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To explore the security performance of logistics data transmission in an Intelligent Logistics System (ILS) under the Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain (BC), IoT is introduced to optimize the logistics transportation process. First, BC is adopted to improve the ILS under IoT, and ILS under IoT combined with BC is established. Next, an analysis of the relationship between the information service provider and the transportation provider in the logistics transaction process is conducted to perform data analysis and to establish an incentive mechanism for logistics transportation under BC. Finally, the simulation analysis of the constructed model is implemented. The results reveal that the constructed model is highly efficient. It can effectively solve the traceability problem of logistics transaction information, and the calculation cost is stable within 1,000 ms. In the comparative analysis of system transmission performance, the model exhibits outstanding results in transmission latency, consistently maintaining an average delay of approximately 350 ms. This stability is primarily attributed to the seamless integration of BC technology, which optimizes data packet transmission paths and mitigates waiting time. Furthermore, the system efficiently manages high data volumes while upholding robust data processing capabilities, owing to the optimization of smart contracts and decentralized storage mechanisms. As for energy consumption, the model notably reduces overall energy usage within the logistics network by curtailing unnecessary data transmission and computation, particularly in mobile nodes and wireless communication channels. The proposed algorithm excels across various transmission metrics, including transmission delay, data successful acceptance rate, network throughput, and energy consumption are all shown to be the best transmission performance of the proposed algorithm, in which the data successful acceptance rate is close to 1. As a result, the developed ILS model not only guarantees low latency performance but also demonstrates high data transmission security, facilitating more efficient and precise real-time information transmission. In this study, within the ILS framework, the relationship between information service providers and transportation service providers is established through BC, and an incentive mechanism is constructed. However, some shortcomings in this incentive mechanism are recognized. For instance, during the initial stages of BC integration, there are issues of information asymmetry concerning factors such as credit, transportation capacity, and effort level. Moreover, the open access policy of couriers in the model raises concerns, as the access policy itself constitutes sensitive information, which may result in privacy breaches. Hence, as part of future work, the introduction of attribute encryption schemes is planned to obfuscate access policies, thereby safeguarding the privacy of logistics personnel's access policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Wheat crown rot (WCR), primarily caused by Fusarium pseudograminearum has become more and more prevalent in winter wheat areas in China. However, limited fungicides have been registered for the control of WCR in China so far. Pyraclostrobin is a representative quinone outside inhibitor (QoI) with excellent activity against Fusarium spp. There is currently limited research on the resistance risk and resistance mechanism of F. pseudograminearum to pyraclostrobin. RESULTS: Here, we determined the activity of pyraclostrobin against F. pseudograminearum. The EC50 values ranged from 0.022 to 0.172 μg mL−1 with an average EC50 value of 0.071 ± 0.030 μg mL−1. Four highly pyraclostrobin‐resistant mutants were obtained from two sensitive strains by ultraviolet (UV) mutagenesis in the laboratory. The mutants showed decreased mycelial growth rate and virulence as compared with the corresponding wild‐type strains, indicating that pyraclostrobin resistance suffered a fitness penalty in F. pseudograminearum. It was found that the high resistance of four mutants was caused by the G143S mutation in Cytb. Molecular docking analysis also further confirms that the G143S mutation in Cytb decreased the binding affinity between pyraclostrobin and Cytb. CONCLUSION: The resistance risk of F. pseudograminearum to pyraclostrobin could be low to medium. Although a mutation at the G143S position of Cytb could potentially occur, this mutation decreases the fitness of the mutant, which may reduce its survival in the environment. Therefore, the negative consequences of a possible mutation are lower. This makes pyraclostrobin a good candidate for controlling crown rot in wheat. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flows can reflect the spatiotemporal interactions or movements of geographical objects between different locations. Measuring the spatiotemporal autocorrelation of flows can help determine the overall spatiotemporal trends and local patterns. However, quantitative indicators of flows used to measure spatiotemporal autocorrelation both globally and locally are still rare. Therefore, we propose the global and local flow spatiotemporal Moran's I (FSTI). The global FSTI is used to assess the overall spatiotemporal autocorrelation degree of flows, and the local FSTI is applied to identify local spatiotemporal clusters and outliers. In the FSTI, to reflect flow spatiotemporal adjacency relationships, we establish flow spatiotemporal weights by multiplying the spatial and temporal weights of flows considering spatiotemporal orthogonality. The flow spatial weights include contiguity‐based (considering first/higher‐order and common border) and Euclidean distance‐based weights. The temporal weights consider ordinary and lagged cases. As flow attributes may follow a long‐tail distribution, we conduct Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the statistical significance of the results. We assess the FSTI using synthetic datasets and Chinese population mobility datasets, and compare some results with those of recent flow‐related methods. Additionally, we perform a sensitivity analysis to select a suitable temporal threshold. The results show that the FSTI can be used to effectively detect spatiotemporal variations in the autocorrelation degree and type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atherosclerosis, characterized by the accumulation of lipid plaques on the inner walls of arteries, is the leading cause of heart attack, stroke and severe ischemic injuries. Senescent cells have been found to accumulate within atherosclerotic lesions and contribute to the progression of atherosclerosis. In our previous study, we discovered that suppressing Larp7 accelerates senescence by inhibiting Sirt1 activity, resulting in increased atherosclerosis in high‐fat diet (HFD) fed and ApoE deficient (ApoEKO) mice. However, there has been no direct evidence demonstrating Larp7 per se could attenuate atherosclerosis. To this end, we generated a tetO‐controlled and Cre‐activated Larp7 gain‐of‐function mouse. Through RT‐PCR and western blotting, we confirmed Larp7 overexpression in the aortas of HFD‐fed ApoEKO; Larp7tetO mice. Larp7 overexpression led to increased Sirt1 activity and decreased cellular senescence signals mediated by p53/p65 in the aortas. Additionally, Larp7 overexpression reduced the presence of p16‐positive senescent cells in the aortic lesions. Furthermore, Larp7 overexpression resulted in a decrease in pro‐inflammatory macrophages and SASP factors. Consequently, Larp7 overexpression led to a reduction in the area of atherosclerotic lesions in HFD‐fed ApoEKO; Larp7tetO mice. In summary, our study provides evidence that Larp7 overexpression holds promise as an approach to inhibit cellular senescence and prevent atherosclerosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lung cancer (LC) is one of the most devastating diseases worldwide, there is growing studies confirm the role of impaired lung function in LC susceptibility. Moreover, gut microbiota dysbiosis is associated with LC severity. Whether alterations in gut microbiota and metabolites are associated with long-term lung dysfunction in LC patients remain unclear. Our study aimed to analyze the risk factors in LC patients with impaired pulmonary function based on the characteristics of the gut microbiome and metabolites. Methods: Fecal samples from 55 LC patients and 28 benign pulmonary nodules patients were collected. Pulmonary ventilation function was graded according to the American Thoracic Society/ European Respiratory Society (ATS/ERS) method. LC patients were divided into 3 groups, including 20 patients with normal lung ventilation, 23 patients with mild pulmonary ventilation dysfunction and 12 patients with moderate or above pulmonary ventilation dysfunction. The fecal samples were analyzed using 16 S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and metabolomics. Results: The gut microbiome composition between LC patients and benign pulmonary nodules patients presented clearly differences based on Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA). Pulmonary ventilation function was positively correlated with LC tumor stage, the richness and diversity of the gut microbiota in LC patients with moderate or above pulmonary ventilation dysfunction increased significantly, characterized by increased abundance of Subdoligranulum and Romboutsia. The metabolomics analysis revealed 69 differential metabolites, which were mainly enriched in beta-Alanine metabolism, styrene degradation and pyrimidine metabolism pathway. The area under the curve (AUC) combining the gut microbiome and metabolites was 90% (95% CI: 79-100%), indicating that the two species and four metabolites might regarded as biomarkers to assess the prediction of LC patients with impaired pulmonary function. Conclusions: Our results showed that microbiome and metabolomics analyses provide important candidate to be used as clinically diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets related to lung cancer with impaired pulmonary function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flows are usually represented as vector lines from origins to destinations and can reflect the movements of individuals or groups in space and time. Revealing and analyzing the spatiotemporal flow patterns are conducive to understanding information underlying movements. This paper proposes a new method called the OD – EOF (Origin – Destination – Empirical Orthogonal Function) to discover important spatiotemporal flow patterns on the premise of maintaining the pairwise connections between origins and destinations. We first construct a spatiotemporal flow matrix that contains connection information between origins and destinations and temporal flow information by adding a temporal dimension to the OD map. Then, we decompose the spatiotemporal flow matrix into spatial modes and corresponding time coefficients by EOF decomposition. The decomposition results depict the prominent spatial distribution of and temporal variation in flows, with most of the spatiotemporal characteristics highly concentrated into the first few spatial modes. The method is evaluated by five synthetic datasets and a user study and subsequently applied to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the spatiotemporal patterns of human mobility in China during the Spring Festival travel rush in 2020 and 2021. The results show the prominent spatiotemporal patterns of human mobility during these periods under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and the normalization of pandemic prevention and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The original EEG data collected are the 1D sequence, which ignores spatial topology information; Feature Pyramid Networks (FPN) is better at small dimension target detection and insufficient feature extraction in the scale transformation than CNN. We propose a method of FPN and Long Short-Term Memory (FPN-LSTM) for EEG feature map-based emotion recognition. According to the spatial arrangement of brain electrodes, the Azimuth Equidistant Projection (AEP) is employed to generate the 2D EEG map, which preserves the spatial topology information; then, the average power, variance power, and standard deviation power of three frequency bands (α , β , and γ) are extracted as the feature data for the EEG feature map. BiCubic interpolation is employed to interpolate the blank pixel among the electrodes; the three frequency bands EEG feature maps are used as the G, R, and B channels to generate EEG feature maps. Then, we put forward the idea of distributing the weight proportion for channels, assign large weight to strong emotion correlation channels (AF3, F3, F7, FC5, and T7), and assign small weight to the others; the proposed FPN-LSTM is used on EEG feature maps for emotion recognition. The experiment results show that the proposed method can achieve Value and Arousal recognition rates of 90.05% and 90.84%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: ASPECTS is a simple, rapid, and semi-quantitative method for detecting early ischemic changes (EIC). However, the agreement between software applications and neuroradiologists varies greatly. Purpose: To compare ASPECTS calculated by using automated software tools to neuroradiologists evaluation in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Material and Methods: Retrospectively, 61 patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO) who underwent multimodal stroke computed tomography (CT) were evaluated using two automated ASPECTS software tools (NSK and RAPID) and three neuroradiologists with different experiences (two senior neuroradiologists and one junior neuroradiologist). Four weeks later, the same three neuroradiologists re-evaluated the ASPECTS in consensus using the baseline CT and follow-up non-contrast CT (NCCT). Interclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and Pearson correlation coefficients were applied for statistical analysis. Results: The HU value exhibited the greatest correlation in the insular lobe (r = 0.81; P < 0.001) and the lowest correlation in the internal capsule (r = 0.65; P < 0.001) between NSK and RAPID. Software analysis and human readers showed excellent agreement with the consensus reading. Compared with the consensus reading, the correlation of the two senior radiologists (ICC = 0.975 and 0.969, respectively) were higher than that of junior radiologist (ICC = 0.869), and the consistency values of the NSK and RAPID software tools after 6 h of onset to imaging (ICC = 0.894 and 0.874, respectively) were greater than those within 6 h of onset (ICC = 0.746 and 0.828, respectively). Conclusion: For patients experiencing AIS due to LVO, the ASPECTS calculated with automated software agrees well with the predefined consensus score but is inferior to that of senior radiologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of three-dimensional copper oxide (CuO) inverse opals anchored with carboxylated graphene quantum dots (CuO/cGQDs) have been fabricated for non-enzymatic tracking of dopamine (DA). Heterostructures composed of various building blocks are promising to construct versatile biosensing platforms. The optimal CuO/cGQDs modified electrode demonstrates sensitivities of 243.45 μA mM−1 cm−2 (50 nM–1888.5 μM) with the practical detection limit as low as 0.5 nM in mimic physiological environment (at + 0.45 V vs. Ag/AgCl). The extraordinary tolerance to various interferents enables the practical detection of intracellular DA amount in human neural cells. On this basis, the proposed biosensor attains precise evaluation of antipsychotic drug effects on stimulated DA release. Particularly, it successfully spots fluctuation of DA in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid in murine model of Parkinson's disease, which serves as a crucial tool to understand neuropathology and symptomatology of DA-related diseases. This study developed a reliable sensing platform and is expected to be applied to physiological and pathological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To identify the anatomical morphology of levator ani (LA) in primigravidae at term pregnancy and its natural process of changing after delivery. Methods: Forty‐one primigravidae (vaginal delivery: 29 women, cesarean delivery in the first stage of labor: 12 women) underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at full‐term pregnancy, 6 weeks and 10 months postpartum. Three‐dimensional (3‐D) model of LA created from MRI data using Mimics v.21.0 software and source images were assessed to determine the morphology. LA volume (LVOL) was calculated and used as indicator of muscle atrophy. Results: Decrease of levator hiatus length (LH‐L) was shown in both groups since 6 weeks postpartum. In the vaginal delivery group, the differences in LVOL between time points were significant (p < 0.05), showing a persistent decreasing tendency. Puborectalis attachment width (PAW) on the left was the smallest at 6 weeks postpartum (p < 0.05). LA avulsion and significant 2‐D morphological change after delivery were only observed in this group (p < 0.05); In the cesarean section group, smaller LVOL was found at 6 weeks postpartum comparing with full‐term pregnancy (p < 0.05); Larger levator‐symphysis gap (LSG) and levator hiatus width (LH‐W), smaller PAW were observed in vaginal delivery group comparing with cesarean section group at 6 weeks postpartum (p < 0.05), but none of the values exhibited between‐group differences (p > 0.05) at 10 months postpartum. No other comparisons were considered significant (p >0.05). Conclusions: Vaginal delivery, or even active labor itself may both lead to LA atrophy. And the morphology of LA is basically similar in different delivery modes at 10 months postpartum once the onset of labor has occurred, even though it changes more complicatedly after vaginal delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ideal neural interface or scaffold for stem cell therapy shall have good biocompatibility promoting survival, maturation and integration of neural stem cells (NSCs) in targeted brain regions. The unique electrical, hydrophilic and surface-modifiable properties of Ti3C2Tx MXene make it an attractive substrate, but little is known about how it interacts with NSCs during development and maturation. Results: In this study, we cultured NSCs on Ti3C2Tx MXene and examined its effects on morphological and electrophysiological properties of NSC-derived neurons. With a combination of immunostaining and patch-clamp recording, we found that Ti3C2Tx MXene promotes NSCs differentiation and neurite growth, increases voltage-gated current of Ca2+ but not Na+ or K+ in matured neurons, boosts their spiking without changing their passive membrane properties, and enhances synaptic transmission between them. Conclusions: These results expand our understanding of interaction between Ti3C2Tx MXene and NSCs and provide a critical line of evidence for using Ti3C2Tx MXene in neural interface or scaffold in stem cell therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief analyzes the robust secure consensus control problem for linear multi-agent systems under random Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks and external disturbances. When agents communicate with its neighbors, a malicious attacker randomly carries out DoS attacks to certain communication channels in the network, thereby causing the communication topology to be Markovian switching. Solely depending on the immediate partial information per node rather than global information, a fully distributed robust secure consensus protocol is put forward under DoS attacks and external disturbances by using the Lyapunov function analysis. A simulation case of leader-follower formation is taken to explain the efficiency of the consensus algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We aim to propose a deep learning-based method of automated segmentation of eight brain anatomical regions in head computed tomography (CT) images obtained during positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans. The brain regions include basal ganglia, cerebellum, hemisphere, and hippocampus, all split into left and right. Materials and methods: We enrolled patients who underwent both PET/CT imaging (with an extra head CT scan) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The segmentation of eight brain regions in CT was achieved by using convolutional neural networks (CNNs): DenseVNet and 3D U-Net. The same segmentation task in MRI was performed by using BrainSuite13, which was a public atlas label method. The mean Dice scores were used to assess the performance of the CNNs. Then, the agreement and correlation of the volumes of the eight segmented brain regions between CT and MRI methods were analyzed. Results: 18 patients were enrolled. Four of the eight brain regions obtained high mean Dice scores (> 0.90): left (0.978) and right (0.912) basal ganglia and left (0.945) and right (0.960) hemisphere. Regarding the agreement and correlation of the brain region volumes between two methods, moderate agreements were observed on the left (ICC: 0.618, 95% CI 0.242, 0.835) and right (ICC: 0.654, 95% CI 0.298, 0.853) hemisphere. Poor agreements were observed on the other regions. A moderate correlation was observed on the right hemisphere (Spearman's rho 0.68, p = 0.0019). Lower correlations were observed on the other regions. Conclusions: The proposed deep learning-based method performed automated segmentation of eight brain anatomical regions on head CT imaging in PET/CT. Some regions obtained high mean Dice scores and the agreement and correlation results of the segmented region volumes between two methods were moderate to poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We aim to propose a deep learning-based method of automated segmentation of eight brain anatomical regions in head computed tomography (CT) images obtained during positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans. The brain regions include basal ganglia, cerebellum, hemisphere, and hippocampus, all split into left and right. Materials and methods: We enrolled patients who underwent both PET/CT imaging (with an extra head CT scan) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The segmentation of eight brain regions in CT was achieved by using convolutional neural networks (CNNs): DenseVNet and 3D U-Net. The same segmentation task in MRI was performed by using BrainSuite13, which was a public atlas label method. The mean Dice scores were used to assess the performance of the CNNs. Then, the agreement and correlation of the volumes of the eight segmented brain regions between CT and MRI methods were analyzed. Results: 18 patients were enrolled. Four of the eight brain regions obtained high mean Dice scores (> 0.90): left (0.978) and right (0.912) basal ganglia and left (0.945) and right (0.960) hemisphere. Regarding the agreement and correlation of the brain region volumes between two methods, moderate agreements were observed on the left (ICC: 0.618, 95% CI 0.242, 0.835) and right (ICC: 0.654, 95% CI 0.298, 0.853) hemisphere. Poor agreements were observed on the other regions. A moderate correlation was observed on the right hemisphere (Spearman's rho 0.68, p = 0.0019). Lower correlations were observed on the other regions. Conclusions: The proposed deep learning-based method performed automated segmentation of eight brain anatomical regions on head CT imaging in PET/CT. Some regions obtained high mean Dice scores and the agreement and correlation results of the segmented region volumes between two methods were moderate to poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonpharmaceutical interventions, such as social distancing and lockdowns, have been essential to control of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In particular, localized lockdowns in small geographic areas have become an important policy intervention for preventing viral spread in cases of resurgence. These localized lockdowns can result in lower social and economic costs compared with larger-scale suppression strategies. Using an integrated data set from Chile (March 3–June 15, 2020) and a novel synthetic control approach, we estimated the effect of localized lockdowns, disentangling its direct and indirect causal effects on transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Our results showed that the effects of localized lockdowns are strongly modulated by their duration and are influenced by indirect effects from neighboring geographic areas. Our estimates suggest that extending localized lockdowns can slow down SARS-CoV-2 transmission; however, localized lockdowns on their own are insufficient to control pandemic growth in the presence of indirect effects from contiguous neighboring areas that do not have lockdowns. These results provide critical empirical evidence about the effectiveness of localized lockdowns in interconnected geographic areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 160 susceptibility loci for colorectal cancer (CRC). The effects of these variants, particularly their mechanisms, however, remain unclear. In this study, a comprehensive functional annotation of CRC-related GWAS signals was firstly conducted to identify the potential causal variants. We found that the SNP rs7229639 in intron 3 of SMAD7 at 18q21.1 might serve as a putative functional variant in CRC. The SNP rs7229639 is located in a region with evidence of regulatory potential. Dual-luciferase reporter assays revealed that three other SNPs (rs77544449, rs60385309 and rs72917785), in strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) with rs7229639, exhibited allele-specific enhancer activity, of which one of the target genes may conceivably be LIPG, as suggested by eQTL association data and Hi-C data. We also verified that LIPG promoted malignancy of CRC cells in vitro, with supporting clinical data indicating that LIPG is upregulated and correlated with a poor prognosis in CRC. Finally, pitavastatin was observed to exhibit an anti-CRC activity and modest inhibition of LIPG mRNA levels. Collectively, our data suggest that these functional variants at 18q21.1 are involved in the pathogenesis of CRC by modulating enhancer activity, and possibly LIPG expression, thus indicating a promising therapeutic target for CRC. The results of functional annotation in our investigation could also serve as an inventory for CRC susceptibility SNPs and offer guides for post-GWAS downstream functional studies. Author summary: In the latest statistics, the incidence and mortality rate of colorectal cancer (CRC) remains high. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have become a powerful tool for identifying genetic susceptibility loci that confer significant risk on disease, and have identified more than 160 risk loci associated with CRC. However, it has proven quite difficult to identify the regulatory variants and target genes involved behind these GWAS signals. Here, we take advantage of multi-omics data and multiple biological experiments to reveal new biological pathways affecting susceptibility to CRC. We show that a specific genetic variant, rs7229639, and three other high linked functional variants (rs77544449, rs60385309 and rs72917785) at 18q21.1 might regulate the expression of LIPG, a gene that was shown to exhibit an oncogenic function by our in-vitro experiments and clinical data analysis. The link between genetic variants, gene expression and CRC phenotype established by us could provide references for follow-up basic and clinical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the association between hyperattenuated lesions (HALs) and postoperative intracranial hemorrhage (IH) and predict perioperative IH through quantitative analysis of HALs in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) with anterior large vessel occlusion (LVO) after endovascular therapy (ET). Materials and Methods: This retrospective, propensity-matched study enrolled AIS who received ET from a single-center registry study between August 2017 and May 2020. The enrolled patients were divided into two groups: IH and non-IH, by follow-up postoperative CT. The occurrences of HALs on immediate CT after ET were also recorded. The association between IH and HALs after propensity score matching (PSM) was determined by binary logistic regression models. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the predictive value of the highest CT Hounsfield units (HU) value on immediate CT. Results: Initially, 1,418 patients who underwent digital subtraction angiography were reviewed and 114 AIS patients with immediate postoperative CT and follow-up CT after ET were enrolled. Forty-nine out of the 114 patients developed IH after therapy. After PSM analysis, patients with IH were more likely to have HALs on immediate CT (Odds Ratio, OR 11.9, P = 0.002, and 95% CI: 2.485–57.284). For 80 patients with HALs, ROC analysis of the highest CT value in the HALs territory showed that the cut-off value was 97 HU, the sensitivity was 70.21%, and the specificity was 81.82%. Conclusions: Patients with HALs after ET are more likely to have perioperative IH. The highest CT value in the HALs area might be used to predict IH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The frequency distribution of winter extreme cold events (ECEs) in North China and the influences of mid-latitude sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) in the Northern Hemisphere are studied. The results show that (1) the frequency of single station ECEs (SSECEs) in winter increases from southeast to northwest, with a decrease before 2008 and then a significant increase. This trend abrupt change occurs in late winter. (2) When the SST in the North Pacific shows an "El-Niño-like" anomaly in winter, it triggers the negative Arctic Oscillation (−AO), positive Pacific North America (+PNA), and positive Eurasia Pacific (+EUP) atmospheric teleconnection patterns in the mid-lower troposphere. As a result, the ridge to south of Lake Baikal becomes stronger. Meanwhile, SST in the North Atlantic shows a "reversed C" negative anomaly with North Atlantic Oscillation (+NAO), (+PNA)-like and (+EUP)-like patterns, and the ridge to southwest of Lake Baikal becomes stronger. Furthermore, both cause the Siberian High to become weaker in the north and stronger in the south. With the weaker East Asia subtropical jet and stronger East Asia winter monsoon, these factors lead to a significant increase of SSECE frequency in North China. (3) When the SSTA shows an "El Niño-like" developing pattern from summer to autumn in the North Pacific, the winter SSECE frequency will be higher. (4) The purported mechanism between the mid-latitude SSTA and the winter SSECE frequency in North China is the following: the SSTA in the North Pacific in summer and autumn excites atmospheric teleconnection wave trains, and the Atlantic stores these anomaly signals. In winter, the interaction between the SSTAs in the North Pacific and the North Atlantic enhances the Eurasian teleconnection wave train. With the upstream fluctuation energy dispersing downstream, the wave train centers move eastward with the season, resulting in an increase in the frequency of the SSECEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed and in‐depth prediction of the state‐of‐health of lithium ion batteries (LIB) remains a major challenge. Meanwhile, the dynamic changes in the thermal and electrochemical characteristics of the interphases are important for the determination of battery health. Herein, we performed electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements and equivalent circuit analysis on Panasonic NCR 18650B batteries under different states of charge (SOC), overcharge, and overdischarge cycling conditions. Three indicators of the comprehensive state of health (CSOH) of the batteries were summarized based on the values of the resistances obtained from equivalent circuit analysis from the EIS measurements. CSOH represents the dynamic electrochemical characteristics of the LIBs. By evaluating the CSOH indicators, we have developed an artificial neural network (ANN) model which can provide an effective prediction of the future CSOH of the LIBs. Percent error estimations have been done by implementing the Tanh activation function, and the estimation results of predicted equivalent series resistance, charge‐transfer resistance, and solid‐electrolyte interphase resistance are 5%, 1.5%, and 1%, respectively. The ANN model based on EIS analysis is a straightforward and effective approach that can provide novel routes for CSOH prediction of LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) with high energy density has brought a promising future for the next generation of electric vehicles (EV). In order to make EVs more competitive with combustion engine vehicles, development of an effective fast charging technique is inevitable. However, improper employment of fast charging can damage the battery and bring safety hazards. Herein, industry based along with our proposed internal resistance (IR) based fast charging techniques were performed on commercial Panasonic NCR 18650B cylindrical batteries. To further investigate the fast charging impact and electrode degradation mechanisms, electrochemical analysis and material characterization techniques including EIS (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy), GITT (galvanostatic intermittent titration technique), SEM (scanning electron microscopy), and XRD (X‐ray diffraction) were implemented. Batteries that were cycled under industry based fast charging showed 78% increase in internal resistance after 120 cycles along with rapid capacity fading. Mechanical distortion of the battery case occurred around the 60th cycle for industry based fast charging. In contrast, IR based fast charged batteries showed 29.4% increase in internal resistance over 120 cycles. In addition, mechanical distortion was not observed and the relative capacity fading was on a moderate level. Furthermore, this work could pave the way for the optimization of fast charging techniques to secure the lifespan and safety of various types of lithium‐ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shock scattering histotripsy involves a complex interaction between positive and negative phases of an acoustic burst to initiate a robust cavitation bubble cloud. To more precisely study these effects and optimize shock scattering histotripsy therapy, we constructed a frequency compounding transducer to generate pseudomonopolar ultrasound pulses. The transducer consisted of 113 individual piezoelectric elements with various resonant frequencies (250 kHz, 500 kHz, 750 kHz, 1 MHz, 1.5 MHz, 2 MHz, and 3 MHz). For each resonant frequency, an extremely short pulse could be generated. Pseudomonopolar peak positive pulses were generated by aligning the principal peak positive pressures of individual frequency components temporally, so that they added constructively, and destructive interference occurred outside the peak-positive-overlapped temporal window. After inverting the polarity of the excitation signals, pseudomonopolar peak negative pulses were generated similarly by aligning principal peak negative pressures. Decoupling the positive and negative acoustic phases could have significant advantages for therapeutic applications enhancing precision and avoiding cavitation at tissue interfaces by using mostly positive pressure pulses. For example, we show that 16 shock scattering bubble clouds can be generated using only peak positive pulses following a single peak negative pulse that initiates a pressure release “seed cloud” from which the first shock front is “scattered.” Subsequent positive only pulses result in a precise elongated lesion within red blood cell phantoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and hypothesis: Morphological and functional anomalies of the urethra may cause stress urinary incontinence after radical hysterectomy (RH). We introduce a novel three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique to assess the impact of RH on the transobturator sling pathway.Methods: 3D-MRI reconstruction models were retrospectively developed for the measurement of various parameters before and after RH, including puncture angle, orientation and distance from the midurethral puncture site to the obturator membrane (DUO), in 31 patients with cervical cancer. Additionally, the correlations between DUO and body height and interspinal diameter were evaluated.Results: No significant differences were noted between the preoperative and postoperative inclination angle (−7.1 ± 33.5° vs. −0.68 ± 23.9°, ranges −62.4 to 46.8° vs. −54.1 to 42.2°, respectively) or between the preoperative and postoperative left and right mean rotation angles (left 69.0 ± 8.0° vs. 67.8 ± 9.2°; right 65.1 ± 8.38° vs. 64.3 ± 10.5°). Similarly, there were no statistically or clinically significant differences between the preoperative and postoperative DUO, although slight differences were noted between the two sides before and after RH (P = 0.018 and P = 0.023, respectively). None of the parameters differed significantly between the groups with and without postoperative urodynamic stress incontinence. Further, there was no clinically significant correlation between DUO and height or interspinal diameter.Conclusions: The sling procedure via the transobturator approach is technically safe from a 3D anatomical standpoint. However, wide variability in the anatomical parameters must be taken into account when planning the procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mammalian cochlea cannot regenerate functional hair cells (HCs) spontaneously. Atoh1 overexpression as well as other strategies are unable to generate functional HCs. Here, we simultaneously upregulated the expression of Gfi1 , Pou4f3 , and Atoh1 in postnatal cochlear supporting cells (SCs) in vivo , which efficiently converted SCs into HCs. The newly regenerated HCs expressed HC markers Myo7a, Calbindin, Parvalbumin, and Ctbp2 and were innervated by neurites. Importantly, many new HCs expressed the mature and terminal marker Prestin or vesicular glutamate transporter 3 (vGlut3), depending on the subtypes of the source SCs. Finally, our patch-clamp analysis showed that the new HCs in the medial region acquired a large K+ current, fired spikes transiently, and exhibited signature refinement of ribbon synapse functions, in close resemblance to native wild-type inner HCs. We demonstrated that co-upregulating Gfi1 , Pou4f3, and Atoh1 enhances the efficiency of HC generation and promotes the functional maturation of new HCs. [Display omitted] • Gfi1, Pou4f3, and Atoh1 (GPA) enhance the generation of cochlear hair cells (HCs) • GPA-induced HCs express the terminal markers of both the inner and outer HCs • Gfi1 and Pou4f3 promote the functional maturation of Atoh1-induced new hair cells Chen et al. show that overexpression of Gfi1 and Pou4f3 simultaneously with Atoh1 enhances the efficiency of cochlear hair cell generation and promotes the functional maturation of new hair cells, representing a step forward in generating functional hair cells in the mammalian cochlea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]