zhou Dynasty (~ 3 kya-2.2 kya) of ancient China. Discussion: In general, we proposed that the Bronze Age people in the border area between the eastern Eurasian steppe and northern China not only played a key role in promoting the early state and civilization of China, but also left significant traces in the gene pool of Chinese people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present mineralogical, whole-rock geochemical, Sr and Pb isotopic, and zircon trace elemental and U–Pb geochronological data for the newly-discovered Pengco listvenite in central Tibet, in an attempt to probe the petrogenesis of listvenite and the tectonic environment. The listvenite is composed of magnesite, quartz and minor dolomite and Cr-spinel. Chemistry of abundant protogenetic Cr-spinel in the Pengco listvenite as well as the whole-rock Cr and Ni concentrations and low rare-earth element contents indicates the harzburgite protolith. Addition of Ca and K and redistribution of Si at sample scale suggest that the formation of Pengco listvenite was not an isochemical process. Serpentinization could partly accounts for the enrichments in some fluid mobile elements before listvenitization. The εHf(t) values of xenocrystic zircons in the Pengco listvenite are dominantly negative, suggesting a continental crustal source. The zircon age spectra and high whole-rock initial 87Sr/86Sr values (0.7094–0.7107, and one up to 0.7193) and high 207Pb/204Pb (15.750–15.759), 208Pb/204Pb (39.145–39.215) and 206Pb/204Pb (18.542–18.567) of the Pengco listvenite are similar to those of the Qiangtang continental sediments/upper crust, indicating the terrigenous source of reactant fluids and fluid-assisted solid-state transfer during the formation of listvenite. The Pengco listvenite is likely formed in the forearc extensional environment of the Bangong Meso-Tethyan ocean during the Late Jurassic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have acknowledged how Internet use can lead to increased loneliness, but while Internet use can lead to various types of behavior, less research has been done comparing the effects of different Internet behaviors on loneliness, such as prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Using survey data collected in Singapore, this study finds that online prosocial behavior reduces loneliness only when it enhances satisfaction with life, while online antisocial behavior increases loneliness only when satisfaction with life is unaffected. The findings provide support to the positive effects of engaging in pro-social behavior and suggest that a more reflective use of the Internet, such as engaging only in pro-social behavior, can help contribute to higher life satisfaction among users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anaerobic membrane bioreactors (An-MBRs) are a proven technology in wastewater treatment. However, the operation of anaerobic membrane bioreactors (An-MBRs) is inevitably plagued by membrane fouling due to the action of foulants that hinders its effectiveness. Among the foulants, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) had been identified as the major contributor towards membrane fouling, which suggest that controlling EPS production is crucial towards membrane fouling reduction. Polysaccharide and protein are the two recognized major components of EPS. This explains why in this research, polysaccharide and protein concentrations were used to measure the presence of EPS in the bioreactors. Microbe activator was added into the anaerobic membrane bioreactor (An-MBR) under different dilution factors to assess their efficiencies in promoting the performance of An-MBRs in terms of EPS and membrane fouling control. The An-MBR that was added with 1/500 dilution of microbe activator showed the highest chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency which is 79.47% ± 2.76%, while the other 3 An-MBRs with 1/125 dilution, 1/1,000 dilution and without added with microbe activator had removal efficiencies of 55.09% ± 4.25%, 56.42% ± 3.36% and 53.49% ± 4.09%, respectively. The bioreactors added with microbe activator with the dilution of 1/500 also achieved the highest EPS removal efficiency mainly in terms of polysaccharides. Also, it had the lowest membrane fouling rate during membrane filtration among the An-MBRs. It is speculated that the introduction of suitable doses of microbe activator would contribute a suitable amount of light metal cations into the bioreactor. Right concentration of light metal cations could enhance microbial activities which may help to control EPS productions. For other dilution factors, the performance of An-MBR was not enhanced. This may be due to the excessive or too little concentration of microbe activator would not improve the performance of An-MBR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The propagation of Tibetan Plateau high-elevation towards the Asian interior remains poorly understood. We conduct a series of 2-D viscoelastic plastic finite element models addressing the development of the Liupan Shan fold-and-thrust belt with multiple detachments in the NE Tibetan Plateau. We focus on the spatio–temporal relations of the Liupan Shan fold-and-thrust belt and dynamic mechanisms of growth in the NE margin of Tibetan Plateau during the late Cenozoic. Our models, consisting of a seismically-constrained two-layer-crust (of variable thicknesses) plus lithospheric mantle consider tectonic horizontal contraction and the influence of elastoplastic materials, including Model 1 (only the upper crust is elastoplastic), Model 2 (both the upper crust and the middle part of the lower crust are elastoplastic) and Model 3 (the whole lithosphere is elastoplastic). The results show that Model 1 can only reflect the properties of shallow detachment layer. Models 2 and 3 can better reflect the properties of multidetachment layers and approximately represent the process of fold-and-thrust belt formation and evolution; thus suggesting the importance of plastic rheology in the deep crust. In addition, Model 3 suggests that the pre-existing fault near the Moho below Liupan Shan is activated during the evolution process of ∼8 Ma. In summary, the results embody that the initiation and evolution of the fold-and-thrust belt depend on detachment structures: the deep and shallow detachments control the evolution of surface deformation and fold-and-thrust belt altogether. The simulated surface deformation is generally consistent with actual surface elevation distribution. Moreover, the growth of the Liupan Shan range may represent an expansion of the NE Tibetan Plateau toward the Ordos basin vicinity. Additionally, the tectonically driven uplift of Liupan Shan area supports the general crustal shortening tectonic mechanism of the Tibetan Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple assessment tools are used in arthroscopic training and play an important role in feedback. However, it is not fully recognized as to the standard way to apply these tools. Our study aimed to investigate the use of assessment tools in arthroscopic training and determine whether there is an optimal way to apply various assessment tools in arthroscopic training. A search was performed using PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library electronic databases for articles published in English from January 2000 to July 2021. Eligible for inclusion were primary research articles related to using assessment tools for the evaluation of arthroscopic skills and training environments. Studies that focussed only on therapeutic cases, did not report outcome measures of technical skills, or did not mention arthroscopic skills training were excluded. A total of 28 studies were included for review. Multiple assessment tools were used in arthroscopic training. The most common objective metric was completion time, reported in 21 studies. Technical parameters based on simulator or external equipment, such as instrument path length, hand movement, visual parameters and injury, were also widely used. Subjective assessment tools included checklists and global rating scales (GRS). Among these, the most commonly used GRS was the Arthroscopic Surgical Skill Evaluation Tool (ASSET). Most of the studies combined objective metrics and subjective assessment scales in the evaluation of arthroscopic skill training Overall, both subjective and objective assessment tools can be used as feedback for basic arthroscopic skill training, but there are still differences in the frequency of application in different contexts. Despite this, combined use of subjective and objective assessment tools can be applied to more situations and skills and can be the optimal way for assessment. Level III, systematic review of level I to III studies. Both subjective and objective assessment tools can be used as feedback for basic arthroscopic skill training. Combined use of subjective and objective assessment tools can be applied to more situations and skills and can be the optimal way for assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain calcification is a critical aging-associated pathology and can cause multifaceted neurological symptoms. Cerebral phosphate homeostasis dysregulation, blood-brain barrier defects, and immune dysregulation have been implicated as major pathological processes in familial brain calcification (FBC). Here, we analyzed two brain calcification families and identified calcification co-segregated biallelic variants in the CMPK2 gene that disrupt mitochondrial functions. Transcriptome analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from these patients showed impaired mitochondria-associated metabolism pathways. In situ hybridization and single-cell RNA sequencing revealed robust Cmpk2 expression in neurons and vascular endothelial cells (vECs), two cell types with high energy expenditure in the brain. The neurons in Cmpk2-knockout (KO) mice have fewer mitochondrial DNA copies, down-regulated mitochondrial proteins, reduced ATP production, and elevated intracellular inorganic phosphate (Pi) level, recapitulating the mitochondrial dysfunction observed in the PBMCs isolated from the FBC patients. Morphologically, the cristae architecture of the Cmpk2-KO murine neurons was also impaired. Notably, calcification developed in a progressive manner in the homozygous Cmpk2-KO mice thalamus region as well as in the Cmpk2-knock-in mice bearing the patient mutation, thus phenocopying the calcification pathology observed in the patients. Together, our study identifies biallelic variants of CMPK2 as novel genetic factors for FBC; and demonstrates how CMPK2 deficiency alters mitochondrial structures and functions, thereby highlighting the mitochondria dysregulation as a critical pathogenic mechanism underlying brain calcification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mortality and other clinical outcomes of culture-negative and culture-positive among patients with fungal sepsis have not been documented, and whether antifungal therapy prior to fungal culture reports is related to decreased mortality among patients remains largely controversial. This study aimed to determine the mortality and other clinical outcomes of patients with positive yeast cultures and further investigate the effects of initial empiric antifungal therapy. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted among septic patients using the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC)-IV database. Patients with sepsis were divided into two groups based on first fungal culture status during intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and initial empirical antifungal therapy was prescribed based on physician's experience prior to fungal culture reports within 48 h. The primary outcome was in-hospital all-cause mortality. The secondary outcomes were 30-day all-cause mortality, 60-day all-cause mortality, length of ICU stay and length of hospital stay. Multivariate logistic regression, propensity score matching (PSM), subgroup analyses and survival curve analyses were performed. Results: This study included 18,496 sepsis patients, of whom 3,477 (18.8%) had positive yeast cultures. Patients with positive yeast cultures had higher in-hospital all-cause mortality, 60-day all-cause mortality, and longer lengths of ICU stay and hospital stay than those with negative yeast cultures after PSM (all p < 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that positive yeast culture was a risk factor for in-hospital mortality in the extended model. Subgroup analyses showed that the results were robust among the respiratory infection, urinary tract infection, gram-positive bacterial infection and bacteria-free culture subgroups. Interestingly, empiric antifungal therapy was not associated with lower in-hospital mortality among patients with positive yeast cultures, mainly manifested in stratification analysis, which showed that antifungal treatment did not improve outcomes in the bloodstream infection (odds ratio, OR 2.12, 95% CI: 1.16-3.91, p = 0.015) or urinary tract infection groups (OR 3.24, 95% CI: 1.48-7.11, p = 0.003). Conclusion: Culture positivity for yeast among sepsis patients was associated with worse clinical outcomes, and empiric antifungal therapy did not lower in-hospital all-cause mortality in the bloodstream infection or urinary tract infection groups in the ICU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Gouty arthritis (GA) is an inflammatory disease, and renal impairment may occur to varying degrees with the progress of disease. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an inflammatory marker. In this study, we aimed to explore the association between NLR and renal impairment in GA. Materials and methods: The subjects comprised 499 patients with gouty arthritis (GA) (473 men, 26 women; age range, 39–61 years old) from our hospital. They were divided into a chronic kidney disease (CKD) group (n = 206) and non-CKD group (n = 293) according to the glomerular filtration rate. Blood samples were collected during the gout flares. The differences in NLR, general data, and laboratory indexes of patients with GA between the two groups were compared, such as serum uric acid (SUA), serum creatinine (SCREA), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Results: NLR (3.38 vs. 2.38 (p < 0.001)) was higher in the CKD group, compared to the non-CKD group. Similarly, both SUA (527 vs. 507 (p < 0.05)) and SCREA (122 vs. 87 (p < 0.001)) were higher in the CKD group than in the non-CKD group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that NLR (OR = 1.122, p < 0.05), age, hypertension, and SUA were risk factors for CKD in patients with GA, although HDL and HGB were protective factors. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that the area under the curve of NLR for predicting CKD in patients with GA was 0.646 (95% CI 0.597–0.694). Conclusion: Our data showed that NLR might be an important potential factor for evaluating renal impairment in GA during flares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing session-based recommendations with graph neural networks could capture the item's transition relationship by constructing graph structures from sessions. However, most graph neural networks and their improved models only consider the single transition relationship of items in the session when modeling sessions. As a result, a large amount of effective information is ignored, and the analysis of hidden correlations between items is lacking. Therefore, a session-based recommendation algorithm with graph neural network and multi-source graph information is proposed. In the algorithm, the users' repeat behavior information and item content related information are incorporated into the session graph modeling process, which effectively extracts the deeper complex transformation relationship of items, and aggregates it through linear transformations. In addition, an external attention mechanism is used to obtain the hidden association information of the session sequence items, making the generated session vectors more accurate. The experiments were performed on the real datasets: Yoochoose and Diginetica, and the results showed that the model outperformed the benchmark model. In particularly, it outperforms the state-of-th-eart benchmark model GC SAN, on average by 12.50% in terms of the MRR@20 evaluation metric, and can better predict user's next click items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, phenolic formaldehyde (PF) resin‐based composites were prepared using basalt scale (BS) as a reinforcing agent via a melting‐blending method. The BS surface was treated with hydrochloric acid, and the surface properties were characterized using thermal field‐emission scanning electron microscopy, Fourier‐transform infrared, X‐ray photoelectron spectrometry, and energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. Moreover, the influence of acid‐treated BS (H‐BS) content on the thermal properties, flexural properties, impact strength, and morphology of PF/H‐BS composites was investigated. The thermal stability and glass transition temperature of the composites increased significantly with the increasing H‐BS content. The impact strength tests indicated that the impact strength of the composite with 15 wt% H‐BS was 0.66 kJ/m2, which is 153% higher than that of pristine PF. The scanning electron microscopy results indicated that the PF/H‐BS composites exhibit rough morphology with numerous microcracks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The viral envelope is essential for virus maturation. Virus-mediated syncytium formations are induced by viral envelope proteins that cause membrane fusion of the infected cells. Polydnaviridae (Polydnavirus) are enveloped viruses with multiple nucleocapsids, and virions mature in symbiotic parasitoid wasp ovaries. However, the mechanism governing the envelope packaging of multiple nucleocapsids remains unclear. In this study, we used transmission electron microscopy to examine the process whereby multiple nucleocapsids of Microplitis bicoloratus bracovirus are packaged into an envelope and observed envelope-fusion-syncytium formation in symbiotic wasp calyx cells during virus maturation. The virus maturation process in calyx cells comprised four stages: pre-virogenic stroma, virogenic stroma, assembly, and fusion. Each virus contained a single envelope with one nucleocapsid in the assembly stage; multiple envelopes then fused to form a viral envelope with multiple nucleocapsids (i.e., the envelope-fusion-syncytium) around the envelope fusion core in the fusion stage. The envelope-fusion-syncytium then stabilized the virions that were released into the lumen of the ovary across the calyx epithelial layer. The phagocytic calyx epithelial cells on the border of the calyx and ovary lumen cleared the majority of non-enveloped nucleocapsids. In contrast, non-phagocytic calyx epithelial cells with microvilli and a cuticular line between the ovary wall and the lumen remained intact in the ovary lumen. These results indicate that envelope-fusion-syncytium formation is important for packaging multiple nucleocapsids in bracovirus maturation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioactivity-guided fraction of an extract of Sophora flavescens to identify antibacterial compounds against Acinetobacter baumannii, led to the isolation of two new compounds, (2″R)-5-methoxy-7-hydroxy-8-lavandulylchromone (13) and (2S,βS)-(-)-sophobiflavonoid CE (19), and 18 known flavonoids, (6aR,11aR)-(-)-maackiain (1), (2S)-(-)-8-prenylnaringenin (2), (2S)-(-)-exiguaflavanone K (3), (2S)-(-)-sophoraflavanone G (4), (2S)-(-)-leachianone A (5), (2S)-(-)-kushenol E (6), (2S)-(-)-leachianone G (7), (±)-kushenol F (8), (2S)-(-)-kurarinone (9), (2S)-(-)-kurarinol (10), (2 R,3R)- (+)-3,7,4'-trihydroxy-5-methoxy-8-prenylflavanone (11), (2S)-(-)-isoxanthohumol (12), (2S)-(-)-2'-methoxykurarinone (14), (2 R,3R)-(+)-kushenol I (15), calycosin (16), kuraridin (17), (2S)-(-)-kushenol A (18), and trifolirhizin (20). Their structures were elucidated based on NMR, MS, and CD spectroscopic analysis. Among them, 1, 2, 5, and 15 exerted modest antibacterial activity against A. baumannii, with MIC95 of 128-256 μg/mL for 2 and 256-512 μg/mL for 1, 5 and 15. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemichannels (HCs)/gap junctions (GJs) and immunoglobulin (Ig)-like domain-containing proteins (IGLDCPs) are involved in the innate–adaptive immune response independently. Despite of available evidence demonstrating the importance of HCs/GJs and IGLDCPs in initiating, implementing, and terminating the entire immune response, our understanding of their mutual interactions in immunological function remains rudimentary. IGLDCPs include immune checkpoint molecules of the immunoglobulin family expressed in T and B lymphocytes, most of which are cluster of differentiation (CD) antigens. They also constitute the principal components of the immunological synapse (IS), which is formed on the cell surface, including the phagocytic synapse, T cell synapse, B cell synapse, and astrocytes–neuronal synapse. During the three stages of the immune response, namely innate immunity, innate–adaptive immunity, and adaptive immunity, HCs/GJs and IGLDCPs are cross-activated during the entire process. The present review summarizes the current understanding of HC-released immune signaling factors that influence IGLDCPs in regulating innate–adaptive immunity. ATP-induced “eat me” signals released by HCs, as well as CD31, CD47, and CD46 “don’t eat me” signaling molecules, trigger initiation of innate immunity, which serves to regulate phagocytosis. Additionally, HC-mediated trogocytosis promotes antigen presentation and amplification. Importantly, HC-mediated CD4+ T lymphocyte activation is critical in the transition of the innate immune response to adaptive immunity. HCs also mediate non-specific transcytosis of antibodies produced by mature B lymphocytes, for instance, IgA transcytosis in ovarian cancer cells, which triggers innate immunity. Further understanding of the interplay between HCs/GJs and IGLDCPs would aid in identifying therapeutic targets that regulate the HC–Ig-like domain immune response, thereby providing a viable treatment strategy for immunological diseases. The present review delineates the clinical immunology-related applications of HC–Ig-like domain cross-activation, which would greatly benefit medical professionals and immunological researchers alike. HCs/GJs and IGLDCPs mediate phagocytosis via ATP; “eat me and don’t eat me” signals trigger innate immunity; HC-mediated trogocytosis promotes antigen presentation and amplification in innate–adaptive immunity; HCs also mediate non-specific transcytosis of antibodies produced by mature B lymphocytes in adaptive immunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) is the main characteristic of liver fibrosis, and hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are the main source of ECM. The removal of activated HSCs has a reversal effect on liver fibrosis. Western blot and MTT analysis indicated that curcumol could relieve hepatic fibrosis by promoting HSCs receptor‐interacting protein kinase 1/3 (RIP1/RIP3)‐dependent necroptosis. Importantly, autophagy flow was monitored by constructing the mRFP‐GFP‐LC3 plasmid, and it was found that curcumol cleared activated HSCs in a necroptosis manner that was dependent on autophagy. Our study suggested that the activation of necrosome formed by RIP1 and RIP3 depended on Atg5, and that autophagosomes were also necessary for curcumol‐induced necroptosis. Furthermore, microscale thermophoresis and co‐immunoprecipitation assay results proved that curcumol could target Sirt1 to regulate autophagy by reducing the acetylation level of Atg5. The HSCs‐specific silencing of Sirt1 exacerbated CCl4‐induced liver fibrosis in mice. The deacetylation of Atg5 not only accelerated the accumulation of autophagosomes but also enhanced the interaction between Atg5 and RIP1/RIP3 to induce necroptosis. Overall, our study indicated that curcumol could activate Sirt1 to promote Atg5 deacetylation and enhanced its protein–protein interaction function, thereby inducing autophagy and promoting the necroptosis of HSCs to reduce liver fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A typical characteristics of polydnavirus (PDV) infection is a persistent immunosuppression, governed by the viral integration and expression of virulence genes. Recently, activation of caspase-3 by Microplitis bicoloratus bracovirus (MbBV) to cleave Innexins, gap junction proteins, has been highlighted, further promoting apoptotic cell disassembly and apoptotic body (AB) formation. However, whether ABs play a role in immune suppression remains to be determined. Herein, we show that ABs transmitted immunosuppressive signaling, causing recipient cells to undergo apoptosis and dismigration. Furthermore, the insertion of viral–host integrated motif sites damaged the host genome, stimulating eIF5A nucleocytoplasmic transport and activating the eIF5A-hypusination translation pathway. This pathway specifically translates apoptosis-related host proteins, such as P53, CypA, CypD, and CypJ, to drive cellular apoptosis owing to broken dsDNA. Furthermore, translated viral proteins, such Vank86, 92, and 101, known to complex with transcription factor Dip3, positively regulated DHYS and DOHH transcription maintaining the activation of the eIF5A-hypusination. Mechanistically, MbBV-mediated extracellular vesicles contained inserted viral fragments that re-integrated into recipients, potentially via the homologous recombinant repair system. Meanwhile, this stimulation regulated activated caspase-3 levels via PI3K/AKT 308 and 473 dephosphorylation to promote apoptosis of granulocyte-like recipients Sf9 cell; maintaining PI3K/AKT 473 phosphorylation and 308 dephosphorylation inhibited caspase-3 activation leading to dismigration of plasmatocyte-like recipient High Five cells. Together, our results suggest that integration-mediated eIF5A hypusination drives extracellular vesicles for continuous immunosuppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of being interrupted several times in its long history of operation since 1950, the routine observation of the ionosphere with various ionosondes installed at the Chung-Li ionosphere station in Taiwan has been achieved successively for more than seven decades. In this article, the system characteristics of the latest Chung-Li ionosonde and algorithm developed by National Central University for ionogram scaling and true height analysis, which started to routinely operate in 2020, are introduced. The new Chung-Li ionosonde is a pulse radar that transmits a train of short pulses with respective carrier frequencies between 2 and 30 MHz at a frequency separation of 50 kHz. The duration of an entire frequency sweep is 294.13 s, which is divided into 561 frequency channels. The 16-bit complementary code is employed to increase the signal-to-noise of the reflected echoes. The observational range is from 70 to 1221 km with a range resolution of 3.84 km. We developed an algorithm for the Chung-Li ionosonde to automatically scale the ionogram such that the true height profile of the ionospheric electron density can be retrieved. The observed traces of the ordinary wave (O-wave) and extraordinary wave (X-wave) displayed on the ionogram were first identified and separated by using 2-dimensional autocorrelation analysis combined with the image projection method. The true height analysis used stepwise regression. With the help of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model and Quasi-Parabolic Segment (QPS) model, we carried out true height analysis to retrieve the ionospheric electron density profile based on the O-wave trace. An examination showed that the ionospheric parameters (i.e., foF2, h'F2) retrieved from the automatic scaling algorithm were essentially in good agreement with those obtained from manual scaling. The ionosonde-measured foF2 and hmF2 were also compared with the FORMOSAT-7 measurements made with the GPS radio occultation technique. The results show that the correlation coefficient, root mean squared deviation, and mean difference were, respectively, in ranges from 0.878 to 0.93, 0.73 to 1.06 MHz, and −0.43 to −0.26 MHz for foF2 and in ranges from 0.701 to 0.8, 22.39 to 28.45 km, and −9.28 to 11.06 km for hmF2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laryngeal tuberculosis is rare despite its close anatomical and physiological proximity to the lungs. It constitutes less than 1% of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. The symptoms of laryngeal tuberculosis are non-specific and mimic other laryngeal pathologies. The recent evolving and atypical endoscopic laryngeal features cause a diagnostic dilemma and delay in treatment. In this report, we presented three patients with distinct age and medical history, and hoarseness. Flexible videolaryngoscopy showed similar findings in the three cases, with irregular mucosa involving the entire length of the vocal fold, unilaterally in two cases and bilaterally in one. Mucosal waves were typically absent on laryngostroboscopy examination. The routine workup for pulmonary tuberculosis was unremarkable. The usage of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) and rifampicin resistance (Xpert MTB/RIF) assay that detects Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the tissue biopsy specimens has helped in the rapid diagnosis of primary laryngeal tuberculosis and timely commencement of anti-tuberculous therapy. The clinical course and response to treatment were diverse in which two cases showed good response whilst the third developed disseminated tuberculosis despite optimal therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of new N-((4,5,7-trimethoxy-9,10-dioxo-9,10-dihydroanthracen-2-yl)methylene)formohydrazide derivatives was synthesized through the coupling of hydrazide compound and emodin formaldehyde obtained by a four-step procedure starting from emodin. The Vibrio harveyi inhibition activity of the newly prepared compounds was evaluated. Results revealed that all compounds showed different degrees of Vibrio harveyi inhibition. Among them, compound 7e showed the best inhibition zone diameter and the most potent Vibrio harveyi inhibitory activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laryngeal tuberculosis is rare despite its close anatomical and physiological proximity to the lungs. It constitutes less than 1% of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. The symptoms of laryngeal tuberculosis are non-specific and mimic other laryngeal pathologies. The recent evolving and atypical endoscopic laryngeal features cause a diagnostic dilemma and delay in treatment. In this report, we presented three patients with distinct age and medical history, and hoarseness. Flexible videolaryngoscopy showed similar findings in the three cases, with irregular mucosa involving the entire length of the vocal fold, unilaterally in two cases and bilaterally in one. Mucosal waves were typically absent on laryngostroboscopy examination. The routine workup for pulmonary tuberculosis was unremarkable. The usage of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) and rifampicin resistance (Xpert MTB/RIF) assay that detects Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the tissue biopsy specimens has helped in the rapid diagnosis of primary laryngeal tuberculosis and timely commencement of anti-tuberculous therapy. The clinical course and response to treatment were diverse in which two cases showed good response whilst the third developed disseminated tuberculosis despite optimal therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly heterogeneous breast cancer subtype with a poor prognosis due to its extremely aggressive nature and lack of effective treatment options. This study aims to summarize the current hotspots of TNBC research and evaluate the TNBC research trends, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Methods: Scientific publications of TNBC-related studies from January 1, 2010 to October 17, 2020 were obtained from the Web of Science database. The BICOMB software was used to obtain the high-frequency keywords layout. The gCLUTO was used to produce a biclustering analysis on the binary matrix of word-paper. The co-occurrence and collaboration analysis between authors, countries, institutions, and keywords were performed by VOSviewer software. Keyword burst detection was performed by CiteSpace. Results: A total of 12,429 articles related to TNBC were identified. During 2010-2020, the most productive country/region and institution in TNBC field was the USA and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, respectively. Cancer Research, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Annals of Oncology were the first three periodicals with maximum publications in TNBC research. Eight research hotspots of TNBC were identified by co-word analysis. In the core hotspots, research on neoadjuvant chemotherapy, paclitaxel therapy, and molecular typing of TNBC is relatively mature. Research on immunotherapy and PARP inhibitor for TNBC is not yet mature but is the current focus of this field. Burst detection of keywords showed that studies on TNBC proteins and receptors, immunotherapy, target, and tumor cell migration showed bursts in recent three years. Conclusion: The current study revealed that TNBC studies are growing. Attention should be paid to the latest hotspots, such as immunotherapy, PARP inhibitors, target, and TNBC proteins and receptors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A GaN high‐electron‐mobility transistor (HEMT) with a wide‐bandwidth operational amplifier was employed to implement and develop a two‐mode‐operation transconductance regulator (TMOTR). Using the proposed TMOTR, the laser diode can be operated in either the continuous constant‐current mode to fulfill a continuous‐wave laser or pulse‐width modulation (PWM) to achieve a narrow‐pulsed laser. When the laser diode is operated in PWM mode and at high frequency, the parasitic elements of the GaN HEMT, laser diodes, printed circuit board, and power wires must be considered, because these parasitic elements can influence the rising‐edge slope of the laser diode driving current resulting in narrow‐pulsed duty cycle diminution. This study applied equivalent circuit models of a GaN HEMT and laser diode to determine the parasitic parameters in accordance with device packages; therefore, the simulation circuit of the TMOTR with its parasitic element could be implemented to obtain the critical simulation waveform. The parasitic element parameters of the laser diode and GaN HEMT were calculated in detail and used simulation software to verify the TMOTR's characteristics. Finally, the TMOTR prototype was implemented, and the experimental waveforms were measured to confirm simulations, equivalent circuits, and dynamic responses; the GaN HEMT and MOSFET were experimented to compare their differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The liquid cooling plate technology is one of the most promising technologies to solve the thermal management problems of high-power chips. The liquid cooling plate with fins has the advantages of low flow resistance and low thermal resistance, and thus has received wide attention. However, the fins applied to the liquid cooling plate are mostly solid, and the influence of hollow staggered fins on the heat dissipation capacity and pressure drop characteristics has not been systematically studied. In this paper, hollow staggered fins were designed and numerical simulations were used to study the effects of inlet temperature and flow rate on the flow heat transfer characteristics of the liquid cooling plate. The simulation results showed that the hollow staggered fin liquid cooling plate had good heat dissipation performance. And the temperature un-uniformity decreased gradually with the increase of inlet temperature, while the decreasing trend slowed down. The increase of flow rate had a significant effect on reducing the average thermal resistance. When the inlet flow rate exceeded 1.2 L/min, the average thermal resistance of the liquid cooling plate was lower than 0.04°C/W. However, the flow resistance also increased with the increase of flow rate. When the flow rate was up to 1.7 L/min, the vortex was formed in the fluid outlet area and the reflux zone was generated, which was not conducive to the cooling effect of the liquid cooling plate, and the flow resistance increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the Neo-Tethys subduction initiated has been a subject of debate, perhaps due to the lack of reliable evidence. This paper reports geochronological, geochemical, and Hf isotopic data for recently identified gabbro as well as diorite exposed in the Chanv area of the Gangdese in the southernmost margin of the western Lhasa block, western China. Zircon U–Pb dating indicates the Chanv magmatic rocks formed in two stages: latest Permian (gabbro, 254.8 ± 1.5 Ma) and Late Triassic (gabbro, 214.2 ± 2.0 Ma; diorite, 202.8 ± 1.1 Ma). Geochemical and Hf isotopic analyses reveal that the Chanv magmatic rocks of both stages have contrasting characters. The latest Permian gabbro has apparently higher TiO2 concentrations (> 3 wt.%) than the Late Triassic gabbro (0.86–1.24 wt.%). Although they all are enriched in light rare-earth elements (LREEs), the latest Permian gabbro displays no depletions in Nb and Ta, while the Late Triassic gabbro and diorite are apparently depleted in these two elements. In addition, the zircons from the latest Permian gabbro are all characterized by positive εHf(t) values whereas those from the Late Triassic gabbro dominantly by negative εHf(t) values. Conventional plots using multi-elements or elemental ratios all indicate the latest Permian gabbro has inherent resemblance to intraplate oceanic-island basalt (OIB) whereas the Late Triassic gabbro and diorite are of distinct arc affinity. Therefore, The Chanv latest Permian–Late Triassic magmatic rocks testify a switch of the tectonic environment in the southernmost Eurasian margin from latest Permian post-break-up to Late Triassic arc-related setting and thus constrain the initiation of the Neo-Tethys subduction between 255 Ma and 214 Ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a method to monitor coherent electron wave packet (CEWP) excitation dynamics with two-color attosecond laser pulses. Simulations are performed on aligned H+ 2 by numerically solving the three-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation with combinations of a resonant linearly polarized λl = 100/70 nm pump pulse and a circularly polarized λc = 5 nm attosecond probe pulse. It is found that time dependent diffraction patterns in molecular frame photoelectron angular distributions (MFPADs) produced by the circular probe pulse exhibit sensitivity to the molecular alignments and time-dependent geometry of the CEWPs during and after the coherent excitation between the ground and excited states induced by the linear pump pulse. The time dependent MFPADs are described by an ultrafast diffraction model for the ionization of the bound CEWPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the chaotic synchronization problem of two neuron models with different structures, the dynamical behaviours of Fitzhugh-Nagumo (FHN) neurons and Morris-Lecar (ML) neurons are studied respectively. Based on Lyapunov tability theory, a controller is designed by using the method of projection synchronization, and the chaotic synchronization of wo neuron models with different structures is realized by the controller. The neural synchronization system is applied to chaotic secure communication, and the simulation results verifies its effectiveness and reliability in secure communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]