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Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the clinical performance of zirconia-based fixed dental prostheses (FDPs) in comparison to metal-ceramic (MC) FDPs., Methods: A comprehensive search on MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science (Core Collection), Scopus up to June 2024 was conducted. Studies that compared the success, survival and complication rates between zirconia based FDPs and MC FDPs were eligible for inclusion., Results: Thirty-one articles were identified, of which 22 were included for systematic review and 7 RCTs were included for meta-analysis. 10, 9 and 3 studies were classified to mean follow-up ≤ 5 years, 5 years < mean Follow-up ≤ 10 years, mean Follow-up >10 years, respectively. In the pooled analysis, 180 bilaminar zirconia (ZC) FDPs and 206 MC FDPs were included. ZC FDPs were significantly associated with more failures (RR=3.64, p = 0.009) and more Ceramic Chipping (RR=2.92, p < 0.0001) when compared to MC FDPs. Higher risks of Framework Fracture (RR=4.57, p = 0.18), Loss of Retention (RR=4.79, p = 0.17), Secondary Caries (RR=1.25, p = 0.68), Endodontic complications (RR=1.30, p = 0.74) and Marginal Integrity (RR=1.07, p = 0.88) were also found in ZC FDPs when compared to those of MC FDPs, but with no statistical difference., Conclusion: The current evidence continues to support the preference for traditional MC FDPs over ZC FDPs. Studies indicate that ZC FDPs have higher failure rates and more complications compared to MC FDPs, with ceramic chipping being a significant concern. There is lack of long term (>10 years follow-up) evidence of the clinical performance of ZC FDPs and monolithic zirconia FDPs., Clinical Significance: The study suggests that despite the growing popularity of zirconia, evidence shows MC FDPs may still be considered preferable to ZC FDPs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest This study did not receive any grants from public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors, (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Psychological distress, including anxiety and depression, is not only prevalent in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) but can actually predict adverse clinical events. Therefore, the necessity of addressing psychological problems among patients with CHD to improve their treatment results is increasingly acknowledged. This study's objective was to examine the prognostic impact of anxiety and depression on major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) and physical function among patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS)., Methods: A total of 978 patients admitted to our hospital from September 2021 to September 2022 and diagnosed with severe vascular lesions using coronary angiography were enrolled. According to their scores on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale at admission, they were divided into two groups and four subgroups: an anxiety group, a non-anxiety group, a depression group, and a non-depression group. The participants' baseline information, clinical characteristics, coronary angiography findings, MACEs, and changes in physical functionality were compared., Results: There were statistically significant differences between the anxiety and depression groups in marital status, education level, history of diabetes, clinical diagnosis, cardiac troponin T (cTnI), B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), coronary angiography, and synergy between percutaneous coronary intervention with taxus and cardiac surgery (SYNTAX) score. Logistic regression analysis showed that gender, education level, diabetes history, cTnI, and SYNTAX score were risk factors for anxiety, while education level, diabetes, and SYNTAX score were risk factors for depression. A Kaplan-Meier survival curve model was used to analyze survival rates in the anxiety and depression groups. Hierarchical regression analyses of anxiety and depression at baseline predicted significant declines in physical functionality., Conclusions: Social support improved physical functionality and reduced the impact of psychological distress. Psychological state had the greatest long-term prognostic value in patients with CHD., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://jtd.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/jtd-24-576/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2024 AME Publishing Company. All rights reserved.)

Volume expansion of the Si-C anode during the charging/discharging process causes continuous fracture/formation of the solid electrolyte interface (SEI), which leads to rapid capacity fading. Here, we designed a MgF 2 -modified separator (MF-PP) to construct a fluorine-rich SEI layer by generating more LiF. The robust SEI layer formed can alleviate the volume stress and prevent crack growth in Si-C electrodes. After 450 cycles, the Si-C||MF-PP half cell retained a reversible capacity of 543.2 mAh g -1 , while the LFP||MF-PP||Si-C full cell maintained a reversible capacity of 103.4 mAh g -1 with high Coulombic efficiency after 100 cycles. This facile and low-cost separator modification strategy provides an easily scalable approach to develop stable Si-based anodes for next-generation high-energy-density systems.

High-capacity O3-type lithium-rich manganese-based (LRM) materials exhibit significant structural instability and severe voltage decay, which limit their practical applications. In contrast, the O2-type LRM materials demonstrate remarkable structural stability despite offering lower capacity. In this study, a composite material, O3@O2-LRM is designed, by coating the main structure of O3-type LRM with a minor amount of O2-type LRM to combine the high capacity of the O3 phase with the superior stability of the O2 phase. Electrochemical tests demonstrate that O3@O2-LRM exhibits both high specific capacity and reduced voltage decay. Furthermore, a series of characterizations after different cycles confirm its enhanced structure stability compared to O3-LRM. This novel structure holds great promise for developing advanced cathode materials capable of meeting the demanding requirements of next-generation Li-ion batteries., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

The intrinsic volumetric stress during cycling is the main obstacle for developing Si-based materials as high-energy-density lithium-ion battery anodes. Elastic binders have been demonstrated as an efficient approach to alleviate the stress of Si. Herein, we design a tough 3D hard/soft polymeric network (LPTS) using lithiated poly(acrylic acid), silk sericin, and highly branched tannic acid. Covalent cross-linking provides a robust mechanical strength to endure the large stress. The formed multiple hydrogen bonds with bonding energies between 3.46 and 25 kcal mol -1 can effectively dissipate the stress through sequential hydrogen bond disassociation. The multifunctional LPTS binder maintains the integrity of the Si-based electrodes during repeated discharging/charging. Additionally, Li + can be transferred via a Li-conducting group (-COOLi), thereby enhancing the ionic conductivity of electrodes. Consequently, the Si/LPTS electrode exhibits an improved initial Coulombic efficiency and excellent durability over 400 cycles. Meanwhile, this binder is also suitable for Si-C anodes, enabling stable cycling at a high areal capacity >3.6 mAh cm -2 and delivering 72.2% capacity retention for the LFP||Si-C/LPTS full cell after 200 cycles. This study provides insight into developing efficient Si-based binders that are facile and low-cost for next-generation high-energy-density systems.

With the increasing importance of subways in urban public transportation systems, pedestrian flow simulation for supporting station management and risk analysis becomes more necessary. There is a need to calibrate the simulation model parameters with real-world pedestrian flow data to achieve a simulation closer to the real situation. This study presents a calibration approach based on YOLOv5 for calibrating the simulation model parameters in the social force model inserted in Anylogic. This study compared the simulation results after model calibration with real data. The results show that (1) the parameters calibrated in this paper can reproduce the characteristics of pedestrian flow in the station; (2) the calibration model not only decreases global errors but also overcomes the common phenomenon of large differences between simulation and reality.

Considering the pear in the arid region as the research object, single-factor testing and water-fertilizer coupling testing were conducted. The response of pear tree growth to water, nitrogen, and phosphorus was explored and provided a theoretical basis for efficient water and fertilizer management. Among them, the single-factor test set water, nitrogen, and phosphorus as the three factors, and five levels were set. Screening out W3, W4, N3, N4, P3, and P4 promoted plant nutrient uptake and fruit quality. Eight treatments were set up in the water and fertilizer coupling test: Treatment 1 (T1, W3N3P3), Treatment 2 (T2, W3N3P4), Treatment 3 (T3, W3N4P3), Treatment 4 (T4, W3N4P4), Treatment 5 (T5, W4N3P3), Treatment 6 (T6, W4N3P4), Treatment 7 (T7, W4N4P3), and Treatment 8 (T8, W4N4P4). The results showed that the leaf area index of the T1, T2, T3, and T4 treatments was significantly higher than that of the other treatments at maturity. The yield, single fruit weight, and primary fruit rate were the highest under T3 treatment. The gray correlation degree analysis of fruit quality showed that the T3 treatment had the highest degree of correlation and ranking of each fruit quality index, indicating that the T3 treatment had the highest fruit quality. The yield model showed that irrigation with 6510.06 m 3 hm -2 , nitrogen fertilizer with 337.5 kg N hm -2 , and phosphate fertilizer with 262.5 kg P hm -2 had the best yield. A detailed investigation of pear tree growth and fruit quality showed that the T3 treatment had the best fruit growth and development performance, and the pear fruit quality was the best., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: Authors state no conflict of interest., (© 2024 the author(s), published by De Gruyter.)

Despite the great potential of CRISPR-based detection, it has not been competitive with other market diagnostics for on-site and in-home testing. Here we dissect the rate-limiting factors that undermine the performance of Cas12b- and Cas13a-mediated detection. In one-pot testing, Cas12b interferes with loop-mediated isothermal amplification by binding to and cleaving the amplicon, while Cas13a directly degrades the viral RNA, reducing its amplification. We found that the protospacer-adjacent motif-interacting domain engineered Cas12b accelerated one-pot testing with 10-10,000-fold improved sensitivity, and detected 85 out of 85 SARS-CoV-2 clinical samples with a sensitivity of 0.5 cp μl -1 , making it superior to wild-type Cas12b. In parallel, by diminishing the interference of Cas13a with viral RNA, the optimized Cas13a-based assay detected 86 out of 87 SARS-CoV-2 clinical samples at room temperature in 30 min with a sensitivity of 0.5 cp μl -1 . The relaxed reaction conditions and improved performance of CRISPR-based assays make them competitive for widespread use in pathogen detection., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.)

Traditional methods under sparse view for reconstruction of photoacoustic tomography (PAT) often result in significant artifacts. Here, a novel image to image transformation method based on unsupervised learning artifact disentanglement network (ADN), named PAT-ADN, was proposed to address the issue. This network is equipped with specialized encoders and decoders that are responsible for encoding and decoding the artifacts and content components of unpaired images, respectively. The performance of the proposed PAT-ADN was evaluated using circular phantom data and the animal in vivo experimental data. The results demonstrate that PAT-ADN exhibits excellent performance in effectively removing artifacts. In particular, under extremely sparse view (e.g., 16 projections), structural similarity index and peak signal-to-noise ratio are improved by ∼188 % and ∼85 % in in vivo experimental data using the proposed method compared to traditional reconstruction methods. PAT-ADN improves the imaging performance of PAT, opening up possibilities for its application in multiple domains., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

This study aimed to investigate the effects of exercise on muscle fiber conversion, muscle development and meat quality in the biceps femoris (BF) muscle of Sunit sheep. Twelve Sunit sheep with similar body weight were divided into two groups: control group (C group) and exercise group (E group), E group lambs underwent 6 km of exercise training per day for 90 d. The findings revealed that compared with the C group, exercise training enhanced the expression of MyHC IIa mRNA, decreased the number ratio of type IIB muscle fibers and the expression of MyHC IIb mRNA (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the E group lamb displayed higher creatine kinase (CK) activity, and lactic acid levels (P < 0.05), while glycogen content and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) activity showed opposite trends (P < 0.05). Exercise significantly up-regulated the mRNA expression of AMP-activated protein kinase α1 (AMPKα1), sirtuin1 (SIRT1), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-α (PGC-1α), cytochrome c oxidase IV (COX IV), protein kinase B (Akt), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and p70 Ribosomal S6 Kinase 1 (p70s6k1) (P < 0.05), suggesting exercise promoted muscle fiber conversion by mediating AMPK/PGC-1α pathway, and improved skeletal muscle development via Akt/mTOR pathway. Besides, backfat thickness and pH 45min value in the E group decreased significantly, while the pH 24 , a*, and shear force value increased significantly (P < 0.05). To conclude, this study suggested that exercise training can be used to alter muscle fiber characteristics and muscle development in lamb production., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest It is declared that the authors have no competing financial interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an important biological resource recovery process, where microorganisms play key roles for material transformation. There has been some knowledge about the prokaryotic community and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in AD, but there has been very limited knowledge of phages. In this study, samples from a full-scale AD plant were collected over 13 months, sequenced, and analyzed for viral and prokaryotic metagenomes. Totally, 3015 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) were detected, mostly assigned to Caudoviricetes . The phage community had faster temporal variation than the prokaryotic community. Warm seasons harbored a higher abundance of both temperate phages and broad host-range phages. Seven ARGs of 6 subtypes were carried by 20 vOTUs, a representative ermT gene was synthesized and expressed, and the resistance activity in the host was examined, confirming the real activity of virus-carried ARGs in the AD process. Some of the ARGs were horizontally transferred between the phage and prokaryotic genomes. However, phage infection was not found to contribute to ARG transfer. This study provided an insight into the ecological patterns of the phage community, confirmed the antibiotic resistance activity of virus-carried ARGs, evaluated the contribution of phages on the ARG prevalence, and laid the foundation for the control strategies of the community and antibiotic resistance in the AD process.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) with thermal hydrolysis (TH) pretreatment is a promising process for excess sludge treatment, while there lacks of the knowledge from full-scale process about the impact of sludge composition and characteristics on microbial community and performance. The sludge physiochemical indices, microbial community and performance data of four full-scale TH-AD plants were characterized, and their relationships was elucidated. The four plants were operated under almost similar total organic loading rate (OLR) but their methanogenesis performance differentiate into two groups, namely superior group (SupG) and the inferior group (InfG). In both groups, TH effectively solubilized particulate organic compounds, meanwhile raised the ammonia nitrogen (NH 4 + -N) and volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration. Compared with the SupG, thermal hydrolyzed sludge of InfG had higher level of VFAs, NH 4 + -N and total chemical oxygen demand (tCOD), which showed higher inhibition effect on microbes, leading to a community with lower diversity, lower abundance of carbohydrate degrading functional guild, higher protein degrading one, and methanogens that adapted to limited substrates, and further declined the methane production rate. Thus, it was recommended that OLR alone was not sufficient for controlling the system in design and operation, the concentration of VFAs, NH 4 + -N and tCOD should be equally considered. Their higher concentration, together with the higher abundance of Defluviitoga and Proteiniphilum were recommended as indicators for inferior running condition. Our results proposed that microbial communities played a role of bridge between environmental factors and performance, provided implications for engineering ecology and operational regulation for full-scale sludge TH-AD process., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper, (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The long-term occurrence, dynamics and risk of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in anaerobic digestion (AD) of excess sludge (ES) are not fully understood. Therefore, 13-month metagenomic monitoring was carried out in a full-scale AD plant. The highest ARG abundance and risk scores were observed in spring. AD achieved a 35 % removal rate for the total ARG abundance, but the risk score of AD sludge was not always lower than ES samples, because of the higher proportion of Rank I ARGs in AD sludge. ARGs showed less obvious patterns under linear models compared with microbial community, implying their chaotic dynamics, which was further confirmed by nonlinearity tests. Empirical dynamic modeling performed better than the autoregressive integrated moving average model for ARG dynamics, especially for those with simple and nonlinear dynamics. This study highlighted spring for its higher ARG abundance and risk, and recommended nonlinear models for revealing the dynamics of ARGs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Efficient food safety risk assessment significantly affects food safety supervision. However, food detection data of different types and batches show different feature distributions, resulting in unstable detection results of most risk assessment models, lack of interpretability of risk classification, and insufficient risk traceability. This study aims to explore an efficient food safety risk assessment model that takes into account robustness, interpretability and traceability. Therefore, the Explainable unsupervised risk Warning Framework based on the Empirical cumulative Distribution function (EWFED) was proposed. Firstly, the detection data's underlying distribution is estimated as non-parametric by calculating each testing indicator's empirical cumulative distribution. Next, the tail probabilities of each testing indicator are estimated based on these distributions and summarized to obtain the sample risk value. Finally, the "3σ Rule" is used to achieve explainable risk classification of qualified samples, and the reasons for unqualified samples are tracked according to the risk score of each testing indicator. The experiments of the EWFED model on two types of dairy product detection data in actual application scenarios have verified its effectiveness, achieving interpretable risk division and risk tracing of unqualified samples. Therefore, this study provides a more robust and systematic food safety risk assessment method to promote precise management and control of food safety risks effectively., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The Catering Service Industry (CSI) experienced profound impacts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the long-term and multi-timepoint analysis using big data remained limited, influencing governmental decision-making. We applied Kernel Density Estimation, Shannon Diversity Index, and the Geographic detector to explore the spatial heterogeneity and determinants of the CSI in Beijing during the pandemic, with monthly granularity. The temporal-spatial dynamics of the CSI presented a "W"-shaped trend from 2018 to 2023, with pivotal shifts aligning with key pandemic stages. Spatial characteristics exhibited heterogeneity, with greater stability in the city center and more pronounced shifts in peripheral urban zones. Districts facing intricate outbreaks showed lower catering income, and Chinese eateries exhibited heightened resilience compared to others. The CSI displayed strong interconnections with living service sectors. Development in each district was influenced by economic level, population distribution, service facilities convenience, and the risk of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dominant factors included total retail sales of consumer goods, permanent population, average Baidu Heat Index, density of transportation and catering service facilities, infection cases and the consecutive days with confirmed cases existing. Consequently, we suggested seizing post-pandemic recovery as an avenue to unlock the CSI's substantial potential, ushering a fresh phase of growth., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Type I interferon (IFN-I) plays crucial roles in the regulation of inflammation and it is associated with various inflammatory diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and periodontitis, impacting people's health and quality of life. It is well-established that IFN-Is affect immune responses and inflammatory factors by regulating some signaling. However, currently, there is no comprehensive overview of the crucial regulatory role of IFN-I in distinctive pathways as well as associated inflammatory diseases. This review aims to provide a narrative of the involvement of IFN-I in different signaling pathways, mainly mediating the related key factors with specific targets in the pathways and signaling cascades to influence the progression of inflammatory diseases. As such, we suggested that IFN-Is induce inflammatory regulation through the stimulation of certain factors in signaling pathways, which displays possible efficient treatment methods and provides a reference for the precise control of inflammatory diseases., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Periodontitis, a condition that results in periodontal attachment loss and alveolar bone resorption, contributes to the global burden of oral disease. The underlying mechanism of periodontitis involves the dysbiosis and dyshomeostasis between host and oral microbes, among which the macrophage is one of the major innate immune cell players, producing interferon β (IFNβ) in response to bacterial infection. The objective of this research was to examine the interaction of macrophages with periodontitis and the role and mechanism of IFNβ on macrophages. IFNβ has been shown to have the potential to induce the differentiation of M1 to M2 macrophages, which are stimulated by low levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Additionally, IFNβ has been demonstrated to promote the production of ISG15 by macrophages, which leads to the inhibition of the innate immune response. Moreover, our investigation revealed that IFNβ has the potential to augment the secretion of ISG15 and its downstream cytokine, IL10, in LPS-stimulated macrophages. Single-cell analysis was conducted on the gingival tissues of patients with periodontitis, which revealed a higher proportion of macrophages in the periodontitis-diseased tissue and increased expression of IFNβ, ISG15, and IL10. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis indicated that bacterial infection was associated with upregulation of IFNβ, ISG15, and IL10. Notably, only IL10 has been linked to immunosuppression, indicating that the IFNβ-ISG15-IL10 axis might promote an anti-inflammatory response in periodontitis through IL10 expression. It is also found that macrophage phenotype transitions in periodontitis involve the release of higher levels of IFNβ, ISG15, and IL10 by the anti-inflammatory M2 macrophage phenotype compared to the pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). This implies that the IFNβ-induced production of IL10 might be linked to the M2 macrophage phenotype. Furthermore, cell communication analysis demonstrated that IL10 can promote fibroblast proliferation in periodontal tissues via STAT3 signaling., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Liu, Li, Zhang, Lu, Qiao, Chen, Liu, Tang, Cheng and Chen.)

SiO x -based material is a promising candidate for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to its high theoretical capacity. The inherent disadvantages of poor electronic conductivity and large volume variation can be solved by constructing the outermost carbon layer and reserving internal voids. However, the practical application of SiO x /C composites remains a great challenge due to the unsatisfactory energy density. Herein, we propose a facile synthetic approach for fabricating SNG/H-SiO x @C composites, which are constructed by amorphous carbon, hollow SiO x (H-SiO x ), and spherical natural graphite (SNG). H-SiO x alleviates volume expansion, while amorphous carbon promotes Li + migration and stable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation. The as-prepared SNG/H-SiO x @C demonstrates a high reversible capacity (465 mAh g -1 ), excellent durability (93% capacity retention at 0.5C after 500 cycles), lower average delithiation potential than SNG (0.143 V after 500 cycles), and a 14% gravimetric energy density improvement at a loading level of 4.5 mg cm -2 . Even at a compacted density of 1.5 g cm -3 , the SNG/H-SiO x @C anode presents a modest volume deformation of 14.3% after 100 cycles at 0.1C.

Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic foodborne pathogen occasionally isolated from diarrhea patients. In recent years, increasing studies have reported the detection of S. aureus in food poisoning incidents due to food contamination in the North and South of China. However, the epidemiology and genetic characteristics of S. aureus from food poisoning incidents in Eastern China remain unknown. The present study examined the genetic characteristics, antimicrobial resistance, and virulent factors of multidrug-resistant S. aureus isolated from 22 food poisoning incidents reported by the hospitals and health centers in Eastern China from 2011 to 2021. A total of 117 resistant and enterotoxigenic S. aureus isolates were collected and sequenced, among which 20 isolates were identified as methicillin resistant. Genetic analysis revealed 19 distinct CC/ST types, with CC6, CC22, CC59, CC88, and CC398 being the most frequent variants in methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). A considerable shift in CC types from CC1 to CC398 between 2011 and 2021 was observed in this study, indicating that CC398 may be the main epidemic strain circulating in the current food poisoning incidents. Additionally, genes for enterotoxins were detected in 55 isolates, with a prevalence of 27.8% (27/97) for methicillin-sensitive variants and 35.0% (7/20) for MRSA. The scn gene was detected in 59.0% of the isolates, demonstrating diverse contaminations of S. aureus among livestock-to-human transmission. Of the 117 isolates, only ten isolates displayed multi-drug resistance (MDR) to penicillin, tetracycline, and macrolides. None of the 117 foodborne S. aureus isolates tested positive for vanA in this study. Together, the present study provided phylogenetic characteristics of S. aureus from food poisoning incidents that emerged in Eastern China from 2011 to 2021. Our results suggested that these diarrhea episodes were hypotonic and merely transient low-MDR infections, however, further research for continued surveillance given the detection of virulence and antimicrobial resistance determinants is required to elucidate the genomic characteristics of pathogenic S. aureus in food poisoning incidents in the context of public health., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Yu, Zhou, Feng, Jiang, Li, Jiang, Zhou and Li.)

Background: Abuse of Synthetic Cannabinoids (SCs) has become a serious threat to public health. Due to the various structural and chemical group modified by criminals, their detection is a major challenge in forensic toxicological identification. Therefore, rapid and efficient identification of SCs is important for forensic toxicology and drug bans. The prediction of an analyte's retention time in liquid chromatography is an important index for the qualitative analysis of compounds and can provide informatics solutions for the interpretation of chromatographic data., Methods: In this study, experimental data from high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) are used to construct a regression model for predicting the retention time of SCs using machine learning methods. The prediction ability of the model is improved by adopting a strategy that combines different descriptors in different independent machine-learning methods., Results: The best model was obtained with a method that combined Substructure Fingerprint Count and Finger printer features and the support vector regression (SVR) method, as it exhibited an R 2 value of 0.81 for the validation set and 0.83 for the test set. In addition, 4 new SCs were predicted by the optimized model, with a prediction error within 3%., Conclusions: Our study provides a model that can predict the retention time of compounds and it can be used as a filter to reduce false-positive candidates when used in combination with LC-HRMS, especially in the absence of reference standards. This can improve the confidence of identification in non-targeted analysis and the reliability of identifying unknown substances., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Effective contamination warning and control of food quality can significantly reduce the likelihood of food quality safety incidents. Existing food contamination warning models for food quality rely on supervised learning, do not model the complex feature associations between detection samples, and do not consider the unevenness of detection data categories. In this paper, To overcome these limitations, we propose a Contrastive Self-supervised learning-based Graph Neural Network framework (CSGNN) for contamination warning of food quality. Specifically, we structure the graph for detecting correlations between samples and then define the positive and negative instance pairs for contrastive learning based on attribute networks. Further, we use a self-supervised approach to capture the complex relationships between detection samples. Finally, we assessed each sample's contamination level based on the absolute value of the subtraction of the prediction scores from multiple rounds of positive and negative instances obtained by the CSGNN. Moreover, we conducted a sample study on a batch of dairy product detection data in a Chinese province. The experimental results show that CSGNN outperforms other baseline models in contamination assessment of food quality, with AUC and recall of unqualified samples reaching 0.9188 and 1.0000, respectively. Meanwhile, our framework provides interpretable contamination classification for food detection. This study provides an efficient early warning method with precise and hierarchical contamination classification for contamination warning of food quality work.

Background and Objectives: Both cortical and overall bone thicknesses of the infrazygomatic crest (IZC) were measured to determine the optimal areas for mini-implants into the IZC. The impact of insertion sites, heights and angles, sex and age on bone thickness were evaluated., Materials and Methods: In this study, cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images of 32 patients were included. The cortical bone thickness (CBT) and overall bone thicknesses (OBT) of IZC were measured at different insertion sites between the maxillary first and second molars (site 61, 62, 63, 67, 71, 72 and 73), different heights (0 to 12 mm from alveolar bone crest) and different angles (0 to 90 degrees from the reference line)., Results: OBT was the thickest at site 63, followed by site 73. For each site, the insertion height where OBT was the thickest decreased with the increase of angle CBT and OBT were significantly influenced by sex and age. The percentage of root contact was significantly influenced by insertion heights and angles, not by sites. The recommended regions in the IZC for mini-implants were mapped., Conclusions: Both CBT and OBT in the infrazygomatic crest were influenced by insertion sites, heights, and angles. Sex and age had an impact on CBT and OBT. The optimal insertion heights and angles were 12 mm to 18 mm from the occlusal plane, and 40 to 70 degrees for mini-implants at IZC., Competing Interests: None., (AJTR Copyright © 2022.)

Although substantial progress has been made in cancer biology and treatment, the prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is still not satisfactory because of local tumor invasion and frequent lymph node metastasis. The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a potential target in which cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are of great significance due to their interactions with cancer cells. However, the exact mechanism is still unclear. Therefore, we focus on the crosstalk between cancer cells and CAFs and discover that CAFs are the main source of TGF-β1. Transwell assays and western blot analysis further prove that CAFs activate the TGF-β1/Smad pathway to promote OSCC invasion. Through survival analysis, we confirm that CAF overexpression is correlated with poor overall survival in OSCC. To further elucidate the origin and role of CAFs in OSCC, we analyze single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data from 14 OSCC tumor samples and identify four distinct cell types, including CAFs, in the TME, indicating high intratumoral heterogeneity. Then, two subtypes of CAFs, namely, myofibroblasts (mCAFs) and inflammatory CAFs (iCAFs), are further distinguished. Based on the differentially upregulated genes of mCAFs and iCAFs, GO enrichment analysis reveals their different roles in OSCC progression. Furthermore, the gene expression pattern is dynamically altered across pseudotime, potentially taking part in the transformation from epithelial to mCAFs or iCAFs through the epithelial to mesenchymal transition.

Inhibin subunit βA ( INHBA ) is a protein-coding gene belonging to the transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) superfamily, which is associated with the development of a variety of cancers. However, the role of INHBA in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC) remains unclear. The expression profile and prognostic significance of INHBA in HNSC were assessed using a variety of informatics methods. The level of INHBA expression was significantly higher in patients with HNSC, and it was correlated with sex, tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage, histological grade, and human papillomavirus (HPV) status. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) analysis indicated that poor overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were significantly associated with INHBA upregulation in HNSC. INHBA overexpression was validated as an independent poor prognostic factor by multivariate Cox regression, and including INHBA expression level in the prognostic model could increase prediction accuracy. In addition, copy number alterations (CNAs) of INHBA and miR-217-5p downregulation are potential mechanisms for elevated INHBA expression in HNSC. In conclusion, INHBA may represent a promising predictive biomarker and candidate target for anti-TGFβ therapy in HNSC.

Temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJOA) is a chronic degenerative disease for which the underlying mechanism still remains unclear. Compared with apoptosis and autophagy, necroptosis causes greater harm to tissue homeostasis by releasing damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). However, the role of necroptosis and downstream key DAMPs in TMJOA is unknown. Here, rodent models of TMJOA were established by the unilateral anterior crossbite (UAC). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and immunohistochemistry of receptor interacting protein kinase 3 (RIPK3)/phosphorylation of mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein (pMLKL) were conducted to evaluate the occurrence of necroptosis in vivo. The therapeutic effects of blocking necroptosis were achieved by intra-articularly injecting RIPK3 or MLKL inhibitors and using RIPK3 or MLKL knockout mice. In vitro necroptosis of condylar chondrocyte was induced by combination of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), second mitochondria-derived activator of caspases (SMAC) mimetics and carbobenzoxy-valyl-alanyl-aspartyl-[O-methyl]- fluoromethylketone (z-VAD-fmk). The possible DAMPs released by necroptotic chondrocytes were screened by quantitative proteomics and blocked by specific antibody. Translucent cytosol, swollen organelles, and ruptured cell membranes, features of necroptosis, were frequently manifested in chondrocytes at the early stage of condylar cartilage degeneration in TMJOA, which was accompanied by upregulation of RIPK3/pMLKL. Inhibiting or knocking out RIPK3/MLKL significantly prevented cartilage degeneration. DAMPs released by necroptotic condylar chondrocytes, such as syndecan 4 (SDC4) and heat shock protein 90 (HSP90), were verified. Furthermore, blocking the function of SDC4 significantly attenuated the expression of TNFα in cartilage and synovium, and accordingly increased cartilage thickness and reduced synovial inflammation. Thus, the necroptotic vicious cycle of TNFα-SDC4-TNFα contributes to cartilage degeneration and synovitis, and can serve as a potential therapeutic target for treating TMJOA. © 2022 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR)., (© 2022 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).)

The optimal operation and functional stability of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) strongly depend on the properties of its microbial community. However, a knowledge gap remains regarding the seasonal dynamics of microbial community properties, especially phylogenetic group based assembly and co-occurrence patterns. Accordingly, in this study, influent and activated sludge (AS) samples were weekly collected from 2 full-scale WWTPs for one year (89 influent and 103 AS samples in total) and examined by high-throughput Illumina-MiSeq sequencing. The results suggested that the microbial community diversity and composition in the influent fluctuated substantially with season, while those in the AS had a relatively more stable pattern throughout the year. The phylogenetic group based assembly mechanisms of AS community were identified by using "Infer Community Assembly Mechanisms by Phylogenetic-bin-based null model (iCAMP)". The results showed that drift accounted for the largest proportion (52.8%), while homogeneous selection (18.2%) was the most important deterministic process. Deterministic processes dominated in 47 microbial groups (bins), which were also found (~40%) in the AS core taxa dataset. Moreover, the results suggested that Nitrospira were more susceptible to stochastic processes in winter, which may provide a possible explanation for nitrification failure in winter. Network analysis results suggested that the network structure of the AS community could be more stable in summer and autumn. In addition, there were no identical keystone taxa found in different networks (constructed from different plants, sources, and seasons), which supported the context dependency theory. The results of this study deepened our understanding of the microbial ecology in AS systems and provided a foundation for further studies on the community regulation strategy of WWTPs., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Human milk is the gold standard for nutrition of infant growth, whose nutritional value is mainly attributed to human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). HMOs, the third most abundant component of human milk after lactose and lipids, are complex sugars with unique structural diversity which are indigestible by the infant. Acting as prebiotics, multiple beneficial functions of HMO are believed to be exerted through interactions with the gut microbiota either directly or indirectly, such as supporting beneficial bacteria growth, anti-pathogenic effects, and modulation of intestinal epithelial cell response. Recent studies have highlighted that HMOs can boost infants health and reduce disease risk, revealing potential of HMOs in food additive and therapeutics. The present paper discusses recent research in respect to the impact of HMO on the infant gut microbiome, with emphasis on the molecular basis of mechanism underlying beneficial effects of HMOs.

Induction of angiogenesis has enormous potential in the treatment of ischemic diseases and the promotion of bulk tissue regeneration. However, the poor activity of angiogenic cells and proangiogenic factors after transplantation is the main problem that imposes its wide applications. Recent studies have found that the development of nanomaterials has solved this problem to some extent. Nanomaterials can be mainly classified into inorganic nanomaterials represented by metals, metal oxides and metal hydroxides, and organic nanomaterials including DNA tetrahedrons, graphene, graphene oxide, and carbon nanotubes. These nanomaterials can induce the release of angiogenic factors either directly or indirectly, thereby initiating a series of signaling pathways to induce angiogenesis. Moreover, appropriate surface modifications of nanomaterial facilitate a variety of functions, such as enhancing its biocompatibility and biostability. In clinical applications, nanomaterials can promote the proliferation and differentiation of endothelial cells or mesenchymal stem cells, thereby promoting the migration of hemangioblast cells to form new blood vessels. This review outlines the role of nanomaterials in angiogenesis and is intended to provide new insights into the clinical treatment of systemic and ischemic diseases., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Achievement of nitrite accumulation is critical for the application of advanced nitrogen removal processes. Two lab-scale sequencing batch biofilm reactors (SBBRs) and two sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were operated under intermittent aeration with different feeding patterns. The nitrite accumulation ratio was 56.6% (pulse feeding) and 68.9% (constant feeding) in SBBRs with nitritation. Nitrate accounted for 98% of the effluent nitrogen in SBRs with complete nitrification. The dominant nitrifier was Nitrosomonas in SBBRs and Nitrospira in SBRs. Four types of acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) were detected. N‑[(RS)‑3‑Hydroxybutyryl]‑l‑homoserine lactone and N‑octanoyl‑l‑homoserine lactone had a high concentration in the extracellular polymeric substance phase, and had an obvious relationship with nitrite accumulation and ammonia removal. Various microbial communities coexisted in nitrifying systems, with diverse microbial interactions. Microorganisms harboring AHLs-related genes had more interactions with each other, suggesting that nitritation could be regulated by AHLs based quorum sensing., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Numerous nanomaterials have been utilized for novel biosensors with sensitivity and selectivity in the last decades due to their intrinsic unique properties. Herein, a facile fluorescence method for nucleic acid detection was developed by employing TiO 2 nanowires (NWs) as the sensing platform. The quenching effect of TiO 2 NWs to fluorophore-labelled single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) was found to be more significant than that to fluorophore-labelled double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) or triplex DNA probes. More importantly, the whole quenching process was also fast since it just took about ten minutes to reach the equilibrium. Based on the different affinities of TiO 2 NWs to ssDNA, dsDNA and triplex DNA probes, the sequence-specific nucleic acids were detected with sensitivity and specificity. Further investigation has demonstrated that the quenching efficiency of TiO 2 NWs to long ssDNA was apparently superior than that to short ssDNA. Moreover, the fluorescence from various ssDNA probes labelled with a wide spectrum of fluorescent dyes could also be quenched by TiO 2 NWs. These inspiring results reveal that TiO 2 NWs could be an excellent universal nanoquencher used in the next-generation biosensors., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

We investigate the Auger recombination (AR) rate in CdSe/CdS core/shell nanocrystals (NCs) under different interface confinements in terms of the interface bond relaxation mechanism and Fermi's golden rule. We find that the epitaxial layer of CdS can not only depress the influence of the Coulomb interaction between electrons and holes, but can also change the wave function and quantum confinement, resulting in the reduction of the AR rate. Moreover, the AR lifetime of CdSe/CdS core/shell NCs at a fixed entire dimension is lower than that of bare CdSe because of interface confinement of the wave function. A great drop of the AR rate can be achieved by adding an alloying layer that depresses the interface effect. Our predictions are in agreement with the available evidence, suggesting that the proposed approach could provide a general method to explore the AR process in core/shell NCs., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a type of ubiquitous pollutant with the potential ability to cause endocrine disruption that would have an adverse health impact on the general population. To assess the maternal exposure to PAHs in neonates and evaluate the possible impact of PAHs on reproductive hormone levels, the concentration of PAHs and reproductive hormone levels in the umbilical cord serum of 98 mother-infant pairs in the Shengsi Islands were investigated. The median concentration of total PAHs was determined to be 164 (Inter-Quartile Range, IQR 93.6-267) ng g -1 lipid, and 68% of the PAHs were lower-molecule congeners. The highest level was found for pyrene (PYR) and naphthalene (NAP), which contributed 54.6% of all the PAHs present in the samples. The exposure to PAHs negatively affected estradiol (E2) and Anti-Mullerian hormones (AMH) and positively affected FSH in the umbilical cord serum. The result expanded the database of the human burden of PAHs and suggested that PAHs can act as a type of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemical (EDC). These results may help to understand the complex pathways involved in disorders of human reproductive health associated with prenatal exposure to PAHs., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A novel series of p38 MAP kinase inhibitors with high selectivity for the p38α isoform over the other family members including the highly homologous p38β isoform has been identified. X-ray co-crystallographic studies have revealed an unprecedented kinase binding mode in p38α for representative analogs, 5c and 9d, in which a Leu108/Met109 peptide flip occurs within the p38α hinge region. Based on these findings, a general strategy for the rational design of additional promising p38α isoform selective inhibitors by targeting this novel binding mode is proposed., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Pyrrolo[2,1-f][1,2,4]triazine based inhibitors of p38α have been prepared exploring functional group modifications at the C6 position. Incorporation of aryl and heteroaryl ketones at this position led to potent inhibitors with efficacy in in vivo models of acute and chronic inflammation., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The synthesis, structure-activity relationships (SAR) and biological evaluation of thiazole based tricyclic inhibitors of IKK2 are described. Compound 9 was determined to be orally efficacious in a murine model of rheumatoid arthritis., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The synthesis and structure-activity relationships (SAR) of p38α MAP kinase inhibitors based on a 5-amino-pyrazole scaffold are described. These studies led to the identification of compound 2j as a potent and selective inhibitor of p38α MAP kinase with excellent cellular potency toward the inhibition of TNFα production. Compound 2j was highly efficacious in vivo in inhibiting TNFα production in an acute murine model of TNFα production. X-ray co-crystallography of a 5-amino-pyrazole analog 2f bound to unphosphorylated p38α is also disclosed., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The discovery and characterization of 7k (BMS-582949), a highly selective p38α MAP kinase inhibitor that is currently in phase II clinical trials for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, is described. A key to the discovery was the rational substitution of N-cyclopropyl for N-methoxy in 1a, a previously reported clinical candidate p38α inhibitor. Unlike alkyl and other cycloalkyls, the sp(2) character of the cyclopropyl group can confer improved H-bonding characteristics to the directly substituted amide NH. Inhibitor 7k is slightly less active than 1a in the p38α enzymatic assay but displays a superior pharmacokinetic profile and, as such, was more effective in both the acute murine model of inflammation and pseudoestablished rat AA model. The binding mode of 7k with p38α was confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis.

The design and synthesis of a novel series of oxazole-, thiazole-, and imidazole-based inhibitors of IkappaB kinase (IKK) are reported. Biological activity was improved compared to the pyrazolopurine lead, and the expedient synthesis of the new tricyclic systems allowed for efficient exploration of structure-activity relationships. This, combined with an iterative rat cassette dosing strategy, was used to identify compounds with improved pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles to advance for in vivo evaluation.