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BACKGROUND: Hylurgus ligniperda, an invasive species originating from Eurasia, is now a major forestry quarantine pest worldwide. In recent years, it has caused significant damage in China. While traps have been effective in monitoring and controlling pests, manual inspections are labor‐intensive and require expertise in insect classification. To address this, we applied a two‐stage cascade convolutional neural network, YOLOX‐MobileNetV2 (YOLOX‐Mnet), for identifying H. ligniperda and other pests captured in traps. This method streamlines target and non‐target insect detection from trap images, offering a more efficient alternative to manual inspections. RESULTS: Two cascade convolutional neural network models were employed in two stages to detect both target and non‐target insects from images captured in the same forest. Initially, You Only Look Once X (YOLOX) served as the target detection model, identifying insects and non‐insects from the collected images, with non‐insect targets subsequently filtered out. In the second stage, MobileNetV2, a classification network, classified the captured insects. This approach effectively reduced false positives from non‐insect objects, enabled the inclusion of additional classification terms for multi‐class insect classification models, and utilized sample control strategies to enhance classification performance. CONCLUSION: Application of the cascade convolutional neural network model accurately identified H. ligniperda, and Mean F1‐score of all kinds of insects in the trap was 0.98. Compared to traditional insect classification, this method offers great improvement in the identification and early warning of forest pests, as well as provide technical support for the early prevention and control of forest pests. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Phenylbutazone (PBZ) is the most commonly used drug to treat symptoms of lameness in horses; however, it is associated with adverse effects such as gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS). Interestingly, many practitioners prescribe omeprazole (OME) concurrently with PBZ to prevent the development of EGUS. However, the efficacy and safety of this practice in Mongolian horses with chronic lameness remain unknown. Objectives: To evaluate the clinical effects of a combination of PBZ and OME on chronic lameness in Mongolian horses. Study design: Randomised block experimental design. Methods: Eighteen Mongolian horses with lameness score was ≥3 points, were divided into three treatment groups, with six horses in each group: placebo (CON), PBZ (4.4 mg/kg PO q. 24 h), or PBZ plus OME (4 mg/kg PO q. 24 h; PBZ + OME) in a randomised block design based on the initial lameness score. The horses were treated for 15 days. During this period, weekly gastroscopy, and physiological and biochemical tests were performed. Results: Both PBZ (median 1.0, interquartile range [IQR]: 0.8–1.3; p = 0.01) and PBZ + OME (median 1.0, IQR: 1.0–1.0; p = 0.01) significantly decreased the lameness score compared with before administration. In addition, PBZ significantly increased the equine glandular gastric disease (EGGD) score (3.0 ± 0.6, p < 0.001), GT‐17 content (293.4 ± 21.8 pg/mL, p < 0.001), and pepsinogen‐1 (PG1) content (295.3 ± 38.3 ng/mL, p < 0.001) compared with CON or PBZ + OME. However, it significantly reduced the total protein (53.6 ± 1.5 g/L, p < 0.05) and albumin (25.5 ± 1.8 g/L, p < 0.05) contents. Nevertheless, compared with PBZ, PBZ + OME significantly decreased the EGGD score (0.3 ± 0.5, p < 0.001) and significantly increased the gastric fluid pH (7.3 ± 0.5, p < 0.001), total protein content (62.5 ± 4.6 g/L, p = 0.009), and albumin content (29.4 ± 1.1 g/L, p = 0.004). Meanwhile, they significantly diminished the gastrin 17 (GT‐17) (162.0 ± 21.0 pg/mL, p < 0.001) and PG1 (182.4 ± 22.5 ng/mL, p < 0.001) contents. Main limitations: Individual differences in horses were larger, but the sample size was small. There was larger interval between observations for each index. Conclusions: Compared with PBZ alone, PBZ + OME had no therapeutic effect on chronic lameness; however, it reduced the occurrence of EGGD in Mongolian horses. Horses may be protected against chronic lameness and PBZ‐induced EGGD by increasing the pH value, decreasing serum PG1 and GT‐17 content, and preventing the reduction of myeloperoxidase content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive carbon dioxide (CO2) emission has caused problems associated with environmental pollution and climate deterioration. As a consequence, the selective conversion of CO2 into liquid fuels by artificial photosynthesis has gained increasing attention. However, the rational design of photocathode to achieve selective CO2 photoelectroreduction is challenging. Here, we sensitized cuprous oxide (p-nCu2O) loaded on hydroxyl iron oxide (FeOOH) with cobalt-doped cadmium sulfide (Co:CdS) quantum dots to prepare a novel photocathode FeOOH/p-nCu2O/Co:CdS by sequential electrodeposition and chemical bath deposition. The composite photocathode exhibited a larger photovoltage, which is 1.9 times higher than the pristine counterpart, and was efficient for CO2 reduction to produce formic acid with high selectivity of up to 82.9% (Faradaic efficiency). Theoretical calculations revealed that the photocathode out-layer Co:CdS quantum dots had increased binding energy toward the key intermediate *OOCH through additional hybridization orbitals to exclusively favor the formation of formic acid. An impurity energy level was revealed to form by doping Co to the CdS-containing composite, which could reduce the photocathode band gap with improved absorption toward visible light, thus remarkably increasing the photoelectrochemical properties. This is the first work undertaking the energy band structure optimization of the photocathode enabled by elemental doping to improve its photoelectrocatalytic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, magnon and spin texture are attracting great interest in condensed matter physics and magnetism. Magnonics is aiming to use magnon as information carriers to realize functions for storage, transmission, and processing. Magnetic skyrmion is representative spin texture due to its topologically nontrivial properties. Since skyrmions are topologically protected, their transformation to other spin configurations requires overcoming additional topological energy barriers. Therefore, skyrmions are more stable than other trivial spin textures. In addition, the characters of nanoscale size, quasiparticle properties, and various excitation modes make them a potential candidate for spintronic application. Magnon and skyrmion, as two fundamental excitations, can coexist in magnetic systems and interplay with each other through direct exchange interactions. In this review, we provide an overview of recent theoretical and experimental studies on magnon–skyrmion interactions. We mainly focus on three kinds of magnon–skyrmion interactions: (i) magnon scattering by skyrmion, (ii) skyrmion motion driven by magnon, and (iii) coupling between magnon and skyrmion modes. The first two kinds of interactions could be clearly explained by the wave-particle interaction model on the classical level. Alternatively, the last kind of interaction could be understood by the coupled harmonic oscillator model on the quantum level, which indicates fast energy exchange and hybrid magnon states. The exploration focused on quantum phenomena of magnon has led to the emerging field of quantum magnonics and promoted applications of magnon in quantum information storage and processing. In the end, we give a perspective on the exploration of magnon–skyrmion interaction in quantum magnonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread utilization of lithium-ion batteries has led to an increase in the quantity of decommissioned lithium-ion batteries. By incorporating recycled anode graphite into new lithium-ion batteries, we can effectively mitigate environmental pollution and meet the industry’s high demand for graphite. Herein, a suitable amount of ferric chloride hexahydrate was employed as a catalyst precursor to facilitate the low-temperature graphitization process of spent graphite. This resulted in renewed graphite with abundant pores, a high degree of graphitization (89.5%), and exceptional electrochemical properties. This material exhibits minimal polarization and impedance while maintaining a specific capacity of 376 mAh/g after 260 cycles at a rate of 0.5 C. While highlighting the remarkable attributes of recycled graphite, we also address the limitations associated with the catalytic graphitization method to provide researchers with comprehensive and unbiased insights. Ultimately, we believe that this method will play a pivotal role in recycling spent graphite with severely damaged structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backgroud: Paecilomyces variotii has important economic value in stimulating crop growth, biodegradation, and other aspects. Up to now, there are no research reports on its mitochondrial genome. Methods and results: The mitochondrial genome of Paecilomyces variotii was determined with the next-generation sequencing method (Illumina, NovaSeq), and its characteristics were analyzed using various bioinformatics approaches. The length of complete mitochondrial genome sequence of P. variotii is 40,965 bp and consists of 14 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 1 ribosomal protein S3 gene, 26 transport RNA genes. The results of phylogenetics analysis using Bayesian inference and Maximum likelihood methods showed that P. variotii belongs to the Eurotiales order in the Thermoascaceae family, and 9 genera within the Eurotiomycetes class were effectively distinguished with high support rates (bootstrap value > 92% and posterior probabilities > 99%). The analysis of synonymous substitution rates and nonsynonymous substitution rates indicated that the Ka/Ks values of the 14 PCGs in the mitochondrial genomes of the two orders in the Eurotiomycetes class ranged from 0 to 0.4333. Conclusions: This study revealed the structural and sequence information characteristics of the mitochondrial genome of P. variotii, and the phylogenetic results strongly support its classification within the family Thermoascaceae, consistent with traditional morphological taxonomy studies. The 14 PCGs in the mitochondrial genomes of the two orders in the Eurotiomycetes class are subject to strong purifying (negative) selection. The results of this research provides an important molecular basis for the development of genomics, evolutionary genetics and molecular markers of P. variotii in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backgroud: Paecilomyces variotii has important economic value in stimulating crop growth, biodegradation, and other aspects. Up to now, there are no research reports on its mitochondrial genome. Methods and results: The mitochondrial genome of Paecilomyces variotii was determined with the next-generation sequencing method (Illumina, NovaSeq), and its characteristics were analyzed using various bioinformatics approaches. The length of complete mitochondrial genome sequence of P. variotii is 40,965 bp and consists of 14 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 1 ribosomal protein S3 gene, 26 transport RNA genes. The results of phylogenetics analysis using Bayesian inference and Maximum likelihood methods showed that P. variotii belongs to the Eurotiales order in the Thermoascaceae family, and 9 genera within the Eurotiomycetes class were effectively distinguished with high support rates (bootstrap value > 92% and posterior probabilities > 99%). The analysis of synonymous substitution rates and nonsynonymous substitution rates indicated that the Ka/Ks values of the 14 PCGs in the mitochondrial genomes of the two orders in the Eurotiomycetes class ranged from 0 to 0.4333. Conclusions: This study revealed the structural and sequence information characteristics of the mitochondrial genome of P. variotii, and the phylogenetic results strongly support its classification within the family Thermoascaceae, consistent with traditional morphological taxonomy studies. The 14 PCGs in the mitochondrial genomes of the two orders in the Eurotiomycetes class are subject to strong purifying (negative) selection. The results of this research provides an important molecular basis for the development of genomics, evolutionary genetics and molecular markers of P. variotii in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ultrasonic for detecting and evaluating pleural effusion is an essential part of the Extended Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (E‐FAST) in emergencies. Our study aimed to develop an Artificial Intelligence (AI) diagnostic model that automatically identifies and segments pleural effusion areas on ultrasonography. Methods: An Attention U‐net and a U‐net model were used to detect and segment pleural effusion on ultrasound images of 848 subjects through fully supervised learning. Sensitivity, specificity, precision, accuracy, F1 score, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and the area under the curve (AUC) were used to assess the model's effectiveness in classifying the data. The dice coefficient was used to evaluate the segmentation performance of the model. Results: In 10 random tests, the Attention U‐net and U‐net 's average sensitivity of 97% demonstrated that the pleural effusion was well detectable. The Attention U‐net performed better at identifying negative images than the U‐net, which had an average specificity of 91% compared to 86% for the U‐net. Additionally, the Attention U‐net was more accurate in predicting the pleural effusion region because its average dice coefficient was 0.86 as opposed to the U‐net's average dice coefficient of 0.82. Conclusions: The Attention U‐net showed excellent performance in detecting and segmenting pleural effusion on ultrasonic images, which is expected to enhance the operation and application of E‐FAST in clinical work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floquet engineering is a widely applied method for temporally periodic driving in various quantum systems, capable of inducing emergent phenomena, such as Floquet states, Floquet topological insulators, and temporal crystals. In this work, we study the selective magnon–magnon coupling between sidebands by introducing Floquet engineering into magnonic system: coupling between Floquet sidebands occurs only when there is an odd order difference. In addition to the coherent coupling between the optical and acoustic modes in synthetic antiferromagnet, a Floquet coupling is observed as the secondary splitting of the two hybridized magnon modes. The splitting width of Floquet coupling exhibits different dependence with driving amplitude, i.e., linearly increasing for weak driving regime and nonlinearly varying for strong driving regime. Specifically, the nonlinear dependence arises from the coupling between hybridized sidebands that exhibit odd order differences in their components. Our findings could promote the further development of Floquet magnonics and its application for quantum information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The necessity for strong security methods to safeguard sensitive data carried over these kinds of networks has grown as a result of optical communication services rapid development. To increase the security of optical communication, we suggest a Modified Paillier-assisted Advanced Encryption Standard (MP-AES) technique in this study. This strategy combines the Paillier cryptosystem with the AES algorithm. The homomorphic characteristics of the Paillier cryptosystem allow operations to be carried out on data that is encrypted without requiring decryption. By taking advantage of this characteristic, we can securely compute on the AES-encrypted keys, maintaining the secrecy and authenticity of the sent data. To tackle potential weaknesses and improve security, our suggested MP-AES approach incorporates significant changes to the established Paillier system and the AES method. The technique uses a dynamic key creation technique that increases the unpredictability of the encryption procedure and strengthens its defense against cryptographic assaults. We carried out comprehensive simulations and compared the outcomes with the traditional AES techniques employed in optical networks to measure the efficiency and safety of the proposed approach. The results of the experiments show that our updated approach offers increased security while still having a manageable processing burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, the high‐pressure impacts on the electronic, mechanical, and thermodynamic properties of MAX‐phase M2GaC (M = Nb and Ta) are calculated through the first principles. The phonon dispersion results indicate that M2GaC (M = Nb and Ta) is dynamically stable. The elastic constants and elastic modulus of Nb2GaC and Ta2GaC increase with the pressure increase, while the elastic anisotropic 3D surface structure and projection diagram show that bulk modulus, shear modulus, and Young's modulus all show anisotropy. M2GaC (M = Nb and Ta) has metallic, covalent, and ionic bonds. In addition, based on the quasiharmonic Debye model, the effects of high pressure (0–50 GPa) and temperature (0–2000 K) on the thermodynamic properties of Nb2GaC and Ta2GaC are systematically studied. The constant pressure heat capacity (CP) and thermal expansion coefficient (α) of Nb2GaC and Ta2GaC decrease with the increase of pressure, while the internal energy (U) and Gibbs free energy (G) of Nb2GaC and Ta2GaC increase with the increase of pressure. The sound velocity and kmin increase with the pressure increase, and Nb2GaC has a higher thermal conductivity than Ta2GaC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titanium coating on a steel substrate by surface technology can improve the corrosion resistance of steel. In this paper, the titanium TA2 coating was deposited on X80 steel by cold spraying equipment with a low-cost irregular powder. The effects of the carrier gas temperature on the microstructure, microhardness, wear resistance, adhesion and corrosion resistance of titanium coatings, especially in a deep sea environment, were studied by methods of porosity analysis, thermal field emission scanning analysis, energy spectrum analysis, Vickers hardness tests, bonding strength tests, friction and wear tests and electrochemical tests. The results showed that as the carrier gas temperature increased from 300 °C to 900 °C, the porosity of the coating decreased to 0.93%, and the hardness and bonding strength of the coating increased to 247 HV0.5 and 46.7 MPa, respectively. With the increase in hydrostatic pressure from 0.1 MPa to 40 MPa, the dimensional blunt current density of the titanium coating with 0.93% porosity was still in the order of 10−7 A·cm−2 with the cast titanium TA2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In eukaryotes, lactate produced during glycolysis is involved in regulating multiple metabolic processes through lysine lactylation (Kla). To explore the potential link between metabolism and Kla in prokaryotes, we investigated the distribution of Kla in the cariogenic bacterium Streptococcus mutans during planktonic growth in low-sugar conditions and in biofilm-promoting, high-sugar conditions. We identified 1869 Kla sites in 469 proteins under these two conditions, with the biofilm growth state showing a greater number of lactylated sites and proteins. Although high sugar increased Kla globally, it reduced lactylation of RNA polymerase subunit α (RpoA) at Lys173. Lactylation at this residue inhibited the synthesis of extracellular polysaccharides, a major constituent of the cariogenic biofilm. The Gcn5-related N-acetyltransferase (GNAT) superfamily enzyme GNAT13 exhibited lysine lactyltransferase activity in cells and lactylated Lys173 in RpoA in vitro. Either GNAT13 overexpression or lactylation of Lys173 in RpoA inhibited biofilm formation. These results provide an overview of the distribution and potential functions of Kla and improve our understanding of the role of lactate in the metabolic regulation of prokaryotes. Editor's summary: The glycolysis end product lactate damages teeth when produced by the oral bacterium Streptococcus mutans in response to high sucrose. Li et al. identified and characterized sites in S. mutans grown under high-sucrose conditions that underwent lysine lactylation (Kla), a posttranslational modification incorporating lactate. Sucrose generally elicited a global increase in Kla, particularly in proteins involved in metabolism and protein synthesis. The acetyltransferase GNAT13 catalyzed Kla and lactylated the RNA polymerase subunit RpoA in vitro. GNAT13 overexpression or lactylation of a site in RpoA that decreased in high sucrose inhibited biofilm formation. These findings demonstrate that Kla contributes to metabolic regulation in bacteria and suggest that GNAT13 may limit sucrose-driven biofilm formation, potentially by lactylating RpoA. —Annalisa M. VanHook [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Acquisition of new stem cell fates relies on the dissolution of the prior regulatory network sustaining the existing cell fates. Currently, extensive insights have been revealed for the totipotency regulatory network around the zygotic genome activation (ZGA) period. However, how the dissolution of the totipotency network is triggered to ensure the timely embryonic development following ZGA is largely unknown. In this study, we identify the unexpected role of a highly expressed 2-cell (2C) embryo specific transcription factor, ZFP352, in facilitating the dissolution of the totipotency network. We find that ZFP352 has selective binding towards two different retrotransposon sub-families. ZFP352 coordinates with DUX to bind the 2C specific MT2_Mm sub-family. On the other hand, without DUX, ZFP352 switches affinity to bind extensively onto SINE_B1/Alu sub-family. This leads to the activation of later developmental programs like ubiquitination pathways, to facilitate the dissolution of the 2C state. Correspondingly, depleting ZFP352 in mouse embryos delays the 2C to morula transition process. Thus, through a shift of binding from MT2_Mm to SINE_B1/Alu, ZFP352 can trigger spontaneous dissolution of the totipotency network. Our study highlights the importance of different retrotransposons sub-families in facilitating the timely and programmed cell fates transition during early embryogenesis. During zygotic genome activation the embryo must re-wire the regulatory network that sustains totipotency earlier during development. Here they identify ZFP352 as an essential factor that targets retrotransposon families to facilitate dissolution of the totipotency network and enable ZGA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activation and transformation of organic chemical bonds is a fundamental scientific problem. In the past several decades, C–S bond cleavage for the construction of C–C and C–heteroatom bonds has received tremendous attention in organic chemistry. Although significant progress has been made in the field of transition metal strategies, a variety of novel transition-metal-free strategies have also been developed using halogenated reagents, oxidants, acids, and bases. Moreover, organic photochemical and electrochemical methods have also been developed to achieve transition-metal-free C–S bond cleavage of organosulfur compounds. To date, however, no comprehensive review of transition-metal-free strategies has been reported. Therefore, we herein provide a comprehensive review of the major advances in the field of the transition-metal-free C–S bond cleavage and transformation of organosulfur compounds, including thioethers, sulfoxides, sulfones, thioacetals, sulfonium salts, and sulfur ylides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Releasing juvenile fish into resource-depleted waters is regarded as an effective way to restore fishery resources. However, during this stage, released fish are most vulnerable to long-term food deprivation due to environmental changes and low adaptability. Therefore, research regarding the energy regulation of fish under starvation stress is crucial to the optimization of release strategies. In this study, we performed a transcriptome analysis of the liver of Onychostomasima subjected to starvation for 14 days. The results showed that, under long-term starvation, the liver regulated glucose homeostasis by activating the gluconeogenesis pathway. Meanwhile, the fatty acid metabolism pathway was activated to supply acetyl-coA to the TCA cycle, thus increasing mitochondrial ATP production and maintaining the balance of energy metabolism. Nevertheless, the activation of energy metabolism could not completely compensate for the role of exogenous nutrients, as evidenced by the downregulation of many genes involved in antioxidant defenses (e.g., cat, gpx3, mgst1, and mgst2) and immune response (e.g., c3, cd22, trnfrsf14, and a2ml). In summary, our data reveal the effects of long-term starvation on the energy metabolism and defensive regulation of starved juvenile fish, and these findings will provide important reference for the optimization of artificial release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To develop and validate a nomogram for differentiating benign and malignant thyroid nodules of American College of Radiology (ACR) Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI‐RADS) level 5 (TR5) and improving the performance of the guideline. Methods: From May 2018 to December 2019, 640 patients with TR5 nodules were retrospectively included in the primary cohort. Univariate and multivariable analyses were performed to determine the risk factors for thyroid cancer. A nomogram was established on the basis of multivariable analyses; the performance of the nomogram was evaluated with respect to discrimination, calibration, and clinical usefulness. The nomogram model was also compared to the ACR score model. External validation was performed and the independent validation cohort contained 201 patients from April 2021 to January 2022. Results: Multivariable analyses showed that age, tumour location, multifocality, concomitant Hashimoto's disease, neck lymph node status reported by ultrasound (US) and ACR score were the independent risk factors for thyroid cancer (all p <.05). The nomogram showed good discrimination, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.786 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.742–0.830) and 0.712 (95% CI: 0.615–0.809) in the primary cohort and external validation cohort, respectively. Decision curve analysis demonstrated the clinical usefulness of the model. Compared to the ACR score model, the nomogram showed higher AUC (0.786 vs. 0.626, p <.001) and specificity (0.783 vs. 0.391). Conclusions: The presented nomogram model, based on age, tumour features and ACR score, can differentiate benign and malignant thyroid nodules in TR5 and had a high specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, based on in situ synchrotron radiation SAXS technology, the effects of stress field, temperature field and thermo-mechanical coupling conditions on the evolution of residual stress are discussed, respectively. The results show that the continuous increase of the external load led to the increase of the residual stress perpendicular to the tensile direction of the 2A14 aluminum alloy, and when the external load closed to the yield strength, the change of the residual stress was no longer significant. Under the action of temperature, the residual stress of 2A14 aluminum alloy reduced after the process of heating–holding–cooling. Under the action of thermo-mechanical coupling, the recovery effect of aluminum alloy was triggered, the energy storage of deformation was released, the lattice strain was reduced and the residual stress introduced by external load was reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a portable residual stress tester and synchrotron radiation diffraction technique were used to measure the residual stress distribution of thick 2A14 aluminum alloy plates under different aging conditions after solution treatment. The stress changes after solution and aging were analyzed using metallographic structure observation, electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and other characterization methods. The results show that after solution treatment at 500 °C and aging at 170 °C, the second phase precipitates, lattice distortion is released, and the stress level gradually decreases with aging time. The residual stress of the plate comprises compressive stress; there is stress concentration in the central area. The stress distribution obtained by the two residual stress calculation methods, cosα and sin2ψ, under different process conditions was consistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral streptococci are gram-positive facultative anaerobic bacteria that are normal inhabitants of the human oral cavity and play an important role in maintaining oral microecological balance and pathogenesis. Transposon mutagenesis is an effective genetic manipulation strategy for studying the function of genomic features. In order to study cariogenic related genes and crucial biological element genes of oral Streptococcus, transposon mutagenesis was widely used to identify functional genes. With the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology and the development of transposon random mutation library construction methods, transposon insertion sequencing (TIS) came into being. Benefiting from high-throughput advances in NGS, TIS was able to evaluate the fitness contribution and essentiality of genetic features in the bacterial genome. The application of transposon mutagenesis, including TIS, to oral streptococci provided a massive amount of valuable detailed linkage data between genetic fitness and genetic backgrounds, further clarify the processes of colonization, virulence, and persistence and provides a more reliable basis for investigating relationships with host ecology and disease status. This review focuses on transposon mutagenesis, including TIS, and its applicability in oral streptococci. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A heterogeneous ZIF-90-based catalyst functionalized with COOH and with a porous structure was facilely prepared for efficient CO2 adsorption and activation to undergo reductive N-formylation with a wide range of amines (15 examples) to furnish N-formamides (78–94% yields). The –COO− species generated by an in situ interaction with amine acts as a key species for activating hydrosilane to capture CO2, and remarkably facilitates a cascade C–N coupling and hydrogenation process. Our findings show a facile strategy for the rational construction of robust active sites for reductive CO2 valorization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the tribocorrosion behavior and synergistic effect of 7075-T6 aluminum alloy under different applied loads (100, 150, and 200 N) and sliding velocities (100, 150, and 200 rpm) were studied in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. Tribocorrosion experiments were conducted in a tribobocorrosion system with pin-on-disc testing. The results show that the interaction between applied load and sliding velocity significantly affects the mechanical and electrochemical properties of 7075-T6 aluminum alloy. Increases in sliding velocity and applied load will accelerate the corrosion. Due to the synergistic effect of corrosion and wear, the wear rate is almost unchanged as the sliding velocity increases. When the applied load increased from 100 to 200 N, the wear rate increased from 1.97 × 10−5 to 2.08 × 10−5 mm3/N·m, and the delamination wear phenomenon was aggravated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preparation of Ti coatings on mild steel can both effectively improve the corrosion resistance of the substrate and reduce the application cost of Ti, which is an effective measure to improve the service performance of mild steel in the marine environment. Plasma cladding technology is an efficient method for preparing metal coatings, and the type of powder is a key process parameter for coating preparation. In this work, high-performance Ti coatings are prepared on the surface of mild steel by plasma cladding technology, and the effects of different particle sizes and shapes of Ti powders on the surface morphology, microstructure and properties of the coatings are studied. The results show that powder particle size and sphericity are the key factors affecting the morphology, structure and service performance of Ti coatings. After 1000 h of salt spray test, the spherical powder cladding coatings only suffer slight corrosion, while the irregular shape powder coating is more severely corroded. Powder cladding with moderate powder particle size and good sphericity have a smoother coating and fewer defects. Ti powders with different particle sizes and shapes all have the diffusion of Fe element during the cladding process. The surface of Ti coating prepared by spherical powder are dominated by α-Ti and Fe0.2Ti0.8 phases, while the surface of Ti coating prepared by irregular shape powder is dominated by FeTi and Ti2Fe. The interface between the coating and the substrate shows metallurgical bonding, and the increase in Ti-Fe brittle phase will deteriorate the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of the coating. The shear strength of coatings prepared from spherical Ti powders of 75–150 μm can reach 105.18 MPa, the corrosion potential is the most positive (−0.2206 V), and the self-corrosion current density is the lowest (6.220 × 10−8 A/cm2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The detection of abdominal free fluid or hemoperitoneum can provide critical information for clinical diagnosis and treatment, particularly in emergencies. This study investigates the use of deep learning (DL) for identifying peritoneal free fluid in ultrasonography (US) images of the abdominal cavity, which can help inexperienced physicians or non‐professional people in diagnosis. It focuses specifically on first‐response scenarios involving focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) technique. Methods: A total of 2985 US images were collected from ascites patients treated from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017 at the Shenzhen Second People's Hospital. The data were categorized as Ascites‐1, Ascites‐2, or Ascites‐3, based on the surrounding anatomy. A uniform standard for regions of interest (ROIs) and the lack of obstruction from acoustic shadow was used to classify positive samples. These images were then divided into training (90%) and test (10%) datasets to evaluate the performance of a U‐net model, utilizing an encoder–decoder architecture and contracting and expansive paths, developed as part of the study. Results: Test results produced sensitivity and specificity values of 94.38% and 68.13%, respectively, in the diagnosis of Ascites‐1 US images, with an average Dice coefficient of 0.65 (standard deviation [SD] = 0.21). Similarly, the sensitivity and specificity for Ascites‐2 were 97.12% and 86.33%, respectively, with an average Dice coefficient of 0.79 (SD = 0.14). The accuracy and area under the curve (AUC) were 81.25% and 0.76 for Ascites‐1 and 91.73% and 0.91 for Ascites‐2. Conclusion: The results produced by the U‐net demonstrate the viability of DL for automated ascites diagnosis. This suggests the proposed technique could be highly valuable for improving FAST‐based preliminary diagnoses, particularly in emergency scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catalytic upgrading of CO2 into value‐added chemicals to build the excess carbon cycle is of great significance. In this work, carboxylate‐functionalized zeolitic imidazolate framework (F‐ZIF‐90) with good crystallinity and porosity is constructed from ZIF‐90 and employed as a robust heterogeneous catalyst to boost the reductive N‐functionalization of various amines with CO2 to furnish N‐formyl compounds (up to 99% yield) in the presence of PhSiH3 under an ambient environment. The imidazole carboxylate species (COO‐) can not only activate hydrosilane and CO2 to form the key intermediate formoxysliane but also activate amines to participate in the N‐formylation reaction to obtain the target product. Moreover, it can enhance the catalyst capture and exchange ability toward ambient CO2. The powerful adsorption capacity of the F‐ZIF‐90 catalyst toward CO2 is conducive to elevating CO2 concentration around the active species. Theoretical calculations show that the carboxylate‐mediated conversion path undergoes the transition state of hydrosilane activation with a relatively lower energy barrier (ΔG = 26.9 kcal mol–1). F‐ZIF‐90 exhibits good thermochemical stability with no obvious activity attenuation after repeated use 5 times. This strategy opens a new avenue based on ZIFs to develop heterogeneous catalysts for reductive upgrading of CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenotypic traits of Streptococcus mutans , such as fluoride tolerance, are usually associated with genotypic alterations. The aim of this study was to identify adaptive mutations of S. mutans to gradient fluoride concentrations and possible relationships between the mutations and fluoride tolerance. We identified a highly resistant S. mutans strain (FR1000) with a novel single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, −36G→T) in the promoter region of F0F1-ATPase gene cluster (SMU_1527-SMU_1534) resistant to 1,000 ppm fluoride using the whole-genome Illumina PE250 sequencing. Thus, a −36G→T F0F1-ATPase promoter mutation from the parental strain S. mutans UA159 was constructed and named UA159-T. qRT-PCR showed that the F0F1-ATPase gene expression of both FR1000 and UA159-T was up-regulated, and fluoride tolerance of UA159-T was significantly improved. Complementation of Dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD), a specific inhibitor of F0F1-ATPase, increased fluoride susceptibility of FR1000 and UA159-T. Intracellular fluoride concentrations of fluoride tolerance strains were higher compared to UA159 strain as demonstrated by 18F analysis. Further validation with rat caries models showed that UA159-T caused more severe caries lesions under fluoride exposure compared with its parental UA159 strain. Overall, the identified −36G→T mutation in the promoter region of F0F1-ATPase gene drastically contributed to the fluoride tolerance and enhanced cariogenicity of S. mutans. These findings provided new insights into the mechanism of microbial fluoride tolerance, and suggested F0F1-ATPase as a potential target for suppressing fluoride resistant strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemocatalytic upgrading of the greenhouse gas CO2 to valuable chemicals and biofuels has attracted broad attention in recent years. Among the reported approaches, N-formylation of CO2 with an amine is of great significance due to its versatility in the construction of N-containing linear and cyclic skeletons. Herein, a stable N-heterocyclic carbene-carboxyl adduct (NHC-CO2) was facilely prepared and could be used as a recyclable zwitterionic catalyst for efficient CO2 reductive upgrading via either N-formylation or further coupling with cyclization under mild conditions (25 °C, 1 atm CO2) using hydrosilane as a hydrogen source. More than 30 different alkyl and aromatic amines could be transformed into the corresponding formamides or benzimidazoles with remarkable yields (74%–98%). The electronic effect of the introduced substituent on NHC-CO2 was found to evidently affect the thermostability and nucleophilicity of the zwitterionic catalyst, which is directly correlated with its catalytic activity. Moreover, NHC-CO2 could supply CO2 by in situ decarboxylation at a specific temperature that is dependent on the introduced substituent type. Experimental and computational studies showed that the carboxyl species on NHC-CO2 was not only a nucleophilic center, but also a C1 source which rapidly captures or substitutes ambient CO2 during hydrosilylation. In addition, a simple and green conceptual process was designed for the product purification and catalyst recycling, with a good feasibility for small-scale production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A metal‐free C(sp3)−S bond cleavage of β‐alkylthio carbonyl compounds in the presence of Selectfluor is described. This novel strategy realizes the C−S bond cleavage and subsequent C−O bond formation, providing a facile and efficient method to construct different important β‐alkoxy carbonyl compounds with moderate to good yields and good functional groups tolerance. Moreover, our mechanistic studies also prove that two different mechanisms including the oxidant and thionium ion intermediate pathway may exist in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonnutritive sweeteners (NNSs) are sugar substitutes widely used to reduce the negative health effects of excessive sugar consumption. Dental caries, one of the most prevalent chronic diseases globally, results from a pathogenic biofilm with microecological imbalance and frequent exposure to sugars. Some research has shown that certain NNSs possess less cariogenic potential than sucrose, indicating their putative effect on oral microbiome. To uncover the alterations of acidogenic pathogens and alkali-generating commensals, as well as the biofilm cariogenic potential under the influence of NNSs, we selected four common NNSs (acesulfame-K, aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose) and established single-, dual-, and multispecies in vitro culture model to assess their effects on Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) and/or Streptococcus sanguinis (S. sanguinis) compared to sucrose with the same sweetness. The results showed that NNSs significantly suppressed the planktonic growth, acid production, and biofilm formation of S. mutans or S. sanguinis compared with sucrose in single-species cultures. Additionally, decreased S. mutans/S. sanguinis ratio, less EPS generation, and higher pH value were observed in dual-species and saliva-derived multispecies biofilms with supplementary NNSs. Collectively, this study demonstrates that NNSs inhibit the cariogenic potential of biofilms by maintaining microbial equilibrium, thus having a promising prospect as anticaries agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The basal part of bamboo shoot is a novel resource to produce dietary fibre (BDF). However, its insolubility in water, stiff texture and low degradability limit its applicability in foods. This study explored the feasibility of improving the structural and functional properties of BDF by enzymatic hydrolysis and dynamic high‐pressure micro‐fluidisation (DHPM). Both methods are efficient to reduce the fibre particle size and caused significantly increased roughness on the fibre surface, especially for the porous structure after DHPM treatment. Crystallinity of DHPM‐modified fibres was increased from 23.01% to 33.53%, due to the disruption of lignin and hemicellulose, which was further confirmed by the FT‐IR spectra. The modified fibres exhibited significantly enhanced swelling capacity and holding water/oil capacities. Moreover, the modified fibres exhibited improved in vitro prebiotic property, which could constantly supply the carbon source and stimulate the growth of Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 4356 and Bifidobacterium longum ATCC 15707. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the temporal–spatial temperature field and mechanical response of an orthotropic steel bridge deck during paving with gussasphalt concrete (GAC), in situ monitoring of the Cuntan Yangtze River Bridge in China was conducted during GAC paving, and a finite element method model of the temperature field was established. The test and model show the following: (1) The maximum temperature occur at the paving area mid-span on the steel bridge deck, and the temperature stress of the ribs is non-negligible. (2) The deck in the paving and non-paving areas is mainly subjected to compressive and tensile stresses, respectively. (3) The beam end of the steel box expanded outward, and the deck bulge upward. (4) Based on the analysis of the construction parameters, the paving temperature and width have a greater influence than the paving speed on the stress and deformation fields. In bridge design, the temperature-stress problem caused by high-temperature pavement and the pavement thickness problem caused by the temperature deformation of the deck must be considered. The longitudinal elongation should meet the allowable limits of the corresponding telescopic device. These results can provide a reference for construction workers and maintenance personnel of bridge deck pavement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nelson-Seiberg theorem relates R -symmetries to F -term supersymmetry breaking and provides a guiding rule for new physics model building beyond the Standard Model. A revision of the theorem gives a necessary and sufficient condition to supersymmetry breaking in models with polynomial superpotentials. This work revisits the theorem to include models with nonpolynomial superpotentials. With a generic R -symmetric superpotential, a singularity at the origin of the field space implies both R -symmetry breaking and supersymmetry breaking. We give a generalized necessary and sufficient condition for supersymmetry breaking which applies to both perturbative and nonperturbative models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

S-glutathionylation is an important post-translational modification (PTM) process that targets protein cysteine thiols by the addition of glutathione (GSH). This modification can prevent proteolysis caused by the excessive oxidation of protein cysteine residues under oxidative or nitrosative stress conditions. Recent studies have suggested that protein S-glutathionylation plays an essential role in the control of cell-signaling pathways by affecting the protein function in bacteria and even humans. In this study, we investigated the effects of S-glutathionylation on physiological regulation within Streptococcus mutans, the primary etiological agent of human dental caries. To determine the S-glutathionylated proteins in bacteria, the Cys reactive isobaric reagent iodoacetyl Tandem Mass Tag (iodoTMT) was used to label the S-glutathionylated Cys site, and an anti-TMT antibody-conjugated resin was used to enrich the modified peptides. Proteome profiling identified a total of 357 glutathionylated cysteine residues on 239 proteins. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that these S-glutathionylated proteins were involved in diverse important biological processes, such as pyruvate metabolism and glycolysis. Furthermore, we studied a thioredoxin-like protein (Tlp) to explore the effect of S-glutathionylation on interspecies competition between oral streptococcal biofilms. Through site mutagenesis, it was proved that glutathionylation on Cys41 residue of Tlp is crucial to protect S. mutans from oxidative stress and compete with S. sanguinis and S. gordonii. An addition rat caries model showed that the loss of S-glutathionylation attenuated the cariogenicity of S. mutans. Taken together, our study provides an insight into the S-glutathionylation of bacterial proteins and the regulation of oxidative stress resistance and interspecies competition. Author summary: S-glutathionylation is involved in many physiological processes such as antioxidation, detoxification and cell proliferation. However, the proteomics research on S-glutathionylation has never been performed in bacteria. The identification of and functional studies on glutathione reductase, glutathione synthesis dual-functional enzyme and glutathione-S-transferase in Streptococcus mutans, the main causative agent of dental caries, inspired the existence of complete S-glutathionylation system in this type of bacteria. It may impact various crucial physiological processes by regulating the function of modified proteins. Here, we explored the entire S-glutathionylation proteome through high-specific labeling and high-sensitivity mass spectrometry technologies. The results showed that about 11.7% of the total S. mutans proteins were S-glutathionylated, which indicated that S-glutathionylation plays a fundamental role in the regulation of cellular processes. Through functional analysis and domain prediction, we next uncovered a potential thioredoxin that contains two modified cysteines on its key active motif; S-glutathionylation of the sites affected the oxidative resistance, competition and cariogenecity of S. mutans. We anticipate that S-glutathionylation proteome studies could be performed on more refractory infectious diseases, revealing more mechanisms of pathogen infection and providing new methods to treat infectious diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose/Aim: Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is characterized by the progressive and ultimately fatal accumulation of fibroblasts and extracellular matrix in the lung that distorts its architecture and compromises its function. Objective: The present study investigated the potential protective effects of schisandrin B (Sch B) on the Wingless/Integrase-1 (Wnt) signaling pathway in attenuating inflammation and oxidative stress in ICR mice. Methods: Sixty healthy ICR mice were randomly divided into the following groups: control group, bleomycin (BLM) group, Sch B low dose (Sch B-L) group, Sch B medium dose (Sch B-M) group, Sch B high dose (Sch B-H) group, and dexamethasone (DXM) group. The expression of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 was examined by ELISA. In addition, the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), hydroxyproline (HYP), and the total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) were determined. The protein and mRNA levels of matrix metalloproteinase 7 (MMP7) and β-catenin in mice were analyzed by western blot and quantitative real -quantitative time PCR (qRT-PCR), respectively. Results: Lung tissues from the BLM group exhibited significantly more inflammatory changes and a significantly greater number of collagen fibers than lung tissues from the control group. In addition, the lung tissues from these BLM-treated mice exhibited slightly increased MMP7 and β-catenin protein expression. Lung tissues from the Sch B-H group exhibited fewer inflammatory changes and fewer collagen fibers than lung tissues from the BLM group. Furthermore, the lung tissues from the Sch B-H mice exhibited decreased HYP and TGF-β1 levels, but increased SOD and T-AOC levels. Conclusions: The present study provided evidence that Sch B may be a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of PF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local binary pattern (LBP) has already been proved to be a powerful measure of image texture with fixed sampling scheme: all P neighbor pixels in a single-scale are usually sampled by using a fixed radius R. It can effectively address grayscale and rotation variations. However, the LBP method is sensitive to image noise and fails to achieve desirable performance for texture classification with significant scale changes. With the aim to deal with these disadvantages of LBP, a new method named scale-adaptive local binary pattern (SALBP) is proposed in this paper. The essence of our proposed SALBP method is to adaptively find a single but optimal scale from multiple scales for each radial direction in accordance with the characteristics of a local area. First, we select candidates of neighbors by the majority vote strategy for signs. Second, we determine final neighbor pixels by the maximal difference magnitude selection strategy for magnitudes of candidates. This procedure lets each neighbor pixel to adaptively obtain its own optimal scale from multiple scales, which refers to the adaptive optimal sampling radius. Therefore, scale invariance can be significantly improved. Extensive experiments on four public texture databases (i.e., Outex, CUReT, UIUC and Brodatz) demonstrate that the proposed SALBP method achieves significantly better results than representative LBP variants for texture classification tasks with a smaller feature dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, titled "Pressure Dependence of Mechanical and Thermodynamic Properties of MAX-Phase M2GaC (M = Nb and Ta) from First-Principles Calculations," explores the impact of high pressure on the electronic, mechanical, and thermodynamic properties of MAX-phase M2GaC (M = Nb and Ta). The study, conducted using first-principles methods, reveals that M2GaC (M = Nb and Ta) remains stable under pressures ranging from 0 to 40 GPa, with no phase transition occurring. The results also indicate that elastic constants and modulus increase with pressure, and the materials exhibit anisotropy in terms of bulk modulus, shear modulus, and Young's modulus. The findings of this research may offer valuable insights for the preparation of these ternary carbides. [Extracted from the article]

A simple strategy to afford trifluoromethyl-containing bendamustine hydrochloride in 34% overall via nine simple steps including substitution, selective reduction, N -acylation, cyclization, esterification, nitro-reduction, N -dihydroxyethylation, chlorination, and acid-catalyzed hydrolysis from commercially available 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene is described. The structures of the intermediates and target product are established on the basis of infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance, and high resolution mass spectrometer. Moreover, the structure of target product is also confirmed by X-ray crystal analysis, and further studies indicate that the existence of intermolecular O–H···Cl and N–H···Cl hydrogen bonds are effective in stabilization of the crystal structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose/Aim: More and more evidences suggest that airway remodeling of fibrotic lung diseases may be associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of human A549 cells induced by transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1. Schisandrin B (Sch B) is the highest content of dibenzocyclooctadiene lignans in Schisandra chinensis. In this study, we assessed the inhibitory influences of Sch B on TGF-β1-stimulated EMT in human A549 cells. Materials and Methods: The influences of Sch B on cell viability, invasion and metastasis in TGF-β1-induced human A549 cells were detected by MTT, wound healing and transwell invasion assays. The expression levels of α-SMA, E-cadherin, ZEB1 and Twist1 were examined by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot. The enrichment of H3K4me3 and H3K9me3 at the ZEB1 promoter was determined by ChIP analysis. Results: Experimental results showed that Sch B increased the expression of the epithelial phenotype marker E-cadherin and inhibited the expression of the mesenchymal phenotype marker α-SMA during EMT induced by TGF-β1. The enhancement in invasion and migration of TGF-β1-induced A549 cells was inhibited by Sch B. Sch B also repressed the expression of ZEB1 transcription factor in EMT, by increasing the enrichment of H3K9me3 at the ZEB1 promoter to repress its transcription while the expression of the Twist1 transcription factor was unaffected. Conclusions: Our data suggest that Sch B can prevent TGF-β1-stimulated EMT in A549 cells through epigenetic silencing of ZEB1, which may be clinically related to the efficient treatment of EMT-associated fibrotic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider a distribution system consisting of one distribution center (DC), a set of ports, and a set of retailers, in which the product is distributed to the retailers from the DC through the ports by the water transport, and study inventory management for the distribution system with considering the effect of the free storage periods provided by the ports. Inventory management for the distribution system is to determine the order intervals of the DC and the retailers while minimizing the inventory ordering and holding costs. Focusing on stationary and integer-ratio policies, we formulate this inventory management problem as an optimization problem with a convex objective function and a set of integer-ratio constraints and present O(Nlog⁡N) time algorithm to solve the relaxed problem (relaxing the integer-ratio constraints) to optimality, where N is the number of the retailers. We prove that the relaxed problem provides a lower bound on average cost for all the feasible policies (containing dynamic policies) for this inventory management problem. By using the optimal solution of the relaxed problem, we build a stationary integer-ratio policy (a power-of-two policy) for this inventory management problem and prove that the power-of-two policy can approximate the optimal inventory policy to 83% accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a simple and efficient local feature descriptor, local binary pattern (LBP) is mainly made up of two steps: extraction step and encoding step. In the extraction step, a local region is denoted by a difference vector between the center pixel and its neighbors. In the encoding step, the corresponding binary bit-string of the difference vector is encoded for the following texture classification. Though encoding step plays a vital role in the whole process of LBP, two current widely used encoding schemes of LBPriu2 and LBC still have some limitations. Different from these two current encoding schemes, in this paper, we propose a new LBP encoding scheme based on the maximum run length of state “1” (LBPmr1) in a binary bit-string. The maximum run length of state “1” reflects the most important part of the binary bit-string structure and it is used as the LBP code of a binary bit-string for the first time. Experimental results on four representative texture databases of Outex, UIUC, CUReT and UMD show that the proposed LBPmr1 achieves better classification accuracy compared with other related LBP encoding schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uridine diphosphate‐glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) are the most important phase II enzymes in human drug metabolism. Using permeabilized recombinant fission yeast cells (enzyme bags), we demonstrate that UGT1A5 can catalyze an N‐glucuronidation reaction. We characterized two new polymorphic UGT1A5 variants: a common ninefold mutant (UGT1A5*8) with double‐fold activity and a much rarer sixfold mutant (UGT1A5*9), which has the same activity as the wild‐type. Molecular modeling studies indicate that the minor effects of all mutations, except for Gly259Arg, are due to their distance to the substrate binding site. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations revealed that the Gly259Arg mutation stabilizes helix Q through a newly formed hydrogen bonding network, which places the cofactor in a much more favorable geometry in UGT1A5*8 as compared to the wild‐type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]