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While metal nanoparticles (NPs) have demonstrated their great potential in catalysis, introducing chiral microenvironment around metal NPs to achieve efficient conversion and high enantioselectivity remains a long-standing challenge. In this work, tiny Rh NPs, modified by chiral diene ligands (Lx) bearing diverse functional groups, are incorporated into a covalent organic framework (COF) for the asymmetric 1,4-addition reactions between arylboronic acids and nitroalkenes. Though Rh NPs hosted in the COF are inactive, decorating Rh NPs with Lx creates the active Rh-Lx interface and induces high activity. Moreover, chiral microenvironment modulation around Rh NPs by altering the groups on chiral diene ligands greatly optimizes the enantioselectivity (up to 95.6 % ee). Mechanistic investigations indicate that the formation of hydrogen-bonding interaction between Lx and nitroalkenes plays critical roles in the resulting enantioselectivity. This work highlights the significance of chiral microenvironment modulation around metal NPs by chiral ligand decoration for heterogeneous asymmetric catalysis., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Objective: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness and safety of high-dose dual therapy (HDDT) using esomeprazole and amoxicillin to furazolidone-based quadruple therapy (FBQT) in treating nonresponsive patients with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection., Materials and Methods: A total of 209 patients with H. pylori infection, who had previously received ineffective treatment and visited an outpatient clinic, were randomly assigned to either the HDDT or FBQT groups. All patients underwent a 14-day treatment regimen, and the success rates of H. pylori eradication and safety of the treatment regimens were assessed 4 weeks posttreatment., Results: Following the 14-day treatment period, the intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis revealed eradication rates of 93.6% for HDDT and 86.9% for FBQT. In the per-protocol (PP) analysis, eradication rates were 94.5% for HDDT and 88.7% for FBQT. No significant difference in eradication rates was observed between the two groups. HDDT exhibited significantly lower rates of adverse reactions (9.1% in ITT and 9.2% in PP) compared with FBQT (58.6% in ITT and 59.8% in PP). Multivariate analysis identified interval time, alkaline phosphatase, and serum creatinine level as factors influencing the eradication rate. The area under the receiver operating curve of the interval time between the FBQT group and the HDDT group and the success of H. pylori eradication were 0.622 and 0.578, respectively. The optimal salvage treatment intervals were determined as 6 months for FBQT and 1 year for HDDT., Conclusion: HDDT using high-dose esomeprazole and amoxicillin demonstrated efficacy in treating H. pylori infection, with the added benefits of reduced side effects and improved medication compliance compared with FBQT. HDDT can be considered a rescue treatment option when other methods fail, with treatment intervals optimized accordingly., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Purpose: To determine the effects of anti-B cell surface marker CD20 antibody on the occurrence and progression of endometrial cancer to provide insights into clinical treatment in the future., Methods: We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis (MR) to analyze the causal relationship between EC and immune cell markers. The genome-wide association study (GWAS) data of MS4A1 single nucleotide polymorphism encoding gene of CD20 were collected, and a drug target MR analysis was performed to detect the causal relationship between anti-CD20 antibody and the risk of EC. The risk of follicular lymphoma was used as a positive control, and EC was used as the outcome., Results: EC exerted an effect on 28 immunophenotypes, predominantly on CD20. CD20 in immunoglobulin D+ CD38- B cells, memory B cells, and unsw memory B cells increased after EC onset. In addition, we detected one immunophenotype that exerted a dangerous effect on EC, i.e., CD3/TD CD4+ (mature stage of the T cell group). Simultaneously, CD20 could be used as both a risk factor and a protective factor for EC (P > 0.05). Anti-CD20 antibodies significantly reduced the risk of follicular lymphoma, including two GWAS pooled datasets. In addition, anti-CD20 antibodies exerted a protective effect on EC in two GWAS pooled datasets (P > 0.05)., Conclusion: Our study confirms the close relationship between CD20 and EC. Anti-CD20 antibodies may exert a protective effect on EC and reduce the risk of EC morbidity, providing a reference for future clinical diagnosis and treatment. However, further clinical verification of our results is warranted., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Here, we present a NAD + /NADH detection assay for evaluating NAD + , NADH, and NAD + /NADH ratio across diverse biological models, including Caenorhabditis elegans, mouse muscle tissue, mouse whole blood, and human whole blood. We describe steps for sample collection and preparation from different models as well as detection and calculation of NAD + and NADH levels. This protocol is applicable for quantifying cellular/tissue NAD + and NADH levels across different biological models., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests E.F.F. is a co-owner of Fang-S Consultation AS (organization number 931 410 717) and NO-Age AS (organization number 933 219 127); he has an MTA with Lmito Therapeutics Inc. (South Korea), a CRADA arrangement with ChromaDex (USA), and a commercialization agreement with Molecule AG/VitaDAO; and he is a consultant to MindRank AI (China), NYO3 (Norway), and AgeLab (Vitality Nordic AS, Norway). In the past three years, C.A.L. has consulted for Astellas Pharmaceuticals, Odyssey Therapeutics, Third Rock Ventures, and T-knife Therapeutics and is an inventor on patents pertaining to Kras-regulated metabolic pathways, redox control pathways in pancreatic cancer, and targeting of the GOT1-ME1 pathway as a therapeutic approach (US Patent No: 2015126580-A1, 05/07/2015; US Patent No: 20190136238, 05/09/2019; International Patent No: WO2013177426-A2, 04/23/2015)., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Developing Janus fabrics with excellent one-way sweat transport capacity is an attractive way for providing comfort sensation and protecting the health during exercise. In this work, a 3D wetting gradient Janus fabric (3DWGJF) is first proposed to address the issue of excessive sweat accumulation in women's breasts, followed by integration with a sponge pad to form a 3D wetting gradient Janus sports bra (3DWGJSB). The 3D wetting gradient enables the prepared fabric to control the horizontal migration of sweat in one-way mode (x/y directions) and then unidirectionally penetrate downward (z direction), finally keeping the water content on the inner side of 3DWGJF (skin side) at ≈0%. In addition, the prepared 3DWGJF has good water vapor transmittance rate (WVTR: 0.0409 g cm -2  h -1 ) and an excellent water evaporation rate (0.4704 g h -1 ). Due to the high adhesion of transfer prints to the fabrics and their excellent mechanical properties, the 3DWGJF is remarkably durable and capable of withstanding over 500 laundering cycles and 400 abrasion cycles. This work may inspire the design and fabrication of next-generation moisture management fabrics with an effective sweat-removal function for women's health., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Porphyra yezoensis, an important medicinal seaweed extensively cultivated and consumed in China, Japan, and South Korea, is traditionally considered a precious healthy food and food additive. Published studies showed that the polysaccharides are major bioactive macromolecules from P. yezoensis with great potential for the development of nutraceuticals and functional foods. As an important component of P. yezoensis, P. yezoensis polysaccharide (PYP) is mainly extracted by hot water extraction, ultrasonic-assisted extraction, and microwave-assisted extraction methods. Subsequently obtained by decolorization, deproteinization, removal of other small molecules, and separation on various chromatographic columns. The main structural components of PYP were (1 → 3)-linked β-D-galactose and (1 → 4)-linked 3,6-anhydro-α-L-galactose. Accumulating evidence has revealed that PYP has diverse biological activities, such as antioxidant, suppressing kidney stones, immunomodulatory, etc. This review systematically summarizes the recent preparation progress, chemical structures, bioactivities, and the underlying mechanisms of PYP. Information from this review provides insights into the further development of PYP as therapeutic agents and functional foods. Although there have been extensive studies on PYP, there are gaps in establishing quality standard, toxicological research, clinical application and other aspects. To enhance the utility of P. yezoensis, it is necessary to strengthen the research on these aspects., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

In the aquatic farming industry, understanding the factors affecting fish behavior is crucial, particularly in response to infections that compromise welfare and productivity. Swimming performance is a key life history trait critical to their ecology. This study explores the swimming behavior imbalance in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus, GIFT) post-infection with Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS), a common pathogen responsible for significant losses in aquaculture. We focused on how the microbiota-gut-brain axis influences the behavioral response of tilapia to GBS infection. Behavioral changes were quantified by measuring collision times and swimming speeds, which decreased significantly following infection. This behavioral downturn is mediated by alterations in the microbiota-gut-brain axis, evidenced by increased levels of monoamine neurotransmitters (serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine) in the brain and intestinal tissues. The study utilized pharmacological agents, the 5-HT 1A receptor agonist (8-OH-DPAT) and antagonist (WAY-100635), to investigate their efficacy in mitigating these behavioral and biochemical changes. Both agents partially restored normal behavior by adjusting neurotransmitter concentrations disrupted by GBS infection. Additionally, a notable increase in the relative abundance of Streptococcus within the gut microbiota of infected fish highlights the potential role of specific bacterial populations in influencing host behavior. This research provides novel insights into the complex interactions between pathogen-induced gut microbiota changes and Nile tilapia's behavioral outcomes, highlighting potential avenues for improving fish health management through microbiota-targeted interventions., 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 Inc. All rights reserved.)

Context.—: High-grade transformation, previously known as dedifferentiation, in salivary gland carcinoma and carcinosarcoma ex pleomorphic adenoma is a rare phenomenon. It is, however, clinically relevant and affects treatment and prognosis., Objective.—: To review the existing literature, describe the histologic and immunophenotypic features, and highlight the diagnostic criteria of high-grade transformation in various salivary gland carcinomas and carcinosarcomas; to review its effect on clinical presentation and prognosis; and to review relevant molecular characteristics and recent concepts and advances., Data Sources.—: Literature search in PubMed using key words such as "high-grade transformation," "dedifferentiation," and "carcinosarcoma" in salivary gland. Relevant articles were reviewed, and additional articles were curated from the references of these articles., Conclusions.—: High-grade transformation occurs rarely but has a significant impact on prognosis and management. By microscopy, the high-grade area is usually a distinct nodule and shows solid and nested architecture, cellular atypia, high mitotic count, and necrosis. The molecular features are not well established. Carcinosarcoma almost always arises in a pleomorphic adenoma and likely follows an adenoma-carcinoma-sarcoma pathway., Competing Interests: The authors have no relevant financial interest in the products or companies described in this article., (© 2024 College of American Pathologists.)

Background: Decentralized federated learning (DFL) may serve as a useful framework for machine learning (ML) tasks in multicentered studies, maximizing the use of clinical data without data sharing. We aim to propose the first workflow of DFL for ML tasks in multicentered studies, which can be as powerful as those using centralized data., Methods: A DFL workflow was developed with four steps: registration, local computation, model update, and inspection. A total of 598 participants with acromegaly from PUMCH, and 120 participants from XWH were enrolled. The cohort from PUMCH was further split into five centers. Nine clinical features were incorporated into ML-based models trained based on four algorithms: LR, GBDT, SVM, and DNN. The area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic curves was used to evaluate the performance of the models., Results: Models trained based on DFL workflow performed better than most models in LR (P<0.05), all models in DNN, SVM, and GBDT (P<0.05). Models trained on DFL workflow performed as powerful as models trained on centralized data in LR, DNN, and SVM (P>0.05)., Conclusions: We demonstrate that the DFL workflow without data sharing should be a more appropriate method in ML tasks in multicentered studies. And the DFL workflow should be further exploited in clinical researches in other departments and it can encourage and facilitate multicentered studies., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: While resuscitation guidelines emphasize early vasopressor administration and advanced airway management, their optimal sequence remains unclear. We sought to determine the associations between vasopressor-airway resuscitation sequence and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) outcomes in the Pragmatic Airway Resuscitation Trial (PART)., Methods: We analyzed data from the PART trial. For each patient we determined times of first vasopressor administration (epinephrine or vasopressin), and successful advanced airway insertion (laryngeal tube or endotracheal tube). We classified each case as vasopressor-first or advanced airway-first. We used Generalized Estimating Equations to determine associations between vasopressor-airway sequence and outcomes (72-hour survival, return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) on emergency department arrival, survival to hospital discharge, hospital survival with favorable neurologic status) and CPR outside of recommended parameters (chest compression fraction <0.8, chest compression rate <100 or >120 per min, or ventilation rate <8 or >12 breaths/min), adjusting for confounders., Results: Of 3,004 patients in the parent trial, we analyzed 2,404, including 1,821 vasopressor-first and 583 advanced airway-first. Median intervention times: ALS arrival-to-vasopressor 8 min (IQR 6-11) and ALS arrival-to-airway 11 min (8-15). Compared with airway-first, vasopressor-first sequence was not associated with 72-hour survival (adjusted OR 0.96; 95% CI: 0.71-1.31), ROSC (0.83; 0.66-1.06), hospital survival (1.09; 0.68-1.73), or hospital survival with favorable neurologic status (0.97; 0.53-1.78). Vasopressor-first sequence was not associated with non-compliance with recommended CPR performance parameters., Conclusions: Vasopressor-airway resuscitation sequence was not associated with OHCA outcomes or CPR quality., 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. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: The varying malignancy and lethality of different grades of prostate cancer (PCa) highlight the importance of accurate diagnosis. This study aims to evaluate the upgrading of transition zone (TZ) prostate cancer biopsies and identify factors to improve TZ biopsy accuracy., Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 217 patients who underwent laparoscopic radical prostatectomy after 12 + X cores transperineal transrectal ultrasound-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided targeted prostate biopsy from 2018 to 2021 in our center., Results: Patients with TZ lesions showed a higher incidence of International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) grade upgrading from 1 to higher grade compared to peripheral zone lesions (16.9% vs. 5.0%, p = 0.005). Multivariate analysis confirmed TZ lesions as an independent risk factor (OR: 4.594, 97.5% CI: 1.569-15.238, p = 0.008) for upgrading from 1 to higher. Additionally, the number of positive biopsy cores (OR: 0.586, 97.5% CI: 0.336-0.891, p = 0.029) and anterior TZ lesion location (OR: 10.797, 97.5% CI: 1.503-248.727, p = 0.048) were independent factors for the upgrading in TZ patients., Conclusions: This study found that PCa lesions located in the TZ, particularly the anterior TZ, have a higher risk of ISUP grade upgrading. This elevated risk arises from the insufficient distribution of biopsy cores around the TZ lesion. The findings underscore the importance of having an adequate number of biopsy cores around the lesion area to improve the accuracy of ISUP grade assessments., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Many chiral carboxylic acids with α-amino, α-hydroxyl, and α-methyl groups are concurrently present in mammals establishing unique molecular phenotypes and multiple biological functions, especially host-microbiota symbiotic interactions. Their chirality-resolved simultaneous quantification is essential to reveal the biochemical details of physiology and pathophysiology, though challenging with their low abundances in some biological matrices and difficulty in enantiomer resolution. Here, we developed a method of the chirality-resolved metabolomics with sensitivity-enhanced quantitation via probe-promotion (Met-SeqPro) for analyzing these chiral carboxylic acids. We designed and synthesized a hydrazide-based novel chiral probe, ( S )-benzoyl-proline-hydrazide ( S BPH), to convert carboxylic acids into amide diastereomers to enhance their retention and chiral resolution on common C 18 columns. Using the d 5 - S BPH-labeled enantiomers as internal standards, we then developed an optimized ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method for simultaneous quantification of 60 enantiomers of 30 chiral carboxylic acids in one run. This enantiomer-resolved method showed excellent sensitivity (LOD < 4 fmol-on-column), linearity ( R 2 > 0.992), precision (CV < 15%), accuracy (|RE| < 20%), and recovery (80-120%) in multiple biological matrices. With the method, we then quantified 60 chiral carboxylic acids in human urine, plasma, feces, and A549 cells to define their metabolomic phenotypes. This provides basic data for human phenomics and a promising tool for investigating the mammal-microbiome symbiotic interactions.

Bacterial infections are becoming a significant threat to global human health due to the growing prevalence of biofilm-related infections and the rise in antibiotic resistance. D/l-cysteine functionalized chiral gold nanoparticles (D/P-Au NPs or L/P-Au NPs) have demonstrated a potent antibacterial effect against E. coli, while the mechanism remains to be elucidated through additional research. Threonine deaminase (TD) is a crucial enzyme involved in branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) biosynthesis in E. coli and is involved in cysteine's antimicrobial effects. This study investigated the interaction between chiral Au NPs (D/P-Au NPs or L/P-Au NPs) and TD as well as its effect on enzyme activity. It demonstrates that chiral Au NPs interact with TD through hydrophobic forces, forming a ground state complex that induces changes in the secondary structure of TD and reduces enzyme activity in a concentration-dependent manner. We found that the exogenous supplementation of isoleucine and valine (2 mg/mL) significantly reduced the antibacterial activity of chiral Au NPs, especially for L/P-Au NPs. The proteomics results indicate that the expression of ilvA and ilvB was down-regulated after L/P-Au NPs treatment, which would interfere with the synthesis of BCAAs. These results demonstrate that chiral Au NPs cause cell death of E. coli partly due to inhibition of TD enzyme activity and the synthesis of branched-chain amino acids., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No conflict of interest exits in the manuscript titled “Targeting Threonine Deaminase with Chiral Au NPs: A Novel Strategy for E. coli Inhibition”., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The burgeoning online video game industry has sparked intense competition among providers to both expand their user base and retain existing players, particularly within social interaction genres. To anticipate player churn, there is an increasing reliance on machine learning (ML) models that focus on social interaction dynamics. However, the prevalent opacity of most ML algorithms poses a significant hurdle to their acceptance among domain experts, who often view them as "black boxes". Despite the availability of eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) techniques capable of elucidating model decisions, their adoption in the gaming industry remains limited. This is primarily because non-technical domain experts, such as product managers and game designers, encounter substantial challenges in deciphering the "explicit" and "implicit" features embedded within computational models. This study proposes a reliable, interpretable, and actionable solution for predicting player churn by restructuring model inputs into explicit and implicit features. It explores how establishing a connection between explicit and implicit features can assist experts in understanding the underlying implicit features. Moreover, it emphasizes the necessity for XAI techniques that not only offer implementable interventions but also pinpoint the most crucial features for those interventions. Two case studies, including expert feedback and a within-subject user study, demonstrate the efficacy of our approach.

TGF-β-SMAD signaling pathway plays an important role in the progression of various cancers. However, posttranscriptional regulation such as N 6 -methyladenosine (m 6 A) of TGF-β-SMAD signaling axis remains incompletely understood. Here, we reveal that insulin like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein 2 (IGF2BP2) is low expression as well as associated with poor prognosis in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) patients and inhibits proliferation as well as promotes metastasis of ccRCC cells. Mechanistically, IGF2BP2 systematically regulates TGF-β-SMAD signaling family, including TGF-β1/2, TGF-βR1/2 and SMAD2/3/4, through mediating their mRNA stability in an m 6 A-dependent manner. Furthermore, the functional effects of IGF2BP2 on ccRCC cells is mediated by TGF-β-SMAD signaling downstream effector SMAD4, which is identified three m 6 A sites in 5'UTR and CDS. Our study establishes IGF2BP2-TGF-β-SMAD axis as a new regulatory effector in ccRCC, providing new insights for developing novel therapeutic strategies., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

The construction of a quality control system for respiratory medicine is of great significance for improving the quality and homogenization of the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases. The national respiratory quality control work conducted by the China National Respiratory Medicine Quality Control Center was summarized., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (© 2024 The Author(s). Aging Medicine published by Beijing Hospital and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

We report a novel halogen-bond-assisted NHC-catalyzed (dynamic) kinetic resolution strategy for the synthesis of axially chiral heterobiaryls. A class of axially chiral quinolines are prepared efficiently in excellent enantioselectivities (≤98% ee) employing 3-5 mol % NHC catalyst. Mechanistic studies reveal the indispensability of 5-bromo-2-iodobenzaldehyde in this reaction, in which a pivotal halogen bonding interaction plays a crucial role in the process.

Background: Ultra-high field strength MR system has been proved to offer improved visualization of the distal intracranial vessels and branches, but its effectiveness on peripheral vasculatures was not investigated. We aim to assess the visualization of lower-extremity vessels using three-dimensional phase contrast MR angiography (3D PC-MRA) at 5T field-strength through the feet with warm water immersion (WWI)., Methods: Participants were prospectively recruited and underwent 3T, 5T 3D PC-MRA on feet with and without WWI (water temperature between 40 to 45 ℃ for a duration of 10minutes). Patients with suspected lower-extremity vessel diseases underwent CTA for lesion identification. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), subjective scoring, quantitative vessel segmentation and flow velocity were performed to assess vessel visualization before and after WWI. Friedman's test was conducted to determine statistical significance., Results: Out of thirty participants (mean age, 46.2±5.9; males, 20; lower-extremity vessel disease, 10), 900 vessel segments were available for evaluation. 5T images showed significantly higher scores of image quality and foot vessel visualization than 3T (all P <.05). WWI further improved the visualizing scores (percentage of score 3: 40.2% vs 66.2%, P =.008), SNR (44.27 vs 67.78, P <.001), total branch count (151.92 ± 29.17 vs 225.63 ± 16.76; P <.001), and the flow velocity (0.72 ± 0.03 vs 0.48 ± 0.11cm/s; P <.001)., Conclusion: 3D PC-MRA at 5T effectively visualizes foot vessels in patients with lower-extremity disease. Furthermore, WWI can significantly enhance the depiction of distal and small vessels., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Mr. Dong Wang is the chief engineer in Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co Ltd, Shanghai, China, and other authors do not have any conflict of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Advancing the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process faces significant challenges due to the intrinsic constraints of scaling relations in heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, we reported an approach of bending the "seesaw effect" to regulate the scaling relations over a tailored α-Fe metallic material (α-Fe-110s), realizing highly efficient light-driven thermal catalytic ammonia synthesis with a rate of 1260 μmol g catalyst -1  h -1 without additional heating. Specifically, the thermal catalytic activity of α-Fe-110s was significantly enhanced by the novel stepped {110} surface, exhibiting a 3.8-fold increase compared to the commercial fused-iron catalyst with promoters at 350 °C. The photo-induced hot electron transfer further accelerates the dinitrogen dissociation and hydrogenation simultaneously, effectively overcoming the limitation of scaling relation over identical sites. Consequently, the ammonia production rate of α-Fe-110s was further enhanced by 30 times at the same temperature with irradiation. This work designs an efficient and sustainable system for ammonia synthesis and provides a novel approach for regulating the scaling relations in heterogeneous catalysis., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Background: Calorie restriction has been demonstrated to be effective in treating metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). However, it has been limited by poor long-term adherence., Objective: This study aimed to compare intermittent calorie restriction (ICR) with traditional continuous calorie restriction (CCR) for the treatment of MASLD., Methods: We conducted a 12-week, parallel-arm, randomized controlled trial that included 60 adults with MASLD and abnormal glucose metabolism. The participants were randomly assigned to either the ICR group (2 successive days of fasting [∼500 kcal/day] and 5 days of recovery per week) or the CCR group. The primary outcome was liver fat content (LFC) measured by 1 H-Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The secondary and exploratory outcomes included weight, body composition, glucose, insulin, lipids and liver stiffness., Results: The mean reduction in LFC was -20.5% (95% CI: -25.0, -15.9%) in the ICR group and -15.5% (95% CI: -20.3, -10.8%) in the CCR group. Changes in LFC were not significantly different between the two groups (P = 0.15), and were homogeneous among different liver segments. Analysis of exploratory endpoints provided clues that the ICR was associated with greater reductions in fat mass and glycosylated hemoglobin. There were no significant differences in changes of weight, lean mass, insulin resistance, triglyceride and liver stiffness between the two groups. Participants showed high adherence to both the ICR and CCR schemes., Conclusions: The ICR and CCR schemes had similar effects on reducing liver fat content, suggesting that the ICR 5:2 diet can be an effective alternative for treating MASLD with high adherence. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT04283942., Clinical Trials Registration: This study is registered at Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04283942)., 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 American Society for Nutrition. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The resistance of tumor cells to apoptosis often leads to chemoresistance and treatment failure in clinic. In this study, we have developed a Cu 2+ -coordinated lignosulfonate (CLS) /doxorubicin (DOX) biological complex (referred to as LCD) with the aim of overcoming cellular resistance to apoptosis for combined lung cancer therapy. The copper complexes modified by CLS exhibit significant water solubility and excellent in vivo biocompatibility. The proportion of copper in the composite is simultaneously increased. Due to the coordination and π-π stacking effects, the self-assembled LCD exhibits nanometer-scale particle size, a narrow and homogeneous grain distribution, as well as excellent dispersion stability. Furthermore, LCD has the potential to disassemble in the presence of high levels of glutathione (GSH) and low pH, leading to effective drug release. Cu 2+ -mediated cuproptosis can lead to the down-regulation of FDX1 and DLAT protein expression by reducing mitochondrial membrane potential, resulting in non-apoptotic programmed cell death (PCD) regardless of cellular resistance to apoptosis. Moreover, the released DOX not only exhibits a preference for localizing in the cell nucleus to induce apoptosis for combined chemotherapy, but also generates a substantial amount of H 2 O 2 . This H 2 O 2 further produces ROS to induce apoptosis through Fenton reaction with Cu 2+ . LCD demonstrates significant superiority over monotherapy in inhibiting tumor growth while minimizing systemic toxicity through the combined action of cuproptosis and apoptosis. This study may provide a potential avenue for the advancement of self-delivery nanomedicine to overcome resistance to apoptosis in tumor therapy., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Synthetic lethality (SL) is a gold mine of anticancer drug targets, exposing cancer-specific dependencies of cellular survival. To complement resource-intensive experimental screening, many machine learning methods for SL prediction have emerged recently. However, a comprehensive benchmarking is lacking. This study systematically benchmarks 12 recent machine learning methods for SL prediction, assessing their performance across diverse data splitting scenarios, negative sample ratios, and negative sampling techniques, on both classification and ranking tasks. We observe that all the methods can perform significantly better by improving data quality, e.g., excluding computationally derived SLs from training and sampling negative labels based on gene expression. Among the methods, SLMGAE performs the best. Furthermore, the methods have limitations in realistic scenarios such as cold-start independent tests and context-specific SLs. These results, together with source code and datasets made freely available, provide guidance for selecting suitable methods and developing more powerful techniques for SL virtual screening., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This paper introduces a novel application of spatial-temporal graph neural networks (ST-GNNs) to predict groundwater levels. Groundwater level prediction is inherently complex, influenced by various hydrological, meteorological, and anthropogenic factors. Traditional prediction models often struggle with the nonlinearity and non-stationary characteristics of groundwater data. Our study leverages the capabilities of ST-GNNs to address these challenges in the Overbetuwe area, Netherlands. We utilize a comprehensive dataset encompassing 395 groundwater level time series and auxiliary data such as precipitation, evaporation, river stages, and pumping well data. The graph-based framework of our ST-GNN model facilitates the integration of spatial interconnectivity and temporal dynamics, capturing the complex interactions within the groundwater system. Our modified Multivariate Time Graph Neural Network model shows significant improvements over traditional methods, particularly in handling missing data and forecasting future groundwater levels with minimal bias. The model's performance is rigorously evaluated when trained and applied with both synthetic and measured data, demonstrating superior accuracy and robustness in comparison to traditional numerical models in long-term forecasting. The study's findings highlight the potential of ST-GNNs in environmental modeling, offering a significant step forward in predictive modeling of groundwater levels., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Efficient utilization of agricultural wastes and reduction of chemical fertilizer inputs are crucial for sustainable development of agriculture. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are widely used as biofertilizers to partially replace chemical fertilizers in agricultural production. The functional performance of PGPR strains is closely related to their root colonization capacity. Some organic acids from root exudates can recruit PGPR to colonize the root. In this study, agricultural organic wastes such as mushroom bran and tobacco waste materials were used to produce organic acids through the hypoxic hydrolysis process. The hydrolysis conditions were optimized to maximize the production of a mixture of complex organic acids from the hypoxic hydrolysis of these materials, employing both single-factor and orthogonal experimental methods. The diluted hydrolysates were tested for their effects on the rhizosphere colonization of the PGPR strain Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SQR9 using fluorogenic quantitative PCR in greenhouse pot experiments. The results demonstrated that hypoxic hydrolysates from tobacco waste and mushroom bran significantly enhanced the colonization of SQR9 in the maize rhizosphere. Specifically, a 2000-fold dilution of tobacco waste hydrolysate yielded the most effective result, while a 5000-fold dilution of mushroom bran hydrolysate provided the best outcome. All treatments combining these hydrolysates with SQR9 significantly increased maize stem dry weight, indicating that with appropriate treatment, such as anaerobic fermentation, these agricultural organic wastes can serve as synergistic agents of microbial fertilizers, contributing to agricultural sustainability., 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 © 2024 Xu, Wang, Wang, Tian, Yue, Li, Wang, Zhang and Zhang.)

The interplay between personality traits and impulsivity has long been a central theme in psychology and psychiatry. However, the potential association between Greed Personality Traits (GPT) and impulsivity, encompassing both trait and state impulsivity and future time perspective, remains largely unexplored. To address these issues, we employed questionnaires and an inter-temporal choice task to estimate corresponding trait/state impulsivity and collected multi-modal neuroimaging data (resting-state functional imaging: n = 430; diffusion-weighted imaging: n = 426; task-related functional imaging: n = 53) to investigate the underlying microstructural and functional substrates. Behavioral analyses revealed that GPT mediated the association between time perspective (e.g., present fatalism) and trait impulsivity (e.g., motor impulsivity). Functional imaging analyses further identified that brain activation strengths and patterns related to delay length, particularly in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, superior parietal lobule, and cerebellum, were associated with GPT. Moreover, individuals with similar levels of greed exhibited analogous spontaneous brain activity patterns, predominantly in the Default Mode Network (DMN), Fronto-Parietal Network (FPN), and Visual Network (VIS). Diffusion imaging analysis observed specific microstructural characteristics in the spinocerebellar/pontocerebellar fasciculus, internal/external capsule, and corona radiata that support the formation of GPT. Furthermore, the corresponding neural activation pattern, spontaneous neural activity pattern, and analogous functional couplings among the aforementioned brain regions mediated the relationships between time perspective and GPT and between GPT and motor impulsivity. These findings provide novel insights into the possible pathway such as time perspective → dispositional greed → impulsivity and uncover their underlying microstructural and functional substrates., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest concerning their authorship or the publication of this article., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The lack of effective and non-corrosive hole-transporting layer (HTL) materials has remained a long-standing issue that severely restricts the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). Most pH-neutral conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) exhibit inferior performance to the acid-doped HTL materials due to their low doping density. In this study, a series of pH-neutral CPEs is designed and synthesized with high doping density as HTL materials. Through an elaborate synthetic route, two sulfonate-terminating alkoxyl side chains can be introduced into thiophene, by which the electron-rich, highly soluble, and chemically stable thiophene monomer is synthesized to enable the subsequent polymerization. The CPE PTT-F exhibit a remarkable self-doping property with an enhanced doping density from 2.01 × 10 17 to 7.02 × 10 18 cm -3 . The high work function and the increased doping density of PTT-F-based HTL decrease the depletion region width from 38.4 to 8.1 nm at the anode interface, which minimized the energy loss in hole transport. Consequently, a binary OSC modified by PTT-F-based HTL achieve a high PCE of 18.8%. To the best of the knowledge, this is the highest PCE for OSC employing CPE-based HTL. The results from this work demonstrate an encouraging achievement of realizing exceptional hole collection ability in pH-neutral CPEs., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Rationale, Aims, and Objectives: The Perceptions of Palliative Care Instrument (PPCI) is a tool used to access perceptions towards palliative care in patients with advanced cancer. However, its psychometric properties have not been widely tested using modern psychometric methods. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the PPCI in patients with advanced cancer using Rasch analysis., Methods: Four hundred and forty four Participants were recruited from the Department of Medical Oncology at a tertiary care hospital in Xinxiang City, Henan Province, China, between October 2020 and February 2021. Participants completed the PPCI. Rasch analysis procedures were conducted, including assessment of unidimensionality, model-date fit, rating scale function, differential item functioning, item-person map, and person and item reliability., Results: The unidimensionality of the PPCI was confirmed, although two items (18 and 21) did not fit the Rasch model. The degree of fit of each item to its respective dimension was excellent, with Infit MNSQ and Outfit MNSQ values ranging from 0.73 to 1.33. The PPCI demonstrated high reliability, with an item reliability of 0.99 and a person reliability of 0.77., Conclusion: The PPCI is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing perceptions of palliative care in advanced cancer patients. However, to further improve the quality and applicability of the PPCI, the deletion of items 18 and 21 is recommended, as they did not fit the Rasch model., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Red clay as a special soil has a high liquid-plastic limit, water swelling and water loss shrinkage. To solve the problems red clay was modified by calcium carbonate produced in Hezhou, Guangxi. The Liquid-plastic limit, water loss shrinkage, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and consolidated drained (CD) triaxial shear test were carried out on the modified soils. The results show that when the calcium carbonate content is 20%, the plastic limit is 24.38 and the liquid limit is 38.67, which are reduced by 35.04% and 22.16%, respectively. The Montmorillonite content in the modified soil is reduced by 27.7%. The shrinkage coefficient decreased from 0.325 to 0.102. The NMR test shows that the content is 5% and 10% would lead to a decrease in the macropores and an increase in the micropores pores. The phenomenon is the opposite (15% and 20%). All contents led to the porosity increase. The calcium carbonate content of 5% was selected for triaxial shear tests to obtain the stress-strain curves. The Duncan-Zhang was used to predict the modified soil. The model has a large error in the prediction of the peak of the principal stress difference, but the overall trend is relatively consistent. Therefore, the correction coefficient related to the confining pressure was introduced. The corrected model fits the triaxial shear test well. The research provides a method for the liquid-plastic limits and shrinkage properties of modified red clay, explores the influence of calcium carbonate content on microscopic pores, and the correction of the model provides a theoretical basis for practical application., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Ethnopharmacologic Relevance: Chuanxiong Rhizoma (CX) is the dried root rhizomes of the plant Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. of the family Umbelliferae. CX is listed as a superior herb in the book "Shennong Bencao Jing". It has a pungent and warm nature and belongs to the liver, gallbladder, and pericardium meridians. CX is documented in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia from 1963 to 2020 editions. CX as a well-known traditional Chinese medicine for promoting blood circulation, regulating qi, dispelling wind, and relieving pain, has been proven to contain a variety of bioactive compounds with diverse pharmacological activities and medicinal value., Aim of the Study: The current review aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicity, quality control and pharmacokinetics of CX., Materials and Methods: The relevant information of CX was obtained from several databases including Web of Science, PubMed, ACS Publications, Google Scholar, Baidu Scholar, CNKI, Ph.D, MSc dissertations, as well as The Catalogue of Life, Flora of China database, and The Global Biodiversity Information Facility., Results: CX is widely used in traditional medicine for treating various diseases related to the cardiovascular system, liver and kidney system, nervous system, respiratory system, and more. Over 400 compounds have been identified in CX, including phthalides, alkaloids, organic acids and its esters, polyphenols, terpenes and their derivatives, polysaccharides, hydrocarbons and their derivatives, coumarins, lignans and others. The plant extracts, compounds and Chinese patent medicines possess various pharmacological activities, including cardiovascular system protection, nervous system protection, cerebrovascular system protection, anti-inflammatory, liver and lung protection, anti-diabetes, anti-osteoporosis, anti-bacterial, anti-aging, anti-oxidant, immune regulation, prevention of DNA damage, prevention of postoperative peritoneal adhesion., Conclusion: Considering its traditional and modern applications, phytochemical composition, and pharmacological properties, CX can be regarded as a traditional Chinese medicine resource for treating various diseases related to the cardiovascular, hepatorenal, nervous, and respiratory systems. Current research mainly focuses on cell and animal experiments, where some active ingredients exhibit diverse pharmacological activities. However, further studies are needed to fully understand its specific mechanisms of action. In addition, there are multiple active ingredients in CX, but current research mainly focuses on the pharmacological effects of individual components, with little research on the interactions and synergistic effects between different components. It is recommended to strengthen the research on the interactions of CX compounds and their components to reveal the overall pharmacological mechanisms. This will contribute to quality control, new drug development, commercialization, and promote its continuous development in the field of medicine., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC) is a definitive palliative procedure for functionally univentricular congenital heart disease. The study aims to compare the impact of on-pump cardioplegic arrest and on-pump beating heart cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) on the prognosis of pediatric patients undergoing extracardiac TCPC., Methods: The medical data of patients (< 18 years) who underwent extracardiac TCPC with CPB between January 2008 and December 2020 in the cardiac surgery center were retrospectively analyzed. Depending on CPB strategies, the patients were assigned to the beating-heart (BH) and cardioplegic arrest (CA) groups. Data including baseline characteristics, intra/postoperative variables, and clinical outcomes were collected for analysis with 1:1 propensity score matching and multivariable stepwise logistic regressions., Results: Fifty-seven matched patient pairs were obtained. No significant difference existed between the two groups in the in-hospital mortality (3.5% vs. 1.8%, P = 1) and one-year survival rate (100% vs. 96.4%, P = 0.484). The BH group had significantly less intraoperative platelet transfusion (10 mL vs. 150 mL, P = 0.019) and blood loss (100 mL vs. 150 mL, P = 0.033) than the CA group. The CA group had significantly higher vasoactive-inotropic scores (P < 0.05) and longer postoperative ICU stays (2.0 d vs. 3.7 d, P = 0.017). No significant difference existed between the two groups in the incidence of postoperative adverse events., Conclusion: Although both CPB strategies are safe and feasible for extracardiac TCPC, the BH technique would cause less intraoperative platelet transfusion and blood loss, and achieve faster early-term postoperative recovery., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Hyperspectral image (HSI) and multispectral image (MSI) fusion aims to generate high spectral and spatial resolution hyperspectral image (HR-HSI) by fusing high-resolution multispectral image (HR-MSI) and low-resolution hyperspectral image (LR-HSI). However, existing fusion methods encounter challenges such as unknown degradation parameters, and incomplete exploitation of the correlation between high-dimensional structures and deep image features. To overcome these issues, in this article, an unsupervised blind fusion method for LR-HSI and HR-MSI based on Tucker decomposition and spatial-spectral manifold learning (DTDNML) is proposed. We design a novel deep Tucker decomposition network that maps LR-HSI and HR-MSI into a consistent feature space, achieving reconstruction through decoders with shared parameters. To better exploit and fuse spatial-spectral features in the data, we design a core tensor fusion network (CTFN) that incorporates a spatial-spectral attention mechanism for aligning and fusing features at different scales. Furthermore, to enhance the capacity to capture global information, a Laplacian-based spatial-spectral manifold constraint is introduced in shared-decoders. Sufficient experiments have validated that this method enhances the accuracy and efficiency of hyperspectral and multispectral fusion on different remote sensing datasets. The source code is available at https://github.com/Shawn-H-Wang/DTDNML.

The study employed event-related potential (ERP), time-frequency analysis, and functional connectivity to comprehensively explore the influence of male's relative height on third-party punishment (TPP) and its underlying neural mechanism. The results found that punishment rate and transfer amount are significantly greater when the height of the third-party is lower than that of the recipient, suggesting that male's height disadvantage promotes TPP. Neural results found that the height disadvantage induced a smaller N1. The height disadvantage also evoked greater P300 amplitude, more theta power, and more alpha power. Furthermore, a significantly stronger wPLI between the rTPJ and the posterior parietal and a significantly stronger wPLI between the DLPFC and the posterior parietal were observed when third-party was at the height disadvantage. These results imply that the height disadvantage causes negative emotions and affects the fairness consideration in the early processing stage; the third-party evaluates the blame of violators and makes an appropriate punishment decision later. Our findings indicate that anger and reputation concern caused by height disadvantage promote TPP. The current study holds significance as it underscores the psychological importance of height in males, broadens the perspective on factors influencing TPP, validates the promoting effect of personal disadvantages on prosocial behavior, enriches our understanding of indirect reciprocity theory, and extends the application of the evolution theory of Napoleon complex., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declared that they had no conflict of interest with respect to thelr authorship or the publication of this article., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Mitochondrial dysfunction (MD) is increasingly recognized as a key pathophysiological contributor in Alzheimer disease (AD). As differential MD genes expression may serve as either a causative factor or a consequence in AD, and expression of these genes could be influenced by epigenetic modifications or interact with inflammatory cytokines, hence, the precise role of MD in AD remains uncertain., Methods: Meta-analysis of brain transcriptome datasets was conducted to pinpoint differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with MD in AD. We utilized three-step SMR to analyze the AD genome-wide association study summaries with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) and DNA methylation QTLs from the blood and brain tissues, respectively. Through SMR and colocalization analysis, we further explored the interactions between brain eQTLs and inflammatory cytokines., Results: Five datasets were meta-analyzed to prioritize 825 DEGs in AD from 1339 MD-related genes. Among these, seven genes from blood samples such as NDUFS8 and SPG7 and thirty-two genes from brain tissue including CLU and MAPT were identified as candidate AD-causal MD genes and regulated by methylation level. Furthermore, we revealed 13 MD gene expression-inflammatory pathway pairs involving LDLR, ACE and PTPMT1 along with interleukin-17C, interleukin-18 and hepatocyte growth factor., Conclusions: This study highlighted that the AD-causal MD genes could be regulated by epigenetic changes and interact with inflammatory cytokines, providing evidence for AD prevention and intervention., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Patients presenting with drug-resistant epilepsy are eligible for surgery aiming to remove the regions involved in the production of seizure activities, the so-called epileptogenic zone network (EZN). Thus the accurate estimation of the EZN is crucial. Data-driven, personalized virtual brain models derived from patient-specific anatomical and functional data are used in Virtual Epileptic Patient (VEP) to estimate the EZN via optimization methods from Bayesian inference. The Bayesian inference approach used in previous VEP integrates priors, based on the features of stereotactic-electroencephalography (SEEG) seizures' recordings. Here, we propose new priors, based on quantitative 23 Na-MRI. The 23 Na-MRI data were acquired at 7T and provided several features characterizing the sodium signal decay. The hypothesis is that the sodium features are biomarkers of neuronal excitability related to the EZN and will add additional information to VEP estimation. In this paper, we first proposed the mapping from 23 Na-MRI features to predict the EZN via a machine learning approach. Then, we exploited these predictions as priors in the VEP pipeline. The statistical results demonstrated that compared with the results from current VEP, the result from VEP based on 23 Na-MRI prior has better balanced accuracy, and the similar weighted harmonic mean of the precision and recall., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (© 2024 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.)

Third-party punishment (TPP) plays an irreplaceable role in maintaining social fairness. Punishment power is a significant area of study within economic games. However, the impact of whether or not the second-party possesses punishment power on TPP remains unexplored. The present study utilizes the high temporal resolution of EEG and time-frequency analysis, intra-barin functional connectivity analysis, inter-brain synchronization (IBS) analysis, and granger causality analysis(GCA) to comprehensively explore the neural mechanism of TPP from the perspective of third-party individual's decision-making and IBS in the real-time social interaction. Time-frequency results found that, the absence of the punishment power activated more theta-band and alpha-band power compare to when second-party has punishment power. When second-party has no punishment power, functional connection results observed stronger functional connectivity in theta band for medium unfair offers between rTPJ and PFC. Dual-brain analysis revealed that when the second-party has no punishment power, there is a significantly higher IBS in the alpha band between the frontal and frontal-central lobes of the second-party and the parietal and parietal occipital lobes of the third-party. GCA results further showed that the direction of IBS from third-party to second-party was significantly stronger than from second-party to third-party. This study demonstrates that the absence of the second-party's punishment power promote TPP, and similar cognitive process of thinking on how to maintain social fairness enhances IBS. The current study emphasizes the influence of punishment power on TPP, broadens the research perspective and contributes crucial insights into maintain social fairness., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No conflict of interest for all authors for publication exits on the submission of this manuscript. I would like to declare on behalf of my co-authors that the work described was original research that has not been published previously, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part. All the listed authors have approved the manuscript that is enclosed., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background and Objectives: Neonatal cardiac surgery requires careful consideration of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) priming fluid composition due to small blood volume and immature physiology. This study investigated the impact of allogeneic stored red blood cells (RBCs) processed using an autotransfusion system in CPB priming fluid for neonates., Materials and Methods: We compared perioperative parameters, inflammatory mediators, coagulation indicators, vasoactive-inotropic score (VIS) and clinical outcomes between neonates receiving unwashed (n = 56) and washed (n = 45) RBCs in CPB priming fluid. Regression models were used to assess the independent association between RBC washing and patient outcomes., Results: The autotransfusion system improved stored RBC quality. The washed group showed higher peak haematocrit (p < 0.01) and haemoglobin levels (p = 0.04) during CPB, an increased oxygen delivery index during rewarming (p < 0.05) and lower postoperative lactate levels and VIS (p < 0.05). Inflammatory (IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10) and coagulation parameters (D-dimer, fibrinogen and fibrin degradation product) fluctuated compared with baseline but did not significantly differ between groups. The washed group had a lower incidence of hyperlactacidaemia and delayed sternal closure at CPB weaning., Conclusions: Adding washed allogeneic stored RBCs to neonatal CPB priming fluid reduced postoperative lactate elevation and VIS without early improvement in the inflammatory and coagulation systems., (© 2024 International Society of Blood Transfusion.)

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI), characterized by high incidence and mortality rates, poses a significant public health threat. Reperfusion therapy, though the preferred treatment for AMI, often exacerbates cardiac damage, leading to myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (MI/RI). Consequently, the development of strategies to reduce MI/RI is an urgent priority in cardiovascular therapy. Chinese medicine, recognized for its multi-component, multi-pathway, and multi-target capabilities, provides a novel approach for alleviating MI/RI. A key area of interest is the nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) pathway. This pathway is instrumental in regulating inflammatory responses, oxidative stress, apoptosis, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and ferroptosis in MI/RI. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway's structure and its influence on MI/RI. Additionally, it reviews the latest research on leveraging Chinese medicine to modulate the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway in MI/RI treatment., (© 2024. The Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: Currently, the most commonly used methods for linkage analysis of pre-implantation genetic testing for monogenic disorders (PGT-M) are next generation sequencing (NGS) and SNP array. We aim to investigate whether the application efficacy of Asian screening array (ASA) in PGT-M preclinical workup for the Chinese population is superior to NGS based single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panels., Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis by reviewing 294 couples from a single center over the past 4 years and compared the detection results between NGS-based SNP panels and ASA. Using the numbers of informative SNPs upstream and downstream flanking of variants, we assessed the detection efficiency of both methods in monogenic diseases, chromosomal microdeletion syndrome and males with de novo variants, among other scenarios., Results: Results indicate that ASA offers a greater number of informative SNPs compared with NGS-based SNP panels. Additionally, data analysis for ASA is generally more straightforward and may require less computational resources. While ASA can address most PGT-M challenges, we have also identified certain genes in previous tests that are not suitable for PGT-M using ASA., Conclusion: The application of ASA in PGT-M preclinical workup for Chinese populations has good practical value as it can perform linkage analysis for most genetic variants. However, for certain variants, NGS or other testing methods, such as mutated allele revealed by sequencing with aneuploidy and linkage analysis (MARSALA), may still be necessary for completion., (© 2024 The Author(s). Prenatal Diagnosis published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: It is not clear how chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment and self-care ability affect the quality of life of women with breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment, self-care ability, and quality of life in breast cancer patients, and test whether self-care ability plays a mediating role in the association between cognitive impairment and quality of life., Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study, conducted in China in 2022. Self-reported scales were used to assess cognitive function, self-care ability, and quality of life. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, spearman correlation analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analyses, the SPSS Process program was used to explore the mediating effect of self-care ability., Results: A total of 218 participants were investigated, and approximately 79.3% of patients experienced mild chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment, the mean quality of life score was 59.96 ± 14.15, and the mean self-care ability score was 107.4 ± 24.09. Significant correlations among cognitive impairment, self-care ability, and quality of life were observed (P < .05). Additionally, self-care ability played a partial mediating role between cognitive impairment and quality of life (P < .05), accounting for 24.3% and 22.3%, respectively., Conclusions: Chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment and self-care ability are factors affecting the quality of life of breast cancer survivors. Self-care ability mediates the relationship between cognitive impairment and quality of life. Enhancing patients' self-care ability can improve the quality of life of patients with cognitive impairment., Implications for Nursing Practice: In the future, oncology nurses should not only pay attention to the severity of cognitive impairment, but also assess the level of patients' self-care ability, provide relevant medical and healthcare guidance, train self-management behavior and strengthen self-care ability by integrating multidisciplinary forces to improve the quality of life of breast cancer patients 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 Inc. All rights reserved.)

The shuttling and sluggish conversion kinetics of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) lead to poor cycling performance and low energy efficiency in lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). In this work, a hierarchically structured nanocomposite, synthesized through a surfactant-directed hydrothermal growth following dopamine-protected pyrolysis, serves as a bidirectional catalyst for LSBs. This nanocomposite comprises N-doped reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets anchored with uniformly distributed TiO 2- x nanoparticles via interfacial N-Ti and C-Ti bonding, resulting in the formation of abundant 2D/0D Schottky heterojunctions (rGO/TiO 2- x ). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and in situ Raman characterizations demonstrate that rGO/TiO 2- x effectively inhibits the shuttling of LiPSs with enhanced redox kinetics, achieving high utilization of the sulfur cathode and improving the overall reversibility. A high areal capacity is attained at a high sulfur loading and a low electrolyte/sulfur ratio. The initial specific capacity reaches 1010 mA h g -1 at a current density of 0.2C (1C = 1675 mA g -1 ), and a retention of 86.4 % is attained over 100 cycles. A light-emitting diode (LED) screen using two LSBs with rGO/TiO 2- x demonstrates their high potential for practical applications., 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 Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Head and neck (HN) gross tumor volume (GTV) auto-segmentation is challenging due to the morphological complexity and low image contrast of targets. Multi-modality images, including computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET), are used in the routine clinic to assist radiation oncologists for accurate GTV delineation. However, the availability of PET imaging may not always be guaranteed., Purpose: To develop a deep learning segmentation framework for automated GTV delineation of HN cancers using a combination of PET/CT images, while addressing the challenge of missing PET data., Methods: Two datasets were included for this study: Dataset I: 524 (training) and 359 (testing) oropharyngeal cancer patients from different institutions with their PET/CT pairs provided by the HECKTOR Challenge; Dataset II: 90 HN patients(testing) from a local institution with their planning CT, PET/CT pairs. To handle potentially missing PET images, a model training strategy named the "Blank Channel" method was implemented. To simulate the absence of a PET image, a blank array with the same dimensions as the CT image was generated to meet the dual-channel input requirement of the deep learning model. During the model training process, the model was randomly presented with either a real PET/CT pair or a blank/CT pair. This allowed the model to learn the relationship between the CT image and the corresponding GTV delineation based on available modalities. As a result, our model had the ability to handle flexible inputs during prediction, making it suitable for cases where PET images are missing. To evaluate the performance of our proposed model, we trained it using training patients from Dataset I and tested it with Dataset II. We compared our model (Model 1) with two other models which were trained for specific modality segmentations: Model 2 trained with only CT images, and Model 3 trained with real PET/CT pairs. The performance of the models was evaluated using quantitative metrics, including Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), mean surface distance (MSD), and 95% Hausdorff Distance (HD95). In addition, we evaluated our Model 1 and Model 3 using the 359 test cases in Dataset I., Results: Our proposed model(Model 1) achieved promising results for GTV auto-segmentation using PET/CT images, with the flexibility of missing PET images. Specifically, when assessed with only CT images in Dataset II, Model 1 achieved DSC of 0.56 ± 0.16, MSD of 3.4 ± 2.1 mm, and HD95 of 13.9 ± 7.6 mm. When the PET images were included, the performance of our model was improved to DSC of 0.62 ± 0.14, MSD of 2.8 ± 1.7 mm, and HD95 of 10.5 ± 6.5 mm. These results are comparable to those achieved by Model 2 and Model 3, illustrating Model 1's effectiveness in utilizing flexible input modalities. Further analysis using the test dataset from Dataset I showed that Model 1 achieved an average DSC of 0.77, surpassing the overall average DSC of 0.72 among all participants in the HECKTOR Challenge., Conclusions: We successfully refined a multi-modal segmentation tool for accurate GTV delineation for HN cancer. Our method addressed the issue of missing PET images by allowing flexible data input, thereby providing a practical solution for clinical settings where access to PET imaging may be limited., (© 2024 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.)

Background: Self-efficacy is a key concept in various behavioral theories. Refusal self-efficacy is important in understanding issues related to psychoactive substance use. To facilitate related research, this study translated and validated the Chinese version of the 14-item Psychoactive Substance Refusal Self-efficacy Questionnaire (PSRSEQ) among adolescents. There is a debate about whether such a refusal self-efficacy scale should be unidimensional or multidimensional., Methods: A survey was conducted among 601 adolescent case-clients of social workers in Hong Kong from July 2021 to June 2022. Various psychometric properties were examined., Results: The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the original 3-factor structure of the PSRSEQ (emotional relief, opportunistic, and social facilitation refusal self-efficacy), which showed satisfactory psychometric properties (internal consistency, convergent validity in terms of significant negative correlations with the intention of psychoactive substance use in the next year and psychoactive substance use behavior in the past six months, and the absence of floor effect) but ceiling effect was obvious. Notably, unacceptable discriminant validity of one subscale and strong correlations among the three subscales were observed. In another set of analyses using two split-half subsamples, the exploratory factor analysis identified a 1-factor 14-item structure, which was confirmed by CFA and showed satisfactory psychometric properties., Conclusions: The 1-factor PSRSEQ, instead of the one having a 3-factor structure, was preferred and recommended to assess psychoactive substance refusal self-efficacy among Chinese adolescents. It is warranted to validate the scale in other adolescent and age groups in future studies., 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. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Probiotics are increasingly recognized for their capacity to combat pathogenic bacteria. In this study, we isolated a strain of Ligilactobacillus salivarius XP132 from the gut microbiota of healthy chickens. This strain exhibited resistance to low pH and bile salts, auto-aggregation capabilities, and the ability to co-aggregate with pathogenic Salmonella. The in vitro antibacterial activity of Ligilactobacillus salivarius XP132 was tested using an Oxford cup antibacterial test, and the results showed that Ligilactobacillus salivarius XP132 exhibited broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, with especially strong antibacterial activity against Salmonella. In animal experiments with white feather broilers and specific-pathogens-free (SPF) chickens, we orally administered 1 × 10 9 CFU XP132 live bacteria per chicken per day, and detected the content of Salmonella in the liver, spleen, intestinal contents, and eggs of the chickens by RT-qPCR. Oral administration of Lactobacillus salivarius XP132 group significantly reduced the levels of Salmonella in chicken liver, spleen, intestinal contents and eggs, and the oral administration of Ligilactobacillus salivarius XP132 significantly inhibited the horizontal and vertical transmission of Salmonella in SPF chickens and white-feathered broilers. After oral administration of XP132, the production of chicken serum anti-infective cytokine IFN-γ was also significantly up-regulated, thereby enhancing the host's ability to resist infection. In addition, the production of various serum inflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α, was down-regulated, leading to significant amelioration of the inflammatory response induced by S. Pullorum in chickens. These findings suggest that Ligilactobacillus salivarius XP132 possesses potent antibacterial and immunomodulatory properties that effectively prevent both horizontal and vertical transmission of Salmonella Pullorum, highlighting its potential as a valuable tool for the prevention and control of Salmonella disease., Competing Interests: DISCLOSURES The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Iron deficiency (ID) is linked to an increased need for perioperative red blood cell (RBC) transfusion in cardiac surgery. Traditional markers used to assess ID are often influenced by inflammation, whereas soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) is less affected by inflammation. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between sTfR levels and the need for high-volume RBC transfusion in pediatric cardiac surgery patients., Methods: From August 2021 to July 2022, 236 low-weight infants (≤10 kg) who underwent cardiac surgery were included in this study. Preoperative sTfR levels and the volume of RBCs perioperatively transfused were recorded. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and multivariable logistic model were used to explore the association between sTfR levels and the need for a high-volume of RBC transfusion in this study., Results: In our study, 29 (12.3%) patients received more than 2 units during the perioperative period. sTfR level was the most accurate marker for predicting the need for RBC transfusion [area under the curve (AUC) =0.643; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.531-0.756]. Moreover, in both the continuous and categorical variable-adjusted models, a high sTfR level was associated with a greater need for RBC transfusion (P=0.006; P<0.001)., Conclusions: RBC transfusion is common for low-weight infants undergoing cardiac surgery. Furthermore, a high preoperative sTfR level is associated with the need for a high-volume perioperative RBC transfusion., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://tp.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/tp-24-132/coif). All authors report that this work was supported by the National High-Level Hospital Clinical Research Funding (No. 2022-GSP-GG-22). The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare., (2024 AME Publishing Company. All rights reserved.)

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary Allium mongolicum Regel powder (AMRP) supplementation on the growth performance, meat quality, antioxidant capacity and muscle fibre characteristics of fattening Angus calves. Growth performance data and longissimus thoracis (LT) samples were collected from four groups of fattening Angus, which were fed either a basal diet (CON) or a basal diet supplemented with an AMRP dose of 10 (LAMR), 15 (MAMR), or 20 g/animal/day AMRP (HAMR) for 120 days before slaughter. AMRP addition to the feed improved growth performance and meat quality and altered muscle fibre type. Some responses to AMRP supplementation were dose dependent, whereas others were not. Together, the results of this study demonstrated that dietary supplementation with 10 g/animal/day AMRP was the optimal dose in terms of fattening calf growth performance, while 20 g/animal/day AMRP supplementation was the optimal dose in terms of meat quality., 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., (Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) triggers a strong inflammatory response in cardiovascular surgery patients during the perioperative period. This article mainly focuses on the perioperative application of novel inflammatory biomarkers in cardiovascular surgeries involving CPB., Methods: Patients were divided into a CPB group and a non-CPB group according to whether they underwent CPB during cardiovascular surgery. Novel inflammatory biomarkers and clinical results were recorded. The neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), platelet × neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (SII), and monocyte × platelet × neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (PIV) were calculated. The primary outcomes were perioperative prognosis between the CPB and non-CPB groups. The secondary outcomes included perioperative alterations of novel inflammatory biomarkers in the CPB group and predictive values of novel inflammatory biomarkers for postoperative infection and acute kidney injury., Results: A total of 332 patients were initially included in the study. Before propensity score matching (PSM), there were 96 patients in the CPB group and 236 patients in the non-CPB group. After PSM, both groups included 58 patients each. Compared with the non-CPB group, the CPB group had a higher proportion of intraoperative transfusion of blood products (63.79% vs. 6.90%, P  < 0.001), specifically for red blood cells (58.62% vs. 3.45%, P  < 0.001) and plasma (41.38% vs. 1.72, P  < 0.001), exhibited a higher drainage fluid volume within 24 h [380 (200-550) ml vs. 200 (24-330) ml, P  = 0.002], and required longer durations of mechanical ventilation [14.3 (6.6-21.3) h vs. 5.75 (4.08-10.1) h, P  < 0.001] and ICU stay [48.78 (44.92-89.38) h vs. 27.16 (21.67-46.25) h, P  < 0.001]. After surgery, NLR [14.00 (9.93-23.08) vs. 11.55 (7.38-17.38), P  = 0.043] was higher in the CPB group, while the PIV, PLR, and SII in the CPB group were lower than those in the non-CPB group on the first day after surgery., Conclusions: Cardiovascular surgeries involving CPB exhibit a poorer prognosis compared to non-CPB procedures. Novel inflammatory biomarkers, including PLR, PIV, and SII, may offer valuable insights into the degree of postoperative inflammation, with NLR emerging as a potentially reliable prognostic indicator., Competing Interests: Y-hG was employed by the Security Department of the Beijing Armed Police Corps. The remaining 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., (© 2024 Zhou, Wang, Li, Ma, Gu, Sheng, Ma and Zhu.)

Background: Cervical and upper thoracic esophageal cancer (ESCA) presents treatment challenges due to limited clinical evidence. This multi-center study (ChC&UES) explores radical radio(chemo)therapy efficacy and safety, especially focusing on radiation dose., Method: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data from 1,422 cases across 8 medical centers. According to the radiation dose for primary gross tumor, patients were divided into standard dose radiotherapy (SD, 50-55 Gy) or high dose (HD, > 55 Gy) radiotherapy. HD was further subdivided into conventional- high-dose group (HD-conventional, 55-63 Gy) and ultra-high-dose group (HD-ultra, ≥ 63 Gy). Primary outcome was Overall Survival (OS)., Results: The median OS was 33.0 months (95% CI: 29.401-36.521) in the whole cohort. Compared with SD, HD shown significant improved survival in cervical ESCA in Kaplan-Meier (P = 0.029) and cox multivariate regression analysis (P = 0.024) while shown comparable survival in upper thoracic ESCA (P = 0.735). No significant difference existed between HD-conventional and HD-ultra in cervical (P = 0.976) and upper thoracic (P = 0.610) ESCA. Incidences of radiation esophagitis and pneumonia from HD were comparable to SD (P = 0.097, 0.240), while myosuppression risk was higher(P = 0.039). The Bonferroni method revealed that, for both cervical and upper thoracic ESCA, HD-ultra enhance the objective response rate (ORR) compared to SD (P < 0.05)., Conclusion: HD radiotherapy benefits cervical but not upper thoracic ESCA, while increasing bone marrow suppression risk. Further dose escalating (≥ 63 Gy) doesn't improve survival but enhances ORR., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The molecular and cellular organization of the primate cerebellum remains poorly characterized. We obtained single-cell spatial transcriptomic atlases of macaque, marmoset, and mouse cerebella and identified primate-specific cell subtypes, including Purkinje cells and molecular-layer interneurons, that show different expression of the glutamate ionotropic receptor Delta type subunit 2 ( GRID2 ) gene. Distinct gene expression profiles were found in anterior, posterior, and vestibular regions in all species, whereas region-selective gene expression was predominantly observed in the granular layer of primates and in the Purkinje layer of mice. Gene expression gradients in the cerebellar cortex matched well with functional connectivity gradients revealed with awake functional magnetic resonance imaging, with more lobule-specific differences between primates and mice than between two primate species. These comprehensive atlases and comparative analyses provide the basis for understanding cerebellar evolution and function.

How to effectively plug the multi-scale fractured water channeling has always been the key to achieving efficient water flooding of fractured low-permeability oil reservoirs. In this paper, a new type of supramolecular-polymer composite gel is developed, which is suitable for plugging multi-scale fractured water channeling. The supramolecular-polymer composite gel is composed of a polymer (such as polyacrylamide), cross-linking agent (such as polyethyleneimine), supramolecular gel factor (such as cyclodextrin) and polarity regulator (such as ethyl alcohol). The mass fraction of polyacrylamide, polyethyleneimine, cyclodextrin and ethyl alcohol are 0.15%, 0.2%, 1% and 0.2%, respectively. At the initial state, the viscosity of the composite gelant system is less than 20 mPa·s. It has good injection performance in micro-scale fractures and can enter the deep part of a fractured reservoir. At 40 °C, the composite gelant system can form a gel with a double network structure after gelation. One of the networks is formed by the covalent interaction between polyacrylamide and polyethyleneimine, the other network is formed by the self-assembly of cyclodextrins under the action of the ethyl alcohol. The comprehensive performance of the composite gel is greatly improved. The strength of the composite gel is >5 × 10 4 mPa·s, and it has good plugging strength in large-scale fractures. The composite gel can be used as a conformance control agent for fractured low-permeability oilfields.

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) provide positioning, velocity, and time services for civilian applications. A critical step in the positioning process is the acquisition of visible satellites in the sky. Modern GNSS systems, such as Galileo-developed and maintained by the European Union-utilize a new modulation technique known as Binary Offset Carrier (BOC). However, BOC signals introduce multiple side-peaks in their autocorrelation function, which can lead to significant errors during the acquisition process. In this paper, we propose a novel acquisition method based on higher-order cumulants that effectively eliminates these side-peaks. This method is capable of simultaneously acquiring both conventional ranging signals, such as GPS C/A code, and BOC-modulated signals. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through the acquisition of simulated signals, with a comparison to traditional methods. Additionally, we apply the proposed method to real satellite signals to further validate its performance. Our results show that the proposed method successfully suppresses side-peaks, improves acquisition accuracy in weak signal environments, and demonstrates potential for indoor GNSS applications. The study concludes that while the method may increase computational load, its performance in challenging conditions makes it a promising approach for future GNSS receiver designs.