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The current study presents a comprehensive Lie symmetry analysis for the time-fractional Mikhailov–Novikov–Wang (MNW) system with the Riemann–Liouville fractional derivative. The corresponding simplified equations with the Erdélyi–Kober fractional derivative are constructed by group invariant solutions. Furthermore, we obtain explicit solutions with the help of the power series method and show the dynamical behavior via evolutional figures. Finally, by means of Ibragimov’s new conservation theorem, the conservation laws are derived for the system.

Feruloyl esterases (FAEs) and acetyl xylan esterases (AXEs) are important enzymes for plant biomass degradation and are both present in Carbohydrate Esterase family 1 (CE1) of the Carbohydrate-Active enZymes database. In this study, ten novel fungal CE1 enzymes from different subfamilies were heterologously produced and screened for their activity towards model and complex plant biomass substrates. CE1_1 enzymes possess AXE activity, while CE1_5 enzymes showed FAE activity. Two enzymes from CE1_2 and one from CE1_5 possess dual feruloyl/acetyl xylan esterase (FXE) activity, showing expansion of substrate specificity. The new FXEs from CE1 can efficiently release both feruloyl and acetyl residues from feruloylated xylan, making them particularly interesting novel components of industrial enzyme cocktails for plant biomass degradation.

With the continuing advances in scientific instrumentation, scanning microscopes are now able to image physical systems with up to sub-atomic-level spatial resolutions and sub-picosecond time resolutions. Commensurately, they are generating ever-increasing volumes of data, storing and analysis of which is becoming an increasingly difficult prospect. One approach to address this challenge is through self-driving experimentation techniques that can actively analyze the data being collected and use this information to make on-the-fly measurement choices, such that the data collected is sparse but representative of the sample and sufficiently informative. Here, we report the Fast Autonomous Scanning Toolkit (FAST) that combines a trained neural network, a route optimization technique, and efficient hardware control methods to enable a self-driving scanning microscopy experiment. The key features of our method are that: it does not require any prior information about the sample, it has a very low computational cost, and that it uses generic hardware controls with minimal experiment-specific wrapping. We test this toolkit in numerical experiments and a scanning dark-field x-ray microscopy experiment of a $WSe_2$ thin film, where our experiments show that a FAST scan of

The isolation of Stropharia rugosoannulata polysaccharide (SRP) by three-phase extraction was optimized, and its structure and biological activities were identified. The optimal extraction conditions were: mass fraction of ammonium sulfate, 20%; volume ratio of sample solution to t-butanol, 1:1.5; extraction temperature, 35°C. Under these conditions, the yield of SRP was 6.85% ± 0.13%. SRP was found to be composed of glucose (35.79%), galactose (26.80%), glucuronic acid (9.92%), fructose (8.65%), xylose (7.92%), fucose (4.19%), arabinose (3.46%) and rhamnose (3.26%), with the molecular weight of 27.52 kDa. The results of DPPH, hydroxyl, ABTS+ radical scavenging and reducing power tests showed that SRP had good antioxidant capacities. SRP had no cytotoxic effect on RAW264.7 macrophages at the concentrations of 25-200 μg/mL, and could significantly promote phagocytosis activity and cell migration according to CCK-8 assay, phagocytosis assay and cell scratch experiment. SRP can significantly stimulate the transcript expression levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6, as determined by RT-PCR and Western blot assays. SRP activated the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway, and autophagy also occurred. These results suggest that SRP is a safe antioxidant and immunomodulator, and that it can be used in the development of functional foods and/or pharmaceuticals.

Additional file1: Table S1. Correlations of clinical variables with EV-GDF15 and serum GDF15. Fig. S1. Flow chart of patient selection. Fig. S2. Western blotting results showed the expression of CD63, CD81, and TSG101 in different protein fractions. Fig. S3. The tendency of FPG and HbA1c according to the tertiles of EV-GDF15. Fig. S4. Levels of EV-GDF15 and serum GDF15 in the enrolled population. Fig. S5. Prevalence of T2DM according to the tertiles of EV-GDF15. Fig. S6. The levels of serum GDF15 and EV-GDF15 in T2DM patients with or without metformin treatment. Serum GDF15 levels were significantly increased in metformin-treated T2DM patients compared to T2DM patients not taking metformin, but EV-GDF15 levels were not altered between the two groups.

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-jom-10.1177_01492063231177976 for How Identity Impacts Bystander Responses to Workplace Mistreatment by Jamie L. Gloor, Tyler G. Okimoto, Xinxin Li, Brooke A. Gazdag, and Michelle K. Ryan in Journal of Management

New global indicator for workers’ health: mortality rate from diseases attributable to selected occupational risk factors: supplementary files

During engineering and construction activities, water and mud burst, house and ground collapse, as well as other hazards often occur in places where karst develops, which can seriously threaten the safety of people's life and property and limit the development of local society and economy. Therefore, it is a meaningful work to figure out the locations of karst development so that corresponding prevention measures could be taken in advance. In this study, a case was introduced by using high density resistivity method to study the karst ground collapse. The geological characteristics, distribution law and control factors of karst ground collapse were clarified through high density resistivity method. Based on the results, the development trend was predicted, and the corresponding treatment measures and suggestions were proposed. The results show that 2 karst developing belts and 3 karst seriously-developed centers were delineated in the study region, which indicates that the high density resistivity method can effectively identify abnormal underground areas in the study region. The results shown in this research would provide the whole site for future drilling and the useful experience for underground karst exploration in similar areas.

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-jom-10.1177_01492063231177976 for How Identity Impacts Bystander Responses to Workplace Mistreatment by Jamie L. Gloor, Tyler G. Okimoto, Xinxin Li, Brooke A. Gazdag, and Michelle K. Ryan in Journal of Management

Background METTL3, a mRNA m6A methyltransferase, has been implicated in various steps of mRNA metabolism, such as stabilization, splicing, nuclear transportation, translation, and degradation. However, whether METTL3 dysregulation is involved in Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) development remains unclear. In this study, we preliminarily elucidated the role of METTL3 in HSCR and sought to identify the associated molecular mechanism. Methods The gene expression levels of YAP and several methyltransferases, demethylases, and effectors were evaluated by RT-qPCR. Protein levels were evaluated by western blot and immunohistochemistry. Cell proliferation and migration were detected by CCK-8 and Transwell assays, respectively. The overall levels of m6A modification were determined by colorimetry. Results We found that m6A levels were reduced in stenotic intestinal tissue of patients with HSCR. When METTL3 was knocked down in SH-SY5Y and HEK-293T cells, the proliferative and migratory abilities of the cells were inhibited, m6A modification levels were reduced, and YAP expression was increased. Importantly, YAP and METTL3 expression displayed a negative correlation in both cell lines as well as in HSCR tissue. Conclusions Our results provide evidence for an interaction between METTL3 and YAP in HSCR, and further suggest that METTL3 is involved in the pathogenesis of HSCR by regulating neural crest cell proliferation and migration upstream of YAP.

Gecko-inspired controllable dry adhesion has promising applications in various fields such as transfer printing, advanced robotics, and space technology. In this study, we proposed a multi-legged self-adaptive gripper based on gecko-inspired controllable adhesion to manipulate both flat and curved objects. It consists of four symmetric adhesive units, each modulated by two adaptive-locking mechanisms for compression and rotation, respectively, and one peeling mechanism. The two adaptive-locking mechanisms adapt to surfaces with height and curvature differences to ensure intimate contact and then lock the adaption configuration to enable equal load sharing for strong attachment. The peeling mechanism rapidly peels the adhesive surfaces from the substrate for easy detachment. Therefore, this gripper can achieve controllable load sharing to reliably grasp and easily release smooth objects with various surface shapes. Furthermore, the effects of object posture and structural parameters on its grasping performance were analyzed, which can guide its optimal design by improving equal load sharing among adhesive units. This work provides an equal load-sharing strategy for multi-unit adhesive system design and demonstrates its potential for emerging industrial applications.

Agro-food industrial side streams known as lignocellulosic wastes have received much attention in the last years. These side streams are rich in cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin and can be converted into an array of value-added bioproducts with huge market potentials. Effective bioconversion requires overcoming the recalcitrance of the cell walls of lignocellulosic residues. Hemicellulose is tightly linked to cellulose through hydrogen bonding and to lignin via ester bonds, and its degradation can significantly alter the strength and microstructure of cell walls, thereby improving the overall degradation of agro-food residues. The hydrolysis of hemicellulose requires a variety of fungal enzymes. To date, a considerable number of enzymes have been included into different families in the Carbohydrate Active Enzyme (CAZy) database. However, most of them lack biochemical characterization data, hindering the understanding of diversity within families and the selection of optimal candidates from families for applications. In this thesis, I selectively characterized unknown CAZymes from different CAZy families involved in hemicellulose degradation through fungal genome mining and phylogenetic analysis. Our results discovered novel activities in CAZy families, e.g., feruloyl esterase / acetyl xylan esterase in CE1, xylobiohydrolase in GH30, and endoxyloglucanase in GH44. In addition, I discovered that the expansion of endoxylanases (GH10 and GH11) and α-L-arabinofuranosidase (GH51, GH54, and GH62) in Penicillium subrubescens is followed by functional diversification.

Agro-food industrial side streams known as lignocellulosic wastes have received much attention in the last years. These side streams are rich in cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin and can be converted into an array of value-added bioproducts with huge market potentials. Effective bioconversion requires overcoming the recalcitrance of the cell walls of lignocellulosic residues. Hemicellulose is tightly linked to cellulose through hydrogen bonding and to lignin via ester bonds, and its degradation can significantly alter the strength and microstructure of cell walls, thereby improving the overall degradation of agro-food residues. The hydrolysis of hemicellulose requires a variety of fungal enzymes. To date, a considerable number of enzymes have been included into different families in the Carbohydrate Active Enzyme (CAZy) database. However, most of them lack biochemical characterization data, hindering the understanding of diversity within families and the selection of optimal candidates from families for applications. In this thesis, I selectively characterized unknown CAZymes from different CAZy families involved in hemicellulose degradation through fungal genome mining and phylogenetic analysis. Our results discovered novel activities in CAZy families, e.g., feruloyl esterase / acetyl xylan esterase in CE1, xylobiohydrolase in GH30, and endoxyloglucanase in GH44. In addition, I discovered that the expansion of endoxylanases (GH10 and GH11) and α-L-arabinofuranosidase (GH51, GH54, and GH62) in Penicillium subrubescens is followed by functional diversification.

Bio-inspired reversible adhesion has significant potential in many fields requiring flexible grasping and manipulation, such as precision manufacturing, flexible electronics, and intelligent robotics. Despite extensive efforts for adhesive synthesis with a high adhesion strength at the interface, an effective strategy to actively tune the adhesion capacity between a strong attachment and an easy detachment spanning a wide range of scales has been lagged. Herein, we report a novel soft-hard-soft sandwiched composite design to achieve a stable, repeatable, and reversible strong adhesion with an easily scalable performance for a large area ranging from ∼1.5 to 150 cm2 and a high load ranging from ∼20 to 700 N. Theoretical studies indicate that this design can enhance the uniform loading for attachment by restraining the lateral shrinkage in the natural state, while facilitate a flexible peeling for detachment by causing stress concentration in the bending state, yielding an adhesion switching ratio of ∼54 and a switching time of less than ∼0.2 s. This design is further integrated into versatile grippers, climbing robots, and human climbing grippers, demonstrating its robust scalability for a reversible strong adhesion. This biomimetic design bridges microscopic interfacial interactions with macroscopic controllable applications, providing a universal and feasible paradigm for adhesion design and control.

Deep learning-based methods have achieved remarkable performance in single image super-resolution. However, these methods cannot be effectively applied in stereoscopic image super-resolution without considering the characteristics of stereoscopic images. In this article, an interaction module-based stereoscopic image super-resolution network (IMSSRnet) is proposed to effectively utilize the correlation information in stereoscopic images. The key insight of the network lies with how to explore the complementary information of one view to help the reconstruction of another view. Thus, an interaction module is designed to acquire the enhanced features by utilizing complementary information between different views. Specifically, the interaction module is composed of a series of interaction units with a residual structure. In addition, the single image features of left and right views are obtained by a spatial feature extraction module, which can be realized by any existing single image super-resolution models. In order to obtain high-quality stereoscopic images, a gradient loss is introduced to preserve the texture details in a view, and a disparity loss is developed to constrain the disparity relationship between different views. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a promising performance and outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

Cotton is the main economically important crop in Xinjiang, China, but soil salinization and shortage of water and nutrients have restricted its production. A field experiment was carried out in the salinity-affected arid area of Northwest China from 2018 to 2019 to explore the effects of nitrogen and water regulation on physiological growth, yield, water and nitrogen use efficiencies, and economic benefit of cotton. The salinity levels were 7.7 (SL) and 12.5 dS/m (SM). Drip irrigation was used with low, medium and adequate irrigation levels representing 60%, 80% and 100% of cotton crop water demand, respectively, and three nitrogen applications, i.e., 206, 275 and 343 kg/hm2, accounting for 75%, 100% and 125% of local N application, respectively were used. The multi-objective optimization based on spatial analysis showed that, at SL salinity, water use efficiency (WUE), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), economic benefit and yield simultaneously reached more than 85% of their maxima at 379.18–398.32 mm irrigation and 256.69–308.87 kg/hm2. At SM salinity, WUE, yield and economic benefit simultaneously reached more than 85% of their maxima when irrigation was 351.24–376.30 mm and nitrogen application was 230.18–289.89 kg/hm2. NUE, yield and economic benefit simultaneously reached their maxima at 428.01–337.72 mm irrigation, and nitrogen application range was 222.14–293.93 kg/hm2. The plants at SL salinity had 21.58%–46.59% higher WUE rates, 14.91%–34.35% higher NUE rates and 20.71%–35.34% higher yields than those at SM salinity. The results are of great importance for the nutrient and water management in cotton field in the arid saline area.

It is critical to continously improve the hardware efficiency of deep neural network accelerators for its application on resource constrained platform. This brief proposes a lane shared bit-pragmatic architecture to address the synchronization induced performance bottleneck and hence further improve the performance and efficiency of bit-serial computing architecture. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed architecture are demonstrated by extensive evaluation results.

News happens all the time and many people have developed the habits of reading news. Among numerous news media, network media gets preference for its convenience and celerity. However, too much net-news results in information overload. So it is crucial to develop personalized news recommendation to help users pick up interesting news rapidly. With the growing of big news data and development of mobile internet, there are new chances and challenges in the domain of personalized news recommendation. Firstly, the challenges of personalized news recommendation are introduced. Secondly, an architecture of personalized news recommendation is proposed, which includes news profile, user profile, recommendation engine and user interface. Then based on this architecture, research development of each component is set forth. Thirdly, the methods of existing system of personalized news recommendation according with the architecture are displayed. Lastly, the datasets, evaluation methods, metrics and the possible research directions in the future are concluded.

The zinc injection process has been widely used in the primary coolant of PWR nuclear power plants. This study explored its effect in the water coolant of fusion reactors. The research uses the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) water-cooled experimental simulation circuit, with Fe3O4 particles as corrosion products. The deposition thickness of Fe3O4 on the wall of the stainless steel tube at temperatures from 80 °C to 150 °C was measured by a non-destructive online magnetic thickness measurement. The experimental results show that zinc injection has a significant inhibitory effect on the deposition of corrosion products on the tube wall, especially at the elbow. After adjusting the pH to the optimal value of 9, adding zinc can continue to reduce the thickness of the deposition layer. The results of the microscopic analysis indicated that the Zn injection formed a new dense surface oxide film and inhibited the deposition of Fe3O4 particles on the tube wall. The research results indicate that the chemical process of zinc injection water can be applied to the operation of the water-cooled fusion reactor in future.

Effects of inulin with short and long-chain on pasting, texture and rheological properties of sweet potato starch (SPS) were investigated. Subsequently, the interaction mechanism between inulin and SPS was discussed. Both short and long-chain inulin could decrease all the viscosity parameters and raise the pasting temperature (GT) of SPS-inulin mixes. With the increase of inulin addition, the hardness and gumminess of SPS gel decreased, while tan δ and temperature of G’ Max rose. Inulin could inhibit SPS granule swelling, and made SPS granules concentrate in the smaller ones. Inulin also remarkably lowered the content of leached amylose (p

Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia. High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) has been demonstrated to be involved in AF, but the genetic relationship between them is not clear yet. Here, we investigated the genetic association between functional variants in HMGB1 and AF in a Chinese Han population. Methods Two common variants (the promoter one rs1045411T/C and the 3'UTR one rs1412125C/T) in HMGB1 were selected and genotyped in 576 AF patients and 869 control subjects. Traditional risk factors, such as age, gender, the history of smoking, hypertension and diabetes mellitus, were adjusted as covariates using a logistic regression analysis (SPSS, v.21.0). The haplotypic analysis was performed using SPSS (v.21.0, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results Under the allelic association analysis, neither rs1045411T/C nor rs1412125C/T was associated with AF with all P values >0.05; under the genotypic association analysis, the 3'UTR variant rs1045411T showed a marginally significant association with AF under the recessive model (Padj=0.056, OR =0.42; 95% CI: 0.17-1.02). When divided the studied population by gender, we still found no significant association results between the selected variants and AF with P values more than 0.05; however, when divided the population into subgroups by the age onset of AF, we found that the 3'UTR variant rs1045411T was significantly associated with AF in the late-onset subgroup (Padj=0.009, OR =11.1; 95% CI: 1.82-50.0). Conclusions The 3'UTR variant rs1045411T/C of HMGB1 might influence the risk of late-onset AF in the Chinese Han population, which provides an important target factor for the prevention and treatment study of AF.

The development of new routes or materials to realize superlubricity under high contact pressure can result in energy-saving and reduction of emissions. In this study, superlubricity (μ = 0.0017) under extreme pressure (717 MPa, more than twice the previously reported liquid superlubricity) between the frictional pair of Si3N4/sapphire was achieved by prerunning-in with a H3PO4 (HP) solution followed by lubrication with an aqueous solution consisting of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and sodium chloride (NaCl). Under the same test condition, the aqueous PVA lubricant did not show superlubricity. Results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy indicate the formation of a PVA-adsorbed film at the frictional interface after lubrication with PVA but not after lubrication with PVA/NaCl, indicating competitive adsorption between hydrated Na+ ions and PVA molecules. The hydrated Na+ ions adsorbed preferentially to the solid surfaces, causing the transformation of the shear interface from a polymer film/polymer film to a solid/polymer film. Meanwhile, the hydrated Na+ ions also produced hydration repulsion force and induced low shear stress between the solid surfaces. Furthermore, NaCl increased the viscosity of the polymer lubricant, enhanced the hydrodynamic effect between interfaces, and decreased direct contact between the friction pair, causing a further reduction in friction. Thus, the superlubricity of the PVA/NaCl mixture is attributed to the combination of hydration and hydrodynamic effects. This study provides a novel route and mechanism for achieving extreme-pressure superlubricity at the macroscale, through the synergistic lubricating effect of hydrated ions and a polymer solution, propelling the industrial application of superlubricity.

Embedded capacitance materials have attracted tremendous attention because of their prominent merits in comparison with discrete capacitors. However, the currently used embedded capacitance materials are suffering technical problems such as limited electrical and mechanical performances, which can hardly adapt to the rapid developments of next-generation electronics. Here, we present an effective approach for improving the electrical and mechanical performances by adding two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) tungsten disulfide (WS2) nanoflakes into the barium titanate/epoxy resin (BT/ER) system. The anti-sedimentation capability, viscosity and film-formation capability of pastes synthesized by different kinds and amounts of fillers were investigated. The introduction of semiconducting WS2 nanoflakes can work as inner micro-electrodes and is beneficial to the dispersion of BT particles in ER matrix. The dielectric constant and the peel strength can be improved to 22.54 at 1 kHz and 9.4 N/mm, respectively. The restricted dielectric loss below 0.07 at 1 kHz can be accounted by the lower conductivity of WS2 nanoflakes. The introduction of WS2 nanoflakes into BT/ER system may provide new avenues for fabrication of advanced embedded capacitance materials. Further performance improvements may be achieved by optimizing the variety, structure and chemical properties of TMDCs.

Purpose The 3 D bioprinting technology is used to prepare the tissue engineering scaffold with precise structures for the cell proliferation and differentiation. Design/methodology/approach According to the characteristics of the ideal tissue engineering scaffold, the microstructural design of the tissue engineering scaffold is carried out. The bioprinter is used to fabricate the tissue engineering scaffold with different structures and spacing sizes. Finally, the scaffold with good connectivity is achieved and used to cell PC12 culture. Findings The results show that the pore structure with the line spacing of 1 mm was the best for cell culture, and the survival rate of the inoculated cells PC12 is as high as 90%. The influence of the pore shape on the cell survival is not evidence. Originality/value This study shows that tissue engineering scaffolds prepared by 3 D bioprinting have graded structure for three-dimensional cell culture, which lays the foundation for the later detection of drug resistance.

Zinc finger proteins are transcription factors with the finger domain, which plays a significant role in gene regulation. As the largest family of transcription factors in the human genome, zinc finger (ZNF) proteins are characterized by their different DNA binding motifs, such as C2H2 and Gag knuckle. Different kinds of zinc finger motifs exhibit a wide variety of biological functions. Zinc finger proteins have been reported in various diseases, especially in several cancers. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer-associated death worldwide, especially in China. Most of HCC patients have suffered from hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) injection for a long time. Although the surgical operation of HCC has been extremely developed, the prognosis of HCC is still very poor, and the underlying mechanisms in HCC tumorigenesis are still not completely understood. Here, we summarize multiple functions and recent research of zinc finger proteins in HCC tumorigenesis and progression. We also discuss the significance of zinc finger proteins in HCC diagnosis and prognostic evaluation.

Summary Xyloglucan is a prominent matrix heteropolysaccharide binding to cellulose microfibrils in primary plant cell walls. Hence, the hydrolysis of xyloglucan facilitates the overall lignocellulosic biomass degradation. Xyloglucanases (XEGs) are key enzymes classified in several glycoside hydrolase (GH) families. So far, family GH44 has been shown to contain bacterial XEGs only. Detailed genome analysis revealed GH44 members in fungal species from the phylum Basidiomycota, but not in other fungi, which we hypothesized to also be XEGs. Two GH44 enzymes from Dichomitus squalens and Pleurotus ostreatus were heterologously produced and characterized. They exhibited XEG activity and displayed a hydrolytic cleavage pattern different from that observed in fungal XEGs from other GH families. Specifically, the fungal GH44 XEGs were not hindered by substitution of neighboring glucosyl units and generated various “XXXG-type,” “GXXX(G)-type,” and “XXX-type” oligosaccharides. Overall, these fungal GH44 XEGs represent a novel class of enzymes for plant biomass conversion and valorization., Graphical abstract, Highlights • The fungal members of GH44 only belong to the phylum Basidiomycota • The characterized fungal GH44 xyloglucanases (XEGs) are xyloglucan-specific • These XEGs cleave xyloglucan at both sides of unsubstituted glucosyl units, Enzymology; Mycology; Biomass

The key to the text classification task is language representation and important information extraction, and there are many related studies. In recent years, the research on graph neural network (GNN) in text classification has gradually emerged and shown its advantages, but the existing models mainly focus on directly inputting words as graph nodes into the GNN models ignoring the different levels of semantic structure information in the samples. To address the issue, we propose a new hierarchical graph neural network (HieGNN) which extracts corresponding information from word-level, sentence-level and document-level respectively. Experimental results on several benchmark datasets achieve better or similar results compared to several baseline methods, which demonstrate that our model is able to obtain more useful information for classification from samples., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures

Additional file 1: Table S1. NMR Data for epicoccamide A (1). Table S2. Comparison of the signature residues for amino acid selection by adenylation (A) domains of fungal PKS-NRPS (NRPS). Figure S1. The 1H NMR spectrum of compound 1. Figure S2. The 13C NMR spectrum of compound 1. Figure S3. The 1H-1H COSY spectrum of compound 1 (in DMSO). Figure S4. The HSQC spectrum of compound 1 (in DMSO). Figure S5. The HMBC spectrum of compound 1 (in DMSO). Figure S6. HRESIMS spectrum of compound 1. Figure S7. ESI MS/MS (-) spectrum of compound 1.

As important polysaccharide degraders in nature, fungi can diversify their extensive set of carbohydrate-active enzymes to survive in ecological habitats of various composition. Among these enzymes, xylanolytic ones can efficiently and sustainably degrade xylans into (fermentable) monosaccharides to produce valuable chemicals or fuels from, for example relevant for upgrading agro-food industrial side streams. Moreover, xylanolytic enzymes are being used in various industrial applications beyond biomass saccharification, e.g. food, animal feed, biofuel, pulp and paper. As a reference for researchers working in related areas, this review summarized the current knowledge on substrate specificity of xylanolytic enzymes from different families of the Carbohydrate-Active enZyme database. Additionally, the diversity of enzyme sets in fungi were discussed by comparing the number of genes encoding xylanolytic enzymes in selected fungal genomes. Finally, to support bio-economy, the current applications of fungal xylanolytic enzymes in industry were reviewed.

Bending angle is an important parameter in multi-pass roll forming. However, in actual manufacturing, there is still a lack of theoretical guidance; hence, rebound defects are commonly observed. In this paper, a bending angle distribution function with an optimized segmented boundary combination is proposed to improve the forming quality and reduce the rebound defects in multi-pass roll forming. For cap-shaped sheets, COPRA, a roll-bending simulation software, is used to investigate the bending angle distribution to optimize the process of cap-shaped roll-bending. Furthermore, the stress and strain distributions in the sheets after each forming pass is analyzed using finite element simulation. The influence law of different bending angle parameters on the quality of sheets is obtained. The finite element simulation is verified by comparing the experimental results of the change law of rebound defects of cap-shaped parts under different bending angle distribution conditions. Based on the segmented boundary combination of bending angle optimization functions, the stress and strain distributions in the sheets during roll-bending forming of the cap-shaped parts are improved, the rebound defects in the bending area are smaller, and the forming quality is better than the other bending angle distribution methods. Published version The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51705295), Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China (ZR2018MEE022), and Support Program for Youth Innovation Technology in Colleges and Universities of Shandong Province (2019KJB015).

White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) represent the most common neuroimaging marker of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD). The volume and location of WMHs are important clinical measures. We present a pipeline using deep fully convolutional network and ensemble models, combining U‐Net, SE‐Net, and multi‐scale features, to automatically segment WMHs and estimate their volumes and locations. We evaluated our method in two datasets: a clinical routine dataset comprising 60 patients (selected from Chinese National Stroke Registry, CNSR) and a research dataset composed of 60 patients (selected from MICCAI WMH Challenge, MWC). The performance of our pipeline was compared with four freely available methods: LGA, LPA, UBO detector, and U‐Net, in terms of a variety of metrics. Additionally, to access the model generalization ability, another research dataset comprising 40 patients (from Older Australian Twins Study and Sydney Memory and Aging Study, OSM), was selected and tested. The pipeline achieved the best performance in both research dataset and the clinical routine dataset with DSC being significantly higher than other methods (p, We present a pipeline using deep fully convolutional network and ensemble models, combining U‐Net, SE‐Net and multi‐scale features, to automatically segment white matter hyperintensities from magnetic resonance imaging scans. We evaluated our method in two datasets: a clinical routine dataset comprising 60 patients and a research dataset composed of 60 patients. The results showed that the pipeline achieved the best performance in both research dataset and the clinical routine dataset with DSC being significantly higher than other methods (p

In vitro and in vivo trials were conducted to assess the biocontrol efficacy of the tea prepared from maize straw compost against Verticillium wilt of strawberry caused by Verticillium dahliae and the mechanisms involved in suppression of the phytopathogen. The compost tea used in the present study inhibited the mycelial growth and conidial germination of V. dahliae by 90.60% and 78.24%, respectively. However, sterilization of compost tea by autoclaving diminished the inhibitory effect, suggesting that microflora in the compost tea play a pivotal role in the prevention of Verticillium wilt. The elongation of germ tubes was suppressed by filter-sterilized compost tea and revealed the presence of thermolabile and low molecular weight antifungal substances in the compost tea. Greenhouse trials indicated that preventive application of compost tea on strawberry plants exhibited control efficacy of 41.85% against Verticillium wilt. Moreover, the compost tea treatment could induce resistance in the primed state, which led to enhanced production of defense-related enzymes in strawberry plants upon pathogen attack. Our results demonstrated that direct inhibition of V. dahliae by microorganisms and induction of plant defense response are main mechanisms involved in compost tea-based disease suppression.

Xinxin Li,1,* Dongming Guo,1,* Lingyu Chu,2 Yiteng Huang,3 Feiran Zhang,1 Wei Li,1 Juntian Chen1 1Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Health Care Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Juntian ChenDepartment of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, 57 Changping Road, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +86 754 8890 5256Email 13809846668@163.comPurpose: To evaluate the diagnostic value of combining the neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet–lymphocyte ratio (PLR) or lymphocyte–monocyte ratio (LMR) with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).Patients and methods: The diagnostic performance of inflammatory makers and CEA was evaluated in cohort 1 (664 patients with CRC, 336 patients with colorectal polyps and 664 healthy controls) and validated in cohort 2 (87 patients with CRC and 87 healthy controls) by using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.Results: In cohort 1, the NLR, PLR and CEA levels were significantly higher, while the LMR was markedly lower in patients with CRC than in healthy controls. The PLR and LMR were significantly associated with invasion depth and lymph node metastasis. Moreover, significant differences in the PLR and LMR were observed between patients with stage I/II CRC and healthy or polyp controls and those with stage III/IV CRC. Using the NLR, PLR or LMR with CEA resulted in a significantly larger area under the curve (AUC) than any of them used alone. Combining the PLR and LMR with CEA exhibited the best diagnostic value for CRC (AUC=0.892). The AUCs of this combination were 0.864 and 0.783 for distinguishing stage I/II CRC from healthy and polyp controls, respectively. When we used the same cut-off values to assess the diagnostic ability of these markers in cohort 2, similar results were observed, and the PLR, LMR and CEA combination also showed the highest accuracy (AUC=0.936).Conclusion: Combining inflammatory cell ratios with CEA could improve the diagnostic efficacy for CRC patients. The combination of the PLR and LMR with CEA might be a valuable indicator in the early detection and monitoring of CRC patients.Keywords: colorectal cancer, neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio, platelet–lymphocyte ratio, lymphocyte–monocyte ratio, carcinoembryonic antigen, diagnosis

In this work, composite materials with nonlinear conductivity are used to enable grading of the electric field distribution along polymeric outdoor insulators, particularly near the high-voltage and ground terminals. A ZnO spherical microvaristor/carbon fiber (CF)/ silicone rubber (SR) composite is used as the field grading material (FGM). Finite element method-based numerical simulations are performed to analyze the electric field distributions of 220 and 500 kV composite insulators when the nonlinear conductivity type composite material is used. The 220 and 500 kV composite insulators are fabricated based on the results of the simulations and optical electric field sensors are used to measure their electric field distributions under normal operating conditions. The electric field distribution along the composite insulators are shown to be improved through use of the FGM, and the simulation results are consistent with the experimental results. These graded electric field distributions may reduce the degradation of the polymer materials used in composite insulators and extend their lifetimes. In addition, the dry flashover voltages of insulators with FGMs are higher than those of traditional insulators.

The model-based approach has been widely applied to the design of software. However, most of these approaches depend on simulation and manual code implementation, which reduces the efficiency and quality of software. In this paper, we present a new model-based approach, which automatically generates the executable C++ code running on the popular Robot Operation System (ROS). Our approach consists of three phases: modeling, verification, and automatic code generation. In the modeling phase, the internal interaction behaviors of robot systems are modeled as a network of timed automata. In the verification phase, the safety requirements are formalized and verified. In the code generation phase, a code generation tool can generate executable C++ code from the verified timed automata model. It bridges the gap between the formal model and the error-prone system implementation. Compared with existing method, the code generator provides the abstractions and mapping of ROS instructions, which realize the seamless connection between the generated code and ROS. The tool also supports most of the complex structures and advanced features of timed automata such as timer, committed location, and synchronous action. For evaluation, a real-industrial robot application of grasping a cup is conducted using our model-based design method, and the generated code can be directly deployed and successfully accomplishes the grasping task.

We report on the establishment of a framework to determine the value of the pressure-related atomic diffusion coefficient, D, and its use. Moreover, we clarify the underlying relationships between the as-determined D and the active densification mechanisms during crystalline powder sintering. During spark plasma sintering, the theoretical framework is validated by comparing the densification behaviors of Ti40.6Zr9.4Cu37.5Ni9.4Sn3.1 crystalline alloy powders with two types of particle sizes. Our results demonstrate quantitatively that the superimposition of an applied pressure enhances the atomic diffusion to promote densification during crystalline powder sintering.

Agronomically optimizing the timing and rates of nitrogen (N) fertilizer application can increase crop yield and decrease N loss to the environment. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)–peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) relay intercropping systems are a mainstay of economic and food security in China. We performed a field experiment to investigate the effects of N fertilizer on N recovery efficiency, crop yield, and N loss rate in wheat–peanut relay intercropping systems in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, China during 2015–2017. The N was applied on the day before sowing, the jointing stage (G30) or the booting stage (G40) of winter wheat, and the anthesis stage (R1) of peanut in the following percentage splits: 50-50-0-0 (N1), 35-35-0-30 (N2), and 35-0-35-30 (N3), using 300 kg N ha−1, with 0 kg N ha−1 (N0) as control. 15N-labeled (20.14 atom %) urea was used to trace the fate of N in microplots. The yields of wheat and peanut increased by 12.4% and 15.4% under the N2 and N3 treatments, relative to those under the N1 treatment. The 15N recovery efficiencies (15NRE) were 64.9% and 58.1% for treatments N2 and N3, significantly greater than that for the N1 treatment (45.3%). The potential N loss rates for the treatments N2 and N3 were 23.7% and 7.0%, significantly lower than that for treatment N1 (30.1%). Withholding N supply until the booting stage (N3) did not reduce the wheat grain yield; however, it increased the N content derived from 15N-labeled urea in peanuts, promoted the distribution of 15N to pods, and ultimately increased pod yields in comparison with those obtained by topdressing N at jointing stage (N2). In comparison with N2, the N uptake and N recovery efficiency (NRE) of N3 was increased by 12.0% and 24.1%, respectively, while the apparent N loss decreased by 16.7%. In conclusion, applying N fertilizer with three splits and delaying topdressing fertilization until G40 of winter wheat increased total grain yields and NRE and reduced N loss. This practice could be an environment-friendly N management strategy for wheat–peanut relay intercropping systems in China. Keywords: Nitrogen management, Wheat–peanut relay intercropping system, Crop yield, Nitrogen recovery efficiency, Apparent N loss

Electro-biological particle electrode (EBPE) prepared by lithium slag was used to remove salicylic acid in a three-dimensional electrocatalytic biological coupling reactor (3D-EBCR). The physical and chemical properties of the EBPE, the removal performance of salicylic acid and the degradation mechanism were studied. Results revealed as follows: (1) the EBPE prepared by lithium slag contained effective catalytic components including Fe2O3, SnO2, ZnO, MnO, Rb2O and TiO2, with stable structure and good adsorption performance; (2) the 3D-EBCR with EBPE had strong adaptability to the current intensity in the range of 0.25-0.40 A, and the removal rates of COD and salicylic acid were maintained above 87.1% and 85.2% respectively; (3) salicylic acid was removed through the synergistic action of adsorption, electrochemical oxidation and biological action.

To maximise the educational value of a film as educational material for facilitating transformative learning, it requires educators to evaluate the film in the first place. However, there is a lack of evaluation guideline or framework provided for educators. Thus, this study aims to link film education with transformative learning and develop a framework to evaluate a film as educational material for facilitating transformative learning. By studying a selected film as an example, this study also contributes to providing a research-based systematic analysis of the selected film to create its related learning material further. This study employed the design inclusive user experience research method to develop an evaluation framework for film education as transformative learning by applying the topic-specific two-step approach for user experience research with student teachers on visual arts. This study is based on the collaboration of a film education institute, Koulukino. A selected film as public educational material provided by Koulukino was studied as an example to develop the evaluation framework. The data were collected from reflection notes of film appreciation, pedagogical idea-sharing documents, and semi-constructive interviews. The data were analysed with the thematical analysis method. The findings revealed that film education and transformative learning could be integrated into a dual learning process with three main learning stages: facing problem stage, up-taking stage, and breaking out stage. The evaluation framework was formulated as five steps: first, film appreciation and writing reflection based on reflection note; second, mapping and matching useful elements to the integration model; third, creating or adapting the film's learning material; fourth, peer discussing meeting for revising the film's learning material; fifth, writing teaching reflection on the practice result of the film and its learning material. This study only completed step one of the topic-specific two-step approach for user experience research to generate the evaluation framework due to time limitation. Further study is needed to test the efficacy of the evaluation framework. In the future study, it is suggested that putting the evaluation framework into practice among educators to test its feasibility and improve its flaws by continuing the step-two of the topic-specific two-step approach for user experience research method to develop the positive user experience.

Additional file 1.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale curtisi, P.ovale wallikeri, P. malariae and P. knowlesi mtDNA sequences, P. vivax 18S rRNA sequences and P. ovale curtisi, P. ovale wallikeri 18S rDNA sequences.

The present study focuses on the inhibitory effect of volatile metabolites released by Bacillus velezensis CT32 on Verticillium dahliae and Fusarium oxysporum, the causal agents of strawberry vascular wilt. The CT32 strain was isolated from maize straw compost tea and identified as B. velezensis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Bioassays conducted in sealed plates revealed that the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by the strain CT32 possessed broad-spectrum antifungal activity against eight phytopathogenic fungi. The volatile profile of strain CT32 was obtained by headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 30 volatile compounds were identified, six of which have not previously been detected in bacteria or fungi: (Z)-5-undecene, decyl formate, 2,4-dimethyl-6-tert-butylphenol, dodecanenitrile, 2-methylpentadecane and 2,2&rsquo, 5,5&rsquo, tetramethyl-1,1&rsquo, biphenyl. Pure compounds were tested in vitro for their inhibitory effect on the mycelial growth of V. dahliae and F. oxysporum. Decanal, benzothiazole, 3-undecanone, 2-undecanone, 2-undecanol, undecanal and 2,4-dimethyl-6-tert-butylphenol showed high antifungal activity, with benzothiazole and 2,4-dimethyl-6-tert-butylphenol being the most potent compounds. These results indicate that the VOCs produced by B. velezensis CT32 have the potential to be used as a biofumigant for management of vascular wilt pathogens.

Formaldehyde (FA) in food is harmful to human health, an effective detecting tool is highly desired especially for the on-site test. Herein, an amperometric aqueous FA sensor was fabricated by applying Pt–Ag core-shell nanoparticles as electrocatalyst. The well-characterized core-shell nanostructure exhibits high electro-catalytical activity for the detection of FA molecules in solution due to the synergistic effect of bimetallic Pt–Ag nanostructure. The proposed sensor exhibits high FA sensing performance, with a linear detection range from 1 to 100 μM and a limit of detection (LOD) down to 1.0 μM on the optimized conditions. Interferents coexisting in food samples were efficiently minimized by good selectivity. The Pt–Ag nanostructure-based FA sensor keeps catalytical activity for at least 30 d and shows good batch reproducibility. The proposed sensor was applied for the detection of FA in the food samples and satisfactory results were obtained, showing potential for the fast, simple, disposable, and cost-effective FA detecting method for food safety.

Efficient bioconversion of agro-industrial side streams requires a wide range of enzyme activities. Glycoside Hydrolase family 30 (GH30) is a diverse family that contains various catalytic functions and has so far been divided into ten subfamilies (GH30_1-10). In this study, a GH30 phylogenetic tree using over 150 amino acid sequences was contructed. The members of GH30 cluster into four subfamilies and eleven candidates from these subfamilies were selected for biochemical characterization. Novel enzyme activities were identified in GH30. GH30_3 enzymes possess β-(1→6)-glucanase activity. GH30_5 targets β-(1→6)-galactan with mainly β-(1→6)-galactobiohydrolase catalytic behavior. β-(1→4)-Xylanolytic enzymes belong to GH30_7 targeting β-(1→4)-xylan with several activities (e.g. xylobiohydrolase, endoxylanase). Additionally, a new fungal subfamily in GH30 was proposed, i.e. GH30_11, which displays β-(1→6)-galactobiohydrolase. This study confirmed that GH30 fungal subfamilies harbor distinct polysaccharide specificity and have high potential for the production of short (non-digestible) di- and oligosaccharides.

Significant advances in face recognition tasks have been made with the development of convolutional neural networks. With large scale convolutional neural networks we are now able to achieve 99% accuracy on many public face test sets. However, the face recognition networks commonly used for mobile are limited by their narrow network width which makes it difficult to learn better distributed features in face recognition feature embedding learning. In this work, based on MobileFaceNets we propose an attention-guided hierarchical feature fusion model. Compared with the traditional cascading convolutional neural network classification model, our approach can explicitly consider both global and local features. And our approach requires only a small increase in computation to obtain better results than directly increasing the feature dimension.

Objectives Utilization of self-pay vaccines worldwide is very low, especially in China; the reasons for this are unclear. We aimed to identify factors that impact the decision among Chinese mothers to utilize self-pay vaccines for their children. Methods Mothers who were hospitalized at two hospitals in Zhanjiang City and who agreed to participate by completing the required questionnaire were eligible for this study. Results In total, 7518 respondents (n = 7592) completed the questionnaire and were included in this survey. The self-pay option was largely elected by mothers with one child, compared with those who had two or more children. Similarly, utilization by workers at government agencies and organizations was higher than that among factory workers or unemployed respondents. Mothers with a college degree or above had higher utilization than those with a high school level education or lower. The main issues affecting maternal decisions to utilize self-pay pediatric vaccines were safety, the protective effect, and the high cost. Conclusion Mothers with higher socioeconomic status were more inclined to self-pay for pediatric vaccines. Steps taken to enhance public awareness about the safety and protective benefits of self-pay vaccines, as well as lowering their cost will likely encourage broader utilization of these vaccines.

Grapes are the most important cash crop in Xinjiang. However, the effective utilization of agricultural water and fertilizer in this area is relatively low, which is very unfavourable for the development of Xinjiang grape industry. At present, there is a lack of research based on multi-objective water and fertilizer optimization to guide grape production. Field experiments were thus conducted over three consecutive years (2015–2017) to study the effects of water and fertilizer coupling on the yield, fruit quality, water use efficiency (WUE), fertilizer partial productivity (PFP), and net profits of Vitis vinifera cv. “Frey” grapes in northern Xinjiang. The optimum input range of water and fertilizer for multi-objective optimization were determined by using multiple regression and spatial analysis. Five levels of N–P2O5–K2O (180–225–495, 240–300–660, 300–375–825, 360–450–990, 420–525–1155 kg ha−1) were set up in the experiment, designated F60 %, F80 %, F100 %, F120 %, and F140 %, respectively. Three drip irrigation levels were designated W60 %, W80 %, W100 %, accounting for 60 %, 80 %, and 100 % of the ETc (where ETc denotes evapotranspiration under sufficient water supply for crops). The results show that at the same fertilization level, the leaf area index (LAI), vitamin C content, titratable acid, soluble solids content, dry matter yield, grape yield, PFP, and net profit increased with an increase in irrigation. They reached their maximum under full irrigation (W100 %). Compared to W80 % and W60 % irrigation levels, the WUE at a full (W100 %) irrigation was lower, but the PFP was the highest. The maximum grape bunch weight over three years was 407, 383, and 378 g, respectively. The highest harvest index (HI) was 0.460, 0.425, and 0.416, respectively. When the irrigation range was 334–348 mm and the N–P2O5–K2O fertilization range was 320–400–880∼392–490–1077 kg ha−1, the grape yield, net profit, WUE, vitamin C content, titratable acid content, and soluble solids content of the fruits reached more than 90 % of their maximum values simultaneously. The results of this research provide a scientific reference for water and fertilizer management of drip irrigation in Xinjiang vineyards.Grapes are the most important cash crop in Xinjiang. However, the effective utilization of agricultural water and fertilizer in this area is relatively low, which is very unfavourable for the development of Xinjiang grape industry. At present, there is a lack of research based on multi-objective water and fertilizer optimization to guide grape production. Field experiments were thus conducted over three consecutive years (2015–2017) to study the effects of water and fertilizer coupling on the yield, fruit quality, water use efficiency (WUE), fertilizer partial productivity (PFP), and net profits of Vitis vinifera cv. “Frey” grapes in northern Xinjiang. The optimum input range of water and fertilizer for multi-objective optimization were determined by using multiple regression and spatial analysis. Five levels of N–P2O5–K2O (180–225–495, 240–300–660, 300–375–825, 360–450–990, 420–525–1155 kg ha−1) were set up in the experiment, designated F60 %, F80 %, F100 %, F120 %, and F140 %, respectively. Three drip irrigation levels were designated W60 %, W80 %, W100 %, accounting for 60 %, 80 %, and 100 % of the ETc (where ETc denotes evapotranspiration under sufficient water supply for crops). The results show that at the same fertilization level, the leaf area index (LAI), vitamin C content, titratable acid, soluble solids content, dry matter yield, grape yield, PFP, and net profit increased with an increase in irrigation. They reached their maximum under full irrigation (W100 %). Compared to W80 % and W60 % irrigation levels, the WUE at a full (W100 %) irrigation was lower, but the PFP was the highest. The maximum grape bunch weight over three years was 407, 383, and 378 g, respectively. The highest harvest index (HI) was 0.460, 0.425, and 0.416, respectively. When the irrigation range was 334–348 mm and the N–P2O5–K2O fertilization range was 320–400–880∼392–490–1077 kg ha−1, the grape yield, net profit, WUE, vitamin C content, titratable acid content, and soluble solids content of the fruits reached more than 90 % of their maximum values simultaneously. The results of this research provide a scientific reference for water and fertilizer management of drip irrigation in Xinjiang vineyards.

Background: Through this analysis, we aimed to systematically compare the cardiovascular outcomes observed in patients with co-existing coronary artery disease (CAD) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: Mendeley, Web of Science (WOS), MEDLINE, Cochrane central, EMBASE, Google scholar, and http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov were searched for English-based publications on CAD and RA. Selective cardiovascular outcomes were the endpoints in this analysis. The statistical software RevMan 5.3 was used for data assessment. Risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to represent each subgroup analysis. Results: One thousand four hundred forty six (1446) participants had co-existing CAD and RA whereas 205,575 participants were in the control group (only CAD without RA). This current analysis showed that the risk of asymptomatic or stable angina was similar in CAD patients with versus without RA (RR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.84 – 1.14; P = .78). However, all-cause mortality (RR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.34 – 1.61; P = 0.00001), cardiac death (RR: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.05 – 2.17; P = .03) and congestive heart failure (RR: 1.41, 95% CI: 1.27 – 1.56; P = .00001) were significantly higher in CAD patients with RA. However, multi-vessel disease (RR: 2.03, 95% CI: 0.57 – 7.26; P = .28), positive stress test (RR: 1.69, 95% CI: 0.70 – 4.08; P = .24), and ischemic events (RR: 1.18, 95% CI: 0.81 – 1.71; P = .40) were similar in both groups. The risk for myocardial infarction, repeated revascularization, and the probability of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (RR: 1.20, 95% CI: 0.75 – 1.93; P = .45) were also similar in CAD patients with versus without RA. When we considered outcomes only in those patients who underwent revascularization by PCI, all-cause mortality (RR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.29 – 1.60; P = .00001) was still significantly higher in CAD patients with RA. Conclusions: This analysis showed a significantly higher mortality risk in CAD patients with RA when compared to the control group. Congestive heart failure also significantly manifested more in CAD patients with co-existing RA. However, the risks all the other cardiovascular outcomes were similar in both groups. Nevertheless, due to the several limitations of this analysis, this hypothesis should be confirmed in forthcoming trials based on larger numbers of CAD patients with co-existing RA.