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The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a worldwide shift in higher education, transitioning from traditional in-person teaching to online instruction. Consequently, there is a need to reevaluate classroom assessment methods for language educators. It involves a departure from summative assessment to formative assessment and sustainable assessment practices. As part of this paradigm shift, academia has placed significant emphasis on developing evaluative judgement and integrating peer feedback. This study focuses on a 12-week English expository writing course, where 66 English Linguistic undergraduates at a Malaysian public university actively participated in technology-mediated dialogic peer feedback under the guidance of two instructors to enhance their development of evaluative judgement in argumentative writing. The thematic analysis of transcript data from semi-structured interviews unveiled that the participants encountered challenges in utilising teacher feedback to enhance their peer feedback skills, overcoming socio-affective barriers to providing and receiving constructive feedback with an open mind and coordinating group members to collaborate effectively in an online environment. They generally held a positive stance towards technology-mediated dialogic peer feedback, acknowledging the advantages of honing evaluative judgement in argumentative writing as providers and receivers of feedback. This study aims to contribute to the discourse regarding students' openness to peer feedback (i.e., peer feedback orientation) and the challenges and benefits they encounter within the digital learning environments, ARTICLE INFO which have become increasingly common in higher education, with the goal of fostering evaluative judgement within and beyond the writing course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Escalating cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) pose a major challenge to global TB control efforts, necessitating innovative diagnostics to empower decentralized detection of gene mutations associated with resistance to rifampicin (RIF) and isoniazid (INH) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) in resource-constrained settings. Methods: Combining multiplex fluorescent PCR and Multiple Probes Melting Analysis, we identified mutations in the rpoB, katG, ahpC and inhA genes from sputum specimens. We first constructed a reference plasmid library comprising 40 prevalent mutations in the target genes' resistance determining regions and promoters, serving as positive controls. Our assay utilizes a four-tube asymmetric PCR method with specifically designed molecular beacon probes, enabling simultaneous detection of all 40 mutations. We evaluated the assay's effectiveness using DNA isolated from 50 clinically confirmed M. tuberculosis sputum specimens, comparing our results with those obtained from Sanger sequencing and retrospective validation involving bacteriological culture and phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (pDST). We also included the commercial Xpert MTB/RIF assay for accuracy comparison. Results: Our data demonstrated remarkable sensitivity in detecting resistance to RIF and INH, achieving values of 93.33% and 95.24%, respectively, with a specificity of 100%. The concordance between our assay and pDST was 98.00%. Furthermore, the accuracy of our assay was comparable to both Sanger sequencing and the Xpert assay. Importantly, our assay boasts a 4.2-h turnaround time and costs only $10 per test, making it an optimal choice for peripheral healthcare settings. Conclusion: These findings highlight our assay's potential as a promising tool for rapidly, accurately, and affordably detecting MDR-TB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a serious complication that may occur during the later stages of diabetes, and can be further exacerbated by podocyte damage. Piperazine ferulate (PF) has well-defined nephroprotective effects and is used clinically in the treatment of chronic nephritis and other kidney diseases. However, the renoprotective effects and mechanisms of PF on DN are not clear. This study aims to investigate the protective effect of PF on DN and its mechanism of action, to inform the clinical application of PF in DN treatment. Methods: Network pharmacology was performed to predict themechanism of action of PF in DN. Male Sprague Dawley rats were intraperitoneally injected with STZ (60 mg/kg) to establish a DN model, and then assessed for renal injury after 12 weeks of administration. In vitro, rat podocytes were treated with 25 mmol/L glucose and cultured for 24 h, followed by an assessment of cell injury. Results: Our results showed that PF significantly improved renal function, reduced renal pathological changes, decreased inflammatory response, and alleviated podocyte damage in DN rats. PF also attenuated glucose-induced podocyte injury in vitro. Regarding molecular mechanisms, our study demonstrated that PF downregulated the expression of genes and proteins related to AGE-RAGE-mediated inflammatory signaling. Conclusion: In summary, PF exerts its renoprotective effects by decreasing inflammation and protecting against podocyte injury through the inhibition of the AGE/RAGE/NF-κB/NLRP3 pathway. Overall, these data support the clinical potential of PF as a renoprotective agent in DN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of simultaneous surgery for patients with primary esophageal and lung cancers. Methods Patients with primary esophageal and lung cancers who underwent simultaneous surgical procedures between January 2016 and January 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. The data of patients who underwent esophagectomy and lobectomy (group EL) were compared with those of patients who underwent esophagectomy and sublobar resection (group ES). Results A total of 21 patients were included with an average age of 64.62 ± 5.24 years. Group EL contained 8 patients and group ES contained 13 patients. All procedures were completed uneventfully with a mean operative time of 251.19 ± 66.93 minutes. Pulmonary complications occurred in six (28.57%) patients. Other complications included anastomotic leakage in 1 patient, pleural effusion requiring drainage in 8 patients, atrial fibrillation in 2 patients, and incision infection in 1 patient. All patients were followed up for 30.23 ± 21.82 months. During the follow-up period, nine patients had a recurrence of cancer and died of tumor progression, and one patient died of a tracheothoracogastric fistula. Complications and mortality in group EL did not increase when compared to those in group ES. Conclusion It is safe and feasible to perform a single-stage surgical procedure for patients with primary esophageal and lung cancers. Simultaneous esophagectomy and lobectomy did not increase postoperative complications or mortality compared with esophagectomy and sublobar resection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although peer feedback is a prevailing practice to promote evaluative judgement, its influence on the development of this higher-order cognitive ability has not yet been adequately explored. Specifically, there is a dearth of research that examines the benefit of providing and receiving peer feedback in developing students' understanding of assessment standards of writing. The purpose of this study is to explore students' perceptions of how different feedback roles influenced their three types of evaluative judgement of ESL argumentative writing, namely hard, soft and dynamic evaluative judgement. During five weeks, 24 undergraduate students enrolled in an English argumentative writing course at a Malaysian public university were randomly assigned to three distinct peer feedback roles, namely feedback provider, feedback receiver, or feedback outsider, to participate in the peer feedback activities. Thematic analysis of pre- and postintervention surveys indicated that different feedback roles varied in facilitating the development of evaluative judgement. Despite the limitation of domain-specific knowledge, strategically integrating peer feedback into writing course design afforded students opportunities to cultivate the three types of evaluative judgement. This study translates the theoretical framework of evaluative judgement into identifiable goals within the course of English argumentative writing and sheds light on the cognitive mechanisms inherent in different feedback roles, which enables educators and researchers to better dissect peer feedback curriculum design and student-centred assessment activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frontline language teachers have experienced anxiety, vulnerability, and emotional burnout as a result of the sudden transition to online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study extracted Language Teacher Emotions (LTE) literature from the Scopus database during the period 2000-2022. During the first round of data extraction, 169 relevant documents written in English were identified. Furthermore, the researchers conducted a scientometric analysis using the literature analysis tool, CiteSpace (v.5.8.R3), and employed co-citation techniques involving visualization and text mining. Our results indicate the following: (1) The first LTE publication was released in 2004, followed by a growing number of publications in the first decade. Nevertheless, more studies were published during 2020-2022; (2) The five countries with the highest number of publications were the USA, China, Iran, the UK, and Turkey; (3) According to Author Co-citation Analysis (ACA), the majority of researchers had expertise in language education, teaching methods, educational assessment, teacher education, and applied psychology; (4) Based on the Document Co-citation Analysis (DCA), emotional labour, emotional burden, and vulnerability were the primary topics of interest; (5) Cluster analysis of keywords indicates that the LTE research trajectory was inevitably affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the first scientometric review of LTE research, this study calls for a greater understanding of the impact of online and blended teaching during the post-pandemic period. It will be of interest to inter-domain researchers and frontline teachers in terms of identifying influential scholars, publications, and research trends, as well as considering future research projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydraulic fracturing is considered the main stimulation method to develop shale gas reservoirs. Due to its strong heterogeneity, the shale gas formation is typically embedded with geological discontinuities such as bedding planes and natural fractures. Many researchers realized that the interaction between natural fractures and hydraulic fractures plays a crucial role in generating a complex fracture network. In this paper, true tri-axial hydraulic fracturing tests were performed on polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), on which pre-existing fracture was pre-manufactured to simulate natural fracture. A cohesive model has been developed to verify the results of the experimental tests. The key findings demonstrate that the experimental results agreed well with the numerical simulation outcomes where three main interaction modes were observed: crossing; being arrested by opening the pre-existing fracture; being arrested without dilating the pre-existing fracture. Crossing behavior is more likely to occur with the approaching angle, horizontal stress difference, and injection rate increase. Furthermore, the higher flow rate might assist in reactivating the natural fractures where both sides of the pre-existing fractures were reactivated as the injection rate increased from 5 to 20 mL/min. Additionally, hydraulic fractures show a tendency to extend vertically rather than along the direction of maximum horizontal stress when they are first terminated at the interface. This research may contribute to the field application of hydraulic fracturing in shale gas formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs), referred to as tertiary lymphoid organs and lymphoid tissue neogenesis, are aggregates of immune cells that occur in nonlymphoid tissues. In recent years, it has been found that TLSs within the tumor microenvironment have been associated with local adaptive immune immunity against cancer and favorable prognosis in several human solid tumors, including gynecological cancers. The issue of the prognosis of gynecological cancers, including endometrial, cervical, and ovarian cancer, is an enormous challenge thatmany clinical doctors and researchers are now facing. Concerning the predictive prognostic role of TLSs, effective evaluation, and quantification of TLSs in human tissues may be used to assist gynecologists in assessing the clinical outcome of gynecological cancer patients. This review summarizes the current knowledge of TLSs in gynecological cancers, mainly focusing on the potential mechanism of TLS neogenesis, methods for evaluating TLSs, their prognostic value, and their role in antitumor immune immunity. This review also discusses the new therapeutic methods currently being explored in gynecological cancers to induce the formation of TLSs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Shot put throwing techniques are divided into spinning and sliding, and must have certain physical qualities such as speed, explosive power, and coordination. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation intervention training on shot put throwing performance and to explore the shot put throwing technique and kinematic differences at each movement stage. Methods: Fifteen male college students who had not received electrical stimulation previously were the research participants. Two high-speed cameras were used to obtain synchronous images of shot put throwing actions of the participants before and after electrotherapy. Three-dimensional kinematic image analysis was performed using the Kwon 3D motion analysis system. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to test differences in shot put parameters at each action stage before and after electrotherapy. Results: Throwing distance was longer (p < .01) and throwing speed was faster (p < .01) after electrotherapy than before electrotherapy. The ankle joint angle with the lowest center of gravity (p < .05), ankle joint angle of the left foot off the ground (p < .01), and ankle joint angle of the right foot was off the ground (p < .05) were greater after electrotherapy than before electrotherapy. The shoulder-hip separation angle in the throwing stage was smaller (p < .05), shoulder-hip separation angle in the turning stage was larger (p < .05), and left ankle joint angle in the turning stage was smaller (p < .05) after electrotherapy than before electrotherapy. Conclusion: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation has an impact on shot put throwing. Appropriate electrical stimulation can enhance muscle activation, increase muscle contraction force, and improve athletic ability and shot put throwing performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyclophosphamide-induced testosterone deficiency (CPTD) during the treatment of cancers and autoimmune disorders severely influences the quality of life of patients. Currently, several guidelines recommend patients suffering from CPTD receive testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). However, TRT has many disadvantages underscoring the requirement for alternative, nontoxic treatment strategies. We previously reported bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells-derived exosomes (BMSCs-exos) could alleviate cyclophosphamide (CP)-induced spermatogenesis dysfunction, highlighting their role in the treatment of male reproductive disorders. Therefore, we further investigated whether BMSCs-exos affect autophagy and testosterone synthesis in Leydig cells (LCs). Here, we examined the effects and probed the molecular mechanisms of BMSCs-exos on CPTD in vivo and in vitro by detecting the expression levels of genes and proteins related to autophagy and testosterone synthesis. Furthermore, the testosterone concentration in serum and cell-conditioned medium, and the photophosphorylation protein levels of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) were measured. Our results suggest that BMSCs-exos could be absorbed by LCs through the blood-testis barrier in mice, promoting autophagy in LCs and improving the CP-induced low serum testosterone levels. BMSCs-exos inhibited cell death in CP-exposed LCs, regulated the AMPK-mTOR signaling pathway to promote autophagy in LCs, and then improved the low testosterone synthesis ability of CP-induced LCs. Moreover, the autophagy inhibitor, 3-methyladenine (3-MA), significantly reversed the therapeutic effects of BMSCs-exos. These findings suggest that BMSCs-exos promote LC autophagy by regulating the AMPK-mTOR signaling pathway, thereby ameliorating CPTD. This study provides novel evidence for the clinical improvement of CPTD using BMSCs-exos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This meta-analysis compared the long-term (12 months or 24 months) efficacy and safety of intravitreal aflibercept injection (IAI) for diabetic macular edema (DME) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Methods: We selected 16 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) performed after 2015 that had a minimum of 12 months and up to 24 months of treatment and conducted a meta-analysis with Review Manager version 5.3. Visual acuity (VA), central subfield thickness (CST) and adverse events were the outcomes selected for evaluation from the eligible studies. Results: Based on 16 RCTs, we evaluated a total of 7125 patients. For PDR and severe DME with poor baseline vision, after a minimum of 12 months and up to 24 months of treatment, the aflibercept treatment group obtained better VA improvement than the focal/grid laser photocoagulation treatment group (MD=13.30; 95%CI: 13.01~13.58; P<0.001) or other treatments (ranibizumab, focal/grid laser photocoagulation, PRP, et al.) group (MD=1.10; 95%CI: 1.05~1.16; P<0.001). In addition, the aflibercept treatment group got higher CST reduction than the focal/grid laser photocoagulation treatment (MD=- 33.76; 95%CI: -45.53 ~ -21.99; P<0.001) or other treatments (ranibizumab, focal/grid laser photocoagulation, et al.) group (MD=-33.76; 95%CI: -45.53 ~ -21.99; P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the overall incidence of ocular and non-ocular adverse events in each treatment group. Conclusions: This meta-analysis showed that the advantages of IAI are obvious in the management of DME and PDR with poor baseline vision for long-term observation (a minimum of 12 months and up to 24 months) with both VA improvement and CST reduction. Applied IAI separately trended to be more effective than panretinal photocoagulation separately in VA improvement for PDR. More parameters should be required to assess functional and anatomic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) is premised on monolingualism, which ignores the cross-cutting properties of multilingual environments, this study investigates the English Learning Self and its structural characteristics of students in a junior high school in a minority-inhabited area of Guizhou Province, China. These ethnic minority students not only learn their native language (minority languages), but also learn Mandarin Chinese, through which they learn English as their third language, with features of low English proficiency, weak motivation to learn English, and low frequency of English use. Data were collected from 159 Han Chinese students and 274 ethnic minority students in the eighth grade of the junior high school. Structural equation modelling revealed that the Ideal English Self contains three factors: Ideal English Learner, Ideal English Career and Ideal English User, and the most significant Ideal English Self exhibited by the middle school students was Ideal English Learner; while the Ought-to English Self contains three factors: Meeting Other’s Expectation, Self’s Future Expectation and Self’s Present Demand, with Meeting Other’s Expectation marking contributed the most. Through comparative analysis, this study further found that there was no significant difference between local Han Chinese students and ethnic minority students in terms of English Learning Self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analysed a total of 334 English language articles on teaching Chinese as a second or foreign language from the Web of Science, during the period from 2001 to 2020. By examining the bibliometric indices of the literature, the analysis found that: 1) The numbers of research publication and citation have gone through slow growth in the first decade and strong growth in the second decade. 2) Highly cited journals are mainly from four categories: educational technology, linguistics, education and psychology. 3) Highly productive authors are mainly from the fields of computing and education, with research interests focused on the use of digital technology to help Chinese language learning. 4) Highly co-cited articles include keywords related to young Chinese learners, foreign language, English context and character learning. 5) The topical trends in Chinese language education research have evolved from an early focus on Chinese writing, learning strategies and cross-cultural language teaching to a mid-term focus on issues such as classroom management and task-based teaching, and further expansion to a more recent focus on the integration of digital technologies and multimodal approaches to teaching and learning. By reviewing these five areas, this study aims to provide a complete picture of the research on teaching Chinese as a second or foreign language outside mainland China. It is intended to help build bridges of collaboration between researchers and institutions within and outside mainland China by highlighting the researchers who have made significant contributions and the wide range of issues being explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, machine learning (ML) in advanced materials has demonstrated outstanding potential for avoiding lengthy construction and testing cycles. The reasonable application of the data-driven ML algorithm to establish models to predict new materials and applications shows great potential. Here, we report for the first time the preparation of full-color MXene quantum dots (MQDs) using V4C3 and using the ML method to drive the construction of white light emitting diodes (WLEDs) successfully. The experimental results show that the B/Y/R-MQDs all exhibit excellent blue (428 nm), yellow (524 nm) and red (618 nm) fluorescence. White light emission with tunable color coordinates is achieved, by using XGBoost (XGB) of the ML model to combine B/Y/R-MQDs. Importantly, the ML-driven XGB model guided our success in obtaining the optimal WLED with CIE color coordinates of (0.333, 0.397), which has important significance for guiding the synthesis of WLEDs and accelerating the development of materials science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The previous study has shown that transcriptional factor MEOX1 could promote proliferation and sphere formation ability of non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells, however, we found that MEOX1 mRNA was lowly expressed in lung cancer tissues compared to that in normal adjacent tissues, and MEOX1 mRNA expression was positively correlated with the survival of lung cancer patients, especially in lung adenocarcinoma patients. Functional experiments using in vitro and in vivo experiments revealed that stable overexpression of MEOX1 significantly suppressed the proliferation ability, promoted cell cycle arrest in G2 phase, and apoptotic ability of NSCLC cells. Additionally, it was identified that MEOX1 and CCNB1 mRNA expression exhibited a negative correlation in different lung cancer tissues. Mechanistically, we indicated that MEOX1 bound to the transcriptional initiation site of CCNB1 and thus suppressed CCNB1 expression. Notably, CCNB1 overexpression rescued the inhibition of MEOX1 overexpression on NSCLC progression. This study deciphers a novel MEOX1/CCNB1 axis suppressing NSCLC progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prostate cancer (PCa) is poor response to the immunotherapy for its high heterogeneity of immune microenvironment. In this study, we aim to introduce a new immune subtype for PCa involving M2 tumour associated macrophages (M2-TAMs). Three hundred and sixty-two PCa patients and matched normal prostate tissues were selected from the Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus databases. Patients' immune infiltration characters were then analyzed based on the gene expressions. The immune subtypes were identified by the method of unsupervised hierarchical clustering. Finally, the relationship between the M2-TAMs infiltration and anti-programmed death-ligand-1 (PD-L1) therapy was investigated in the IMvigor210 cohort. PCa expressed lower immune-related genes levels compared with the adjacent normal tissues. Based on the proved immunosuppressive mechanisms in PCa, tumour patients were classified into three independent subclasses with high infiltrated cytolytic activity (CYT), M2-TAMs and regulatory T cell (Tregs), respectively. Among these subtypes, M2-TAMs infiltration subtype showed the worst clinicopathological features and prognosis compared with the other two subtypes. The results of the IMvigor210 cohort demonstrated poor response of anti-PD-L1 therapy for patients with high M2-TAMs infiltration. Prostate tumours involved in significant immunosuppression, and high infiltration of M2-TAMs can be applied to predict the effect of anti-PD-L1 therapy. PCa patients can be classified into three immunotypes of high infiltrated CYT, M2-TAMS, and Tregs according to the immunosuppressive mechanisms. High M2-TAMs infiltration subtype reflected the worst clinical characters, immune infiltration, and lowest expression of immune checkpoint inhibitors among the three subclasses in PCa. High M2-TAMs infiltration predicts the low response rate of anti-PD-L1 therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To accurately and formally represent the historical trajectory and present the current situation of land use/land cover (LULC), numerous types of classification standards for LULC have been developed by different nations, institutes, organizations, etc.; however, these land cover classification systems and legends generate polysemy and ambiguity in integration and sharing. The approaches for dealing with semantic heterogeneity have been developed in terms of semantic similarity. Generally speaking, these approaches lack domain ontologies, which might be a significant barrier to implementing these approaches in terms of semantic similarity assessment. In this paper, we propose an ontological approach to assess the similarity of the domain of LULC classification systems and standards. We develop domain ontologies to explicitly define the descriptions and codes of different LULC classification systems and standards as semantic information, and formally organize this semantic information as rules for logical reasoning. Then, we utilize a Bayes algorithm to create a conditional probabilistic model for computing the semantic similarity of terms in two separate LULC land cover classification systems. The experiment shows that semantic similarity can be effectively measured by integrating a probabilistic model based on the content of ontology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporal coding precision of bushy cells in the ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN), critical for sound localization and communication, depends on the generation of rapid and temporally precise action potentials (APs). Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels are critically involved in this. The bushy cells in rat VCN express Kv1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.6, 3.1, 4.2, and 4.3 subunits. The Kv1.1 subunit contributes to the generation of a temporally precise single AP. However, the understanding of the functions of other Kv subunits expressed in the bushy cells is limited. Here, we investigated the functional diversity of Kv subunits concerning their contributions to temporal coding. We characterized the electrophysiological properties of the Kv channels with different subunits using whole cell patch-clamp recording and pharmacological methods. The neuronal firing pattern changed from single to multiple APs only when the Kv1.1 subunit was blocked. The Kv subunits, including the Kv1.1, 1.2, 1.6, or 3.1, were involved in enhancing temporal coding by lowering membrane excitability, shortening AP latencies, reducing jitter, and regulating AP kinetics. Meanwhile, all the Kv subunits contributed to rapid repolarization and sharpening peaks by narrowing half-width and accelerating fall rate, and the Kv1.1 subunit also affected the depolarization of AP. The Kv1.1, 1.2, and 1.6 subunits endowed bushy cells with a rapid time constant and a low input resistance of membrane for enhancing spike timing precision. The present results indicate that the Kv channels differentially affect intrinsic membrane properties to optimize the generation of rapid and reliable APs for temporal coding. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study investigates the roles of Kv channels in effecting precision using electrophysiological and pharmacological methods in bushy cells. Different Kv channels have varying electrophysiological characteristics, which contribute to the interplay between changes in the membrane properties and regulation of neuronal excitability which then improve temporal coding. We conclude that the Kv channels are specialized to promote the precise and rapid coding of acoustic input by optimizing the generation of reliable APs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a valuable issue to explore whether a flame can radiate microwaves, in spite of the electric field formed in the flame. Presented herein is an experimental study on a series of flames with millimeterwave radiation in the combustion of pyrotechnic films. The pyrotechnic films were composed of ultrafine red phosphorus (P), sodium nitrate (NaNO3), Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) and some additives such as chopped carbon fibers (CFs) and aluminized glass fibers (GFs). The combustion temperatures and millimeter-wave radiation signals of the flames were measured, the millimeter-wave emissivity and spectral radiant exitance were calculated to describe the millimeter-wave radiation intensity. The results demonstrate that the flame of the pyrotechnic films based on P/NaNO3/CFs can radiate millimeter waves, and different materials and their proportion have a great effect on the millimeter-wave radiation intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, the preservation of refrigerated daggertooth piker congers (Muraenesox cinereus) has received increasing attention in recent years due to the increased demand for fresh congers. In this study, the effect of tea polyphenols (0.1%, 0.2%, 0.4%) and chitosan (0.5%, 1%, 2%) on daggertooth piker conger preservation was evaluated based on major spoilage bacteria detected during cold storage. The preservation quality was assessed through sensory scores, TVB-N, and TBARS concentrations and plate counts of total bacteria, H2S-producing bacteria, and Pseudomonas. The results showed that all concentrations of tea polyphenols and chitosan successfully inhibited spoilage bacterial growth, suppressed TVB-N (total volatile basic nitrogen) and TBARS (thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances) generation, and improved the sensory score, although the results were not dose-dependent. The optimal concentrations of tea polyphenols and chitosan were 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively. A later assessment of the synergistic effect of tea polyphenols and chitosan coating conger samples with both preservatives at their optimal concentration. Possibly, due to their mechanic difference in bacteriostasis, the combined treatment significantly inhibited the growth of H2S-producing bacteria and Pseudomonas, indicating a better antibacterial effect than when using one of the preservatives alone. Finally, combined tea polyphenol and chitosan treatment prolonged the first- and second-grade freshness of refrigerated congers for 4-6 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to discover novel derivatives in the anti-tumor field, reported anti-tumor pharmacophores (uridine, uracil, and thymine) were combined with 2-methoxyestradiol, which has been characterized as having excellent biological properties in terms of anti-tumor activity. Thus, 20 hybrids were synthesized through etherification at the 17β-OH or 3-phenolic hydroxyl group of 2-methoxyestradiol, and evaluated for their biological activities against the human breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cell lines, human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cell lines, and the normal human liver L-O2 cell lines. As a result, all the uridine derivatives and single-access derivatives of uracil/thymine possessed good anti-proliferative activity against tested tumor cells (half maximal inhibitory concentration values from 3.89 to 19.32 µM), while only one dual-access derivative (21b) of thymine possessed good anti-proliferative activity (half maximal inhibitory concentration ≈ 25 µM). Among them, the uridine derivative 11 and the single-access derivative of uracil 12a possessed good anti-proliferative selectivity against tested tumor cells. Furthermore, basic mechanism studies revealed that hybrids 11 and 12a could induce apoptosis in MCF-7 cells through mitochondrial pathway. These hybrids induced morphological changes in MCF-7 cells, causing mitochondrial depolarization. These two hybrids also had the following effects: arrest of the cell cycle at the G2 phase; up regulation of Apaf-1, Bax, and cytochrome c; down regulation of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL for both mRNA and protein; and increase of the expression for caspase-8 and -9. Finally, apoptotic effector caspase-3 was increased, which eventually caused nuclear apoptosis at least through an intrinsic pathway in the mitochondria. Additionally, hybrids 11 and 12a could specifically bind to estradiol receptor alpha in a dose-dependent manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prognosis of spinal cord injury (SCI) is closely related to secondary injury, which is dominated by neuroinflammation. There is evidence that α-synuclein aggregates after SCI and that inhibition of α-synuclein aggregation can improve the survival of neurons after SCI, but the mechanism is still unclear. This study was designed to investigate the effects of α-synuclein on neuroinflammation after SCI and to determine the underlying mechanisms.Method: A T3 spinal cord contusion model was established in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. An SNCA-shRNA-carrying lentivirus (LV-SNCA-shRNA) was injected into the injury site to block the expression of α-synuclein (forming the SCI+KD group), and the SCI and sham groups were injected with an empty vector. Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) behavioural scores and footprint analysis were used to detect motor function. Inflammatory infiltration and myelin loss were measured in the spinal cord tissues of each group by haematoxylin-eosin (HE) and Luxol Fast Blue (LFB) staining, respectively. Immunohistochemistry, Western blot analysis, and RT-qPCR were used to analyse protein expression and transcription levels in the tissues. Immunofluorescence was used to determine the morphology and function of glial cells and the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 in the central canal of the spinal cord. Finally, peripheral serum cytokine levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results: Compared with the SCI group, the SCI+KD group exhibited reduced inflammatory infiltration, preserved myelin, and functional recovery. Specifically, the early arrest of α-synuclein inhibited the pro-inflammatory factors IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-2 and increased the expression of the anti-inflammatory factors IL-10, TGF-β, and IL-4. The neuroinflammatory response was regulated by reduced proliferation of Iba1+ microglia/macrophages and promotion of the shift of M1-polarized Iba1+/iNOS+ microglia/macrophages to M2-polarized Iba1+/Arg1+ microglia/macrophages after injury. In addition, compared with the SCI group, the SCI+KD group also exhibited a smaller microglia/astrocyte (Iba1/GFAP) immunostaining area in the central canal, lower MMP-9 expression, and improved cerebrospinal barrier function.Conclusion: Lentivirus-mediated downregulation of α-synuclein reduces neuroinflammation, improves blood-cerebrospinal barrier function, promotes functional recovery, reduces microglial activation, and promotes the polarization of M1 microglia/macrophages to an M2 phenotype to confer a neuroprotective immune microenvironment in rats with SCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Targeted drugs have been widely used in the treatment of patients with lung cancer, particularly for those with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Plasma cell-free DNA is an emerging clinical tool for the detection of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutation in patients with lung cancer. Detection of circulating tumor (ct) DNA by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) is a highly sensitive and minimally invasive alternative for the assessment and management of cancer. In the present study, four ddPCR systems were developed to detect the 19DELs, L858R, T790M and C797S mutations of the EGFR gene in plasma ctDNA samples, and all exhibited higher sensitivity compared with the amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS)-PCR assays. The results revealed that the sensitivity of the ddPCR assays for the four major types of EGFR mutant reached 0.04%. In total, 50 plasma ctDNA samples were collected from patients with NSCLC to detect the 19DELs, L858R, T790M and C797S mutations by ddPCR and ARMS-PCR. All the mutations except for C797S were detected and the concordance rates between ddPCR and ARMS-PCR were 96% (19DELs), 98% (L858R) and 100% (T790M). The fraction of EGFR mutation ranged from 0.43 to 68.07% using the ddPCR method. Therefore, the present study suggests that the four ddPCR testing systems could be used for early detection of EGFR mutations in plasma samples, so that patients can better select the targeted drugs according to the EGFR mutation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNA-219 (miR-219) regulates the proliferation and differentiation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) during central nervous system (CNS) development. OPCs only differentiate into oligodendrocytes (OLs) in the healthy CNS, but can generate astrocytes (As) after injury. We hypothesized that miR-219 may modulate OPC proliferation and differentiation in a cervical C5 contusion spinal cord injury (SCI) model. After injury, we observed a decrease in the miR-219 level and quantity of OLs and an increase in the number of OPCs and As. Silencing of miR-219 by its antagomir in vivo produced similar results, but of greater magnitude. Overexpression of miR-219 by its agomir in vivo increased the number of OLs and suppressed generation of OPCs and As. Luxol fast blue staining confirmed that SCI caused demyelination and that the extent of demyelination was attenuated by miR-219 overexpression, but aggravated by miR-219 reduction. Monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT-1) may be implicated in the regulation of OPC proliferation and differentiation mediated by miR-219 following contusion SCI. Collectively, our data suggest that miR-219 may mediate SCI-induced OPC proliferation and differentiation, and MCT-1 may participate in this process as a target of miR-219. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual tree detection and crown delineation (ITDD) are critical in forest inventory management and remote sensing based forest surveys are largely carried out through satellite images. However, most of these surveys only use 2D spectral information which normally has not enough clues for ITDD. To fully explore the satellite images, we propose a ITDD method using the orthophoto and digital surface model (DSM) derived from the multi-view satellite data. Our algorithm utilizes the top-hat morphological operation to efficiently extract the local maxima from DSM as treetops, and then feed them to a modi- fied superpixel segmentation that combines both 2D and 3D information for tree crown delineation. In subsequent steps, our method incorporates the biological characteristics of the crowns through plant allometric equation to falsify potential outliers. Experiments against manually marked tree plots on three representative regions have demonstrated promising results - the best overall detection accuracy can be 89%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine whether robot-assisted gait training (RAGT) is more effective in improving mobility, endurance, gait performance and balance in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) compared with conventional walking rehabilitation treatment (CWT). Data sources: Sources included the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, and Science Direct databases. review method: All possible articles were retrieved by two independent investigators and relevant articles were gathered. Studies on adult patients (older than 19 years old) suffering from MS were included, regardless the subtype of MS diagnosis. Finally, we identified seven studies that comprised 205 patients with MS. results: We identified seven studies comprising 205 patients with MS in our meta-analysis. The pooled mean difference (MD) for the six-minute walk test (6MWT) was 14.25 [95% confidence interval (CI) 3.19 to 25.32, Z=2.53, P=0.01, I2=54%], which indicates that RAGT is superior to CWT on improving endurance. No significant improvement on using RAGT was found regarding the Berg Balance Scale (MD=-0.59, 95% CI:-2.7 to 1.52, Z=0.55, P=0.58, I2=51%), 10-meter walk test [standard mean difference (SMD)=0.03, 95% CI:-0.26 to 0.31, Z=0.18, P=0.86, I2=48%] timed up and go (TUG) test (MD=-1.04, 95% CI:-8.68 to 6.60, Z=0.27, P=0.79), or stride length (SMD=0.36, 95% CI:-0.13 to 0.85, Z=0.73, P=0.15). conclusion: We can conclude that RAGT can bring more benefits on improving 6MWT among MS patients, but it is not enough to make a clinically significance conclusion. Considering the limitation of our study, it takes reservations about recommending all MS patients to take RAGT as primary rehabilitation intervention. Unless patients withprogressive MS can take conventional rehabilitation in early time, RAGT would be a suitable substitute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiological and experimental studies reveal that Western dietary patterns contribute to chronic kidney disease, whereas dietary restriction (DR) or dietary polyphenols such as green tea polyphenols (GTPs) can ameliorate the progression of kidney injury. This study aimed to investigate the renal protective effects of GTPs and explore the underlying mechanisms. Sixty Wistar rats were randomly divided into 6 groups: standard diet (STD), DR, high-fat diet (HFD), and three diets plus 200 mg/kg(bw)/day GTPs, respectively. After 18 weeks, HFD group exhibited renal injuries by increased serum cystatin C levels and urinary N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase activity, which can be ameliorated by GTPs. Meanwhile, autophagy impairment as denoted by autophagy-lysosome related proteins, including LC3-II, Beclin-1, p62, cathepsin B, cathepsin D and LAMP-1, was observed in HFD group, whereas DR or GTPs promoted renal autophagy activities and GTPs ameliorated HFD-induced autophagy impairment. In vitro, autophagy flux suppression was detected in palmitic acid (PA)-treated human proximal tubular epithelial cells (HK-2), which was ameliorated by epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). Furthermore, GTPs (or EGCG) elevated phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase in the kidneys of HFD-treated rats and in PA-treated HK-2 cells. These findings revealed that GTPs mimic the effects of DR to induce autophagy and exert a renal protective effect by alleviating HFD-induced autophagy suppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study prepared N-F co-doped TiO2-pillared clay nanocomposites by the sol-gel method and evaluated the effects of initial Cr(VI) concentration, pillaring, doping and light irradiation on Cr(VI) removal in aqueous solution. The samples were characterized using XRD, BET, UV-vis and SEM. Pillaring improved the adsorption ability and settling ability of TiO2 but reduced the photocatalytic reduction ability. N-F co-doping created an increase on both adsorption ability and photocatalytic reduction ability. The working life of TiO2 was prolonged greatly both by pillaring and N-F co-doping. Further, stronger light power or lower initial Cr(VI) concentration increased the removal efficiency of Cr(VI). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have concluded that the increase in vegetation in the arid northwest of China is related to precipitation rather than temperature. However, these studies neglected the effects of climate warming on water availability that arise through changes in the melting characteristics of this snowy and glaciated region. Here, we characterized vegetation changes using the newly improved third-generation Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GIMMS-3g NDVI) from 1982 to 2011. We analyzed the temperature and precipitation trends based on data from 51 meteorological stations across Northwest China and investigated changes in the glaciers using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data. Our results indicated an increasing trend in vegetation greenness in Northwest China, and this increasing trend was mostly associated with increasing winter precipitation and summer temperature. We found that the mean annual temperature increased at a rate of 0.04 °C per year over the past 30 years, which induced rapid glacial melting. The total water storage measured by GRACE decreased by up to 8 mm yr-1 and primarily corresponded to the disappearance of glaciers. Considering the absence of any observed increase in precipitation in the growing season, the vegetation growth may have benefited from the melting of glaciers in high-elevation mountains (i.e., the Tianshan Mountains). Multiple regression analysis showed that temperature was positively correlated with NDVI and that gravity was negatively correlated with NDVI; together, these variables explained 84% of the NDVI variation. Our findings suggest that both winter precipitation and warming-induced glacial melting increased water availability to the arid vegetation in this region, resulting in enhanced greenness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-assembly and molecular imprinting technologies are very attractive technologies for the development of artificial recognition systems and provide chemical recognition based on need and not happenstance. In this paper, we employed a β-cyclodextrin derivative surface acoustic wave (SAW) chemical sensor for detecting the chemical warfare agents (CWAs) sarin (O-Isoprophyl methylphosphonofluoridate, GB). Using sarin acid (isoprophyl hydrogen methylphosphonate) as an imprinting template, mono[6-deoxy-6-[(mercaptodecamethylene)thio]]-β-cyclodextrin was prepared by self-assembled method on one of the SAW oscillators. After templates' removal, a sensitive and selective molecular imprinting (MIP) monolayer for GB was prepared. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and atomic force microscope (AFM) were used to characterize this film. Comparing the detection results to GB by MIP film and non-MIP film, the molecularly imprinting effect was also proved. The resulting SAW sensor could detect sarin as low as 0.10 mg/m³ at room temperature and the frequency shift was about 300 Hz. The response frequency increased linearly with increasing sarin concentration in the range of 0.7 mg/m³~3.0 mg/m³. When sarin was detected under different temperatures, the SAW sensor exhibited outstanding sensitivity and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]