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SUMMARY: The utilization of rice heterosis is essential for ensuring global food security; however, its molecular mechanism remains unclear. In this study, comprehensive analyses of accessible chromatin regions (ACRs), DNA methylation, and gene expression in inter‐subspecific hybrid and its parents were performed to determine the potential role of chromatin accessibility in rice heterosis. The hybrid exhibited abundant ACRs, in which the gene ACRs and proximal ACRs were directly related to transcriptional activation rather than the distal ACRs. Regarding the dynamic accessibility contribution of the parents, paternal ZHF1015 transmitted a greater number of ACRs to the hybrid. Accessible genotype‐specific target genes were enriched with overrepresented transcription factors, indicating a unique regulatory network of genes in the hybrid. Compared with its parents, the differentially accessible chromatin regions with upregulated chromatin accessibility were much greater than those with downregulated chromatin accessibility, reflecting a stronger regulation in the hybrid. Furthermore, DNA methylation levels were negatively correlated with ACR intensity, and genes were strongly affected by CHH methylation in the hybrid. Chromatin accessibility positively regulated the overall expression level of each genotype. ACR‐related genes with maternal Z04A‐bias allele‐specific expression tended to be enriched during carotenoid biosynthesis, whereas paternal ZHF1015‐bias genes were more active in carbohydrate metabolism. Our findings provide a new perspective on the mechanism of heterosis based on chromatin accessibility in inter‐subspecific hybrid rice. Significance Statement: The utilization of rice heterosis is an essential avenue to overcome the yield bottleneck; however, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. We characterized the more actively accessible chromatin state in the inter‐subspecific hybrid compared to that in its parents, revealing the regulation of chromatin accessibility and DNA methylation. This study offers a novel perspective on ACR as an embodiment of the regulation of hybrid rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Inter-subspecific hybrid rice represents a significant breakthrough in agricultural genetics, offering higher yields and better resilience to various environmental stresses. While the utilization of these hybrids has shed light on the genetic processes underlying hybridization, understanding the molecular mechanisms driving heterosis remains a complex and ongoing challenge. Here, chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing (ChIP-seq) was used to analyze genome-wide profiles of H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 modifications in the inter-subspecific hybrid rice ZY19 and its parents, Z04A and ZHF1015, then combined them with the transcriptome and DNA methylation data to uncover the effects of histone modifications on gene expression and the contribution of epigenetic modifications to heterosis. Results: In the hybrid, there were 8,126 and 1,610 different peaks for H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 modifications when compared to its parents, respectively, with the majority of them originating from the parental lines. The different modifications between the hybrid and its parents were more frequently observed as higher levels in the hybrid than in the parents. In ZY19, there were 476 and 84 allele-specific genes with H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 modifications identified, representing 7.9% and 12% of the total analyzed genes, respectively. Only a small portion of genes that showed differences in parental H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 modifications which demonstrated allele-specific histone modifications (ASHM) in the hybrid. The H3K4me3 modification level in the hybrid was significantly lower compared to the parents. In the hybrid, DNA methylation occurs more frequently among histone modification target genes. Additionally, over 62.58% of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were affected by epigenetic variations. Notably, there was a strong correlation observed between variations in H3K4me3 modifications and gene expression levels in the hybrid and its parents. Conclusion: These findings highlight the substantial impact of histone modifications and DNA methylation on gene expression during hybridization. Epigenetic variations play a crucial role in controlling the differential expression of genes, with potential implications for heterosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1), which is mainly processed and cleaved from proglucagon in enteroendocrine cells (EECs) of the intestinal tract, acts on the GLP1 receptor in pancreatic cells to stimulate insulin secretion and to inhibit glucagon secretion. However, GLP1 processing is not fully understood. Here, we show that reticulon 4B (Nogo-B), an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident protein, interacts with the major proglucagon fragment of proglucagon to retain proglucagon on the ER, thereby inhibiting PCSK1-mediated cleavage of proglucagon in the Golgi. Intestinal Nogo-B knockout in male type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) mice increases GLP1 and insulin levels and decreases glucagon levels, thereby alleviating pancreatic injury and insulin resistance. Finally, we identify aberrantly elevated Nogo-B expression and inhibited proglucagon cleavage in EECs from diabetic patients. Our study reveals the subcellular regulatory processes involving Nogo-B during GLP1 production and suggests intestinal Nogo-B as a potential therapeutic target for T2DM. Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1) is processed and cleaved from proglucagon to stimulate insulin secretion. Here, authors show that Nogo-B interacts with proglucagon to retain it on the ER, thereby inhibiting PCSK1-mediated cleavage of proglucagon and secretion of GLP1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three types of aggregate, including metallurgical slag aggregate (steel slag, copper slag, and iron sand), rare earth porcelain sand (REPS) aggregate as artificial aggregate, and recycled aggregate, were selected to produce concrete with the same basic mixture proportions in order to investigate the influence of aggregate types and aggregate replacement rates on their mechanical properties. Three levels of aggregate replacement rate—20%, 35%, and 50% for coarse aggregate (CA) and 20%, 30%, and 40% for fine aggregate (FA)—were employed in this study. The results indicate that replacing natural sand with metallurgical slag aggregate as FA enhances the mechanical properties of concrete. Among these, iron sand (IS) shows superior enhancement effects compared with copper slag (CS), and CS outperforms steel slag (SS). Specifically, at a 30% IS replacement rate, the compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of IS aggregate concrete are 32.8% and 35.6% higher than those of natural aggregate concrete, respectively. REPS used as CA demonstrates significant improvements in compressive strength, while REPS used as FA notably enhances splitting tensile strength. For recycled aggregate concrete with recycled coarse aggregate replacement rates of 35% and 50%, mechanical properties are effectively strengthened by incorporating CS as FA at a 30% replacement rate and REPS as CA at a 20% substitution ratio, respectively. Additionally, XRF and XRD techniques were employed to confirm aggregate composition and were combined with SEM and EDS techniques to analyze the concrete microstructure, clarifying the strengthening mechanisms of metallurgical and artificial aggregates on concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to elucidate responses of the bacterial structure and diversity of the rhizosphere in flowering broomcorn millet after rehydration following drought stress. In this study, the broomcorn millet varieties 'Hequ red millet' (A1) and 'Yanshu No.10′ (A2), known for their different drought tolerance levels, were selected as experimental materials. The plants were subjected to rehydration after drought stress at the flowering stage, while normal watering (A1CK and A2CK) served as the control. Soil samples were collected at 10 days (A11, A21, A1CK1, and A2CK1) and 20 days (A12, A22, A1CK2, and A2CK2) after rehydration. High-throughput sequencing technology was employed to investigate the variations in bacterial community structure, diversity, and metabolic functions in the rhizosphere of the broomcorn millet at different time points following rehydration. The findings indicated that the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of bacteria in the rhizosphere of broomcorn millet were notably influenced by the duration of treatment, with a significant decrease in OTUs observed after 20 days of rehydration. However, bacterial Alpha diversity was not significantly impacted by rehydration following drought stress. The bacterial community in the rhizosphere of broomcorn millet was mainly composed of Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. After rewatering for 10 to 20 days after drought stress, the abundance of Sphingomonas and Aeromicrobium in the rhizosphere soil of the two varieties of broomcorn millet decreased gradually. Compared with Yanshu No.10, the abundance of Pseudarthrobacter in the rhizosphere of Hequ red millet gradually increased. A Beta diversity analysis revealed variations in the dissimilarities of the bacterial community which corresponded to different rehydration durations. The relative abundance of bacterial metabolic functions in the rhizosphere of broomcorn millet was lower after 20 days of rehydration, compared to measurements after 10 days of rehydration. This observation might be attributed to the exchange of materials between broomcorn millet and microorganisms during the initial rehydration stage to repair the effects of drought, as well as to the enrichment of numerous microorganisms to sustain the stability of the community structure. This study helps to comprehend the alterations to the bacterial structure and diversity in the rhizosphere of broomcorn millet following drought stress and rehydration. It sheds light on the growth status of broomcorn millet and its rhizosphere microorganisms under real environmental influences, thereby enhancing research on the drought tolerance mechanisms of broomcorn millet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study to explore the use of new-media health information and its influence on their health and health management. Methods: A total of 208 elderly people in Qiqihar City were selected as the survey objects, and a questionnaire was used to investigate their access to health information through new-media platforms. We analyze the factors (e.g., education、pre-retirement occupation, etc.) in the use of health information on new-media platforms.Results: Monthly income, educational level, pre-retirement occupation and attention of the new-media of the elderly had significant effects on health information acquisition (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The use of new-media health information among the elderly was diversified and had an impact on their health management. We should standardize the management of new-media health information dissemination platforms and publicize the use of new-media health information in a targeted way, to improve the self-health management of the elderly and reduce their burden on the national medical system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ehrlichia chaffeensis infects and proliferates inside monocytes or macrophages and causes human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME), an emerging life-threatening tick-borne zoonosis. After internalization, E. chaffeensis resides in specialized membrane-bound inclusions, E. chaffeensis-containing vesicles (ECVs), to evade from host cell innate immune responses and obtain nutrients. However, mechanisms exploited by host cells to inhibit E. chaffeensis growth in ECVs are still largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that host cells recognize E. chaffeensis Ech_1067, a penicillin-binding protein, and then upregulate the expression of PIT1, which is a phosphate transporter and transports phosphate from ECVs to the cytosol to inhibit bacterial growth. We found that host cells upregulate the PIT1 expression upon E. chaffeensis infection using transcriptome sequencing, qRT-PCR and Western blotting, and PIT1 is localized on the ECV membrane in infected THP-1 cells using confocal microscopy. Silence of PIT1 using shRNA enhances E. chaffeensis intracellular growth. Finally, we found that E. chaffeensis Ech_1067 induces the upregulation of PIT1 expression through the MyD88-NF-κB pathway using recombinant protein for stimulation and siRNA for silence. Our findings deepen the understanding of the innate immune responses of host cells to inhibit bacterial intracellular growth and facilitate the development of new therapeutics for HME. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To further increasing the toughness performance of thermoset resins without sacrificing their other properties is still a challenge task. In this study, the soft core–soft shell nanoparticles based on polydopamine‐modified cellulose nanocrystals (P‐CNC) were synthesized and seamlessly integrated with Bisphenol A‐aniline benzoxazine (BA‐a). Notably, the results underscore the remarkable impact of a mere 0.2 wt% of P‐CNC on BA‐a, boosting the impact strength of the modified system to 19.5 kJ/m2. This achievement represents a substantial 140.7% increase compared with pure polybenzoxazine. Moreover, the flexural strength reaches 133.4 MPa, surpassing pure polybenzoxazine by 16.2%. And the modified system exhibits a 10% weight loss temperature (Td10) at 321.7°C, accompanied by a char yield of 27.6%. This holistic approach results in a notable enhancement of the toughness performance while concurrently maintaining the flexural strength and the thermal stability of the modified system. Consequently, the integration of soft core–soft shell nanoparticles emerges as a promising strategy for enhancing thermoset resin properties without undermining their existing exceptional attributes. Highlights: The core–shell nanoparticles were made by dopamine and cellulose nanocrystals.The core–shell nanoparticles can enhance the toughness of polybenzoxazine.Nanoparticle‐matrix interactions and deformation led to improved properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polybenzoxazine (PBZ) has emerged as a cutting-edge high-performance thermosetting resin, boasting a broad spectrum of applications in electrical insulation, friction materials, and aerospace industries due to its outstanding features such as exceptional thermal stability, mechanical properties, flexible molecular designability, and high char yield, among others. While existing reviews on benzoxazines cover various aspects of benzoxazine research, including synthesis methodologies, accelerated curing process, low-temperature polymerization, intramolecular hydrogen bonding, green flame retardants, low dielectrics, toughening, and others, there remains a noticeable gap in the systematic review of coatings – an essential application area for benzoxazines. This review strategically fills this gap by focusing on the functionalization of benzoxazines with composite coatings, exploring vital domains such as superhydrophobicity, anti-corrosion, anti-fouling, antibacterial, water–oil separation, and self-cleaning mechanisms. Delving into the intricacies of molecular design, synthesis, and modification, we provide comprehensive insights into the development of PBZs tailored for specific functionalized applications. Our review not only enhances the understanding of the multifaceted realm of functional PBZs but also offers practical guidance for designing benzoxazines with desired structures and properties. This, in turn, paves the way for their potential utilization in advanced applications, marking a significant step forward in the field of coating technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to clarify the effect of different fertilizers on foxtail millet quality under low nitrogen conditions, we used JGNo.21 and LZGNo.2 as experimental materials and set up five treatments, including non-fertilization, nitrogen, phosphorus, compound, and organic fertilizers, to study the regulation of different fertilizer types on agronomic traits, nutrient fractions, and pasting characteristics of foxtail millet under low nitrogen conditions. Compared with the control, all of the fertilizers improved the agronomic traits of JGNo.21 to a certain extent. Nitrogen and compound fertilizer treatments reduced the starch content of JGNo.21; the starch content was reduced by 0.55% and 0.07% under nitrogen and compound fertilizers treatments. Phosphorus and organic fertilizers increased starch content, and starch content increased by 0.50% and 0.56% under phosphorus and organic fertilizer treatments. The effect of each fertilizer treatment on protein content was completely opposite to that of starch; different fertilizer treatments reduced the fat content of JGNo.21 and increased the fiber content. Among them, nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers increased the yellow pigment content; the yellow pigment content increased by 1.21% and 2.64% under nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer treatments. Organic and compound fertilizers reduced the content of yellow pigment; the yellow pigment content was reduced by 3.36% and 2.79% under organic and compound fertilizer treatments. Nitrogen and organic fertilizers increased the fat content of LZGNo.2; the fat content increased by 2.62% and 1.98% under nitrogen, organic fertilizer treatment. Compound and phosphorus fertilizer decreased the fat content; the fat content decreased by 2.16% and 2.90% under compound and phosphorus fertilizer treatment. Different fertilizer treatments reduced the cellulose and yellow pigment content of LZGNo.2. The content of essential, non-essential, and total amino acids of JGNo.21 was increased under compound and nitrogen fertilizer treatments and decreased under organic and phosphorus fertilizer treatments. The content of essential, non-essential, and total amino acids of LZGNo.2 was significantly higher under compound, nitrogen, and organic fertilizer treatments compared with control and significantly decreased under phosphorus fertilizer treatments. Nitrogen and compound fertilizer treatments significantly reduced the values of peak viscosity, trough viscosity, breakdown viscosity, final viscosity, setback viscosity, and pasting time of each index of JGNo.21; phosphorus and organic fertilizer treatments improved the values of each index. In contrast, the pasting viscosity of LZGNo.2 increased under phosphorus fertilizer treatment and decreased under nitrogen fertilizer treatment. Reasonable fertilization can improve the quality of foxtail millet, which provides a scientific theoretical basis for improving the quality of foxtail millet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycogen synthase kinase‐3 (GSK3), consisting of GSK3α and GSK3β subtypes, is a complex protein kinase that regulates numerous substrates. Research has observed increased GSK3 expression in the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and models. AD is a neurodegenerative disorder with diverse pathogenesis and notable cognitive impairments, characterized by Aβ aggregation and excessive tau phosphorylation. This article provides an overview of GSK3's structure and regulation, extensively analyzing its relationship with AD factors. GSK3 overactivation disrupts neural growth, development, and function. It directly promotes tau phosphorylation, regulates amyloid precursor protein (APP) cleavage, leading to Aβ formation, and directly or indirectly triggers neuroinflammation and oxidative damage. We also summarize preclinical research highlighting the inhibition of GSK3 activity as a primary therapeutic approach for AD. Finally, pending issues like the lack of highly specific and affinity‐driven GSK3 inhibitors, are raised and expected to be addressed in future research. In conclusion, GSK3 represents a target in AD treatment, filled with hope, challenges, opportunities, and obstacles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning methods have been used in identifying omics markers for a variety of phenotypes. We aimed to examine whether a supervised machine learning algorithm can improve identification of alcohol-associated transcriptomic markers. In this study, we analysed array-based, whole-blood derived expression data for 17 873 gene transcripts in 5508 Framingham Heart Study participants. By using the Boruta algorithm, a supervised random forest (RF)-based feature selection method, we selected twenty-five alcohol-associated transcripts. In a testing set (30 % of entire study participants), AUC (area under the receiver operating characteristics curve) of these twenty-five transcripts were 0·73, 0·69 and 0·66 for non-drinkers v. moderate drinkers, non-drinkers v. heavy drinkers and moderate drinkers v. heavy drinkers, respectively. The AUC of the selected transcripts by the Boruta method were comparable to those identified using conventional linear regression models, for example, AUC of 1958 transcripts identified by conventional linear regression models (false discovery rate < 0·2) were 0·74, 0·66 and 0·65, respectively. With Bonferroni correction for the twenty-five Boruta method-selected transcripts and three CVD risk factors (i.e. at P < 6·7e-4), we observed thirteen transcripts were associated with obesity, three transcripts with type 2 diabetes and one transcript with hypertension. For example, we observed that alcohol consumption was inversely associated with the expression of DOCK4 , IL4R , and SORT1 , and DOCK4 and SORT1 were positively associated with obesity, and IL4R was inversely associated with hypertension. In conclusion, using a supervised machine learning method, the RF-based Boruta algorithm, we identified novel alcohol-associated gene transcripts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting genes that affect specific traits (such as human diseases and crop yields) is important for treating complex diseases and improving crop quality. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) provides new insights and directions for understanding complex traits by identifying important single nucleotide polymorphisms. Many GWAS summary statistics data related to various complex traits have been gathered recently. Studies have shown that GWAS risk loci and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) often have a lot of overlaps, which makes gene expression gradually become an important intermediary to reveal the regulatory role of GWAS. In this review, we review three types of gene-trait association detection methods of integrating GWAS summary statistics and eQTLs data, namely colocalization methods, transcriptome-wide association study-oriented approaches, and Mendelian randomization-related methods. At the theoretical level, we discussed the differences, relationships, advantages, and disadvantages of various algorithms in the three kinds of gene-trait association detection methods. To further discuss the performance of various methods, we summarize the significant gene sets that influence high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, total cholesterol, and triglyceride reported in 16 studies. We discuss the performance of various algorithms using the datasets of the four lipid traits. The advantages and limitations of various algorithms are analyzed based on experimental results, and we suggest directions for follow-up studies on detecting gene-trait associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have documented that parent‒child attachment is linked to the mental health of college students. However, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relation. Based on attachment theory, this study examined whether security mediates the relationship between parent‒child attachment and mental health among college students and whether problematic smartphone use moderates the second half of the mediation process. In total, 77,211 Chinese students (mean age = 20.09 years, SD = 1.37) were recruited from multiple universities. These students provided self-reported data on demographic variables, parent‒child attachment, security, problematic smartphone use, depression, anxiety and resilience. After controlling for sex, age, paternal education level, maternal education level and family economic status, mediation analysis indicated that security mediates the association between parent‒child attachment and mental health among college students. Moderated mediation analysis further demonstrated that the association between security and mental health is moderated by problematic smartphone use. Specifically, the relationship between security and mental health among college students was stronger for those with highly problematic smartphone use. The current study highlights the significance of identifying the mechanisms that moderate the mediated paths between parent‒child attachment and mental health and has important implications for the prevention and intervention of mental health problems among college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate its effect of an evidence-based nursing program for nasal irrigation after endoscopic sinus surgery in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Methods: A total of 66 patients with CRS were randomly divided into two groups, for which the experimental group received evidence-based nasal irrigation nursing, and the control group received conventional nursing. Differences in Sino–Nasal Outcome Test-20 (SNOT-20), visual analogue scale (VAS), Lund–Mackay CT, Endoscopic Lund Kennedy Score (LKES) and overall efficacy were assessed between the two groups. Results: 2, 4 and 12 weeks after the intervention, the scores of SNOT-20, VAS, Lund–Mackay CT and LKES in the two groups were significantly lower than those before the surgery (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the scores were significantly lower in the experimental group (P < 0.05). 12 weeks after the intervention, the overall effective rate of treatment in the experimental group was 90.62%, while the control group was 16.43%, but the difference was not statistically significant in treatment effect (P > 0.05). Conclusions: The implementation of nasal irrigation evidence-based nursing program for patients with CRS after endoscopic sinus surgery can promote postoperative nasal mucosal recovery, improve treatment efficiency, and help improve patient comfort, quality of life and other subjective feelings. Trial registration: The study was registered retrospectively with reference number ChiCTR2300075484 on 06/09/2023, available at: https://www.chictr.org.cn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With China's rapid industrialization and urbanization in the process of socio-economic development, the extensive use of energy has resulted in a large amount of CO2 emissions, which puts great pressure on China's carbon emission reduction task. Through multivariate socio-economic data, this paper proposes an extraction and screening method of multivariate variables based on land-use types, and the downscaled spatial decomposition of carbon emissions at different scales was carried out by using the spatial lag model (SLM). This paper makes up for the shortcomings of previous studies, such as an insufficient modeling scale, simple modeling variables, limited spatio-temporal span of spatial decomposition, and no consideration of geographical correlation. Based on the results of the spatial decomposition of carbon emissions, this paper explores the spatial and temporal dynamics of carbon emissions at different scales. The results showed that SLM is capable of downscaling the spatialization of carbon emissions with high precision, and the continuity of the decomposition results at the provincial scale is stronger, while the differences of the decomposition results at the municipal scale are more obvious within the municipal units. In terms of the spatial and temporal dynamics of CO2 emissions, carbon emissions at both scales showed a significant positive correlation. The dominant spatial correlation types are "Low–Low" at the provincial level, and "Low–Low" and "High–High" at the municipal level. The smaller spatial scope is more helpful to show the geographic dependence and geographic differences of China's carbon emissions. The findings of this paper will help deepen the understanding of the spatial and temporal changes of carbon emissions in China. They will provide a scientific basis for the formulation of feasible carbon emission reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for identification of maize varieties has increased dramatically due to the phenomenon of mixed seeds and inferior varieties pretending to be high‐quality varieties continuing to occur. It is urgent to solve the problem of efficient and accurate identification of maize varieties. A hyperspectral image acquisition system was used to acquire images of maize seeds. Regions of interest (ROI) with an embryo size of 10 × 10 pixel were extracted, and the average spectral information in the range of 949.43–1709.49 nm was intercepted for the subsequent study in order to eliminate random noise at both ends. Savitzky–Golay (SG) smoothing algorithm and multiple scattering correction (MSC) were used to pretreat the full‐band spectrum. The feature wavelengths were screened by successive projection algorithms (SPA), competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) single screening, and two combinations of CARS‐SPA and CARS + SPA, respectively. Support vector machines (SVMs) and models optimized based on genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO) were established by using full bands (FB) and feature bands as the model input. The results showed that the MSC‐(CARS‐SPA)‐GA‐SVM model had the best performance with 93.00% of the test set accuracy, 8 feature variables, and a running time of 24.45 s. MSC pretreatment can effectively eliminate the scattering effect of spectral data, and the feature wavelengths extracted by CARS‐SPA can represent all wavelength information. The study proved that hyperspectral imaging combined with GA‐SVM can realize the identification of maize varieties, which provided a theoretical basis for maize variety classification and authenticity identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sentiment and sarcasm are intimate and complex, as sarcasm often deliberately elicits an emotional response in order to achieve its specific purpose. Current challenges in multi-modal sentiment and sarcasm joint detection mainly include multi-modal representation fusion and the modeling of the intrinsic relationship between sentiment and sarcasm. To address these challenges, we propose a single-input stream self-adaptive representation learning model (SRLM) for sentiment and sarcasm joint recognition. Specifically, we divide the image into blocks to learn its serialized features and fuse textual feature as input to the target model. Then, we introduce an adaptive representation learning network using a gated network approach for sarcasm and sentiment classification. In this framework, each task is equipped with its dedicated expert network responsible for learning task-specific information, while the shared expert knowledge is acquired and weighted through the gating network. Finally, comprehensive experiments conducted on two publicly available datasets, namely Memotion and MUStARD, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model when compared to state-of-the-art baselines. The results reveal a notable improvement on the performance of sentiment and sarcasm tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common type of cancer worldwide, wherein the immune responses are closely associated with disease occurrence, development, and prognosis. Investigation of the role of immunogenic cell death-related genes (ICDGs) in adaptive immune response activation may provide cues into the mechanism underlying the outcome of HNSCC immunotherapy. Methods: ICDGs expression patterns in HNSCC were analyzed, after which consensus clustering in HNSCC cohort conducted. A 4-gene prognostic model was constructed through LASSO and Cox regression analyses to analyze the prognostic index using the TCGA dataset, followed by validation with two GEO datasets. The distribution of immune cells and the response to immunotherapy were compared between different risk subtypes through multiple algorithms. Moreover, immunohistochemical (IHC) analyses were conducted to validate the prognostic value of HSP90AA1 as a predictor of HNSCC patient prognosis. In vitro assays were performed to further detect the effect of HSP90AA1 in the development of HNSCC. Results: A novel prognostic index based on four ICDGs was constructed and proved to be useful as an independent factor of HNSCC prognosis. The risk score derived from this model grouped patients into high- and low-risk subtypes, wherein the high-risk subtype had worse survival outcomes and poorer immunotherapy response. IHC analysis validated the applicability of HSP90AA1 as a predictor of prognosis of HNSCC patients. HSP90AA1 expression in tumor cells promotes the progression of HNSCC. Conclusions: Together, these results highlight a novel four-gene prognostic signature as a valuable tool to assess survival status and prognosis of HNSCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nickel element doped holmium oxide (Ho2O3:Ni) transparent magneto‐optical ceramics were fabricated by vacuum sintering and the dopant impacts on structure features and Faraday effects were investigated. The starting oxide powders were synthesized by pyrolyzing the resulting layered holmium‐based hydroxide nanosheets prepared from a chemical precipitation route using the sodium hydroxide as precipitant at the freezing temperature. Upon high‐temperature sintering, the Nii••${\mathrm{Ni}}_i^{ \bullet \bullet }$ defect is introduced by Ni2+ substitution for Ho3+ to form the interstitial solid solution. The 1 at.% Ni2+ doped Ho2O3 ceramic sample exhibits an in‐line transmittance of ∼70.04% at 1 550 nm with a relative density of ∼99.88%, while more Ni2+ incorporation (e.g., 2‒5 at.%) even leads to a completely opaque state. The magneto‐optical transparent Ho2O3:1%Ni ceramic developed in this work has Verdet constants of ∼−195, −65, and −29 rad/(T·m) at 635, 1 064, and 1 550 nm, respectively, which are ∼1.8‐fold higher than the commercial terbium gallium garnet crystal or ∼1.4‐fold higher than the pure Ho2O3 ceramic. This material also possesses relatively large figure of merit of ∼14.6°/T at 1 064 nm and relatively high thermal conductivity of ∼7.5 W/(m·K) at room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastics (MPs) migrate by adsorbing heavy metals in aquatic environments and act as their carriers. However, the aging mechanisms of MPs in the environment and the interactions between MPs and heavy metals in aquatic environments require further study. In this study, two kinds of materials, polyamide (PA) and polylactic acid (PLA) were used as target MPs, and the effects of UV irradiation on the physical and chemical properties of the MPs and the adsorption behavior of Cu(II) were investigated. The results showed that after UV irradiation, pits, folds and pores appeared on the surface of aged MPs, the specific surface area (SSA) increased, the content of oxygen-containing functional groups increased, and the crystallinity decreased. These changes enhanced the adsorption capacity of aged MPs for Cu(II) pollutants. The adsorption behavior of the PA and PLA MPs for Cu(II) conformed to the pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir isotherm model, indicating that the monolayer chemical adsorption was dominant. The maximum amounts of aged PA and PLA reached 1.415 and 1.398 mg/g, respectively, which were 1.59 and 1.76 times of virgin MPs, respectively. The effects of pH and salinity on the adsorption of Cu(II) by the MPs were significant. Moreover, factors such as pH, salinity and dosage had significant effects on the adsorption of Cu(II) by MPs. Oxidative complexation between the oxygen-containing groups of the MPs and Cu(II) is an important adsorption mechanism. These findings reveal that the UV irradiation aging of MPs can enhance the adsorption of Cu(II) and increase their role as pollutant carriers, which is crucial for assessing the ecological risk of MPs and heavy metals coexisting in aquatic environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic spidroin fibers have not yet attained the same level of toughness and stability as natural spider silks due to the complexity of composition and hierarchical structure. Particularly, understanding the intricate interactions between spidroin components in spider fiber is still elusive. Herein, we report modular design and preparation of spidroin‐mimetic fibers composed of a conservative C‐terminus spidroin module, two different natural β‐sheets modules, and a non‐spidroin random‐coil module. The resulting fibers exhibit a toughness of ~200 MJ/m3, reaching the highest value among the reported artificial spider silks. The interactions between two components of recombinant spidroins facilitate the intermolecular co‐assembly of β‐sheets, thereby enhancing the mechanical strength and reducing batch‐to‐batch variability in the dual‐component spidroin fibers. Additionally, the dual‐component spidroin fibers offer potential applications in implantable or even edible devices. Therefore, our work presents a generic strategy to develop high‐performance protein fibers for diverse translations in different scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic spidroin fibers have not yet attained the same level of toughness and stability as natural spider silks due to the complexity of composition and hierarchical structure. Particularly, understanding the intricate interactions between spidroin components in spider fiber is still elusive. Herein, we report modular design and preparation of spidroin‐mimetic fibers composed of a conservative C‐terminus spidroin module, two different natural β‐sheets modules, and a non‐spidroin random‐coil module. The resulting fibers exhibit a toughness of ~200 MJ/m3, reaching the highest value among the reported artificial spider silks. The interactions between two components of recombinant spidroins facilitate the intermolecular co‐assembly of β‐sheets, thereby enhancing the mechanical strength and reducing batch‐to‐batch variability in the dual‐component spidroin fibers. Additionally, the dual‐component spidroin fibers offer potential applications in implantable or even edible devices. Therefore, our work presents a generic strategy to develop high‐performance protein fibers for diverse translations in different scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the diversity in emotional tendencies and needs toward urban green spaces (UGSs) among people from different cultural backgrounds in the wave of cultural integration. We utilized social media data as research tools, gathering a wide range of perspectives and voices. Utilizing geolocation data from 176 UGSs in Macau, we collected 139,162 social media comments to analyze the emotional perceptions of different cultural groups. Furthermore, we conducted regression analysis on the number of posts and emotional intensity values from four linguistic groups—Chinese, English, Southeast Asian languages, and Portuguese—in UGSs, correlating them with ten locally relevant landscape features. Our findings reveal diverse attitudes, emotional inclinations, and functional and design needs of different linguistic groups toward UGSs, as follows: (1) there were significant differences in emotional intensity and tweet counts across 176 UGSs; (2) Chinese and Portuguese speakers showed a more positive attitude toward plazas and natural ecological areas, whereas English- and Southeast-Asian-language speakers tended to favor recreational areas and suburban parks; (3) Chinese speakers exhibited a more positive emotional intensity toward sports facilities, while English speakers placed more emphasis on green space areas, architecture, sports infrastructure, and plant landscapes; (4) there was no specific landscape feature preference for Portuguese- and Southeast-Asian-language speakers. This research not only deepens our understanding of the emotional perceptions and preferences of UGSs among different cultural groups but also explores the association between these groups and various urban landscape features. This provides important theoretical and practical insights for future UGS planning, construction, and promoting multicultural coexistence for sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium‐sulfur (Li−S) batteries emerge as compelling contenders for next‐generation energy‐storage devices, boasting a noteworthy mass‐specific energy of 2600 Wh kg−1. However, the cycle stability and commercialization of Li−S batteries encounter challenges because of polysulfide shuttle and uncontrolled lithium dendrite growth. In this study, we present a polyoxometalates‐based dual‐function [PMo12O40]3− cluster@carbon nanotube modified polypropylene (PP) separator (PMo12@CNT/PP) to regulate polysulfide transformation and safeguard the lithium anode in Li−S batteries. Leveraging its multi‐electron redox properties and stable cluster structure, the PMo12 cluster acts as a polysulfide mediator, effectively capturing and promoting electrochemical polysulfide transformation. The incorporation of CNT fosters consistent Li‐ion nucleation, stabilizes the lithium anode, and impedes dendrite formation throughout cycling. Hence, Li−S cells equipped with the PMo12@CNT/PP separator display higher capacity and better stability (675 mAh g−1 at 3.0 C and 0.02 % capacity decay per cycle over 700 cycles). The pouch cells with a sulfur loading 4.5 mg cm−2 exhibit an initial discharge specific capacity of 925 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C, and remain 849 mAh g−1 after 40 cycles, underscoring the significant potential for practical applications of Li−S batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Both genetics and vitamin D deficiency are associated with childhood obesity. However, the role of vitamin D status between polygenic and childhood obesity has been unknown. The current study aimed to determine the relation between genetic factors, vitamin D status, and BMI-for-age z score (zBMI) in Chinese preschool children. Methods: A total of 1046 participants aged 3.7 to 6.6 years old from the Long-term Health Effects Assessment Project of Infants and Toddlers Nutritional Pack (LHEAPITNP) were included in this study. The polygenic risk score (PRS) was established based on 55 BMI-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) derived from a published genome-wide association study (GWAS) for BMI. Serum 25(OH)D was used as an index of vitamin D status and measured with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) assay. The Wilcoxon test or Kruskal–Wallis test was used to compare the differences of variables between different groups and Spearman correlation analysis was used for analyzing the correlations between the PRS, 25(OH)D levels, and zBMI. Results: The PRS showed a positive relation to zBMI (rs = 0.0953, p = 0.0022) and 25(OH)D showed a negative relation to zBMI (rs = −0.1082, p = 0.0005) in the full-adjustment model. In addition, the differences in zBMI at different vitamin D statuses in the low-risk PRS group and the intermediate-risk PRS group were both statistically significant (plow = 0.0308, pintermediate = 0.0121), the median zBMI was both higher at vitamin D insufficiency status. And the difference in zBMI between different genetic risk groups was also statistically significant at vitamin D sufficiency status (p = 0.0077). Furthermore, genetic risk showed a positive relation to zBMI at vitamin D sufficiency status, and the p for trend was 0.0028. Conclusions: Our findings suggested that vitamin D was related to zBMI negatively in Chinese preschoolers and maintaining adequate vitamin D levels may only contribute to lower the zBMI in preschoolers with low and intermediate genetic susceptibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The echo state network (ESN) is a recurrent neural network that has yielded state-of-the-art results in many areas owing to its rapid learning ability and the fact that the weights of input neurons and hidden neurons are fixed throughout the learning process. However, the setting procedure for initializing the ESN's recurrent structure may lead to difficulties in designing a sound reservoir that matches a specific task. This paper proposes an improved pre-training method to adjust the model's parameters and topology to obtain an adaptive reservoir for a given application. Two strategies, namely global random selection and ensemble training, are introduced to pre-train the randomly initialized ESN model. Specifically, particle swarm optimization is applied to optimize chosen fixed and global weight values within the network, and the reliability and stability of the pre-trained model are enhanced by employing the ensemble training strategy. In addition, we test the feasibility of the model for time series prediction on six benchmarks and two real-life datasets. The experimental results show a clear enhancement in the ESN learning results. Furthermore, the proposed global random selection and ensemble training strategies are also applied to pre-train the extreme learning machine (ELM), which has a similar training process to the ESN model. Numerical experiments are subsequently carried out on the above-mentioned eight datasets. The experimental findings consistently show that the performance of the proposed pre-trained ELM model is also improved significantly. The suggested two strategies can thus enhance the ESN and ELM models' prediction accuracy and adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ehrlichia chaffeensis infects human monocytes or macrophages and causes human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME), an emerging life-threatening zoonosis. After internalization, E. chaffeensis resides in membrane-bound inclusions, E. chaffeensis-containing vesicles (ECVs), which have early endosome-like characteristics and fuse with early autophagosomes but not lysosomes, to evade host innate immune microbicidal mechanisms and obtain nutrients for bacterial intracellular growth. The mechanisms exploited by E. chaffeensis to modulate intracellular vesicle trafficking in host cells have not been comprehensively studied. Here, we demonstrate that E. chaffeensis type IV secretion system (T4SS) effector Etf-3 induces RAB15 upregulation in host cells and that RAB15, which is localized on ECVs, inhibits ECV fusion with lysosomes and induces autophagy. We found that E. chaffeensis infection upregulated RAB15 expression using qRT-PCR, and RAB15 was colocalized with E. chaffeensis using confocal microscopy. Silence of RAB15 using siRNA enhanced ECV maturation to late endosomes and fusion with lysosomes, as well as inhibited host cell autophagy. Overexpression of Etf-3 in host cells specifically induced RAB15 upregulation and autophagy. Our findings deepen the understanding of E. chaffeensis pathogenesis and adaptation in hosts as well as the function of RAB15 and facilitate the development of new therapeutics for HME. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate the role of oral microbiome in promoting oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) development. Materials and Methods: We investigated the salivary microbiome of 108 controls and 70 OSCC cases by16S rRNA gene sequencing and detected the fluorescence signal of OSCC‐related pathological bacteria by fluorescence in situ hybridization assay (FISH). The invasion and migration assays were used to show the differences of invasive and migrative abilities between control and experimental groups. Quantitative real‐time PCR and Western blotting were used to verify the epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition (EMT). Results: In our study, the overall microbiome abundance and composition were richer in the 108 controls than in the 70 OSCC cases. We demonstrated that Streptococcus, Capnocytophaga, Peptostreptococcus, and Lactobacillus were highly abundant in the saliva of OSCC patients by 16S rDNA sequencing and FISH. Moreover, we found that Capnocytophaga gingivalis (C. gingivalis) was highly presented in OSCC tissues by FISH. We focused on C. gingivalis and found that its supernatant induced OSCC cells to undergo EMT, causing the cells to acquire a mesenchymal phenotype associated with highly invasive and metastatic properties. Conclusion: Taken together, these results indicated that C. gingivalis might invade OSCC tissues and played an important role in OSCC by promoting OSCC invasion and metastasis by inducing EMT. Hence, the role of C. gingivalis in cancer progression revealed a new direction for the research of OSCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Grip strength has prognostic value for aging-related health outcomes. Whether the associations of grip strength with the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) vary by the genetic risk of AD and related dementias (ADD) is unknown. Methods This study included 148 659 older adults of white British ancestry (aged ≥60 years) participating in UK Biobank with no dementia, and self-reported poor health status at baseline. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) for ADD were calculated based on 64 genetic variants. Grip strength was measured by hand dynamometers. Results The hazard ratios (HR) of dementia (n  = 4 963) and AD (n  = 2 373) for high genetic risk of ADD were 2.36 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.15–2.59) and 3.00 (95% CI: 2.61–3.44), respectively, compared with low genetic risk. Compared with the bottom tertile of grip strength, the top tertile of grip strength had a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.69 (95% CI: 0.64–0.74) for incident dementia, and 0.74 (95% CI: 0.66–0.82) for incident AD, after adjustment for confounders and PRS for ADD. The risk of dementia and AD was lower with the top grip strength tertile within each level of genetic susceptibility to ADD. There was no evidence of multiplicative interaction between grip strength and genetic susceptibility to ADD for both dementia (p value:.241) and AD (p value:.314). Conclusions Older adults with higher PRS for ADD are at higher risk of developing dementia and AD. The risk of dementia and AD was lower in individuals with higher grip strength, regardless of their level of genetic susceptibility to ADD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The common loci represent a distinct set of the human genome sites that harbor genetic variants found in at least 1% of the population. Small somatic mutations occur at the common loci and non-common loci, i.e. csmVariants and ncsmVariants, are presumed with similar probabilities. However, our work revealed that within the coding region, common loci constituted only 1.03% of all loci, yet they accounted for 5.14% of TCGA somatic mutations. Furthermore, the small somatic mutation incidence rate at these common loci was 2.7 times that observed in the non-common. Notably, the csmVariants exhibited an impressive recurrent rate of 36.14%, which was 2.59 times of the ncsmVariants. The C-to-T transition at the CpG sites accounted for 32.41% of the csmVariants, which was 2.93 times for the ncsmVariants. Interestingly, the aging-related mutational signature contributed to 13.87% of the csmVariants, 5.5 times that of ncsmVariants. Moreover, 35.93% of the csmVariants contexts exhibited palindromic features, outperforming ncsmVariant contexts by 1.84 times. Notably, cancer patients with higher csmVariants rates had better progression-free survival. Furthermore, cancer patients with high-frequency csmVariants enriched with mismatch repair deficiency were also associated with better progression-free survival. The accumulation of csmVariants during cancerogenesis is a complex process influenced by various factors. These include the presence of a substantial percentage of palindromic sequences at csmVariants sites, the impact of aging and DNA mismatch repair deficiency. Together, these factors contribute to the higher somatic mutation incidence rates of common loci and the overall accumulation of csmVariants in cancer development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising demand for X-ray imaging technologies in medical radiography and nondestructive detection calls for novel scintillator materials, particularly those which are cost effective, high resolution, and have a low detection limit. Here we report investigations into the scintillating behavior of vacancy-ordered double perovskite Cs2SnCl6 fabricated via a simple co-precipitation process. By introducing Te4+ doping, an intense yellow emission was achieved upon X-ray irradiation. Combined with PDMS, flexible imaging screens with tunable size and thickness could be obtained, and demonstrated a high resolution of 20 LP mm−1, a low detection limit of 132 nGyair s−1, and high X-ray radiation endurance. Its excellent flexibility enables clear and less vignetted X-ray imaging for nonplanar subjects. The findings open a new avenue towards versatile applications for Sn-based vacancy-ordered double perovskites for other than visible and near-infrared emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on designing and optimizing Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSMs) using hybrid rare earth and ferrite materials. Two distinctive rotor topologies of the Hybrid-Type Permanent Magnet Motor (HTPMM) are proposed: series and parallel magnetic circuits. Initially, the rotor topology and magnetic circuit principles of both the prototype and the designed HTPMM are introduced. Subsequently, a multi-objective genetic algorithm is employed to optimize the two HTPMMs, determining the final optimized parameters. Thise study further analyzes the cost advantage of HTPMMs from the perspective of permanent magnet materials, and detailed finite element analysis is conducted to evaluate the electromagnetic performance, including the air-gap flux density, no-load back electromotive force, cogging torque, load torque characteristics, and demagnetization properties. A comparative analysis of the prototype and two designed motors reveals that the HTPMM exhibits similar performance to the prototype, effectively reducing the usage of rare earth materials and significantly lowering the manufacturing costs. This research validates the feasibility of reducing rare earth material usage while maintaining a similar performance and provides a new perspective for the design of permanent magnet motors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flowering stage is a critical period for water sensitivity and quality formation of broomcorn millets. However, the effects and mechanisms of drought stress on the quality formation of broomcorn millets are not clear. We used the drought-resistant variety Hequ red millet (H) and the drought-sensitive variety Yanshu No. 10 (Y) were used as materials for drought stress treatment during the flowering stage, metabolomics and physiological methods were used to study the differences in protein, starch, amino acids, medium and medium-long chain fatty acids, and their response characteristics to drought in broomcorn millet. The results showed that different genotypes of broomcorn millets exhibited different response mechanisms in the face of drought stress. In Hequ red millet, drought stress significantly increased the contents of amylopectin (2.57%), pyridoxine (31.89%), and anthocyanin, and significantly decreased the contents of water-soluble protein (5.82%), glutelin (10.07%), thiamine (14.95%) and nicotinamide (23.01%). In Yanshu No. 10, drought significantly decreased amylose by 6.05%, and significantly increased riboflavin and nicotinamide contents by 21.11% and 32.59%. Correlation analysis showed that total starch and amylose were highly significantly positively correlated with methyl palmitate; negatively correlated with amylopectin, vitamins, proteins, free amino acids, and medium-long chain fatty acids; and amylopectin was significantly positively correlated with water-soluble protein, riboflavin, and pyridoxine. Water-soluble protein and glutelin were significantly positively correlated with most free amino acids, medium-long chain fatty acids, and nicotinamide. Thiamine showed significant positive correlation with nicotinamide and significant negative correlation with pyridoxine. Riboflavin was significantly positively correlated with nicotinamide, pyridoxine, and water-soluble protein, and pyridoxine was significantly positively correlated with water-soluble protein. Hequ red millet transforms into amylopectin by consuming water-soluble protein and glutelin, and improves drought resistance by accumulating pyridoxine, and changes its physicochemical properties by decreasing the content of amylose and protein and elevating the content of amylopectin. Yanshu No. 10 resisted drought by catabolizing lipids to produce fatty acids and by consuming amylose for conversion into other metabolites. The present study helps to understand the response of the nutritional quality of millets to drought stress at the flowering stage and provides a theoretical basis for the selection and breeding of superior varieties of millets and drought resistance research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NASICON‐structured Na3MnTi(PO4)3 represents an appealing cathode for sodium storage. However, the low potential from Ti3+/4+ redox pair (≈2.1 V versus Na+/Na), undesirable rate capability, and unfavorable cyclability have inhibited its practical application. Herein, this study designs a Na3.1MnTi0.9V0.1(PO4)3 (NMTVP) cathode material by doping V into the Na3MnTi(PO4)3. The V substitution not only increases the medium discharge voltage, but also increases the capacity. The as‐prepared NMTVP demonstrates a four‐step redox reaction from the redox couples of V5+/4+ (≈4.1 V), Mn4+/3+ (≈4.0 V), Mn3+/2+ (≈3.6 V), and V4+/3+ (3.4 V). The NMTVP delivers a high capacity (118.5 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C), a high medium discharge voltage (3.53 V), a decent energy density (422 Wh kg−1), and an ideal cyclability (86% retention after 4500 cycles at 5 C). In situ X‐ray diffraction (XRD) uncovers the reversible structural evolution between Na3.1MnTi0.9V0.1(PO4)3 and Na0.9MnTi0.9V0.1(PO4)3 phases. The assembled NMTVP//hard carbon (HC) full cell also delivers a high capacity, a high operating voltage, and a good cyclability. This contribution offers new insights into the design of high‐energy NASICON‐structured cathode materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors constitute the most widely distributed and conserved eukaryotic family. They play crucial roles in plant growth, development, and responses to both biotic and abiotic stresses, exerting strong regulatory control over the expression of downstream genes. In this study, a genome-wide characterization of the CebZIP transcription factor family was conducted using bioinformatic analysis. Various aspects, including physicochemical properties, phylogenetics, conserved structural domains, gene structures, chromosomal distribution, gene covariance relationships, promoter cis-acting elements, and gene expression patterns, were thoroughly analyzed. A total of 70 CebZIP genes were identified from the C. ensifolium genome, and they were randomly distributed across 18 chromosomes. The phylogenetic tree clustered them into 11 subfamilies, each exhibiting complex gene structures and conserved motifs arranged in a specific order. Nineteen pairs of duplicated genes were identified among the 70 CebZIP genes, with sixteen pairs affected by purifying selection. Cis-acting elements analysis revealed a plethora of regulatory elements associated with stress response, plant hormones, and plant growth and development. Transcriptome and qRT-PCR results demonstrated that the expression of CebZIP genes was universally up-regulated under low temperature conditions. However, the expression patterns varied among different members. This study provides theoretical references for identifying key bZIP genes in C. ensifolium that confer resistance to low-temperature stress, and lays the groundwork for further research into their broader biological functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Excess sedentary time (ST) is recognized as an important modifiable risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). However, whether the associations of genetic susceptibility with CHD incidence can be modified by replacing wearable‐device‐measured ST with physical activity (PA) is unknown. Objectives: To examine the associations of wearable‐device‐measured ST replaced by PA with incident CHD across strata of genetic susceptibility. Methods: This study included 77,500 White British (57% female) with valid wrist‐worn accelerometry and without prevalent CHD/stroke from UK Biobank. Genetic susceptibility to CHD was quantified through weighted polygenic risk scores for CHD based on 300 single‐nucleotide polymorphisms. Wrist‐worn accelerometer data were used to derive ST, light PA, and moderate‐to‐vigorous PA (MVPA). Results: Reallocation of 60 min/day of ST into the same amount of MVPA was associated with approximately 9% lower relative risk of CHD for all participants and across strata of genetic risk: replacement of 1 min/day of ST associated with <1% lower relative risk of CHD. No evidence of interaction (p: 0.784) was found between genetic risk and ST for CHD risk. Reallocating 60 min/day of ST into the same MVPA time was associated with greater absolute CHD risk reductions at high genetic risk (0.27%) versus low genetic risk (0.15%). Conclusions: Replacing any amount of ST with an equal amount of MVPA time is associated with a lower relative risk of CHD, irrespective of genetic susceptibility to CHD. Reductions in CHD absolute risk for replacing ST with MVPA are greater at high genetic risk versus low genetic risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bio‐based diols 1,3‐propanediol (1,3‐PDO) and 2,3‐butanediol (2,3‐BDO) can form strong hydrogen bonds with water, which increases the separation difficulty of diols in aqueous solutions. Herein, a series of mixed‐linker ZIF‐71‐clnImx samples with hydrogen bond–van der Waals (vdW) dual recognition sites have been constructed using 4‐chloro‐5‐nitroimidazole (clnIm) linkers to substitute partially for the original 4,5‐dichloroimidazole (dclIm) linkers of the ZIF‐71 framework. The experimental and calculated results show that ZIF‐71‐clnImx with appropriate clnIm substitution proportion (x = 7.6 and 12.8 mol%) can strengthen the interaction between ZIF‐71‐clnImx and 2,3‐BDO and enhance the adsorption and mass transfer of 2,3‐BDO, thus achieving the efficient separation of 2,3‐BDO/1,3‐PDO. Molecular simulation results further verify that 2,3‐BDO can simultaneously form strong H bonds with the –NO2 of the clnIm linker and weak vdW interactions with the –Cl of the dclIm linker, which are the mixed recognition sites for 2,3‐BDO adsorption intensification in aqueous solution for ZIF‐71‐clnImx. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Colonic polyps are the most prevalent neoplastic lesions detected during colorectal cancer screening, and timely detection and excision of these precursor lesions is crucial for preventing multiple malignancies and reducing mortality rates. Purpose: The pressing need for intelligent polyp detection has led to the development of a high‐precision intelligent polyp segmentation network designed to improve polyp screening rates during colonoscopies. Methods: In this study, we employed ResNet50 as the backbone network and embedded a multi‐channel grouping fusion encoding module in the third to fifth stages to extract high‐level semantic features of polyps. Receptive field modules were utilized to capture multi‐scale features, and grouping fusion modules were employed to capture salient features in different group channels, guiding the decoder to generate an initial global mapping with improved accuracy. To refine the segmentation of the initial global mapping, we introduced an enhanced boundary weight attention module that adaptively thresholds the initial global mapping using learnable parameters. A self‐attention mechanism was then utilized to calculate the long‐distance dependency relationship of the polyp boundary area, resulting in an output feature map with enhanced boundaries that effectively refines the boundary of the target area. Results: We carried out contrast experiments of MGF‐Net with mainstream polyp segmentation networks on five public datasets of ColonDB, CVC‐ColonDB, CVC‐612, Kvasir, and ETIS. The results demonstrate that the segmentation accuracy of MGF‐Net is significantly improved on the datasets. Furthermore, a hypothesis test was conducted to assess the statistical significance of the computed results. Conclusions: Our proposed MGF‐Net outperforms existing mainstream baseline networks and presents a promising solution to the pressing need for intelligent polyp detection. The proposed model is available at https://github.com/xiefanghhh/MGF‐NET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X-ray-excited persistent luminescence (XEPersL) of fluoride nanoparticles (NPs) is of great potential in X-ray excitation photodynamic treatment (X-PDT) and X-ray detection fields. However, their practical application is currently impeded by the hazard of X-rays with high dose rates to the human body and low luminescence efficiencies. Here, we reported a feasible strategy for modulating X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) intensities and XEPersL lifetimes in NaLuF4:Tb3+ NPs through adjusting F/Re ratios, which were shown to effectively impact the generation of carrier traps. In addition to the enhanced emission intensity and prolonged decay time in the radioluminescence of NaLuF4:Tb3+ NPs with an optimal precursor F/Re ratio of 4.5, a quite low detection limit of 2.01 nGy·s–1 was achieved. Furthermore, the developed fluoride NPs exhibit remarkable luminescence stability. These findings can promote the further exploration of efficient XEPersL nanomaterials with tailored performance in X-PDT and biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparent ceramics (Gd0.975−xLuxDy0.025)3Al5O12 (x = 0.2, 0.5, 0.975) are fabricated by vacuum sintering with the transmittance of ~60% at 583 nm. The doping of Lu3+ was beneficial to stabilize the garnet phase, and the best doping concentration was 20 at.%. All three (Gd, Lu)3Al5O12:Dy ceramics display typical Dy3+ emission, originating from 4F9/2 → 6HJ (J = 15/2, 13/2, 11/2) transition. Temperature-dependent luminescence spectra from 303.15 K to 603.15 K prove that the (Gd, Lu)3Al5O12:Dy ceramics had good thermal stability and could be an ideal yellow-emitting candidate in light-emitting diodes. The luminous efficiency of the encapsulated white LED lamp was found to be ~87.9 lm/W when the injection current was 600 mA. The transparent (Gd, Lu)3Al5O12:Dy ceramics show great application potential in various optical systems especially in the fields of luminescence and display. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought stress restricts plant growth and development. The flowering stage is a period of abundant microbial diversity in the rhizosphere of broomcorn millet. However, the diversity and community structure of rhizosphere fungi during the flowering stage of broomcorn millet and the response mechanism to drought stress are still unclear. In this study, two broomcorn millet varieties, 'Hequ red millet' (A1) and 'Yanshu No.10′ (A2), with different drought resistances, were used as experimental materials. Using the pot water control method, drought treatment at the flowering stage was carried out, and normal watering (A1CK, A2CK) was used as the control. High-throughput sequencing technology was used to study the diversity and structural changes in rhizosphere fungi in broomcorn millet. The results show that the number of fungi OTUs in the A1, A2, A1CK and A2CK samples were 445, 481, 467 and 434, respectively, of which 331 OTUs were shared by all groups. The fungal community in the rhizosphere of broomcorn millet was mainly composed of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Drought treatment significantly reduced the abundance of Mortierella and significantly increased the abundance of Phoma. The abundance of Nectriaceae in the rhizosphere soil of 'Hequ Red millet' was significantly increased. The abundance of Pseudocercospora in the rhizosphere soil of 'Yanshu No.10′ was higher, and the lower was Hypocreales and Nectriaceae. However, there was no significant difference in the alpha diversity of fungal communities in the four treatments, and the fungal community structure between A2 and A1CK was more similar, whereas the difference between A1 and A2CK was larger. Correlation analysis showed that drought stress had little effect on the interaction of rhizosphere fungi, and metabolic functions such as nucleotide metabolism and electron transport in rhizosphere fungi accounted for a relatively high proportion. The results show that the diversity and community structure of rhizosphere fungi were less affected by drought, which may have been due to the close interaction between species, which made the fungal community more stable under drought stress, and the difference in planting varieties may have affected the enriched rhizosphere fungal species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eutrophication is a severe worldwide concern caused by excessive phosphorus release. Thus, significant efforts have been made to develop phosphorus removal techniques, particularly by nanomaterial adsorption. However, because of the limitations associated with nanoparticles including easy agglomeration, and separation challenges, a novel nanocomposite adsorbent with great adsorption performance is urgently required. A sponge adsorbent (MS-CMC@La) was developed in this study to remove phosphorus using melamine sponge (MS), LaCl3, and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The results of SEM/EDS, FTIR, and XPS demonstrated that La was well-dispersed on MS-CMC@La. Adsorption isotherm and kinetics met with the Langmuir model (R2 = 0.981) and the pseudo-second-order kinetics (R2 = 0.989), respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity of MS-CMC@La was found to be 15.28 mg/g; the material exhibited excellent selectivity toward phosphorus in the presence of coexisting anion except of F−; the adsorption behavior was greatly impacted by pH. Furthermore, the electrostatic attraction, ligand exchange and inner-sphere coordination regulate the phosphate adsorption mechanism, with inner-sphere coordination dominating. In summary, the nano-enriched materials developed in this study are capable of facilitating the application of functionalized sponges in the field of wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Typhimurium antigen peptides, FliC SB 427-441 sb and LpdA SB 340-350 sb were essential for activating TCRV 6 SP + sp CD4 SP + sp T cells. A TCRV 6+ Th1 cell subsets during Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium infection Typhimurium, the TCRV 6 SP + sp CD4 SP + sp T cell clones were expanded, but not TCRV 6 SP + sp CD8 SP + sp T cells (Figure 1D and Figure S4A). Further, the percentage of TCRV 6 SP + sp T cells was higher significantly in activated CD4 SP + sp T cells (Figure 1N and Figure S9G-I). [Extracted from the article]

Previous studies have pointed out that spectral nudging is still insufficient in improving the long-term simulation ability of numerical models. In response to this problem, this study started with the Luzon Strait and its adjacent areas and discussed the influence of the selection of correction targets on its long-term spectral nudging. We established two sets of numerical experiments with the same parameter configuration except for the correction target: one was the monthly climatological target, and the other was the monthly real-time. The results showed that, compared with the climatology, the real-time target improved the consistency with the observations in large-scale variability on the premise of ensuring the correction of the climatological bias of the model. Further verification of the real-time scheme better simulated the meso- and small-scale characteristics, especially more accurately reproducing the position, intensity, and movement trend of eddies when the Kuroshio intrusion event occurred. Multi-scale energy analysis revealed the significance of adjusting large-scale potential energy to improve the overall simulation ability. The premise is that the correction target needs to fully contain these effective large-scale signals and non-stationary features, and then introduce them into the numerical integration of the regional model through appropriate band-pass filter parameter settings, driving a more reasonable large-scale background state thereby. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]