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Due to irregular sampling or device failure, the data collected from sensor network has missing value, that is, missing time-series data occurs. To address this issue, many methods have been proposed to impute random or non-random missing data. However, the imputation accuracy of these methods are not accurate enough to be applied, especially in the case of complete data missing (CDM). Thus, we propose a cross-modal method to impute time-series missing data by dense spatio-temporal transformer nets (DSTTN). This model embeds spatial modal data into time-series data by stacked spatio-temporal transformer blocks and deployment of dense connections. It adopts cross-modal constraints, a graph Laplacian regularization term, to optimize model parameters. When the model is trained, it recovers missing data finally by an end-to-end imputation pipeline. Various baseline models are compared by sufficient experiments. Based on the experimental results, it is verified that DSTTN achieves state-of-the-art imputation performance in the cases of random and non-random missing. Especially, the proposed method provides a new solution to the CDM problem.

Abstract Continuous non‐random data missing can be a challenging task for model prediction in intelligent transport system (ITS). In ITS, many methods have been proposed to solve this problem. However, the imputation accuracy of them is far from accurate. Thus, the authors propose a novel cross‐modality generative adversarial network, named as cross‐modality GAN, to impute continuous non‐random missing data from the cross‐modality perspective. This model uses the cross‐modality data fusion technique to fuse spatial and temporal modal data into vectorized features, and then imputes the target unseen missing data by a data generation pipeline. Different from the other existing models, this model overcomes the problem of zero observation data, and realizes long‐term missing time series imputation. Many comparative experiments are conducted. The results verify that the cross‐modality GAN achieves better imputation performances on Performance Measurement System (PeMS) dataset, a real public traffic dataset, compared to other baseline models. Furthermore, the results verify that the imputed data of cross‐modality GAN can provide more traffic time‐series predictability information, and improve prediction accuracy of prediction models effectively.

C32H18F8O8N2Rh2, monoclinic, P21/n (no. 11), a = 9.28200(12) Å, b = 11.33638(13) Å, c = 16.0352(2) Å, β = 105.9326(14)° V = 1622.47 Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0297, wRref(F2) = 0.0763, T = 150 K.

Abstract Background Gorham-Stout disease (GSD) is a very rare disorder characterized by massive osteolysis of poorly understood aetiology. The association between GSD involving the skull base and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage has been reported in the literature. However, few cases of CSF leakage and Chiari-like tonsillar herniation in GSD involving the spine have been reported. Case presentation We present the case of a 20-year-old man with GSD involving the thoracic and lumbar spine, which caused CSF leakage and Chiari-like tonsillar herniation. The patient underwent four spinal surgeries for osteolytic lesions of the spine over a 10-year period. Here, we discuss the possible aetiology of the development of CSF leakage. Epidural blood patch (EBP) was performed at the T11-T12 level to repair the CSF leakage. After EBP treatment, rebound intracranial hypertension (RIH) developed, and tonsillar herniation disappeared 2 months later. Conclusions GSD involving the spine with CSF leakage and Chiari-like tonsillar herniation is relatively rare. For patients who have undergone multiple spinal surgeries, minimally invasive treatment is an alternative treatment for CSF leakage. EBP can repair CSF leakage secondary to GSD and improve chronic brain sagging, with reversibility of Chiari-like malformations.

The study of the rainfall infiltration mechanism of unsaturated soil has always been a hot issue in the field of geotechnical engineering. It is worth studying which parameters should be introduced to characterize the infiltration characteristics of unsaturated soil in the calculation and analysis of rainfall infiltration. In this paper, the Fredlund–Xing model was quoted in the SEEP/W module of the Geostudio software, and the transient numerical calculation of rainfall infiltration under the same rainfall duration T and different rainfall intensity I was carried out for a soil column. Three infiltration characteristic parameters were introduced: rainfall infiltration front depth WF, suction reduction depth MRn, and section infiltration rate IR. The variation of these three parameters and rainfall intensity I during rainfall were sorted out and analyzed; it is indicated that WF increases with the extension of rainfall duration. MRn decreases with the increase of suction reduction rate n%, and when the rainfall duration is 24 h, the maximum depth of the soil column affected by rainfall is approximately 35% of the total depth. IR is mainly affected by the rainfall intensity I and the saturation permeability coefficient ks. There is a limit value for the influence of I on WF, MRn, and IR, and the limit rainfall intensity under the calculation conditions in this paper is I = 2.5ks.

Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is a specific pathogen of Bombyx mori that can significantly impede agricultural development. Accumulating evidence indicates that the viral proliferation in the host requires an ample supply of energy. However, the correlative reports of baculovirus are deficient, especially on the acetylation modification of tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle) metabolic enzymes. Our recent quantitative analysis of protein acetylome revealed that mitochondrial aconitase (ACO2) could be modified by (de)acetylation at lysine 56 (K56) during the BmNPV infection; however, the underlying mechanism is yet unknown. In order to understand this regulatory mechanism, the modification site K56 was mutated to arginine (Lys56Arg; K56R) to mimic deacetylated lysine. The results showed that mimic deacetylated mitochondrial ACO2 restricted enzymatic activity. Although the ATP production was enhanced after viral infection, K56 deacetylation of ACO2 suppressed BmN cellular ATP levels and mitochondrial membrane potential by affecting citrate synthase and isocitrate dehydrogenase activities compared with wild-type ACO2. Furthermore, the deacetylation of exogenous ACO2 lowered BmNPV replication and generation of progeny viruses. In summary, our study on ACO2 revealed the potential mechanism underlying WT ACO2 promotes the proliferation of BmNPV and K56 deacetylation of ACO2 eliminates this promotional effect, which might provide novel insights for developing antiviral strategies.

The rupture of an unpressurized pipeline below the water table can lead to the leakage of groundwater along with soil particles into the pipeline. This not only causes blockages in the pipeline but, more critically, can result in ground subsidence. Understanding the factors influencing this phenomenon is a subject of great interest. To delve into this matter, this study employs the DEM-CFD methodology to synergistically encompass particle dynamics and interactions within the flow domain. It introduces an innovative framework for simulating water and soil erosion subsequent to the rupture of subaqueous unpressurized pipelines. This pioneering approach introduces a novel modeling and simulation paradigm catering to the analysis of intricate phenomena of this nature. Upon validating the flow field, our investigation specifically focused on three key factors: particle friction coefficient, groundwater level, and particle size distribution. We conducted a thorough examination of the process and mechanism of water and soil loss at the pipeline leakage point and the subsequent development of stratum subsidence. Our results indicate that particles with a friction coefficient of 0.6 had a reduced maximum displacement by 8.9%, compared to particles with a friction coefficient of 0.3. Similarly, a groundwater depth of 2 m resulted in a 29.6% decrease in maximum displacement compared to a 4 m depth, with a corresponding 160.9% increase in maximum force chain strength. Discontinuous particle gradation, in contrast to continuous gradation, yielded a notable 40.3% reduction in maximum displacement and a substantial 495.1% increase in maximum force chain strength. This underscores the noteworthy influence of particle friction coefficient, groundwater table elevation, and soil particle diameter on the stability of the overlying soil strata in the vicinity of a compromised unpressurized conduit.

Recreational ecosystem services (RESs) are the diverse recreational opportunities provided by nature to humans, which contribute to the improvement of public health and social well-being. The use of online social media is an efficient method for quantifying public perceptions of recreational ecosystem services (RESs) delivered by a given landscape. With the continuously changing demand for nature-focused outdoor recreational activities since COVID-19, camping has become the fastest-growing outdoor leisure activity in megacities and a key indicator for how people perceive and value the RESs provided by the landscape. Such unexpected changings triggered by COVID-19 have further led to an imbalance between demand and supply, which results in fierce conflicts in urban green space management. This study presents a spatial pattern analysis of how people perceive RESs in a megacity-scale case study of Beijing using geo-tagged camping notes posted on Little Red Book (LRB). We employed these camping notes in the context of a megacity to (i) map public camping behaviors patterns in urban green spaces, (ii) evaluate spatial clusters of high/low RESs, and (iii) investigate the relationship between RESs, local landscape features, and gender through correspondence analysis. Our results show that considerable spatial clustering of camping behaviors was observed in both suburban and urban green spaces. However, suburbs revealed a substantially higher RES value than central urban areas. In addition, water bodies were discovered to have remarkably low RES, while grassland and urban forests were found to have a close link with higher RES. In addition, significant gender preferences have been discovered, where female visitors prefer to camp in grassland, and male visitors favor bare ground and urbanized regions. Our findings would assist decision-makers in optimizing urban green space planning and management, adapting to fast-changing public camping demands in the context of the post-COVID-19 era. Findings also contribute to the literature by applying spatial analysis of social media data to understand public outdoor recreation activities and perceived value for megacities’ green space management.

This paper estimates the social welfare effect of China’s largest online ride-sharing platform. Under the plausible assumption that consumers would change from traditional transportation to online ride-sharing when the marginal benefit of saved time outgrows the additional cost, we calculate the distribution of implied wage rate of passengers. We then use the passenger wage rate to calculate the social welfare generated by the decrease in waiting time and the reduction of waiting uncertainty brought about by the ride-sharing platform. Our estimate suggests that the ride-sharing platform created a total of 130.5 billion Yuan of social welfare in the three years between 2016 and 2018, and the consumer surplus and producer surplus created by an average transaction are 5.4 Yuan and 2.5 Yuan, respectively. The robustness test finds that our results were insensitive to the assumed risk aversion coefficient in the model, the subsample number used for each city, and the inclusion of nonlinear terms in the model. Alternative hypotheses, such as learning effect, seem unable to explain our result. First published online 02 February 2022

The NAC transcription factors (NACs) are among the largest plant-specific gene regulators and play essential roles in the transcriptional regulation of both biotic and abiotic stress responses. Verticillium wilt of cotton caused by Verticillium dahliae (V. dahliae) is a destructive soil-borne disease that severely decreases cotton yield and quality. Although NACs constitute a large family in upland cotton (G. hirsutum L.), there is little systematic investigation of the NACs’ responsive to V. dahliae that has been reported. To further explore the key NACs in response to V. dahliae resistance and obtain a better comprehension of the molecular basis of the V. dahliae stress response in cotton, a genome-wide survey was performed in this study. To investigate the roles of GhNACs under V. dahliae induction in upland cotton, mRNA libraries were constructed from mocked and infected roots of upland cotton cultivars with the V. dahliae-sensitive cultivar “Jimian 11” (J11) and V. dahliae-tolerant cultivar “Zhongzhimian 2” (Z2). A total of 271 GhNACs were identified. Genome analysis showed GhNACs phylogenetically classified into 12 subfamilies and distributed across 26 chromosomes and 20 scaffolds. A comparative transcriptome analysis revealed 54 GhNACs were differentially expressed under V. dahliae stress, suggesting a potential role of these GhNACs in disease response. Additionally, one NAC090 homolog, GhNAC204, could be a positive regulator of cotton resistance to V. dahliae infection. These results give insight into the GhNAC gene family, identify GhNACs’ responsiveness to V. dahliae infection, and provide potential molecular targets for future studies for improving V. dahliae resistance in cotton.

The study's motivation is to gauge the effects of remittances on openness: financial and economic openness and financial stability in least developed countries (LDCs) for the period spanning 1975–2018. The study applies Generalized Moment of Methods (GMM) and System-GMM to detect the magnitude of remittances, gross capital formation, and government debt on openness and financial stability, and their directional association is established by performing a Granger causality test with System-GMM specification. The results of cross-sectional dependency ascertain the presence of a common dynamic among the research units; on the other hand, both first, and second-generation unit root tests establish that variables are integrated either at level or after the first difference, neither variables are exposed to order of integration after second difference. A panel co-integration test based on error correction confirms the availability of the long-run association among variables. Study findings with GMM and System-GMM estimation expose positive statistically significant effects of remittance inflows to economic and financial openness and financial stability. In LDCs, remittance inflows positively augment economic and financial openness; moreover, financial stability remittances play a critical role. The study implemented the Granger causality test with System-GMM specification, and results disclosed the feedback hypothesis that is bidirectional causality availability in the tested empirical causal model.JEL Classifications: F24, F43, P34.

Collagen from fish has been proven to have a low antigenicity that has no difference in the genetic codes compared with mammalian-based collagen. This study was designed to investigate the impact of tilapia skin collagen on immunogenicity and biocompatibility in vivo and in vitro. The structural characteristics of both acid-soluble and pepsin-soluble collagen (ASC and PSC), determined using SDS-PAGE and atomic force microscopy imaging experiments, revealed that the collagen had the basic characteristics of type I collagen (COL-I). The in vitro biocompatibility of the collagens showed good cell proliferation against human foreskin fibroblast (HFF-1) cells. PSC and ASC were considered to be almost non-hemolytic biomaterials with favorable blood compatibility in hemolysis tests. The in vivo antigenicity of the collagen in an ICR mouse model evoked an acceptable specific inflammatory response compared to bovine collagen. The implant’s position had developed a complete granulation tissue and the sponge disappeared after 8 weeks. The level of cytokines produced by the COL-I immune response was much lower than bovine collagen, which indicated the appropriate implantable property and biodegradability of the collagens. In conclusion, the tilapia COL-I has a lower immunogenicity with better compatibility than bovine COL-I and is a potential alternative to conventional mammalian collagens in biomedical uses.

Cotton Verticillium wilt, caused by the notorious fungal phytopathogen Verticillium dahliae (V. dahliae), is a destructive soil-borne vascular disease and severely decreases cotton yield and quality worldwide. Transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of genes responsive to V. dahliae are crucial for V. dahliae tolerance in plants. However, the specific microRNAs (miRNAs) and the miRNA/target gene crosstalk involved in cotton resistance to Verticillium wilt remain largely limited. To investigate the roles of regulatory RNAs under V. dahliae induction in upland cotton, mRNA and small RNA libraries were constructed from mocked and infected roots of two upland cotton cultivars with the V. dahliae-sensitive cultivar Jimian 11 (J11) and the V. dahliae-tolerant cultivar Zhongzhimian 2 (Z2). A comparative transcriptome analysis revealed 8330 transcripts were differentially expressed under V. dahliae stress and associated with several specific biological processes. Moreover, small RNA sequencing identified a total of 383 miRNAs, including 330 unique conserved miRNAs and 53 novel miRNAs. Analysis of the regulatory network involved in the response to V. dahliae stress revealed 31 differentially expressed miRNA–mRNA pairs, and the up-regulation of GhmiR395 and down-regulation of GhmiR165 were possibly involved in the response to V. dahliae by regulating sulfur assimilation through the GhmiR395-APS1/3 module and the establishment of the vascular pattern and secondary cell wall formation through GhmiR165-REV module, respectively. The integrative analysis of mRNA and miRNA expression profiles from upland cotton lays the foundation for further investigation of regulatory mechanisms of resistance to Verticillium wilt in cotton and other crops.

Silkworm (Bombyx mori) is a model organism with great agricultural economic value that plays a crucial role in biological studies. B. mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is a major viral pathogen found in silkworms, which leads to huge silk loss annually. In a recent lysine acetylome of silkworm infected with BmNPV, we focused on the heat shock cognate protein 70-4 (HSC70-4) lysine acetylation change due to the consequent nuclear accumulation and viral structure assembly. In this study, the genome replication, proliferation, and production of budded viruses (BVs) were arrested by HSP/HSC70 inhibitor treatment. However, HSC70-4 overexpression enhanced BmNPV reproduction. Furthermore, site-direct mutagenesis for acetylated mimic (K/Q) or deacetylated mimic (K/R) mutants of HSC70-4 demonstrated that lysine 77 (K77) deacetylation promotes HSC70-4 stability, viral DNA duplication, and HSC70-4 nuclear entry upon BmNPV challenge, and the nuclear propulsion of HSC70-4 after viral stimulus might be dependent on the interaction with the carboxyl terminus of HSC70-interacting protein (CHIP, an E3 ubiquitin ligase), followed by ubiquitin-proteasome system assistance. In this study, single lysine 77 deacetylation of HSC70-4 was deemed a part of the locomotive pathway for facilitating BmNPV proliferation and provided novel insights into the antiviral strategic development.

C30H24Cl4O10Rh2, monoclinic, P21/n (no. 14), a = 7.5270(4) Å, b = 12.3533(6) Å, c = 17.4904(8) Å, β = 91.780(4)°, V = 1625.52(14) Å3, Z = 2, Rgt(F) = 0.0458, wRref(F2) = 0.1285, T = 150(1) K.

C75.5H70Cl2CoLi2O2, triclinic, P1̅ (no. 2), a = 13.1085(7) Å, b = 13.4704(7) Å, c = 18.8367(10) Å, α = 88.604(5)°, β = 88.255(4)°, γ = 68.282(5)°, V = 3088.3(3) Å3, Z = 1, Rgt(F) = 0.0666, wRref(F2) = 0.1743, T = 150 K.

This paper presents new carrier-based and carrier-less ultra-wideband (UWB) transmitter architectures and their CMOS implementation. The carrier-based transmitter designed using a 0.18-?m CMOS process adopts a double-stage switching to enhance RF-power efficiency, reduce dc-power consumption and circuit complexity, and increase switching speed and isolation. Measurement results show that the generated UWB signal can vary from 2 V peak-to-peak with 3-dB 4-ns pulse width to 1 V with 0.5 ns, covering 10-dB signal bandwidths from 0.5 to 4 GHz, respectively. The generated UWB signal can be tuned to cover the entire UWB frequency range of 3.1 to 10.6 GHz. The carrier-less transmitter integrates tuning delay circuit, square-wave generator, impulse-forming circuit, and pulse-shaping circuit in a single chip using a standard low-cost 0.25-?m CMOS process. It can generate monocycle pulse and Gaussian-type impulse (without the pulse-shaping circuitry) signals with tunable pulse duration. Measured results show that the carrier-less transmitter can produce 0.3–0.6 V peak-to-peak monocycle pulse with 140–350 ps tunable pulse-duration and 0.5–1.3 V peak-to-peak impulse signal with 100–300 ps tunable pulse-duration.

RNA replication of positive-strand (+)RNA viruses requires the protein-protein interactions among viral replicases and the association of viral replicases with intracellular membranes. Protein A from Wuhan nodavirus (WhNV), which closely associate with mitochondrial membranes, is the sole replicase required for viral RNA replication. Here, we studied the direct effects of mitochondrial membrane lipids (MMLs) on WhNV protein A activity in vitro. Our investigations revealed the self-interaction of WhNV protein A is accomplished via two different patterns (i.e., homotypic and heterotypic self-interactions via different interfaces). MMLs stimulated the protein A self-interaction, and this stimulation exhibited selectivity for specific phospholipids. Moreover, we found that specific phospholipids differently favor the two self-interaction patterns. Furthermore, manipulating specific phospholipid metabolism affected protein A self-interaction and the activity of protein A to replicate RNA in cells. Taken together, our findings reveal the direct effects of membrane lipids on a nodaviral RNA replicase.

Abstract The treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is particularly challenging due to the inherent tumoral heterogeneity and easy resistance towards chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Arsenic trioxide (ATO) has emerged as a cytotoxic agent effective for treating solid tumors, including advanced HCC. However, its effectiveness in HCC treatment remains limited, and the underlying mechanisms are still uncertain. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize the effects and mechanisms of ATO in HCC. By evaluating the susceptibilities of human and murine HCC cell lines to ATO treatment, we discovered that HCC cells exhibited a range of sensitivity to ATO treatment, highlighting their inherent heterogeneity. A gene signature comprising 265 genes was identified to distinguish ATO-sensitive from ATO-insensitive cells. According to this signature, HCC patients have also been classified and exhibited differential features of ATO response. Our results showed that ATO treatment induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and the activation of multiple cell death modalities, including necroptosis and ferroptosis, in ATO-sensitive HCC cells. Meanwhile, elevated tumoral immunogenicity was also observed in ATO-sensitive HCC cells. Similar effects were not observed in ATO-insensitive cells. We reported that ATO treatment induced mitochondrial injury and mtDNA release into the cytoplasm in ATO-sensitive HCC tumors. This subsequently activated the cGAS-STING-IFN axis, facilitating CD8+ T cell infiltration and activation. However, we found that the IFN pathway also induced tumoral PD-L1 expression, potentially antagonizing ATO-mediated immune attack. Additional anti-PD1 therapy promoted the anti-tumor response of ATO in ATO-sensitive HCC tumors. In summary, our data indicate that heterogeneous ATO responses exist in HCC tumors, and ATO treatment significantly induces immunogenic cell death (ICD) and activates the tumor-derived mtDNA-STING-IFN axis. These findings may offer a new perspective on the clinical treatment of HCC and warrant further study.

Immunotherapy is one of the promising strategies in the treatment of oncology. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, as a type of immunotherapy, have no significant efficacy in the clinical treatment of patients with pMMR/MSS/MSI-L mCRC alone. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find combination therapies that can improve the response rate of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Oncolytic viruses are a new class of cancer drugs that, in addition to directly lysing tumor cells, can facilitate the action of immune checkpoint inhibitors by modulating the tumor microenvironment and transforming “cold” tumors into “hot” ones. The combination of oncolytic viruses and immune checkpoint inhibitors is currently being used in several primary and clinical studies to treat tumors with exciting results. The combination of genetically modified “armed” OV with ICIs is expected to be one of the treatment options for pMMR/MSS/MSI-L mCRC. In this paper, we will analyze the current status of oncolytic viruses and ICIs available for the treatment of CRC. The feasibility of OV in combination with ICI for CRC will be discussed in terms of the mechanism of action of OV in treating tumors.

Abstract Background Altered neuronal development is discussed as the underlying pathogenic mechanism of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Copy number variations of 16p11.2 have recurrently been identified in individuals with ASD. Of the 29 genes within this region, quinolinate phosphoribosyltransferase (QPRT) showed the strongest regulation during neuronal differentiation of SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. We hypothesized a causal relation between this tryptophan metabolism-related enzyme and neuronal differentiation. We thus analyzed the effect of QPRT on the differentiation of SH-SY5Y and specifically focused on neuronal morphology, metabolites of the tryptophan pathway, and the neurodevelopmental transcriptome. Methods The gene dosage-dependent change of QPRT expression following Chr16p11.2 deletion was investigated in a lymphoblastoid cell line (LCL) of a deletion carrier and compared to his non-carrier parents. Expression of QPRT was tested for correlation with neuromorphology in SH-SY5Y cells. QPRT function was inhibited in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells using (i) siRNA knockdown (KD), (ii) chemical mimicking of loss of QPRT, and (iii) complete CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock out (KO). QPRT-KD cells underwent morphological analysis. Chemically inhibited and QPRT-KO cells were characterized using viability assays. Additionally, QPRT-KO cells underwent metabolite and whole transcriptome analyses. Genes differentially expressed upon KO of QPRT were tested for enrichment in biological processes and co-regulated gene-networks of the human brain. Results QPRT expression was reduced in the LCL of the deletion carrier and significantly correlated with the neuritic complexity of SH-SY5Y. The reduction of QPRT altered neuronal morphology of differentiated SH-SY5Y cells. Chemical inhibition as well as complete KO of the gene were lethal upon induction of neuronal differentiation, but not proliferation. The QPRT-associated tryptophan pathway was not affected by KO. At the transcriptome level, genes linked to neurodevelopmental processes and synaptic structures were affected. Differentially regulated genes were enriched for ASD candidates, and co-regulated gene networks were implicated in the development of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, and the amygdala. Conclusions In this study, QPRT was causally related to in vitro neuronal differentiation of SH-SY5Y cells and affected the regulation of genes and gene networks previously implicated in ASD. Thus, our data suggest that QPRT may play an important role in the pathogenesis of ASD in Chr16p11.2 deletion carriers.