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Addressing the rise in global temperatures and the associated increase in greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, is a critical challenge necessitating innovative approaches within the building sector, a significant contributor to worldwide carbon emissions. While previous studies have demonstrated the prefabrication's potential in reducing emissions, comprehensive assessments using actual project data for buildings constructed entirely with modular methods in Hong Kong are lacking. This study bridges this gap by evaluating the modular integrated construction (MiC) method through an embodied carbon assessment of the Kai Tak Community Isolation Facility. Using comprehensive project data from China State Construction (HK) Limited, the research conducts a comparative analysis between the actual emissions of the MiC method and those of a hypothetical conventional construction approach. Quantitative analysis reveals that MiC achieves a 20.7% reduction in embodied carbon, primarily due to shortened construction timelines, decreased waste generation, and optimized material usage. This significant reduction suggests substantial potential for decreasing the construction industry's carbon footprint. The study provides empirical evidence supporting the environmental benefits of MiC in Hong Kong construction industry, promoting its broader adoption of MiC as a strategy for achieving carbon reduction targets. The findings align with Hong Kong's carbon neutrality goals and contribute to the global initiative to mitigate the effects of climate change., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Lanthanum (La(III)) is recognized for its ability to mitigate heavy metal stress in plants. However, the inorganic La(III) salts and lanthanum oxide nanoparticles (La 2 O 3 NPs) extensively used in agriculture are prone to soil immobilization, thereby compromising their bioavailability and posing environmental risks. This study synthesized and characterized the lanthanum(III)-amino acid chelate (La(III)-AA) from soybean protein isolate (SPI) hydrolysates. Maximum chelating rate (94.95%) was achieved under the conditions of mole ratio 1:1.5, pH 8.0, 50 ℃ and 5 h. Glu, Asp and Pro represent the primary La(III)-binding ligands. UV-vis and FTIR demonstrated that amino nitrogen and carboxyl oxygen participate in metal-ligand recognition. Scanning and Transmission electron microscopy showed that La(III) chelates with amino acids in a core-shell structure of uniform size. Consequently, a proposed chemical structure for the La(III)-AA complex was presented. A concentration of 20 mg/L La(III)-AA outperforms inorganic La salts in growth promotion and Cu detoxification. La(III)-AA significantly reduces the content of Cu (II) in rice tissues and enhances seedling tolerance to Cu (II) stress. This study provides a novel La(III)-based candidate for crop protection and furthers our understanding of rare earth element-induced mitigation of heavy metal stress., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative disease characterized by articular cartilage destruction and subchondral bone reconstruction in the early stages. Bergenin (Ber) is a cytoprotective polyphenol found in many medicinal plants. It has been proven to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and other biological activities, which may reveal its potential role in the treatment of OA. This study aimed to determine the potential efficacy of Ber in treating OA and explore the possible underlying mechanism through network pharmacology and validation experiments. The potential co-targets and processes of Ber and OA were predicted by using network pharmacology, including a Venn diagram for intersection targets, a protein‒protein interaction (PPI) network to obtain key potential targets, and GO and KEGG pathway enrichment to reveal the probable mechanism of action of Ber on OA. Subsequently, validation experiments were carried out to investigate the effects and mechanisms of Ber in treating OA in vitro and vivo. Ber suppressed IL-1β-induced chondrocyte apoptosis and extracellular matrix catabolism by inhibiting the STAT3, NF-κB and Jun signalling pathway in vitro. Furthermore, Ber suppressed the expression of osteoclast marker genes and RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis. Ber alleviated the progression of OA in DMM-induced OA mice model. These results demonstrated the protective efficacy and potential mechanisms of Ber against OA, which suggested that Ber could be adopted as a potential therapeutic agent for treating OA., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Pregestational diabetes mellitus (PGDM) has an impact on fetal bone formation, but the underlying mechanism is still obscure. Although miRNAs have been extensively investigated throughout bone formation, their effects on fetal bone development caused by PGDM still need clarification. This study intends to examine the mechanism by which hyperglycemia impairs the bone formation of offspring via miR-322-5p (miR-322). In this study, miR-322 was selected by systemically screening utilizing bioinformatics and subsequent validation experiments. Using streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice and ATDC5 cell lines, we found that miR-322 was abundantly expressed in the proliferative and hypertrophic zones of the growth plate, and its expression pattern was disturbed in the presence of hyperglycemia, suggesting that miR-322 is involved in the chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation in absence/presence of hyperglycemia. This observation was proved by manipulating miR-322 expression in ATDC5 cells by transfecting mimic and inhibitor of miR-322. Furthermore, Adamts5, Col12a1, and Cbx6 were identified as the potential target genes of miR-322, verified by the co-transfection of miR-322 inhibitor and the siRNAs, respectively. The evaluation criteria are the chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation and their relevant key gene expressions (proliferation: Sox9 and PthIh; differentiation: Runx2 and Col10a1) after manipulating the gene expressions in ATDC5 cells. This study revealed the regulative role miR-322 on chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation of growth plate by targeting Adamts5, Col12a1, and Cbx6 in hyperglycemia during pregnancy. This translational potential represents a promising avenue for advancing our understanding of bone-related complications in diabetic pregnancy and mitigating bone deficiencies in diabetic pregnant individuals, improving maternal and fetal outcomes., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The aging of Pb added to soils has not been studied by the isotopic technology because of difficulties in determination of isotopically exchangeable Pb in soil, so that a set of 10 typical agricultural soils in China and a one-year aging experiment with the addition of water-soluble Pb to the soils were carried out. A modified stable isotope dilution technique to determine isotopically exchangeable Pb in soil was developed where 0.2 mM EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) as the extractant. When water-soluble Pb was added to soil, the isotopically exchangeable Pb (E add %, the percentage of isotopically exchangeable Pb to total Pb added to soil) initially decreased rapidly and gradually slowly. A semi-mechanistic aging model of Pb added to soils, including precipitation/nucleation (Y 1 ), micropore diffusion (Y 2 ), and organic matter encapsulation processes (Y 3 ) was developed with the root mean square error 8.3% where Y 1 , Y 2 , and Y 3 accounted for 0.02~26.9%, 1.4~21.8% and 3.8~11.3%, respectively, when the pH 4.0~8.0 and organic matter 2.0~6.0%. Soil pH was a vital factor affecting the aging rate. When the pH increased by 1 unit, the E add value decreased by approximately 9%. The model could be used to scale ecotoxicological data of Pb in soil generated in different aging times., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Observational studies have shown that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is strongly associated with metabolic dysfunction. However, there is a paucity of research on whether changes in indicators of serum metabolism contribute to the development of NAFLD. This study was conducted with 4084 participants who underwent healthy physical examinations at Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 2022 and 2023. Baseline and follow-up measurements, including anthropometric data, abdominal ultrasound and blood samples were collected. The diagnosis of NAFLD was based on the 2010 Chinese Guidelines on Diagnosis and Treatment of NAFLD. Multiple logistic regression was utilized to analyze the odds ratios (ORs) for the 1-year risk of NAFLD in connection with both baseline metabolic indicators and changes in metabolic indicators observed over the course of 1 year. A total of 3425 study participants who were free of NAFLD at baseline, including 1146 men and 2279 women, were included in the final analysis. The mean age was 34.43 ± 7.20 years. Participants who developed NAFLD were older, male and had higher levels of body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, fasting blood glucose (FBG), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), free triiodothyronine (fT3), uric acid (UA), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST); and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and free thyroxine (fT4) (all P values < 0.05). The multivariable model showed that baseline BMI, diastolic blood pressure (DBP), TG, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, UA, fT4, fT3, ALT and changes in TG, HDL-C, and UA were associated with the 1-year risk of developing NAFLD. The risk of NAFLD increased by 56% [OR 1.56, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.32-1.87] and 40% (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.19-1.64) for each standard deviation (SD) increase in altered TG values (1.01 mmol/L) and altered UA values (55 µmol/L) respectively. Conversely, for each SD (0.27 mmol/L) increase in HDL-C change, the 1-year risk of incident NAFLD was reduced by 50% (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.40-0.62). The present study suggested that increases in TG and UA, and decreases in HDL-C, significantly increase the risk of developing NAFLD. Therefore, more attention should be paid to these factors in the management and prevention of NAFLD., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Our previous research found that fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and inulin synergistically affected the intestinal barrier and immune system function in chicks. However, does it promote the early immunity of the poultry gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT)? How does it regulate the immunity? We evaluated immune-related indicators in the serum, cecal tonsil, and intestine to determine whether FMT synergistic inulin had a stronger impact on gut health and which gene expression regulation was affected. The results showed that FMT synergistic inulin increased TGF-β secretion and intestinal goblet cell number and MUC2 expression on day 14. Expression of BAFFR, PAX5, CXCL12, and IL-2 on day 7 and expression of CXCR4 and IL-2 on day 14 in the cecal tonsils significantly increased. The transcriptome indicated that CD28 and CTLA4 were important regulatory factors in intestinal immunity. Correlation analysis showed that differential genes were related to the immunity and development of the gut and cecal tonsil. FMT synergistic inulin promoted the development of GALT, which improved the early-stage immunity of the intestine by regulating CD28 and CTLA4. This provided new measures for replacing antibiotic use and reducing the use of therapeutic drugs while laying a technical foundation for achieving anti-antibiotic production of poultry products., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Accurate prediction of regional terrestrial water storage change (TWSA) is of great significance for water resources planning and management, and early warning of extreme climate disasters. Aiming at the problem that the conventional methods on prediction of TWSA time series are difficult to be accurate, the six typical regions are selected in China as examples, including the upper reaches of the Yangtze River (UYR), the southwest region (SWR), the Liaohe River Basin (LRB), the North China Plain (NCP), the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), and the Pearl River Basin (PRB). The mascon product from GRACE/GRACE-FO provided by CSR is used to extract TWSA time series in six typical areas. The improved Back Propagation (BP) neural network, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network and the latest Bidirectional LSTM (BiLSTM-attention) neural network model based on attention mechanism are proposed to predict and analyze the regional TWSA. In the experiment, the selection of the optimal model parameters such as the number of hidden layer nodes and the number of hidden units of the neural network model is tested and analyzed in detail. Meanwhile, the model prediction results are compared with the traditional least squares method and random forest (RF) prediction method. The root mean square error (RMSE), determination coefficient (R 2 ), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) were used to evaluate the accuracy of the predicted results. The results show that the improved BP, LSTM and Bi-LSTM-attention neural network models all achieve higher prediction accuracy in UYR and SWR areas. RMSE is less than 2.641 cm, R 2 is as high as 0.8 or more, NSE is above 0.6, and MAPE is within 0.1. Compared with the least square method, the RMSE of the predicted results from three neural network decreased by 0.998 cm, 0.700 cm and 0.7563 on average, and the R 2 increased by 81.75%, 69.89% and 72% on average. Compared with RFML method, the RMSE from three neural network is reduced by 0.601 cm, 0.316 cm and 0.360, and R 2 is increased by 38.20%, 24.60% and 27.06% on average. NSE and RMSE are improved to varying degrees in the above regions. It shows that the improved BP, LSTM and BiLSTM-attention model used can effectively predict TWSA. The research methods and results in this paper can provide important reference for the rational utilization of regional water resources and disaster risk assessment., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The Apple polysaccharides (AP), extracted from the fruit of apple, has been used to treat multiple pathological diseases. In this study, we evaluated the effects of AP on cognitive impairment and intestinal aging in naturally aging mice. As a result, it was found that AP could improve spatial learning and memory impairment in aging mice through the Morris water maze experiment. Additionally, AP intervention can upregulate the expression of nerve growth factor (BDNF), postsynaptic marker (PSD95), and presynaptic marker (SYP) proteins. Moreover, AP can enhance total antioxidant capacity, reduce the level of pro-inflammatory cytokine, and inhibit the activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway, exerting anti-inflammatory and antioxidant functions. And the administration of AP restored intestinal mucosal barrier function, reduced the expression of aging and apoptosis related proteins. The administration of AP also altered the gut microbiota of mice. At the genus level, AP decreased the abundance of Helicobacter and Bilophila, while increased the abundance of Lactobacillus and Bacteroides. In summary, these data demonstrate that AP treatment can alleviate cognitive impairment, oxidative stress, and inflammatory reactions, repair the intestinal mucosal barrier, reduce intestinal aging, and alter specific microbial characteristics, ultimately improving the health of the elderly., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) has been demonstrated to be an important prognostic and predictive marker in glioblastoma (GBM). To establish a reliable radiomics model based on MRI data to predict the MGMT promoter methylation status of GBM. A total of 183 patients with glioblastoma were included in this retrospective study. The visually accessible Rembrandt images (VASARI) features were extracted for each patient, and a total of 14676 multi-region features were extracted from enhanced, necrotic, "non-enhanced, and edematous" areas on their multiparametric MRI. Twelve individual radiomics models were constructed based on the radiomics features from different subregions and different sequences. Four single-sequence models, three single-region models and the combined radiomics model combining all individual models were constructed. Finally, the predictive performance of adding clinical factors and VASARI characteristics was evaluated. The ComRad model combining all individual radiomics models exhibited the best performance in test set 1 and test set 2, with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.839 (0.709-0.963) and 0.739 (0.581-0.897), respectively. The results indicated that the radiomics model combining multi-region and multi-parametric MRI features has exhibited promising performance in predicting MGMT methylation status in GBM. The Modeling scheme that combining all individual radiomics models showed best performance among all constructed moels., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This paper addresses the adaptive fixed-time fuzzy containment control for uncertain nonlinear multiagent systems, where the states and nonlinear functions are not feasible for the controller design. To address the issue of unmeasurable states, a state observer is developed, and fuzzy logic systems are utilized to approximate unknown nonlinear functions. Under the framework of fixed-time Lyapunov function theory and cooperative control, an adaptive fixed-time fuzzy containment control protocol is derived via the adaptive backstepping and adding one power integrator method. The derived fixed-time containment controller can confirm that the closed-loop systems are practical fixed-time stable, which implies that all signals in the systems are bounded and all follower agents can converge to the convex hull formed by the leader agents within fixed-time in the presence of unmeasurable states and unknown nonlinear functions . Simulation examples are conducted to test the validity of the present control algorithm., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

PTBP1 is an oncogene that regulates the splicing of precursor mRNA. However, the relationship between PTBP1 expression and gene methylation, cancer prognosis, and tumor microenvironment remains unclear. The expression profiles of PTBP1 across various cancers were derived from the TCGA, as well as the GTEx and CGGA databases. The CGGA mRNA&#95;325, CGGA mRNA&#95;301, and CGGA mRNA&#95;693 datasets were utilized as validation cohorts. Immune cell infiltration scores were approximated using the TIMER 2.0 tool. Functional enrichment analysis for groups with high and low PTBP1 expression was conducted using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA). Methylation data were predominantly sourced from the SMART and Mexpress databases. Linked-omics analysis was employed to perform functional enrichment analysis of genes related to PTBP1 methylation, as well as to conduct protein functional enrichment analysis. Single-cell transcriptome analysis and spatial transcriptome analysis were carried out using Seurat version 4.10. Compared to normal tissues, PTBP1 is significantly overexpressed and hypomethylated in various cancers. It is implicated in prognosis, immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoint expression, genomic variation, tumor neoantigen load, and tumor mutational burden across a spectrum of cancers, with particularly notable effects in low-grade gliomas. In the context of gliomas, PTBP1 expression correlates with WHO grade and IDH1 mutation status. PTBP1 expression and methylation play an important role in a variety of cancers. PTBP1 can be used as a marker of inflammation, progression and prognosis in gliomas., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This study aimed to develop a deep learning model to predict the risk stratification of all-cause death for older people with disability, providing guidance for long-term care plans. Based on the government-led long-term care insurance program in a pilot city of China from 2017 and followed up to 2021, the study included 42,353 disabled adults aged over 65, with 25,071 assigned to the training set and 17,282 to the validation set. The administrative data (including baseline characteristics, underlying medical conditions, and all-cause mortality) were collected to develop a deep learning model by least absolute shrinkage and selection operator. After a median follow-up time of 14 months, 17,565 (41.5%) deaths were recorded. Thirty predictors were identified and included in the final models for disability-related deaths. Physical disability (mobility, incontinence, feeding), adverse events (pressure ulcers and falls from bed), and cancer were related to poor prognosis. A total of 10,127, 25,140 and 7086 individuals were classified into low-, medium-, and high-risk groups, with actual risk probabilities of death of 9.5%, 45.8%, and 85.5%, respectively. This deep learning model could facilitate the prevention of risk factors and provide guidance for long-term care model planning based on risk stratification., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Urban open spaces (UOS) are crucial for urban life, offering benefits across individual and societal levels. However, the understanding of the systematic dynamic of UOS scaling with city size and its potential non-linear performance remains a limited clarity area. This study bridges this gap by integrating urban scaling laws with remote sensing data from 1990 to 2020, creating a framework to analyze UOS trends in China. Our findings reveal that UOS growth is sub-linear scaling with city size, exhibiting economies of scale with scaling exponents between 0.55 and 0.65 and suggesting potential shortages. The distribution structure of UOS across cities is becoming increasingly balanced, as indicated by the rising Zipf's slope from 0.66 to 0.88. Southeastern coastal cities outperform, highlighting spatial variations and path dependency in UOS development. Additionally, using metrics of Scale-adjusted metropolitan indicator (SAMI) and the ratio of open space consumption to population growth rates (OCRPGR), we observe a trend towards more coordinated development between UOS and population, with a declining proportion of uncoordinated cities. Our long-term, large sample coverage study of UOS in China may offer positive significance for urban ecological planning and management in similar rapidly urbanizing countries, contributing to critical insights for quantifying and monitoring urban sustainable development., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-associated neurodegenerative disease. Recently, studies have demonstrated the potential involvement of microRNA-181c-5p (miR-181c-5p) in AD. However, the mechanism through which miR-181c-5p is responsible for the onset and progression of this disease remains unclear, and our study aimed to explore this problem. Differential expression analysis of the AD dataset was performed to identify dysregulated genes. Based on hypergeometric analysis, AD differential the upstream regulation genes miR-181c-5p was found. We constructed a model where SH-SY5Y and BV2 cells were exposed to Aβ1-42 to simulate AD. Levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-6, and IL-1β were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay or reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Phosphorylation levels of p-P38 and P38 were detected by Western blot. The level of apoptosis in BV2 cells under Aβ1-42 stress was exacerbated by miR-181c-5p mimic. Downregulated miR-181c-5p impaired the phagocytosis and degradation of Aβ by BV2 cells. The release of proinflammatory cytokines in BV2 cells with Aβ1-42 stress was alleviated by miR-181c-5p upregulation. Additionally, miR-181c-5p downregulation alleviated the phosphorylation of P38 in Aβ1-42-induced SH-SY5Y cells. In conclusion, miR-181c-5p improves the phagocytosis of Aβ by microglial cells in AD patients, thereby reducing neuroinflammation., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Previous studies suggested odor stimulation may influence feeding of premature neonates. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was conducted to assess the effect of human milk odor stimulation on feeding of premature infants. All randomized controlled trials related to human milk odor stimulation on feeding in premature infants published in PubMed, Cochrane, Library, Medline, Embase, Web of science databases and Chinese biomedical literature databases, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP) and Wanfang Chinese databases were searched, and The Cochrane Handbook 5.1.0 was used to evaluate the quality and authenticity of the literature. Relevant information of the included studies was extracted and summarized, and the evaluation indexes were analyzed using ReviewManager5.3. The retrieval time was from the establishment of the database to July 28, 2022.12 articles were assessed for eligibility, and six randomized controlled studies were eventually included in the meta-analysis (PRISMA). A total of 6 randomized controlled studies with 763 patients were finally included in the study, and the quality evaluation of literatures were all grade B. Human milk odor stimulation reduced the transition time to oral feeding in premature infants [SMD = - 0.48, 95% CI (- 0.69, - 0.27), Z = 4.54, P < 0.00001] and shortened the duration of parenteral nutrition [MD = - 1.01, 95% CI (- 1.70, - 0.32), Z = 2.88, P = 0.004]. However, it did not change the length of hospitalization for premature infants [MD = - 0.03, 95% CI (- 0.41, 0.35), Z = 0.17, P = 0.86]. The implementation of human milk odor stimulation can reduce the transition time to oral feeding and the duration of parenteral nutrition in premature infants, but further studies are needed to determine whether it can reduce the length of hospital stay in premature infants. More high-quality, large-sample studies are needed to investigate the effect of human milk odor stimulation on the feeding process and other outcomes in premature infants., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) comparative efficacy of treatments using video-assisted thoracoscopic sympathectomy (VATS) in the long term remains uncertain in patients with palmar hyperhidrosis (PHH). This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of RFA and VATS in patients with PHH. We recruited patients aged ≥ 14 years with diagnosed PHH from 14 centres in China. The treatment options of RFA or VATS were assigned to two cohort in patients with PHH. The primary outcome was the efficacy at 1-year. A total of 807 patients were enrolled. After propensity score matching, the rate of complete remission was lower in RFA group than VATS group (95% CI 0.21-0.57; p < 0.001). However, the rates of palmar dryness (95% CI 0.38-0.92; p = 0.020), postoperative pain (95% CI 0.13-0.33; p < 0.001), and surgery-related complications (95% CI 0.19-0.85; p = 0.020) were lower in RFA group than in VATS group, but skin temperature rise was more common in RFA group (95% CI 1.84-3.58; p < 0.001). RFA had a lower success rate than VATS for the complete remission of PHH. However, the symptom burden and cost are lower in patients undergoing RFA compared to those undergoing VATS.Trial Registration: ChiCTR2000039576, URL: http://www.chictr.org.cn/index.aspx ., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

To assess the skiing economy (SE) and kinematics during double poling (DP) roller skiing between two groups of skiers in a field setting. Five experienced and five novice male skiers performed a SE DP test at 16 km∙h -1 on an outdoor athletics track. Gas exchange parameters were measured to determine SE DP . A two-dimensional video was filmed to measure the kinematics variables. Experienced skiers exhibited a 21% lower oxygen cost than novice skiers (p = 0.016) in DP, indicating a strong association between SE DP , cycle length and cycle rate (p < 0.001). Additionally, before the poling phase, experienced skiers manifested significantly greater maximum hip and knee extension angles than novice skiers (p < 0.001). During the poling phase, experienced skiers with a greater pole plant angle (p = 0.001), longer flexion time (p < 0.001) and higher flexion angular velocity in the elbow joint (p < 0.05) demonstrated better SE DP . There was an interaction effect of the one-repetition maximum bench press × group in SE DP (b = - 0.656, SE = 0.097, t = - 6.78, p = 0.001). Therefore, experienced skiers with better SE DP demonstrated more efficient cycles, potentially accomplished using dynamic full-body DP motion to ascertain effective propulsion. Combined upper body strength and ski-specific skill training may enhance SE DP in novice skiers., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most aggressive types of squamous cell carcinoma and represents a significant proportion of esophageal cancer. Metabolic reprogramming plays a key role in the occurrence and development of ESCC. Unsupervised clustering analysis was employed to stratify ESCC samples into three clusters: MPC1-lipid type, MPC2-amino acid type, and MPC3-energy type, based on the enrichment scores of metabolic pathways extracted from the Reactome database. The MPC3 cluster exhibited characteristics of energy metabolism, with heightened glycolysis, cofactors, and nucleotide metabolism, showing a trend toward increased aggressiveness and poorer survival rates. On the other hand, MPC1 and MPC2 primarily involved lipid and amino acid metabolism, respectively. In addition, liquid chromatography‒mass spectrometry-based metabolite profiles and potential therapeutic agents were explored and compared among ESCC cell lines with different MPCs. MPC3 amplified energy metabolism markers, especially carnitines. In contrast, MPC1 and MPC2 predominantly had elevated levels of lipids (primarily triacylglycerol) and amino acids, respectively. Furthermore, MPC3 demonstrated a suboptimal clinical response to PD-L1 immunotherapy but showed increased sensitivity to the doramapimod chemotherapy regimen, as evident from drug sensitivity evaluations. These insights pave the way for a more personalized therapeutic approach, potentially enhancing treatment precision for ESCC patients., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Monitoring and predicting the regional groundwater storage (GWS) fluctuation is an essential support for effectively managing water resources. Therefore, taking Shandong Province as an example, the data from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO) is used to invert GWS fluctuation from January 2003 to December 2022 together with Watergap Global Hydrological Model (WGHM), in-situ groundwater volume and level data. The spatio-temporal characteristics are decomposed using Independent Components Analysis (ICA), and the impact factors, such as precipitation and human activities, which are also analyzed. To predict the short-time changes of GWS, the Support Vector Machines (SVM) is adopted together with three commonly used methods Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA), Auto-Regressive Moving Average Model (ARMA), as the comparison. The results show that: (1) The loss intensity of western GWS is significantly greater than those in coastal areas. From 2003 to 2006, GWS increased sharply; during 2007 to 2014, there exists a loss rate - 5.80 ± 2.28 mm/a of GWS; the linear trend of GWS change is - 5.39 ± 3.65 mm/a from 2015 to 2022, may be mainly due to the effect of South-to-North Water Diversion Project. The correlation coefficient between GRACE and WGHM is 0.67, which is consistent with in-situ groundwater volume and level. (2) The GWS has higher positive correlation with monthly Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) considering time delay after moving average, which has the similar energy spectrum depending on Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) method. In addition, the influencing facotrs on annual GWS fluctuation are analyzed, the correlation coefficient between GWS and in-situ data including the consumption of groundwater mining, farmland irrigation is 0.80, 0.71, respectively. (3) For the GWS prediction, SVM method is adopted to analyze, three training samples with 180, 204 and 228 months are established with the goodness-of-fit all higher than 0.97. The correlation coefficients are 0.56, 0.75, 0.68; RMSE is 5.26, 4.42, 5.65 mm; NSE is 0.28, 0.43, 0.36, respectively. The performance of SVM model is better than the other methods for the short-term prediction., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Prognostic features in advanced perihilar cholangiocarcinoma (pCCA) patients who received first-line hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) are unknown. The purpose of our study was to develop an applicable score based on serum inflammatory-tumor biomarkers to predict the survival of advanced pCCA patients who received first-line HAIC. In total, 106 advanced pCCA patients were enrolled as the training cohort. The optimal cutoff values of baseline variables were defined by the receiver operating characteristic method or according to previous publications. According to the results of Cox regression analysis, baseline neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) > 3.19, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) > 10 ng/mL, and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) > 200 U/mL were identified as independent survival predictors, which were used to develop the NLCECA score (NLR, CEA, and CA19-9). When including the NLCECA score in the multivariate analysis, the NLCECA score was the only independent predictor of survival. The risk of survival decreased by 111.9% for each 1-point increase in the NLCECA score. Additionally, the NLCECA score could also predict survival in another 33 patients in the validation cohort (P < 0.001). In summary, the NLCECA score is a potential biomarker system for predicting the survival of advanced pCCA patients who received first-line HAIC., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

To explore the correlation between tear LT-a, pterygium status, and dry eye indicators. We established a diagnostic model to evaluate active pterygium. A retrospective study was conducted between June 2021 and June 2023 on 172 patients, comprising 108 men and 64 women. The study analyzed LT-a and various ocular parameters in all participants. The data was collected using Excel software and analyzed using SPSS 25.0 statistical software and Medcalc. We made a nomogram diagnostic model to different diagnosed the state of pterygium. This study found that pterygium has progressive eye surface damage during the active state. There was no significant difference in dry eye indicators between the two groups. However, the concentration of LT-a in the active group was significantly lower than that in the inactive group (P < 0.001). We observed that increased pterygium grade corresponded to a worse ocular surface condition. In addition, LT-a was significantly positively correlated with disease duration, but negatively correlated with age, pterygium size, active pterygium state, and LLT value. The optimal intercept value for evaluating active pterygium in Lt-a was ≤ 0.49 dg/ml. We screened three variables for evaluating active pterygium through Single and Multiple regression analysis: LT-a grading, pterygium size, and congestion score. Finally, we made a reliable diagnostic nomogram model. Pterygium development triggers immune inflammation. Our model based on LT-a identifies active pterygium for personalized treatment options and new research directions., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Premature ovarian failure (POF) caused by chemotherapy is a growing concern for female reproductive health. The use of metformin (MET), which has anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects, in the treatment of POF damaged by chemotherapy drugs remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the impact of MET on POF caused by cyclophosphamide (CTX) combined with busulfan (BUS) and M1 macrophages using POF model mice and primary granule cells (GCs). Our findings demonstrate that intragastric administration of MET ameliorates ovarian damage and alleviates hormonal disruption in chemotherapy-induced POF mice. This effect is achieved through the reduction of inflammatory and oxidative stress-related harm. Additionally, MET significantly relieves abnormal inflammatory response, ROS accumulation, and senescence in primary GCs co-cultured with M1 macrophages. We also observed that this protective role of MET is closely associated with the AMPK/PPAR-γ/SIRT1 pathway in cell models. In conclusion, our results suggest that MET can protect against chemotherapy-induced ovarian injury by inducing the expression of the AMPK pathway while reducing oxidative damage and inflammation., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Vascular calcification (VC) is a common complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD) that has a detrimental effect on patients' survival and prognosis. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a practical and reliable prediction model for VC in CKD5 patients. The medical records of 544 CKD5 patients were reviewed retrospectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the independent risk factors for vascular calcification in patients with CKD5 and then created a nomogram prediction model. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), Hosmer-Lemeshow test, and decision curve analysis (DCA) were used to assess model performance. The patients were split into groups with normal and high serum uric acid levels, and the factors influencing these levels were investigated. Age, BUN, SUA, P and TG were independent risk factors for vascular calcification in CKD5 patients in the modeling group (P < 0.05). In the internal validation, the results of model showed that the AUC was 0.917. No significant divergence between the predicted probability of the nomogram and the actual incidence rate (x 2  = 5.406, P = 0.753) was revealed by the calibration plot and HL test, thus confirming that the calibration was satisfactory. The external validation also showed good discrimination (AUC = 0.973). The calibration chart and HL test also demonstrated good consistency. Besides, the correlation analysis of serum uric acid levels in all CKD5 patients revealed that elevated uric acid levels may be related to gender, BUN, P, and TG., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Structural topology optimization has gained widespread attention due to more possibilities of innovative structural design. The current research focus/hotspots, application areas, main research scholars, institutions and the countries involved in structural topology optimization are visually presented through clustering and visual analysis based on CiteSpace. The four metric dimensions of the literatures in this paper are as follows: annual quantity of papers and core countries, core authors and co-authors' institutions, hotspots and burst terms, and the highly co-cited papers. The results show the research hotspots in this field are concentrated on keywords such as "level set method", "sensitivity analysis", "homogenization", "genetic algorithm", etc. Regarding the research frontier, "moving morphable component (MMC)", "additive manufacturing (AM)" and "deep learning" are hot topics. In addition, Y. Sui, Z. Kang and O. Sigmund, etc. have high publications. M. Bendsøe and O. Sigmund have high citations. Dalian University of Technology, Technical University of Denmark, etc. are prominent institutions. Moreover, China accounts for more than 34% in the terms of original WOS literatures following by the USA and Australia. This paper could identify structural topology optimization development patterns for the scholars concerned with this field, especially novices, to quickly focus and track the research priorities., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Radiotherapy response of rectal cancer patients is dependent on a myriad of molecular mechanisms including response to stress, cell death, and cell metabolism. Modulation of lipid metabolism emerges as a unique strategy to improve radiotherapy outcomes due to its accessibility by bioactive molecules within foods. Even though a few radioresponse modulators have been identified using experimental techniques, trying to experimentally identify all potential modulators is intractable. Here we introduce a machine learning (ML) approach to interrogate the space of bioactive molecules within food for potential modulators of radiotherapy response and provide phytochemically-enriched recipes that encapsulate the benefits of discovered radiotherapy modulators. Potential radioresponse modulators were identified using a genomic-driven network ML approach, metric learning and domain knowledge. Then, recipes from the Recipe1M database were optimized to provide ingredient substitutions maximizing the number of predicted modulators whilst preserving the recipe's culinary attributes. This work provides a pipeline for the design of genomic-driven nutritional interventions to improve outcomes of rectal cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

The fruit of the dioecious plant Actinidia arguta has become a great attraction recently. It has long been difficult to distinguish the genders of hybrid seedlings before flowering, therefore increasing the expenditures of breeding. To produce reliable molecular marker for gender identification, this research utilized whole-genome re-sequencing of 15 males and 15 females from an 8-year-old cross population to develop gender specific markers. P51 and P11 were identified as sex-linked markers after verification. Both of these markers, according to the PCR results, only amplified a single band in male samples. These two markers were tested in 97 hybrids (52 females and 45 males) and 31 wild individuals (13 females and 18 males), with an accuracy of 96.88% and 96.09%, correspondingly. This research also verified the universalities of the two markers in Actinidia chinensis samples, and it could be inferred from the PCR results that neither marker was applicable to A. chinensis samples. The BLAST results of the two markers demonstrated that the two markers were closely aligned with different parts of the Y male-specific region of A. chinensis genome, thus they were likely to be useful for the research on the mechanism of sex determination of A. arguta. The two male-linked makers, P51 and P11, have already been used in sex-identification of A. arguta seedlings., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Understanding the distribution of soil organic carbon and nitrogen (OC(N)) content, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and specific surface area (SSA) in different soil particle sizes is crucial for studying soil fertility and properties. In this study, we investigated the distribution characteristics of the OC(N), CECand SSA in different particles of yellow-brown soil under different methods. The result revealed that as the particle size decreased, the soil OC(N), SSA and CEC content gradually increase. The content of OC and ON different soil particles ranged from 1.50-28.16 g·kg -1 to 0.18-3.78 g·kg -1 , respectively, and exhibited significant differences between different particles. We observed good linear relationships between OC and ON in different particle sizes of yellow-brown soil under different utilization methods, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.86 to 0.98, reaching a very significant level (n = 12, p < 0.01). The ranges of SSA and CEC in different particles of the four soils were 0.30-94.70 m 2 ·g -1 and 0.70-62.91 cmol·kg -1 , respectively. Additionally, we found logarithmic relationships between SSA (CEC) and the equivalent diameter for the four soils, with correlation coefficients (r 2 ) higher than 0.91. Furthermore, there was an extremely significant linear relationship between CEC and SSA of the four soils, with correlation coefficients (r 2 ) of 0.92-0.97 (n = 12, p < 0.01). These results highlight the close relationship between soil particle size and soil OC(N), SSA, and CEC. The conclusions drawn from this study provide valuable data support and a theoretical basis for further understanding soil properties., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Glaucoma is an acquired optic neuropathy, which can lead to irreversible vision loss. Deep learning(DL), especially convolutional neural networks(CNN), has achieved considerable success in the field of medical image recognition due to the availability of large-scale annotated datasets and CNNs. However, obtaining fully annotated datasets like ImageNet in the medical field is still a challenge. Meanwhile, single-modal approaches remain both unreliable and inaccurate due to the diversity of glaucoma disease types and the complexity of symptoms. In this paper, a new multimodal dataset for glaucoma is constructed and a new multimodal neural network for glaucoma diagnosis and classification (GMNNnet) is proposed aiming to address both of these issues. Specifically, the dataset includes the five most important types of glaucoma labels, electronic medical records and four kinds of high-resolution medical images. The structure of GMNNnet consists of three branches. Branch 1 consisting of convolutional, cyclic and transposition layers processes patient metadata, branch 2 uses Unet to extract features from glaucoma segmentation based on domain knowledge, and branch 3 uses ResFormer to directly process glaucoma medical images.Branch one and branch two are mixed together and then processed by the Catboost classifier. We introduce a gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-GAM) method to increase the interpretability of the model and a transfer learning method for the case of insufficient training data,i.e.,fine-tuning CNN models pre-trained from natural image dataset to medical image tasks. The results show that GMNNnet can better present the high-dimensional information of glaucoma and achieves excellent performance under multimodal data., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Few reports have been conducted to comparing surgical results and safety evaluations between the different types of infections in geriatric patients with thoracolumbar infections. The aim of this study is to investigate the safety and efficacy of surgical treatment for thoracolumbar infections in elderly patients. 21 patients with pyogenic spondylodiscitis (PS) and 26 patients with tuberculous spondylodiscitis (TS) were enrolled in the study. All patients were treated using one-stage posterior debridement, decompression, and pedicle screw fixation. Comparison of operative safety parameters between the two groups. Clinical efficacy was evaluated using visual analogue scale (VAS) score, the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) grade, the short form (SF)-36 survey and Oswestry disability index (ODI) to determine patient quality of life pre- and post-operatively. Hospitalisation and intensive care unit duration in the PS group were significantly shorter than in the TS group (P < 0.05). The total incidence of post-operative complications for both groups was 44.7%. More complications occurred in the TS group, but the difference was not significant. The scores of VAS, ODI and SF-36 of all 47 patients were significantly improved compared with those before operation.The VAS and SF-36 scores (physical component) were significantly better in the PS group 6 months post-operatively, and the SF-36 (mental component) scores were significantly better in the PS group at the 1-year follow-up. Neurological status in both groups improved post-operatively, and 83% of patients reported satisfactory results based on the modified MacNab standard. Imaging results showed that bone graft fusion improved in both groups at 6 months, 1 year and at the final follow-up. One-stage posterior debridement, decompression, interbody fusion, and internal fixation can be considered a safe and effective method of treating spinal infections in the elderly. This method can improve nerve function, reconstruct spinal stability, and enhance the quality of life of elderly patients. Both PS and TS who underwent surgery achieve similar clinical and radiological results., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant associated myocardial injury seriously affected the patient's health. Chest computed tomography (CT) is an essential imaging diagnostic tool for evaluating lung diseases in these patients, but its value in the diagnosis of myocardial injury remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the lung lesions in patients with Omicron infection with or without myocardial injury, and to evaluate the predictive value of non-contrast chest CT in such patients with myocardial injury. We enrolled 122 consecutive hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) for non-contrast chest CT examination. These patients were divided into two groups according to whether myocardial injury occurred. Myocardial injury was defined as a Troponin I level above the 99th-percentile upper reference limit (0.04 ng/mL). The imaging manifestations of the patients' lungs were evaluated. Myocardial CT value, left atrium (LA) size, long diameter of left ventricular (LV), and cardiothoracic ratio (CTR) were recorded. Multivariate logistic analysis was performed to identify the predictive factors associated with myocardial injury. Of 122 patients, 61 patients (50%) had myocardial injury. Compared with patients without myocardial injury, there was worse NYHA class, more critical patients, higher incidence of bronchial meteorology, larger area and percentage of lung lesions, diameters of LA, and lower myocardial CT value in the myocardial injury group (P < 0.05). Troponin I concentration in patients with myocardial injury group showed negative correlation with myocardial CT value (r = - 0.319, P = 0.012). The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that disease severity status (OR 2.279; 95% CI 1.247-4.165, P = 0.007), myocardial CT value (OR 0.849; 95% CI 0.752-0.958, P = 0.008), neutrophil count (OR 1.330; 95% CI 1.114-1.587, P = 0.002) were independent predictors of myocardial injury. The discrimination of the model was good (C-statistic = 0.845, 95% CI 0.775-0.914) and well calibrated with a Hosmer-Lemeshow test for goodness of fit (P = 0.476). Patients infected with Omicron with myocardial injury had more severe lung disease than those without myocardial injury. Non-contrast chest CT can be a useful method of detection of myocardial injury in Omicron infection patients., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Fertilization can be optimized and managed during the flue-cured tobacco growing period by studying the response of soil and microbial biomass stoichiometric characteristics to fertilization. In this study, we investigated the effect of compound fertilizers combined with microbial fertilizer treatments on the stoichiometric characteristics of the rhizosphere soil and the limitations of microbial resources during the flue-cured tobacco growing period. The results indicated that soil and microbial C:N:P varied greatly with the growing period. The effect of sampling time was usually greater than that of fertilization treatment, and microbial C:N:P did not vary with the soil resource stoichiometric ratio. The microbial metabolism of the tobacco-growing soil was limited by phosphorus after extending the growing period, and phosphorus limitation gradually increased from the root extension to the maturation periods but decreased at harvest. The rhizosphere soil microbial nitrogen and phosphorus limitations were mainly affected by soil water content, soil pH, microbial biomass carbon, and the ratio of microbial biomass carbon to microbial biomass phosphorus. Applying microbial fertilizer reduced phosphorus limitation. Therefore, applying microbial fertilizer regulated the limitation of microbial resources by affecting the soil and microbial biomass C:N:P in flue-cured tobacco rhizosphere soils., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Nowadays, due to the advantages of high peak power, high average power, ultra-short pulse, and fully coherent characteristics, the high-repetition-rate free-electron laser (FEL) is thriving in many countries around the world. The thermal load caused by high-repetition-rate FEL poses a great challenge to the mirror surface shape. Especially in the case of high average power, how to perfectly control the mirror shape to maintain the coherence of the beam has become a difficult problem in beamline design. In addition to multi-segment PZT, when multiple resistive heaters are used to compensate for the mirror shape, the heat flux (or power) generated by each heater must be optimized to obtain sub-nanometer height error. This article establishes MHCKF model for the mirror surface deformation under the combined effect of the mirror initial deformation, the thermal deformation caused by X-rays, and the deformation compensated by multiple heaters. By searching the perturbation term in the mathematical model, the least squares solution of the heat fluxes generated by all heaters can be obtained. This method can not only set multiple constraints on the heat fluxes but also quickly obtain their values when minimizing the mirror shape error. It overcomes the problem of time-consuming optimization processes encountered by traditional finite element analysis software, especially in the context of multi-parameter optimization. This article focuses on the offset mirror in the FEL-1 beamline at S 3 FEL. Using this method, the optimization of 25 heat fluxes generated by all resistive heaters was accomplished within a few seconds utilizing an ordinary laptop. The results indicate that the height error RMS decreased from 40 nm to 0.009 nm, and the slope error RMS reduced from 192.7nrad to 0.4nrad. Wave-optics simulations show that the wavefront quality has been significantly improved. In addition, some factors affecting mirror shape error, such as the number of heaters, higher repetition rate, film coefficient, and the length of copper tube, were analyzed. The results show that the MHCKF model and optimization algorithm can effectively solve the optimization problem of compensating for the mirror shape with multiple heaters., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

To investigate whether the combination scheme of deep learning score (DL-score) and radiomics can improve preoperative diagnosis in the presence of micropapillary/solid (MPP/SOL) patterns in lung adenocarcinoma (ADC). A retrospective cohort of 514 confirmed pathologically lung ADC in 512 patients after surgery was enrolled. The clinicoradiographic model (model 1) and radiomics model (model 2) were developed with logistic regression. The deep learning model (model 3) was constructed based on the deep learning score (DL-score). The combine model (model 4) was based on DL-score and R-score and clinicoradiographic variables. The performance of these models was evaluated with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and compared using DeLong's test internally and externally. The prediction nomogram was plotted, and clinical utility depicted with decision curve. The performance of model 1, model 2, model 3 and model 4 was supported by AUCs of 0.848, 0.896, 0.906, 0.921 in the Internal validation set, that of 0.700, 0.801, 0.730, 0.827 in external validation set, respectively. These models existed statistical significance in internal validation (model 4 vs model 3, P = 0.016; model 4 vs model 1, P = 0.009, respectively) and external validation (model 4 vs model 2, P = 0.036; model 4 vs model 3, P = 0.047; model 4 vs model 1, P = 0.016, respectively). The decision curve analysis (DCA) demonstrated that model 4 predicting the lung ADC with MPP/SOL structure would be more beneficial than the model 1and model 3 but comparable with the model 2. The combined model can improve preoperative diagnosis in the presence of MPP/SOL pattern in lung ADC in clinical practice., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Remnant cholesterol (RC) is a highly atherogenic lipid. Previous studies have shown that RC was closely associated with many metabolism-related diseases. However, the relationship of RC with metabolic syndrome (MetS) remains unclear. This study's objective is to investigate the relationship of RC with MetS. A total of 60,799 adults who received health assessments were included in this study. RC was calculated by subtracting the directly measured values for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) from total cholesterol (TC) and divided into 5 groups according to its quintile. MetS diagnosis according to National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) definitions. Application of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and multivariate logistic regression to assess the association of RC with MetS. In RC quintile groups, the prevalence of MetS was 0.84, 1.10, 1.92, 3.87 and 37.71%, respectively. Multivariate logical regression analysis showed that RC and MetS maintained a stable independent positive correlation between both sexes. An interaction test further showed that the MetS risk associated with RC was significantly higher in women than in men. Moreover, ROC analysis results showed that RC had high accuracy in identifying MetS, especially among young and middle-aged men [(area under the curve: AUC) < 30 years: 0.9572, 30-39 years: 0.9306, 40-49 years: 0.9067]. The current study provided the first evidence of a positive association between RC and MetS, and that this correlation was stronger in women than in man, which may be due to the relative deficiency of estrogen in women., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

As a hot topic today, ferroptosis is closely involved in the progression and treatment of cancer. Accordingly, we built a prognostic model around ferroptosis to predict the overall survival of OSCC patients. We used up to 6 datasets from 3 different databases to ensure the credibility of the model. Then, through differentially expressed, Univariate Cox, and Lasso regression analyses, a model composed of nine prognostic-related differently expressed ferroptosis-related genes (CISD2, DDIT4, CA9, ALOX15, ATG5, BECN1, BNIP3, PRDX5 and MAP1LC3A) were constructed. Moreover, Kaplan-Meier curves, Receiver Operating Characteristic curves and principal component analysis used to verify the model's predictive ability showed the model's superiority. To deeply understand the mechanism of ferroptosis affecting the occurrence, development and prognosis of OSCC, we performed enrichment analysis in different risk groups identified by the model. The results showed that numerous TP53-related, immune-related and ferroptosis-related functions and pathways were enriched. Further immune microenvironment analysis and mutation analysis have once again revealed the correlation between risk score and immunity and TP53 mutation. Finally, the correlation between risk score and OSCC clinical treatment, as well as Nomogram show the brilliant clinical application prospects of the prognostic model., (© 2023. This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.)

Previous studies have demonstrated that Foot Posture Index (FPI-6) is a valid and moderately reliable tool to evaluate foot posture. However, data about reliability and validity of FPI-6 in the assessment of foot posture in people with low back pain (LBP) is lacking. To investigate reliability and validity of FPI-6 in the assessment of foot posture in people with LBP. Thirty volunteers with LBP, aged 20-64 years, were recruited for the research and assessed by two raters. The data measured by different raters on the same day were used to calculate the inter-rater reliability. The data measured by the same rater on different dates were used to calculate the test-retest reliability. The reliability of FPI-6 was tested with intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and absolute reliability with standard error of measurement (SEM), minimal detectable change (MDC) and Bland-Altman analysis. The validity of FPI-6 was tested with Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Spearman's correlation coefficients. The FPI-6 indicated excellent inter-rater and test-retest reliability in the evaluation of foot posture in people with LBP (ICC = 0.97 and 0.95). The agreement for inter-rater and test-retest was excellent based on the SEM (SEM = 0.12) and MDC value (MDC = 0.33). Bland-Altman plots showed that there was no significant systematic bias for the agreement on the ground of low mean difference (< 1). The EFA suggested that the fit indices were considered acceptable according to the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value (KMO = 0.620) and Bartlett's sphericity test (P < 0.01). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between each item and total score of FPI-6 because the Spearman's correlation coefficient of six items were all > 0.3 (P < 0.01). The inter-rater and test-retest reliability and validity of FPI-6 on people with LBP were proved reliable. It might be considered a reliable and valid adjunctive tool to detect possible changes of foot posture after interventions in patients with LBP., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

In recent years, with the advance of Artificial Intelligence, automatic music composition has been demonstrated. However, there are many music genres and music instruments. For a same piece of music, different music instruments would produce different effects. Invented some 2500 years ago, Guzheng is one of the oldest music instruments in China and the world. It has distinct timbres and patterns that cannot be duplicated by other music instruments. Therefore, it is interesting to see whether AI can compose Guzheng music or alike. In this paper we present a method that can automatically compose and play Guzheng music. First, we collect a number of existing Guzheng music pieces and convert them into Music Instrument Digital Interface format. Second, we use these data to train a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network and use the trained network to generate new Guzheng music pieces. Next, we use the Reinforcement Learning to optimize the LSTM network by adding special Guzheng playing techniques. Comparing to the existing AI methods, such as LSTM and Generative Adversary Network, our new method is more effective in capturing the characteristics of Guzheng music. According to the evaluations from skilled Guzheng players and general audiences, our Guzheng music is very close to the real Guzheng music. The presented method can also be used to automatically compose the music of other Chinese music instruments., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

As a highly infectious epidemic in aquaculture, Pseudomonas plecoglossicida infection results in high mortality of teleosts and serious economic losses. Host-pathogen interactions shape the outcome of an infection, yet we still understand little about the molecular mechanism of these pathogen-mediated processes. Here, a P. plecoglossicida strain (NZBD9) and Epinephelus coioides were investigated as a model system to characterize pathogen-induced host metabolic remodeling over the course of infection. We present a non-targeted metabolomics profiling of E. coioides spleens from uninfected E. coioides and those infected with wild-type and clpV-RNA interference (RNAi) strains. The most significant changes of E. coioides upon infection were associated with amino acids, lysophospatidylcholines, and unsaturated fatty acids, involving disturbances in host nutritional utilization and immune responses. Dihydrosphingosine and fatty acid 16:2 were screened as potential biomarkers for assessing P. plecoglossicida infection. The silencing of the P. plecoglossicida clpV gene significantly recovered the lipid metabolism of infected E. coioides. This comprehensive metabolomics study provides novel insights into how P. plecoglossicida shape host metabolism to support their survival and replication and highlights the potential of the virulence gene clpV in the treatment of P. plecoglossicida infection in aquaculture., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Comprehensive research is conducted on the design and control of the unmanned systems for electric vehicles. The environmental risk prediction and avoidance system is divided into the prediction part and the avoidance part. The prediction part is divided into environmental perception, environmental risk assessment, and risk prediction. In the avoidance part, according to the risk prediction results, a conservative driving strategy based on speed limit is adopted. Additionally, the core function is achieved through the target detection technology based on deep learning algorithm and the data conclusion based on deep learning method. Moreover, the location of bounding box is further optimized to improve the accuracy of SSD target detection method based on solving the problem of imbalanced sample categories. Software such as MATLAB and CarSim are applied in the system. Bleu-1 was 67.1, bleu-2 was 45.1, bleu-3 was 29.9 and bleu-4 was 21.1. Experiments were carried out on the database flickr30k by designing the algorithm. Bleu-1 was 72.3, bleu-2 was 51.8, bleu-3 was 37.1 and bleu-4 was 25.1. From the comparison results of the simulations of unmanned vehicles with or without a system, it can provide effective safety guarantee for unmanned driving., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The transcription factor complex, consisting of LMO2, TAL1 or LYL1, and GATA2, plays an important role in capillary sprouting by regulating VEGFR2, DLL4, and angiopoietin 2 in tip cells. Overexpression of the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor LYL1 in transgenic mice results in shortened tails. This phenotype is associated with vessel hyperbranching and a relative paucity of straight vessels due to DLL4 downregulation in tip cells by forming aberrant complex consisting of LMO2 and LYL1. Knockdown of LMO2 or TAL1 inhibits capillary sprouting in spheroid-based angiogenesis assays, which is associated with decreased angiopoietin 2 secretion. In the same assay using mixed TAL1- and LYL1-expressing endothelial cells, TAL1 was found to be primarily located in tip cells, while LYL1-expressing cells tended to occupy the stalk position in sprouts by upregulating VEGFR1 than TAL1. Thus, the interaction between LMO2 and TAL1 in tip cells plays a key role in angiogenic switch of sprouting angiogenesis., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

A high-precision micro-displacement sensor based on tunnel magneto-resistance effect is reported.We designed and simulated magnetic characteristics of the sensor, and employed chip-level Au-In bonding to implement low-temperature assembly of the TMR devices. We employed the subdivision interpolation technique to enhance the resolution by translating the sine-cosine outputs of a TMR sensor into an output that varies linearly with the displacement. Simultaneously, using the multi-bridge circuit method to suppress external magnetic and geomagnetic interference. Experimental result shows that the micro-displacement sensor has a resolution of 800 nm, accuracy of 0.14[Formula: see text] and a full-scale range of up to millimeter level. This work enables a high-performance displacement sensor, and provides a significant guide for the design of a micro-displacement sensor in practical applications., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The selection of native greening plants to improve rural greening technology is crucial for enriching methods of building rural plant landscapes. However, there are few studies from the perspective of visual preference using quantitative methods. By using eye-tracking technology, this study studies students in the Central South University of Forestry and Technology and villagers in Changkou Village, Fujian Province, employing pictures of plant organs-leaves, flowers, and fruits-as stimulating materials to analyze five indicators: the total duration of fixations, the number of fixations, average duration of fixations, average pupil size and average amplitude of saccades. A number of findings came from this research First, people visually prefer leaves, followed by flowers and fruits. In terms of species, Photinia × fraseri, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Photinia serratifolia, Cunninghamia lanceolata and Koelreuteria bipinnata have higher overall preference. Families such as Malvaceae, Fabaceae, Araliaceae, Myricaceae and Cupressaceae have stronger visual attraction than others. Second, there are distinct differences in the preference of shapes and textures of leaves: aciculiform, strip, cordiform, sector and jacket-shape are more attractive; leather-like leaves have a higher visual preference than paper-like leaves; different colors and whether leaves are cracked or not have little effect on leaf observation. Third, the preference for flowers with different inflorescence and colors is significant. Capitulum, cymes and panicles are more attractive; purple is the most preferred color, followed by white, yellow and red. Finally, there are significant differences in preferences for fruit characteristics, with medium-sized fruits and black fruits preferred, while kidney-shaped and spoon-shaped fruits are considered more attractive. Pomes, pods, samaras, and berries have received relatively more attention., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Nutrient-deficient red soil found in the southern region of China is increasingly being used for potato crops to meet the demand for this staple food. The application of nitrogen fertilizer is necessary to support the production of higher tuber yields; however, the links between nitrate nitrogen and the nitrogen balance in red soil are unknown. A field experiment was conducted in Jiangxi Province in 2017 and 2018 to determine the effects of different nitrogen application rates, 0 kg ha -1 (N0), 60 kg ha -1 (N60), 120 kg ha -1 (N120), 150 kg ha -1 (N150), 180 kg ha -1 (N180), 210 kg ha -1 (N210), and 240 kg ha -1 (N240, the highest rate used by local farmers), on potatoes growing in red soil. Data on tuber yield, crop nitrogen uptake, and the apparent nitrogen balance from the different treatments were collected when potatoes were harvested. Additionally, the content and stock of nitrate nitrogen at different soil depths were also measured. Nitrogen fertilization increased tuber yield but not significantly at application rates higher than 150 kg ha -1 . We estimated that the threshold rates of nitrogen fertilizer application were 191 kg ha -1 in 2017 and 227 kg ha -1 in 2018, where the respective tuber yields were 19.7 and 20.4 t ha -1 . Nitrogen uptake in potato in all nitrogen fertilization treatments was greater than that in N0 by 61.2-237% and 76.4-284% in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The apparent nitrogen surplus (the amount of nitrogen remaining from any nitrogen input minus nitrogen uptake) increased with increasing nitrogen application rates. The nitrate nitrogen stock at a soil depth of 0-60 cm was higher in the 210 and 240 kg ha -1 nitrogen rate treatments than in the other treatments. Moreover, double linear equations indicated that greater levels of nitrogen surplus increased the nitrate nitrogen content and stock in soils at 0-60 cm depths. Therefore, we estimate that the highest tuber yields of potato can be attained when 191-227 kg ha -1 nitrogen fertilizer is applied to red soil. Thus, the risk of nitrate nitrogen leaching from red soil increases exponentially when the apparent nitrogen balance rises above 94.3-100 kg ha -1 ., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Angelica decursiva is one of the lending traditional Chinese medicinal plants producing coumarins. Notably, several studies have focused on the biosynthesis and not the RT-qPCR (quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) study of coumarins. This RT-qPCR technique has been extensively used to investigate gene expression levels in plants and the selection of reference genes which plays a crucial role in standardizing the data form the RT-qPCR analysis. In our study, 11 candidate reference genes were selected from the existing transcriptome data of Angelica decursiva. Here, four different types of statistical algorithms (geNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper, and Delta Ct) were used to calculate and evaluate the stability of gene expression under different external treatments. Subsequently, RefFinder analysis was used to determine the geometric average of each candidate gene ranking, and to perform comprehensive index ranking. The obtained results showed that among all the 11 candidate reference genes, SAND family protein (SAND), protein phosphatase 2A gene (PP2A), and polypyrimidine tract-binding protein (PTBP) were the most stable reference genes, where Nuclear cap binding protein 2 (NCBP2), TIP41-like protein (TIP41), and Beta-6-tubulin (TUBA) were the least stable genes. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first to evaluate the stability of reference genes in the Angelica decursiva which has provided an important foundation on the use of RT-qPCR for an accurate and far-reaching gene expression analysis in this medicinal plant., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Macular edema is considered as a major cause of visual loss and blindness in patients with ocular fundus diseases. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive imaging technique, which has been widely applied for diagnosing macular edema due to its non-invasive and high resolution properties. However, the practical applications remain challenges due to the distorted retinal morphology and blurred boundaries near macular edema. Herein, we developed a novel deep learning model for the segmentation of macular edema in OCT images based on DeepLab framework (OCT-DeepLab). In this model, we used atrous spatial pyramid pooling (ASPP) to detect macular edema at multiple features and used the fully connected conditional random field (CRF) to refine the boundary of macular edema. OCT-DeepLab model was compared against the traditional hand-crafted methods (C-V and SBG) and the end-to-end methods (FCN, PSPnet, and U-net) to estimate the segmentation performance. OCT-DeepLab showed great advantage over the hand-crafted methods (C-V and SBG) and end-to-end methods (FCN, PSPnet, and U-net) as shown by higher precision, sensitivity, specificity, and F1-score. The segmentation performance of OCT-DeepLab was comparable to that of manual label, with an average area under the curve (AUC) of 0.963, which was superior to other end-to-end methods (FCN, PSPnet, and U-net). Collectively, OCT-DeepLab model is suitable for the segmentation of macular edema and assist ophthalmologists in the management of ocular disease.

Radiotherapy-related caries is a complication of radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma; however, factors influencing the occurrence, accurate prediction of onset, and protective factors of radiotherapy-related caries remain unclear. This study analyzed risk factors, disease predictors, and protective factors for radiotherapy-related caries in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. This prospective study included 138 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients receiving radical radiotherapy at our hospital during June 2012-December 2016 and were followed up for dental caries. Patients' clinical data on radiotherapy were collected, dynamic monitoring was performed to assess changes in oral pH values, and a questionnaire survey was administered to collect patients' lifestyle habits. Time-dependent cox regression trees, event-free Kaplan-Meier curve, Mann-Whitely U test were used to analysis the results. The median follow-up time was 30 (12-60) months. Radiotherapy-related caries occurred in 28 cases (20.3%). Univariate analyses showed that radiotherapy-related caries was associated with patient's age, oral saliva pH value, green tea consumption, and radiation dose to sublingual glands, but not with the radiation dose to the parotid and submandibular glands. Multivariate analysis showed that oral saliva pH value [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.390, 95% confidence interval = 0.204-0.746] was an independent prognostic factor for radiotherapy-related caries. Patients with oral saliva pH values ≤ 5.3 in the 9th month after radiotherapy represented a significantly higher risks for radiotherapy-related caries (p < 0.001). Green tea consumption was associated with the occurrence of radiotherapy-related caries, and oral saliva pH values could predict the occurrence of radiotherapy-related caries. Limiting radiation doses to sublingual glands can reduce the occurrence of radiotherapy-related caries.

This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes following implantation of trifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) or a hybrid multifocal-extended depth of focus (EDOF) IOL in cataract or refractive lens exchange surgeries. We examined 13 comparative studies with bilateral implantation of trifocal (898 eyes) or hybrid multifocal-EDOF (624 eyes) IOLs published through 1 March 2020. Better uncorrected and corrected near visual acuity (VA) were observed in the trifocal group (MD: - 0.143, 95% CI: - 0.192 to - 0.010, P < 0.001 and MD: - 0.149, 95% CI: - 0.217 to - 0.082, P < 0.001, respectively), while the hybrid multifocal-EDOF group presented better uncorrected intermediate VA (MD: 0.055, 95% CI: 0.016 to 0.093, P = 0.005). Trifocal IOLs were more likely to achieve spectacle independence at near distance (RR: 1.103, 95% CI: 1.036 to 1.152, P = 0.002). The halo photic effect was generated more frequently by the trifocal IOLs (RR: 1.318, 95% CI: 1.025 to 1.696, P = 0.031). Contrast sensitivity and subjective visual quality yielded comparable results between groups. Trifocal IOLs demonstrated better performance at near distance but apparently led to more photic disturbances. Our findings provided the most up-to-date and comprehensive evidence by comparing the benefits of advanced IOLs in clinical practice.