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The study on the mechanical response of deep rock under hydromechanical couplings condition can guide the safe excavation and stability evaluation of deep tunnel engineering. The effects of monotonic loading and cyclic loading on the mechanical properties of granite under 5 MPa pore water pressure and 10 MPa confining pressure were studied by laboratory tests. Before the peak stress, the permeability under monotonic loading was significantly higher than that under cyclic loading, and the permeability under cyclic loading increased sharply after the peak stress. There were two active periods of the acoustic emission energy before peak stress under monotonic loading, but it was always in relative quiet period under cyclic loading before peak stress. Based on the energy theory, the energy evolution of granite was discussed. The dissipation energy can better reflect the effect of loading mode on the energy evolution.

Marine microbial enzymes including amylases are important in different industrial production due to their properties and applications. This study was focused on the screening of marine-derived fungi for amylase activities. First, we isolated a number of fungi from the sediments of the South China Sea. By the method of dish screening (in vitro), we subsequently obtained a series of amylase-producing fungal strains. The cell-lysate activities of amylases produced by marine fungi toward starch hydrolysis were achieved with the dinitrosalyicylic acid (DNS) method. In addition, the effect of pH and temperature on amylase activities, including thermal and pH stability were discussed. Results showed that out of the 57 isolates with amylase-producing activities, fungi Aspergillus flavus 9261 was found to produce amylase with the best activity of 10.7482 U/mg (wet mycelia). The amylase of Aspergillus flavus 9261 exhibited remarkable thermostability and pH stability with no activity loss after incubation at 50 °C and pH 5.0 for 1 h, respectively. The results provide advances in discovering enzymes from marine-derived fungi and their biotechnology relevance.

Parents of children with complicated congenital heart disease (CHD) have different needs after surgery. Little literature reports the impact factors for psychological needs of parents of children with complicated CHD.To investigate the status quo of the needs of parents of children after surgery for complex CHD, and analyze the influencing factors, in order to provide a theoretical basis for formulating corresponding nursing countermeasures.A modified Chinese version of the Critical Care Family Needs Inventory (M-CCFNI) was used to select 200 parents of children with complex CHD after surgery within 72 h after admission to the intensive care unit in our hospital to conduct an online questionnaire survey. The aim was to understand the needs of parents in relation to the following five aspects: The support from medical staff, comfort of the parents themselves, the acquisition of information, their closeness to the children, and assurance of the child's condition.Parents of children with complex CHD had a higher degree of demand, especially in terms of condition assurance, acquisition of information, and closeness to the children. The age, education level, and residence of the parents were related to the five dimensions of the needs of parents of children with complex CHD who had undergone surgery.In practice, nurses should formulate corresponding nursing strategies based on the different cultural and social backgrounds of parents of children after complex CHD surgery to meet their different needs, and improve satisfaction. These findings provide a theoretical basis for constructing a family participatory nursing model for children in the intensive care unit in the future.

The quality of the girth welds on pipelines is a critical point regarding the safe operation. Non-contact pipeline magnetic detection (NPMD) is a non-destructive detection technology based on the metal magnetic memory (MMM) method. However, present studies mostly focus on the qualitative analysis of girth welds instead of accurate quantitative analysis of the stress status. Here, many hydraulic tests in sealed pipelines are performed to investigate the magnetic signal under different internal pressures and detection heights. A numerical model of magnetic signal is established and verified by the experimental results. The results show the characteristics of the signal that the y component has sinusoidal fluctuations when the x and z component reach the extreme values. A new parameter K v s is proposed to comprehensively reflect the stress status of the girth welds. It is founded that the residual strength ratio (RSR) reduces from 0.97 to 0.83 when the K vs max increases from 7500 to 13500 nT/m The magnetic signals decay exponentially in the second order when the detection height varies within 0.1–1.0 m. This study provides a theoretical and experimental basis for identifying the stress status of the girth welds on pipelines.

Host adaptability and insecticide resistance of insects are closely related to detoxification metabolism-related proteins. In this study, the distribution and expression of glutathione s-transferase (GST) in Agrilus zanthoxylumi Hou (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) were studied. Based on the transcriptome data of A. zanthoxylumi, five GST genes were screened and cloned. The transcription levels of the five GST genes in male and female adult head, thorax, abdomen, legs and wings were determined by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in order to provide a theoretical basis for the functional study of the gene. The results showed that all five GST genes had highly conserved N-terminal domain or C-terminal domain, belonging to two subfamilies of Delta or Sigma. The phylogenetic tree results showed that the evolutionary relationship of GST genes between A. zanthoxylumi, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), and Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) was the closest; RT-qPCR results showed that the five GST genes were differentially expressed in different tissues and sexes, and its expression level in each tissue of the male was higher than that of the female as a whole, especially in the head. The results of this study can provide basic data for analyzing the mechanism of detoxification resistance of A. zanthoxylumi and provide reference for its biological control and resistance research.

Background: Glioma patients often experience unfavorable outcomes and elevated mortality rates. Our study established a prognostic signature utilizing cuproptosis-associated long non-coding RNAs (CRLs) and identified novel prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for glioma.Methods: The expression profiles and related data of glioma patients were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas, an accessible online database. We then constructed a prognostic signature using CRLs and evaluated the prognosis of glioma patients by means of Kaplan-Meier survival curves and receiver operating characteristic curves. A nomogram based on clinical features was employed to predict the individual survival probability of glioma patients. Functional enrichment analysis was conducted to identify crucial CRL-related enriched biological pathways. The role of LEF1-AS1 in glioma was validated in two glioma cell lines (T98 and U251).Results: We developed and validated a prognostic model for glioma with 9 CRLs. Patients with low-risk had a considerably longer overall survival (OS). The prognostic CRL signature may serve independently as an indicator of prognosis for glioma patients. In addition, functional enrichment analysis revealed significant enrichment of multiple immunological pathways. Notable differences were observed between the two risk groups in terms of immune cell infiltration, function, and immune checkpoints. We further identified four drugs based on their different IC50 values from the two risk groups. Subsequently, we discovered two molecular subtypes of glioma (cluster one and cluster two), with the cluster one subtype exhibiting a remarkably longer OS compared to the cluster two subtype. Finally, we observed that inhibition of LEF1-AS1 curbed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of glioma cells.Conclusion: The CRL signatures were confirmed as a reliable prognostic and therapy response indicator for glioma patients. Inhibition of LEF1-AS1 effectively suppressed the growth, migration, and invasion of gliomas; therefore, LEF1-AS1 presents itself as a promising prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target for glioma.

Purpose:Targeting CD79B using antibody–drug conjugates (ADC) is an effective therapeutic strategy in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL). We investigated DCDS0780A, an anti-CD79B ADC with THIOMAB technology (TDC) that consistently conjugates two anti-neoplastic molecules per antibody, in contrast with ADCs with heterogeneous loads.Patients and Methods:This phase 1 study enrolled 60 patients with histologically confirmed B-NHL that had relapsed/failed to respond following ≥1 prior treatment regimens; 41 (68%) had diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Fifty-one patients received DCDS0780A monotherapy once every 3 weeks (0.3–4.8 mg/kg); 9 received combination therapy (3.6–4.8 mg/kg) with rituximab.Results:Fifty-four (90%) patients experienced adverse events related to study drug, the most common of which were blurred vision, fatigue, corneal deposits, neutropenia, nausea, and peripheral neuropathy. 4.8 mg/kg was the highest dose tested and the recommended phase II dose. The pharmacokinetic profile was linear at doses ≥1.2 mg/kg. Response rate in all-treated patients (N = 60) was 47% (n = 28), including 17 complete responses (28%) and 11 partial responses (18%). The median duration of response (15.2 months) was the same for all responders (n = 28) and patients with DLBCL (n = 20).Conclusions:DCDS0780A as the TDC format for CD79B was tested at higher doses than its ADC counterpart investigated earlier, leading to deep responses. However, dose intensity was limited by ocular toxicities seen at the higher doses indicating that the TDC format was unable, in the current study, to expand the therapeutic index for the CD79B target. The encouraging antitumor activity advocates continuation of investigations into novel ADC technologies.

Supplementary Figure from Anti-CD79B Antibody–Drug Conjugate DCDS0780A in Patients with B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: Phase 1 Dose-Escalation Study

Supplementary Data from Anti-CD79B Antibody–Drug Conjugate DCDS0780A in Patients with B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: Phase 1 Dose-Escalation Study

Over 5,000 exoplanets have been identified and thousands of candidates are to be confirmed. What are the differences between planetary systems in different Galactic environments, and how do they evolve with time? To address these questions, we conduct a research project, dubbed Planets Across Space and Time (PAST). Here we present some first results of PAST series. We revisit the kinematic method for classification of Galactic components and extend the applicable range from ∼ 100 pc to ∼ 1, 500 pc from the sun in order to cover most known planet hosts. Furthermore, we revisit the Age-Velocity dispersion Relation (AVR), which allows us to derive kinematic age with a typical uncertainty of 10-20% for an ensemble of stars. Applying the above revised methods, we present catalogs of kinematic properties as well as other basic stellar parameters for 2174 host stars of 2872 planets and 35,835 Kepler stars. Using the above kinematic catalogs, we perform a systematical investigation into the planetary radius valley morphology in the Galactic context, i.e., thin/thick galactic disks, stellar age and metallicity abundance ([Fe/H] and [α/Fe])., {"references":["Chen et al. 2022, AJ, 163, 249"]}

RGB-D images can be used to build 3D models with high precision and efficiency. This paper introduces the method and principle of 3D modeling and the 3D reconstruction process of RGB-D images and analyzes KinectFusion and BundleFusion methods. Based on BundleFusion, this paper constructs a set of 3D reconstruction methods for stroke patients’ food and carries out 3D reconstruction experiments on watermelon, banana, orange, corn, and dish cold bitter gourd. With the actual measurement data validation, the banana’s average error rate of 3.95%; for watermelon, the average error rate is 3.89%; for grapes, the average error rate is 4.28%; for corn, apple, banana mixture composition, the average error rate is 2.61%, the average error rate of caramel treats is 3.48%, and the average error rate of pork floss bread is 2.85%. The average error rate of the hot and dry noodles is 1.85%, and the average error rate of the breakfast mix composition is 2.91%. The error rate in subsequent food volume calculation, quality estimation and calculation application is within the effective range of nutrients. It provides a technical basis and scientific basis for dietary intervention of stroke patients.

BackgroundCancer screening provides the opportunity to detect cancer early, ideally before symptom onset and metastasis, and offers an increased opportunity for a better prognosis. The ideal biomarkers for cancer screening should discriminate individuals who have not developed invasive cancer yet but are destined to do so from healthy subjects. However, most cancers lack effective screening recommendations. Therefore, further studies on novel screening strategies are urgently required.MethodsWe used a simple suboptimal inoculation melanoma mouse model to obtain ‘pre-diagnostic samples’ of mice with macroscopic melanomas. High-throughput sequencing and bioinformatic analysis were employed to identify differentially expressed RNAs in platelet signatures of mice injected with a suboptimal number of melanoma cells (eDEGs) compared with mice with macroscopic melanomas and negative controls. Moreover, 36 genes selected from the eDEGs via bioinformatics analysis were verified in a mouse validation cohort via quantitative real-time PCR. LASSO regression was utilized to generate the prediction models with gene expression signatures as the best predictors for occult tumor progression in mice.ResultsThese RNAs identified from eDEGs of mice injected with a suboptimal number of cancer cells were strongly enriched in pathways related to immune response and regulation. The prediction models generated by 36 gene qPCR verification data showed great diagnostic efficacy and predictive value in our murine validation cohort, and could discriminate mice with occult tumors from control group (area under curve (AUC) of 0.935 (training data) and 0.912 (testing data)) (gene signature includingCd19,Cdkn1a,S100a9,Tap1, andTnfrsf1b) and also from macroscopic tumor group (AUC of 0.920 (training data) and 0.936 (testing data)) (gene signature includingCcr7,Cd4,Kmt2d, andLy6e).ConclusionsOur proof-of-concept study provides evidence for potential clinical relevance of blood platelets as a platform for liquid biopsy-based early detection of cancer.

Xin Jiang, Yushuang Xu, Di Chen, Mengmeng Wang, Mengjun Qiu, Lina Xiong, Li Zhang, Honglu Yu, Zhifan Xiong Department of Gastroenterology, Liyuan Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Zhifan XiongDepartment of Gastroenterology, Liyuan Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 13517281937Email xiongzhifan@126.comPurpose: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly vascularized solid tumor characterized by neovascularization and vascular invasion. Angiogenesis plays an essential role in the occurrence and development of liver cancer. Our study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of angiogenesis-related genes in liver cancer.Patients and Methods: The transcriptome data and corresponding clinical information of patients with liver cancer were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) databases. In the TCGA cohort, differential expression and prognostic analyses were used to screen angiogenesis-related candidate prognostic genes. We then used least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression analysis to construct a prognostic signature using 10 angiogenesis-related prognostic genes. The reliability of the prognostic signature was assessed in the TCGA and ICGC cohorts. In addition, we comprehensively analyzed the correlation of the prognostic signature with the tumor microenvironment, chemotherapy drugs, and specific genes.Results: We identified 37 angiogenesis-related differentially expressed genes that were remarkably associated with prognosis. Ten of these genes were used to establish a survival and prognostic signature. This signature can distinguish between high-risk and low-risk groups and performs well in overall survival prediction, as demonstrated by internal and external validations. In addition, we observed that the high-risk group was remarkably associated with immune infiltration in the tumor microenvironment and had a different sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents compared with the low-risk group. Moreover, the high-risk population was positively correlated with the expression of several special genes, such as immune checkpoint-related genes.Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that prognostic signatures based on angiogenesis-related genes are involved in the development of HCC and may provide new insights into accurate clinical decision-making and therapeutic evaluation of patients with HCC.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, angiogenesis-related gene, signature, tumor microenvironment, immune infiltration, prognosis

Enhancing the intrinsic thermal conductivity of PEDOT films via a one-step template-less electrochemical synthesis.

Objective To establish a differentiated training program for ophthalmic postdoctoral students and explore its teaching effects in the Department of Ophthalmology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Methods All of the in-training clinical postdocs were evaluated. The differentiated training program and the stepwise surgical training system were established based upon different education backgrounds. The results of the theoretical examination of clinical postdocs and other students were analyzed by horizontal comparison, and the development of theory and skill levels was analyzed by longitudinal comparison. The progress of postdocs in the past three years was also evaluated through the competence model in six dimensions of professionalism, skills of communication and cooperation, patient care, knowledge and skills, teaching ability, and lifelong learning. Results The median scores of theoretical examination of the first- and third-year postdocs were higher than those of other students, and the levels of theory and skill of the postdocs improved year by year. The postdocs effectively developed in all six dimensions of the competence model in the third year. Conclusion The differentiated training program can effectively improve the integrated skills of postdocs and creates favorable conditions for the cultivation of high-level medical talents.

Chitosan (CS), the only alkaline polysaccharose available in nature, has always been a promising candidate for drug delivery owing to its excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility. However, inherent solubility and polycationic properties of CS largely hinder electrospinning, which is an efficient method of fabricating nanofibers for drug carriers. To solve this problem and extend the applications of CS, polyamide/chitosan/tetraethyl orthosilicate (PA/CS/TEOS) composite nanofibers were successfully prepared as drug carriers in this study via electrospinning. The PA/CS/TEOS ratios significantly influenced the nanofiber morphology. As the content of each was increased, the beads among the membranes increased initially and then decreased, determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The morphology of the optimum membranes with the ratio of 1:0.13:0.67 was smoother with less beads and uniform fiber diameter. Finally, the membranes with optimum ratios were used as carriers of ofloxacin in the study of drug release performance to identify their future feasibility, which revealed an initial fast release followed by a relatively stable release.

Objective: To explore the effect of refined management in the operation room on promoting postoperative recovery in patients undergoing sinusitis surgery via nasal endoscopy. Methods: In this retrospective study, the clinical data of 80 patients undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery were divided into study group (SG) and control group (CG) according to different nursing methods, with 40 cases in each group. The CG only received routine nursing, while the SG adopted refined management in addition to routine nursing. Postoperative pain, depression, anxiety, and nursing satisfaction were compared between the two groups. Results: There was no significant difference in Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score between the two groups before operation (P>0.05). After operation, VAS of the SG (1.05±0.24) was significantly better than that of the CG (2.39±0.45), the nursing satisfaction rate of the SG (92.5%) was higher than that of the CG (65.0%), and the overall effective rate of nursing in the SG (95.0%) was higher than that of the CG (77.5%) (all P

The worrying emergence of multiple resistance genes to last-resort antibiotics in food animals and human populations throughout the food chain and relevant environments has been increasingly reported worldwide. Enterobacteriaceae pathogens are considered the most common reservoirs of such antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Thus, a rapid, efficient and accurate detection method to simultaneously screen and monitor such ARGs in Enterobacteriaceae pathogens has become an urgent need. Our study developed a recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay combined with a lateral flow dipstick (LFD) for simultaneously detecting predominant resistance genes to last-resort antibiotics of Enterobacteriaceae pathogens, including mcr-1, blaNDM-1 and tet(X4). It is allowed to complete the entire process, including crude DNA extraction, amplification as well as reading, within 40 min at 37°C, and the detection limit is 101 copies/μl for mcr-1, blaNDM-1 and tet(X4). Sensitivity analysis showed obvious association of color signals with the template concentrations of mcr-1, blaNDM-1 and tet(X4) genes in Enterobacteriaceae pathogens using a test strip reader (R2 = 0.9881, R2 = 0.9745, and R2 = 0.9807, respectively), allowing for quantitative detection using multiplex RPA-LFD assays. Therefore, the RPA-LFD assay can suitably help to detect multiple resistance genes to last-resort antibiotics in foodborne pathogens and has potential applications in the field.

Supplementary Material 10

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-tar-10.1177_17534666231181269 for Long-term efficacy and safety of the Dumon stent for treatment of benign airway stenosis by Li-Qin Lin, Di-Fei Chen, Hong-Kai Wu, Yu Chen, Chang-Hao Zhong, Xiao-Bo Chen, Chun-Li Tang, Zi-Qing Zhou and Shi-Yue Li in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

Recent large-scale generative models learned on big data are capable of synthesizing incredible images yet suffer from limited controllability. This work offers a new generation paradigm that allows flexible control of the output image, such as spatial layout and palette, while maintaining the synthesis quality and model creativity. With compositionality as the core idea, we first decompose an image into representative factors, and then train a diffusion model with all these factors as the conditions to recompose the input. At the inference stage, the rich intermediate representations work as composable elements, leading to a huge design space (i.e., exponentially proportional to the number of decomposed factors) for customizable content creation. It is noteworthy that our approach, which we call Composer, supports various levels of conditions, such as text description as the global information, depth map and sketch as the local guidance, color histogram for low-level details, etc. Besides improving controllability, we confirm that Composer serves as a general framework and facilitates a wide range of classical generative tasks without retraining. Code and models will be made available., Comment: Project page: https://damo-vilab.github.io/composer-page/

Supplementary Material 9

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-tar-10.1177_17534666231181269 for Long-term efficacy and safety of the Dumon stent for treatment of benign airway stenosis by Li-Qin Lin, Di-Fei Chen, Hong-Kai Wu, Yu Chen, Chang-Hao Zhong, Xiao-Bo Chen, Chun-Li Tang, Zi-Qing Zhou and Shi-Yue Li in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

In recent years, functional neural networks have been proposed and studied in order to approximate nonlinear continuous functionals defined on $L^p([-1, 1]^s)$ for integers $s\ge1$ and $1\le p

Selection of suitable reference genes is crucial to accurately evaluate and normalize the relative expression level of target genes for gene function research. Our study selected suitable reference genes for analyzing the gene expression of Agrilus zanthoxylumi Hou (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). Six candidate genes were detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction: the histone gene, the β-tubulin gene, the actin gene, 18S ribosomal RNA, and 28S-1 and 28S-2 ribosomal RNA. The expression of the candidate reference genes in different tissue samples (head, thorax, abdomen, legs, and wings) of A. zanthoxylumi was evaluated and analyzed by using GeNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper software programs. Gene expression stability results show that the expression of the 28S-2 gene is the most stable of the six candidate genes in all tissues of female A. zanthoxylumi, followed by the 28S-1 gene. The actin gene has the most stable expression of the six genes in male tissues, followed by the 28S-2 gene. The screening results of reference genes with the most stable expression in different sexes and tissues obtained in this study can be used for the subsequent quantitative expression research of related genes and provide theoretical basis and reference materials for the research of related gene expression levels of A. zanthoxylumi.

Discharge of acid mine drainage (AMD) from abandoned coal mines of the YuDong catchment in Kaili City, Guizhou Province, China, has severely damaged local ecological environments. In this study, a laboratory-scale dispersed alkaline substrate (DAS) was studied for the treatment of simulated AMD. The experimental conditions and reaction mechanisms were preliminarily explored. The treatment effect and variation law of vertical effluent water quality of the experimental conditions were thoroughly analysed. The results indicated that small-sized limestone (diameter 5–7 mm) having a 20:1 mixture ratio with shavings and minimum HRT of 20 hours result in increasing effluent pH from 3.5 to 6.6, achieving 66.2% and 99.1% removal of Fe and Al, respectively. There were obvious differences in each reaction layer for the removal of various pollutants from AMD along the depth by DAS, the main reaction zone was first 20–30 cm of the reaction column. The removal process of metal ions and sulfate was accompanied by bio-mineralization reaction. This test provided a valuable support for the local practical engineering applications, enriched the AMD processing technology experimental cases, and provided reference for the treatment technology of similar polluted areas. HIGHLIGHTS A dispersed alkaline substrate was designed to treat the acid mine drainage from abandoned coal mines of YuDong valley, which provides a reference for the further design of site device and other similar contaminated areas.; Combining the physical and chemical parameters of the effluent, and mineralogical characterization of the filler along with the microbial diversity of the system, the mechanism of DAS treatment of AMD was analyzed.; Under this experiment conditions, DAS can raise the effluent pH to 6.6, and the average removal rate of Fe and Al was 66.2% and 99.1%, respectively. Daily decrease rate of Fe was 16∼18 g/m2/d.

Person search is an integrated task of multiple sub-tasks such as foreground/background classification, bounding box regression and person re-identification. Therefore, person search is a typical multi-task learning problem, especially when solved in an end-to-end manner. Recently, some works enhance person search features by exploiting various auxiliary information, e.g. person joint keypoints, body part position, attributes, etc., which brings in more tasks and further complexifies a person search model. The inconsistent convergence rate of each task could potentially harm the model optimization. A straightforward solution is to manually assign different weights to different tasks, compensating for the diverse convergence rates. However, given the special case of person search, i.e. with a large number of tasks, it is impractical to weight the tasks manually. To this end, we propose a Grouped Adaptive Loss Weighting (GALW) method which adjusts the weight of each task automatically and dynamically. Specifically, we group tasks according to their convergence rates. Tasks within the same group share the same learnable weight, which is dynamically assigned by considering the loss uncertainty. Experimental results on two typical benchmarks, CUHK-SYSU and PRW, demonstrate the effectiveness of our method., Comment: Accepted by ACM MM

Gasdermin D-executing pyroptosis mediated by NLRP3 inflammasomes has been recognized as a key pathogenesis during stroke. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) could protect CNS against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-induced neuroinflammation, while the underlying mechanism remains unclear. The study applied the middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) model to investigate how the brain and the retinal injuries were alleviated in sodium hydrogen sulfide (NaHS)-treated rats. The rats were assigned to four groups and received an intraperitoneal injection of 50 μmol/kg NaHS or NaCl 15 min after surgery. Neurological deficits were evaluated using the modified neurologic severity score. The quantification of pro-inflammatory cytokines, NLRP3, caspase-1, and GSDMD were determined by ELISA and Western blot. Cortical and retinal neurodegeneration and cell pyroptosis were determined by histopathologic examination. Results showed that NaHS rescued post-stroke neurological deficits and infarct progression, improved retina injury, and attenuated neuroinflammation in the brain cortexes and the retinae. NaHS administration inhibits inflammation by blocking the NLRP3/caspase-1/GSDMD pathway and further suppressing neuronal pyroptosis. This is supported by the fact that it reversed the high-level of NLRP3, caspase-1, and GSDMD following I/R. Our findings suggest that compounds with the ability to donate H2S could constitute a novel therapeutic strategy for ischemic stroke.

Supplementary File contain two videos. One videos shows the heating process of SCB in Figure4 . Another video shows the deep learning process in Figure 5.

BackgroundTuberculosis is a communicable disease that is a major cause of ill health. Bibliometrics is an important statistical methodology used to analyze articles and other publications in the literature study. In this study, publications on molecular epidemiology were analyzed using bibliometric analysis. The statistical analysis of influential publications, journals, countries and authors was first conducted.MethodsThe Web of Science database was searched for publications on the molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis with the keywords “tuberculosis” and “molecular epidemiology” in the title. The number of publications, citation analysis, co-authorship of the author, institution and country, keyword co-occurrence, and reference co-citations were analyzed.ResultsA total of 225 journal articles were retrieved. The mean citation was 37.72 per article and 292.69 per year. The annual publications on molecular epidemiology fluctuated within a certain range in the past. Journal of Clinical Microbiology is the most published journal with 33 articles. RASTOGI N is the most prolific author with 11 articles. The top 1 research institution is Inst Pasteur Guadeloupe. Stratified by the number of publications, the USA was the most prolific country. It also cooperates closely with other countries. Burstness analysis of references and keywords showed that the developing research trends in this field mainly focused on “genetic diversity” and “lineage” during the past decade.ConclusionThe annual publications on tuberculosis molecular epidemiology fluctuated within a specific range in the past decade. The USA continues to dominate research output and funding. The exchange of expertise, ideas, and technology is of paramount importance in this field. More frequent and deeper cooperation among countries or institutions will be essential in the future.

To better reveal the mechanism of the rotor-stator interference between the impeller and the guide vane and the evolution process of the stall vortex under the part-load conditions, numerical simulation is carried out based on the DDES turbulence model, which can better capture vortex structure. And the pressure pulsation and the radial velocity distribution of the centrifugal pump are studied. The vortex structure and pressure fluctuation of pump internal flow field under part-load condition of Q = 0.4 Qdes are mainly analyzed. The analysis results show that the stall vortex is formed at the inlet of the impeller and evolves to the outlet of the impeller, the front cover to the rear cover according to the fluid flow direction, and then disappears. Besides, under the part-load condition, the vorticity of the impeller outlet is always obviously less than that of the impeller inlet as the flow rate increases. Due to the asymmetric action of the volute, the radial velocity distribution law of flow channel C1 is different from other flow channels at different blade heights. By analyzing the radial velocity, the phenomenon that the jet-wake flow impacts the guide vane with the rotation of the impeller is the main reason for the rotor-stator interference. And large radial velocity gradients appear at the front and rear cover plates, which will cause high energy loss and reduce pump efficiency. Besides, the conclusion can be drawn that the region with the strongest rotor-stator interference is the inlet region of the guide vane suction surface. It also occurs near the volute tongue but is lower due to the effect of the guide vane. This research may serve as a reference for the safe operation of centrifugal pumps under part-load conditions.

The mid-lower reaches of the Hanjiang River Basin, located in the core of economic development in Hubei Province, is an integral part of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. In recent years, the watershed ecosystem has become more sensitive to climate changes and human activities, thus affecting the regional vegetation cover. To maintain a stable watershed ecosystem, it is critical to analyze and evaluate the vegetation change and its response to temperature, precipitation, and human activities in this region. This study, based on the trend analysis, partial correlation analysis, and residual analysis, evaluated the change characteristics of vegetation cover as well as the corresponding driving factors in the basin from 2001 to 2015. The results showed that (1) the overall spatial pattern of vegetation cover in the study area was “high in the west and north, lower on both sides of Hanjiang River, and lowest in the center and southeast,” and the pattern changed parabolically with the increasing elevation. (2) Over the 15 years, vegetation cover in the basin showed an increasing trend, and the increased and decreased areas were 90.72 and 9.23%, respectively. (3) The response of vegetation cover to climatic factors varies greatly depending on the increasing elevation. That is, the lag effect under the impact of temperature disappeared gradually, while it became more evident under the impact of precipitation. (4) On the whole, human activities had a positive effect on the regional vegetation cover. The negative effect in the areas around the Nanyang Basin and the positive effect in most parts of the Jianghan Plain were gradually decreased.

With the increasing attention to small hydropower, research on improving the hydraulic performance of the pump as turbine (PAT) has become more important. Therefore, to study the influence of clocking effects on the hydraulic performance of PAT, numerical simulation and experimental verification of different guide vane clocking positions are carried out in this paper. The angle between the trailing edge of the guide vane and the volute tongue, θ, is set in eight schemes from 0 to 70 deg. The maximum difference in the efficiency of the eight schemes can reach 2.45% at 80 m3/h. When the flow rate is more than 48 m3/h, the scheme with θ of 50° shows the highest efficiency. The regression equations of entropy generation and total pressure loss are established to obtain visual energy loss. The results indicate that energy loss of the stationary components changes significantly under different schemes, which is the main reason for the change in the efficiency of PAT. Besides, the stator-rotor interaction makes the energy loss near the wake region of the impeller change periodically. This research not only reveals the cause of the clocking effect but also provides a new perspective for the optimization of PAT structures.

BackgroundA substantial reduction in the number of cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) implantation was reported in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. None of the studies have yet explored changes in CIED implantation during the following pandemic.ObjectiveTo explore changes in CIED implantation during the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2021.MethodsFrom 2019 to 2021, 177,263 patients undergone CIED implantation from 1,227 hospitals in China were included in the analysis. Generalized linear models measured the differences in CIED implantation in different periods. The relationship between changes in CIED implantation and COVID-19 cases was assessed by simple linear regression models.ResultsCompared with the pre-COVID-19 period, the monthly CIED implantation decreased by 17.67% (95% CI: 16.62–18.72%, p < 0.001) in 2020. In 2021, the monthly number of CIED implantation increased by 15.60% (95% CI: 14.34–16.85%, p < 0.001) compared with 2020. For every 10-fold increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, the monthly number of pacemaker implantation decreased by 429 in 2021, while it decreased by 676 in 2020. The proportion of CIED implantation in secondary medical centers increased from 52.84% in 2019 to 56.77% in 2021 (p < 0.001). For every 10-fold increase in regional accumulated COVID-19 cases, the proportion of CIED implantation in secondary centers increased by 6.43% (95% CI: 0.47–12.39%, p = 0.036).ConclusionThe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of CIED implantation is diminishing in China. Improving the ability of secondary medical centers to undertake more operations may be a critical way to relieve the strain on healthcare resources during the epidemic.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative joint disease with significant negative impact on the quality of life. It has been reported that abnormal upregulation of β-catenin signaling could lead to OA development; however, the upstream regulatory mechanisms of β-catenin signaling have not been determined.Primary rat chondrocytes and ATDC5 chondrocyte cell line were stimulated with AKT2 and treated with or without metformin, an adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activator. Westerrn blot analysis, luciferase reporter assay and immunofluorescent (IF) staining were performed to examine changes in β-cateninWe found that metformin inhibited β-cateninThese findings suggest that metformin may exert its chondro-protective effect at least in part through the inhibition of β-catenin signaling in chondrocytes.This study demonstrated the interaction between AMPK and β-catenin signaling in chondrocytes and defined novel molecular targets for the treatment of OA disease.

In this research, we investigated the inhibitory effect of the ethanolic (EtOH) extract of bignay (Antidesma bunius) fruit on the viability of breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) by CCK-8 assay. The results showed that the half inhibitory concentration (IC50) was 219 μg/mL after the cells were treated with EtOH extract for 72 hours. The EtOH extract was sequentially extracted by petroleum ether (PET), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), and n-butanol (nBuOH). Among them, the EtOAc fraction showed higher anti-proliferative activity than the other fractions. Wound healing experiment showed the EtOAc fraction inhibited the migration of MDA-MB-231 cells and significantly delayed the transition of the G1 to S phase compared to control. UHPLC-MS/MS analysis showed that in addition to citric acid and phenolic acids (3-Hydroxybenzoic acid, aspirin, fertaric acid), EtOH extract of bignay fruit contains active ingredient like coumarin, genistin, amentoflavone, and luteolin 7-galactoside. The anti-proliferation activity of amentoflavone against MDA-MB-231 cells was also confirmed.

Cercospora canescens Ellis & Martin is an important fungal pathogen that causes leaf spot and defoliation in mungbean (Vigna radiata (Linn.) Wilczek.). Molecular methods for detection of this patho...

Background The increased consumption of rice noodle, a traditional rice-based product with high nutritional values and pleasant tastes, has led to increased research attention. Traditionally, rice noodle has been produced using a long series of steps including rice aging, rinsing, soaking, and milling, gelatinization, extruding/slitting, cooking, retrogradation, acid-pickling, drying, packaging, and sterilization. Current rice noodle production relies on semi-automatic techniques and lacks a comprehensive quality control system. This results in variable product quality that severely restricts the development of the rice noodle market. Scope and approach In this article, the characteristics of the raw materials, the key processing steps of traditional and modern production methods, and the commonly used processing additives are reviewed to provide a reference point for the production of rice noodles with better flavor and improved quality. Key findings and conclusions Rice noodle quality can be affected by numerous factors, including the species and compositions of rice, the pretreatment of raw materials, the processing methods, and the environmental conditions. Antiaging agents, water-retaining agents, and preservatives are also used as additives to improve rice noodle quality. Further studies are needed to explore the internal and external factors and mechanisms that affect the taste and storage quality of rice noodles. Improved processing methods and proper evaluation standards are needed to promote the standardization, mechanization, and automation of rice noodle production.

This work proposes a novel potential source of antiallergens based on bioactive peptides. Cashew-nut protein hydrolysate with antiallergic activity was prepared from cashew nuts through protease treatment. The change in the antiallergic activity of cashew-nut protein hydrolysate during in vitro simulated digestion was investigated. Cashew-nut protein hydrolysates were prepared through treatment using five different enzymes, namely, Alcalase, Protamex, Neutrase, papain, and bromelin. According to the results of molecular weight distribution, more small molecular weight peptides could be obtained by selecting Alcalase protease than other proteases, and the degree of hydrolysis, trichloroacetic acid-soluble peptide yield and hyaluronidase inhibitory rate of the hydrolysate were 17.0 ± 61.52%, 26.28 ± 0.13% and 62.06% ± 5.07%, which were significantly higher than those of other proteases. Therefore, Alcalase is the most suitable protease for the preparation of cashew-nut hydrolysates. Cashew-nut protein hydrolysates prepared with Alcalase under optimum conditions were fractionated through ultrafiltration. Fractions with low molecular weight exhibited the highest hyaluronidase inhibitory rate (90.57%) among all fractions. The inhibition of hyaluronidase activity during digestion showed that cashew-nut protein hydrolysate III (CPH III) has persistent antiallergic activity. Therefore, CPH III could serve as a potential source of functional peptides with health-promoting effects. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s13197-020-04838-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Objectives A questionnaire which provides desirable reliability and validity has been previously developed to assess the disease awareness of diagnosed chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. However, conventional paper questionnaires often have disadvantages, including recall bias. To substantially improve this, we therefore aimed to explore the feasibility of developing a smartphone-based electronic version (e-version) based upon its original paper version and subsequently tested its validity, reliability, and applicability. Methods A pilot study was conducted at Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine in Guangzhou, China, during August 2019. The e-version had identical content to the paper version and was adapted in terms of layout and assisted functions via the Wechat-incorporated Wen-Juan-Xing platform. Eligible patients with diagnosed CKD were invited to participate and were assigned the e-version. Randomly selected respondents received a test-retest of the same e-version 2 weeks after their first completion. In some instances, psychometric properties, including validity and reliability of the e-version, were examined. In others, its clinical application was also tested, which included comparisons among the clinical profiles of patients who had/had not responded to the questionnaire as well as patients with above or below average questionnaire scores. Results Of the 225 patients screened, 217 were enrolled to participate, with a response rate of 52.5%. Desirable reliability (Cronbachα = 0.962, ICC for total scores = 0.948), while good convergent validity (Cronbachα = 0.962) and low discriminant validity (one extracted component), of the e-version were detected. Performing inter-group comparisons highlighted statistical differences in terms of higher education level (z = -2.436, P = 0.015) and earlier CKD stages (z = -1.978, P = 0.048), with these patients often preferring to respond. No significant differences were detected in the clinical profiles between respondents who obtained an above or below average questionnaire score. Conclusion The e-version is reliable but was not shown to be a valid approach. Audiences with higher education levels and less advanced disease condition may prefer to respond to the e-version. Adaptation of this e-questionnaire, from its original paper version, may not be a direct transition and meticulous modifications may be required during the transition process. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR1900024633).

Objective To investigate expression changes of phospholipase C-γ1 (PLCγ1)/inositol triphosphate receptor (IP3R)/calmodulin-dependent kinase Ⅱ (CaMKⅡ) and density of dendritic spine in the hippocampus of autism model mice induced by sodium valproate (VPA). Methods Pregnant C57 mouse was given intraperitoneal injection of 300 mg/kg VPA or same volume of normal saline at the 10th and 12th days of gestation. The offspring exposed to VPA or saline during gestation were identified as autism spectrum disorder mice (VPA group) or normal control mice (CON group). Western blotting was used to detect the expression levels of PLCγ1, IP3R, CaMKⅡ and post-synaptic dense-95 (PSD95) in the hippocampus of the 2 groups. Golgi staining was employed to observe the changes in dendritic spines in the hippocampus of the offspring mice. Results Western blotting showed that the expression levels of PLCγ1, IP3R, CaMKⅡ and PSD95 were decreased in the VPA group than the normal control group (P < 0.01). Golgi staining indicated that compared with the normal control group, the density of dendritic spines in the hippocampus of VPA mice was reduced (P < 0.01). Conclusion In the hippocampus of VPA induced autism mice, the expression of PLCγ1/IP3R/CaMKⅡ and PSD95 and the dendritic spine density of pyramidal neurons in hippocampal CA1 are all decreased compared with the normal control mice.

The changes in the gluten network during extrusion treatment were studied by assessing the polymerization behavior of glutenin. Gluten samples were extruded at different barrel temperatures, screw speeds, and flow rates. The results indicated that high molecular weight glutenin subunits increased while free sulfhydryl groups and low molecular weight glutenin subunits decreased as the screw speeds and flow rates increased during extrusion treatment. Specific β-sheet structures of gluten clearly increased, while α-helices and β-turns fluctuated during extrusion processing, thus forming a tight gluten network. The characteristics of the protein network were evaluated by confocal laser scanning microscopy. The results showed that a homogeneous and denser gluten network was formed at higher extrusion temperatures during the extrusion process, which may be related to the polymerization of low-molecular-weight glutenin subunits. This study provides a theoretical basis for the improvement and regulation of extrusion quality during the gluten extrusion process.

A surfactant was a substance that had an important influence on the excretion of intracellular substances. In this work, it was found that cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) inhibited cell viability but increased the mannatide production by optimizing the addition time. Results revealed that CTAB changed cell surface properties (cell surface hydrophobicity and Zeta potential was increased from 3% to 14% and −14.5 mV to −10.2 mV, respectively) and permeabilized cell membrane (intercellular ATP content was decreased from 28.599 μg/g to 9.737 μg/g while extracellular ATP content was increased from 33.051 μg/g to 82.809 μg/g; the concentrations of K+ and Ca2+ were increased to 3.9 mg/L and 2.1 mg/L, respectively; membrane potential was formed). Moreover, the images of scanning electron micrographs indicated distinct morphological changes and disruption on the surface of the cells. Further pyridinium iodides staining showed CTAB could induce cell apoptosis from 4.24% to 31% with increasing the relative intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) from 0.11% to 7.31%. It is the most noteworthy that the addition of CTAB increased the mannatide production to 1.46 g/L, 98.6% higher than that of untreated cells. Consequently, the utilization of CTAB for the preparation of mannatide provide theoretical foundation for the further large-scale production.

To evaluate the association of longitudinal changes in physical activity (PA) with long-term outcomes after implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) implantation.Patients with ICD/CRT-D implantation from SUMMIT registry were retrospectively analyzed. Accelerometer-derived PA changes over 12 months post implantation were obtained from the archived home monitoring data. The primary endpoints were cardiac death and all-cause mortality. The secondary endpoints were the first ventricular arrthymia (VA) and first appropriate ICD shock.In 705 patients, 446 (63.3%) patients showed improved PA over 12 months after implantation. During a mean 61.5-month follow-up duration, 99 cardiac deaths (14.0%) and 153 all-cause deaths (21.7%) occurred. Compared to reduced/unchanged PA, improved PA over 12 months could result in significantly reduced risks of cardiac death (improved PA ≤ 30 min: hazard ratio (HR) = 0.494, 95% CI: 0.288-0.848;30 min: HR = 0.390, 95% CI: 0.235-0.648) and all-cause mortality (improved PA ≤ 30 min: HR = 0.467, 95%CI: 0.299-0.728;30 min: HR = 0.451, 95% CI: 0.304-0.669). No differences in the VAs or ICD shocks were observed across different groups of PA changes. PA changes can predict the risks of cardiac death only in the low baseline PA group, but improved PA was associated with 56.7%, 57.4%, and 62.3% reduced risks of all-cause mortality in the low, moderate, and high baseline PA groups, respectively, than reduced/unchanged PA.Improved PA could protect aganist cardiac death and all-cause mortality, probably reflecting better clinical efficacy after ICD/CRT-D implantation. Low-intensity exercise training might be encouraged among patients with different baseline PA levels.

Two-dimensional Dirac materials with a flat band have been demonstrated to possess a plethora of unusual electronic properties, but the optical properties of these materials are less studied. Utilizing $\alpha$-$\mathcal{T}_3$ lattice as a prototypical system, where $0\le \alpha \le 1$ is a tunable parameter and a flat band through the conic intersection of two Dirac cones arises for $\alpha > 0$, we investigate the conductivity of flat-band Dirac material systems analytically and numerically. Motivated by the fact that the imaginary part of the optical conductivity can have significant effects on the optical response and is an important factor of consideration for developing $\alpha$-$\mathcal{T}_3$ lattice based optical devices, we are led to derive a complete conductivity formula with both the real and imaginary parts. Scrutinizing the formula, we uncover two phenomena. First, for the value of $\alpha$ in some range, two types of optical transitions coexist: one between the two Dirac cones and another from the flat band to a cone, which generate multi-frequency transverse electrical propagating waves. Second, for $\alpha=1$ so the quasiparticles become pseudospin-1, the flat-to-cone transition can result in resonant scattering. These results pave the way to exploiting $\alpha$-$T_3$ lattice for optical device applications in the terahertz frequency domain., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures