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This research combines scaled model experiments with theoretical analysis to investigate the impact of underground utility tunnels (UUTs) on foundation bearing capacity and to examine the interaction between soil-rock composite strata and the stress-strain responses of the tunnel. The findings indicate that UUTs alter the foundation mechanism by reducing soil depth, streamlining the load transfer path, and causing stress to converge at the tunnel's top. Additionally, the results reveal that the influence range of the tunnel on both sides is approximately 1.5 times its width and remains unaffected by the position of load application, the tunnel's burial depth, or the width of the composite stratum. Moreover, when the width of the soil-rock composite stratum equals the width of the tunnel, the tunnel experiences a laterally flexural stress state. Within this specific stratum context, the central axis area of the tunnel roof and the connection with the side panels represent the core sensitive areas for crack initiation and propagation. In the failure scenario, the tunnel roof displays typical characteristics of fracture and depression, with the damage degree decreasing from the load center towards both ends. Meanwhile, the side panels do not exhibit characteristics of plastic deformation. This research provides a theoretical framework for the design, construction, and maintenance of UUTs, emphasizing its practical significance in engineering., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

In petroliferous sedimentary basins, the interplay between CO 2 and hydrocarbons exerts a notable influence on hydrocarbon generation and accumulation. This research focuses on the Huangqiao oil and gas reservoir, which is known for hosting the largest CO 2 reserves in China. U-Pb isotopic dating of calcite veins in fractures, carbon and oxygen isotope analyses, along with rare earth element (REE) analysis were applied to elucidate the chronology and origin of inorganic and organic fluids in the studied area. Petrographic observations revealed the presence of various components of fluid inclusions, including gaseous CO 2 , gaseous CH 4 , CH 4 -CO 2 mixtures, and hydrocarbon fluids. Besides, through Raman quantitative measurements and thermodynamic simulations, the density, composition, pressure, and temperature characteristics of CH 4 and CO 2 bearing fluid inclusions were calculated. Based on the entrapment conditions of fluid inclusions and U-Pb dating results, two stages of hydrocarbon charging were identified: an early-Jurassic stage (approximately 200-185 Ma) characterized by mid-maturity oil and CH 4 and an early-Eocene stage (approximately 61-41 Ma) marked by high-maturity oil and CH 4 . CO 2 accumulation events were divided into two stages: high-density CO 2 fluid activity during the early Eocene (approximately 59-39 Ma) and low-density CO 2 fluid activity during the Tertiary-Quaternary (approximately 23-4 Ma). Moreover, deep fluid influx into reservoirs led to hydrothermal alteration, as evidenced by anomalously high homogenization temperatures and vitrinite reflectance. CO 2 has an extraction effect on crude oil, where its late entry primarily results in the removal of lighter components, especially CH 4 . When high-temperature hydrothermal CO 2 fluid enters the oil reservoir, it accelerates the cracking of crude oil and alters the fluid's composition. This thermal event also speeds up the source rock's thermal evolution, leading to extraction, pyrolysis, and gas displacement throughout the reservoir's development process. This study presents a comprehensive approach for quantitatively studying geological fluids in petroliferous basins of this nature., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

YKL-40 is a glycoprotein that has been extensively studied due to its elevated expression in numerous solid tumors, and its expression is altered in melanoma, where its levels in tumor tissues are notably lower compared with those in normal skin tissues. Patients with melanoma exhibiting high YKL-40 expression have improved survival rates, suggesting a potential tumor-suppressive function of YKL-40 in melanoma. The present investigation into the ectopic expression of YKL-40 in human (A375) and murine (B16F10) melanoma cell lines demonstrated a consequential decrease in cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Furthermore, YKL-40 overexpression was associated with suppressed tumor growth in a subcutaneous melanoma mouse model and diminished tumor cell metastasis in a pulmonary metastasis model. RNA-sequencing analysis revealed that YKL-40 overexpression led to the upregulation of immune cell infiltration-related signaling pathways, including cytokine receptor interactions, natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity, and T and B lymphocyte receptor signaling. These findings highlight the potential of YKL-40 as a regulator of tumor-immune interactions in melanoma, highlighting its prospective utility in immunotherapy-based treatment strategies for melanoma., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The animal experiments were approved by the Ethics Committee of Weifang No.2 People’s Hospital (approval no. 2024LAC019; Weifang, China)., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Hypertensive nephropathy (HN), caused by long-term poorly controlled hypertension, is the second common cause of end-stage renal disease after diabetes mellitus, but the pathogenesis of HN is unclear. The purpose of this study was to identify the biological pathways involved in the progression of HN and bile acid (BA)-related biomarkers, and to analyze the role of bile acids in HN. Download gene microarray data from Gene Expression Omnibus. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with HN were identified, and then DEGs were subjected to Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was established using DEGs to identify BA-related hub genes in combination with bile acid identical targets. An animal model of early hypertensive nephropathy was established using SHR and the concentrations of 39 bile acids were measured quantitatively in the renal cortex to screen for significantly different concentrations and to analyze the correlation between bile acid concentrations and blood pressure. A total of 398 DEGs were screened. The results of enrichment analysis identified multiple biological pathways associated with hypertension, nephropathy and bile acids. Combining PPI network and bile acid-related targets, three BA-related hub genes (APOE, ALB, SERPINA1) were identified. Quantitative analysis of bile acids revealed significant differences in the concentrations of seven bile acids (DCA, CDCA, UDCA, UCA, CA, TDCA, TCDCA). The concentrations of these bile acids showed a positive correlation with blood pressure values in SHR, with CA, DCA and TDCA showing a stronger correlation and specificity with blood pressure in SHR. Three BA-related hub genes (APOE, ALB, SERPINA1) may be involved in the early stages of HN. The concentrations of multiple bile acids were significantly elevated in the early stages of HN, with CA, DCA and TDCA being more correlated and specific with blood pressure and having higher diagnostic value. These BA-related hub genes and BAs may be involved in disease progression in the early stages of HN., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Graph clustering is a fundamental task in network analysis, aimed at uncovering meaningful groups of nodes based on structural and attribute-based similarities. Traditional Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (NMF) methods have shown promise in clustering tasks by providing low-dimensional representations of data. However, most existing NMF-based approaches are highly sensitive to noise and outliers, leading to suboptimal performance in real-world scenarios. Additionally, these methods often struggle to capture the underlying nonlinear structures of complex networks, which can significantly impact clustering accuracy. To address these limitations, this paper introduces Robust Self-Supervised Symmetric NMF (R3SNMF) to improve graph clustering. The proposed algorithm leverages a robust principal component model to handle noise and outliers effectively. By incorporating a self-supervised learning mechanism, R3SNMF iteratively refines the clustering process, enhancing the quality of the learned representations and increasing resilience to data imperfections. The symmetric factorization ensures the preservation of network structures, while the self-supervised approach allows the model to adaptively improve its clustering performance over successive iterations. In addition, R3SNMF integrates a graph-boosting method to improve how relationships within the network are represented. Extensive experimental evaluations on various real-world graph datasets demonstrate that R3SNMF outperforms state-of-the-art clustering methods in terms of both accuracy and robustness., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between AGEs, TSH, metabolic metrics and DN, and to provide evidence for future intervention., Method: This study selected community health service centers which had signed medical alliance agreement with the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University and outpatints and inpatients in Anhui province. From March 2018 to July 2022, the multi-stage cluster sampling. method was used to screen residents aged 18-90 years in the above areas. Participants' blood was collected on an empty stomach to detect TSH, blood lipids, liver and kidney function and blood glucose, in addition, AGEs levels were detected by skin autofluorescence (SAF), and urine was retained to measure the ratio of urinary microalbumin to creatinine concentration by ACR. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the differences between general data, biochemical markers, and urinary ACR, association between variables., Result: A total of 7000 patients who participated in community health examination and inpatients and also had no history of serious mental disorders were selected. After excluding data with missing value of more than 5%, 6921 samples were finally included, and the effective rate was 94.4%. Following health risk factors (HRFs), such as body mass index (BMI), TSH, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), TyG (triglyceride glucose index), systolic blood pressure (SBP), cholesterol (TC), and uric acid (UA) were associated with a higher incidence of urine ACR. In moderation analysis, there is an significant effect among TSH, AGEs and DN, HRFs moderate also these effect., Conclusion: The findings suggest that HRFs such as HDL, TyG and TC should be prioritized when evaluating indicators related to DN to effectively reduce DN in Chinese patients with high health risk levels. Comprehensive indicators may be an effective and practical. method to evaluate the metabolic progression of DN. Optimizing thyroid function management may be a new strategy to prevent and treat DN and may help reduce the risk of AGE-related complications in people with diabetes. This study highlights the important role of AGEs in the relationship between TSH and DN. In addition, future studies should further explore how to improve the management and prevention of DN by regulating TSH.Among the leading causes of disability and death in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM), chronic kidney disease (CKD) occupies a certain position. Multi-factor intervention targeting advanced glycation end products (AGEs), blood glucose, blood pressure and lipids can reduce the morbidity and mortality of diabetic nephropathy (DN) in T2DM patients through thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), which plays an important role in the pathological process of metabolic diseases such as DN. AGEs, as a key factor in metabolic regulation, may affect the formation and function of the thyroid gland; However, in DN, the correlation between AGEs and TSH has not been clarified. We hypothesized that AGEs aggravated the negative effect of TSH on DN. The., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Anhui Medical University and in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. All focus group participants provided signed informed consent prior to the start of the focus groups., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

As an important geological environment medium for engineering construction in southwest China, basalt generally contains hidden microcracks at a micro-scale, which leads to significant size effect on its mechanical properties, and relevant research is lacking and unsystematic. A synthetic rock mass model based on the combination of a micro-discrete fracture network method and a finite-discrete element method is used to systematically explore the size effect of the mechanical properties of basalt rock blocks with hidden microcracks. The results showed that: (1) the fracture angle is uniformly distributed, and the fracture length conforms to the logarithmic normal distribution, with an areal fracture intensity P20 of 0.00025/mm 2 and P21 of 0.012 mm/mm 2 . (2) According to the variation trends of mechanical parameters with the increase in the specimen dimension, the REV size of basalt rock blocks with hidden microcracks is determined to be 0.5 m. The mechanical properties obtained at this size are considered equivalent continuum properties and could be used as input parameters of rock blocks in complete rock mass or jointed rock mass for the numerical analysis at an engineering scale. (3) With the increase in the sample dimension, basalt changes from a small-sized complete sample to a medium-sized sample with local defects and then to an REV-sized sample with sufficient defects, the stress-strain curve characteristics under Brazilian disc splitting change from a single-peak shape to a zigzag shape and then to a multi-peak shape, and the failure modes changes from a single-center splitting failure mode to a local structure-controlled failure mode and then to a multi-center splitting failure mode, with the gradual decrease in the brittleness degree. The research results further enrich and improve the basic theory and technical methods of multi-scale analysis of geotechnical engineering, and provide strong scientific and technological support for the safety construction of deep engineering., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

The Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) is vital for energy conversion and storage. This study presents a multi-heterostructure catalyst, Fe 2 O 3 /Co 3 O 4 /Co(PO 3 ) 2 , created by encapsulating Fe ions in COF/MOF pores through grinding and one-step pyrolysis. The catalyst demonstrates exceptional OER performance, achieving an ultra-low overpotential of 232 mV, outperforming the Co 3 O 4 /Co(PO 3 ) 2 single heterostructure. The unique design significantly reduces electron transfer resistance (Rct = 5.88 Ω), enhancing electron transfer efficiency at the heterojunction interface. Additionally, the catalyst's increased specific surface area and mesoporosity boost the number of active catalytic sites. Density functional theory (DFT) studies reveal that optimized geometric structures and altered electron density around Co and Fe sites shift the d-band center, facilitating electron migration and improving adsorption and desorption processes. This research provides novel insights into creating high-efficiency OER electrocatalysts with heterogeneous interfaces, advancing sustainable energy technologies., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

The occurrence of public health emergency in China often makes nurses more susceptible to anxiety. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of anxiety among Chinese nurses during the public health emergency and explore the association between family function and anxiety and its underlying mechanisms. Family care index questionnaire, Connor-Davidson Resilience scale, physical activity rating scale and 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale were employed to measure family function, resilience, physical activity and anxiety among 779 Chinese nurses during public health emergency. The prevalence of anxiety among nurses during public health emergency was 29.9%. Resilience partially mediated the association of anxiety with family function. Physical activity moderated the direct and indirect effects of family function on anxiety. The direct effect became insignificant when the standard scores of physical activity were 0.629 and over. In contrast, the indirect effect of family function on anxiety through resilience was stronger when the levels of physical activity increased. The present study suggested for nurses with low levels of physical activity, intervention enhancing family function should be designed to prevent anxiety. For those with higher levels of physical activity, programs aimed at strengthening family function and supporting resilience should be developed to manage anxiety., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval and consent to participate: All methods in the present study were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. The study involving human participants were reviewed and approved by ethics committee of Second Military Medical University. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Small molecule Menin inhibitor recently has emerged as a new therapeutic by targeting the interaction of histone methyltransferase MLL1 (KMT2A) with Menin. MLL1 is associated with aggressive osteosarcoma (OS) in young adults. The purpose of the study is to explore whether Menin inhibitors have therapeutic effects in OS.To investigate the anti-OS activity of the Menin inhibitor MI-503 in vitro, we performed CCK-8 cell growth and colony formation assay. Cellular thermal shift assay was used to test whether MI-503 binds to Menin in osteosarcoma cells. The expression of oncogenes in MI-503 treated cells were detected by western blotting and Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assay. Finally, we established the OS subcutaneous xenograft mice model to study the anti-OS effect of MI-503 in vivo.The results showed that MI-503 dose-dependently suppressed cell proliferation in 6 OS cell lines, including 143B, HOS, Saos-2, SKES1, MG-63, and U2OS. 143B is the most sensitive cell line with EC50 value 0.13 µM. Cellular thermal shift assay showed that MI-503 binds cellular Menin. RT-qPCR assay showed that MI-503 suppressed the expression of Mcl-1 and c-Myc in 143B cells. Western blotting result showed that MI-503 markedly suppressed the H3K4 methylation, significantly suppressed the expression of Mcl-1 and c-Myc, and increased the expression of p27 and cl-PARP in 143B and Saos-2 cells. In a study with 143B cell-derived xenograft model, we found that MI-503 profoundly inhibited OS tumor growth in mice. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) study showed that MI-503 suppressed the H3K4 methylation and inhibited the expression of the cell proliferation biomarker Ki67 in 143B OS xenograft tissue.Overall, our findings demonstrated the potent anti-OS activity of MI-503 in both in vitro and in vivo models, which also indicated that Menin inhibitor may be a prospective therapeutic strategy for human OS., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval: The research program was approved by the ethics committee: Clinical Trials and Research Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (2023-KY-0577). All animals were cared for in a humane manner according to NIH guidelines for laboratory animals. The study was carried out in compliance with the ARRIVE guidelines. Consent for publication: All authors agree to be published., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

The intensification of land use and climate change threatens watershed sustainability. These external disturbances drive complex interactions among components within watershed socio-ecological systems (SESs). Understanding how SESs respond to these changes is crucial for developing effective integrated watershed management strategies. Nevertheless, the nonlinear responses of these systems to such changes remain poorly understood. To fill this gap, this study proposes a network analysis method focusing on the Yangtze River Basin to construct an SES network comprising six dimensions, revealing the response of coupled relationships among network elements to climate and land-use change. The results showed that changes in land-use dynamics (LUD) and the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) altered the link count and importance of network nodes, with notable shifts in vegetation and landscape nodes. Importantly, a strong nonlinear response of the LUD and SPEI to the coupled relationship between SES elements was observed, and critical thresholds were identified for all network attributes. Furthermore, compared to the SPEI threshold, the LUD threshold was stable at 0.24, demonstrating stronger robustness. This study provides a new perspective for understanding watershed SESs, and has important implications for sustainable ecosystem management and planning., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Early diagnosis of Kawasaki disease (KD) allows timely treatment to be initiated, thereby preventing coronary artery aneurysms in children. However, it is challenging due to the subjective nature of the diagnostic criteria. This study aims to develop a machine learning prediction model using routine blood tests to distinguish children with KD from other febrile illnesses in Chinese children within the first five days of fever onset. The retrospective cross-sectional data for this study was collected from the records of Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, spanning January 1, 2020, to April 30, 2024. A retrospective analysis was performed using three machine learning models and five ensemble models based on this dataset. This study included 1,089 children with KD (mean age 32.8 ± 27.0 months; 34.5% female) and a control group of 81,697 children without KD (mean age 45.3 ± 33.6 months; 42.8% female). The supervised method, Xtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), was applied. It was tested without feature selection, achieved an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.9999, sensitivity of 0.9982, specificity of 0.9975, F1 score of 0.9979, accuracy of 0.9979, positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.9975, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.9982. The SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) summary plot identified the top five significant features, which were the percentage of eosinophils (EO%), hematocrit (HCT), platelet crit (PCT), gender, and absolute basophil count (BA#). This study demonstrates that the application of the machine learning model, XGBoost, on routine blood test results can predict KD., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Ethical approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center in July 2024, waiving the need for informed patient consent. All procedures and methods were conducted in compliance with Chinese national legislation, institutional guidelines, and the Declaration of Helsinki. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

In recent years, evidence for the anti-cancer activity of lichen secondary metabolites has been rapidly increasing. In this study, we synthesised analogues of diffractaic acid, a lichen secondary metabolite, and evaluated their ability to suppress colorectal cancer stem potential. Among the 10 compounds after H/CH₃/benzylation of the diffractaic acid structure or modifications in an aromatic hydrophobic domain, TU3 has a more inhibition effect on the stem potential of colorectal cancer compared to other compounds. The compound TU3 targets ALDH1 and suppresses key signalling pathways such as WNT, STAT3, NF-κB, Hedgehog, and AP-1. Inhibition of these signalling pathways by TU3 contribute to attenuate the survival mechanisms of colorectal cancer stem cell and thus inhibit cancer progression., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Coalbeds have the potential as geobioreactors for producing renewable natural gas from biomass derived from photosynthesis. This brings about a number of benefits, including support for sustainable energy and the sequestration of carbon dioxide in coal. In this study, freshwater bloom algae were employed as the substrate to examine the influence of hydrothermal and hydrothermal-alkaline pretreatment on methane production using an inoculum from an anaerobic digester. The morphology and chemical structures of the biomass, as well as the volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in the liquid fraction of the post-treatment and gas production, were analyzed to understand their relationship with the efficacy of methane yields and changes in microorganisms. The results revealed that both hydrothermal and hydrothermal-alkaline pretreatment, under the right conditions, can lead to an increase in methane production. Particularly, a pretreatment condition of 0.2 mol/L NaOH at 150 °C for 30 min resulted in a significant increase in methane yield by up to 303.9%. The addition of NaOH facilitated the hydrothermal-alkaline pretreatment, effectively destroying the cell structure of the bloom algae, promoting the dissolution of intracellular sugars and other substances, and reducing the loss of VFAs caused by heating. Moreover, hydrothermal-alkaline pretreatment was found to support the growth of acetoclastic methanogens and enhance methane production by mitigating pH drops. Overall, the results of this study suggest that hydrothermal-alkaline pretreatment offers significant advantages in methane production compared to hydrothermal pretreatment. These findings have important implications for harnessing bloom algae as a viable source for generating renewable natural gas., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Excessive accumulation of liver fat content (LFC) is a pathological manifestation of steatotic liver diseases. This study aims to investigate the relationship between chronic pain and LFC development. In the UK Biobank, chronic pain sites were collected via questionnaire, while LFC was measured by magnetic resonance imaging and quantified by Proton Density Fat Fraction (PDFF). During the median follow-up of 10.5 (4.0-17.8) years, in 39,437 individuals, neck/shoulder, back, stomach/abdominal, knee, and general pain achieved significant arithmetic means difference of 0.02, 0.02, 0.04, 0.02, and 0.15 in PDFF (P < 0.05) using multivariable linear regression models. There was a significant dose-effect for number of pain sites and PDFF (P < 0.001). Additionally, the link between pain sites and PDFF was much stronger in aspirin users than non-users, while steroids had the reverse effect (P for interaction < 0.05). C-reactive protein, sleep, diet, and depression were proved to mediated 8.41%, 13.3%, 6.6%, and 23.0% of the relationship, respectively. In conclusion, there were quantified differences in the relationship between chronic pain and LFC. For chronic pain patients with potential liver health issues, aspirin may be prioritized as an analgesic option due to its potential protective benefits, whereas steroid medications should be avoided., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval: of the UK Biobank study was approved by the NHS National Research Ethics Service (16/NW/0274). The experimental protocols were established according to the ethical guidelines of the Helsinki Declaration. Written informed consent was obtained from individual or guardian participants. All methods were carried out in accordance with guidelines and regulations developed by the UK Biobank. Data usage was approved by the Human Ethical Committee of the West China Hospital of Sichuan University (2023 − 1207)., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Oral-drug based regimens are useful in certain circumstances for transplant-ineligible newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (TI-NDMM), but few studies have compared Ixazomib based regimen with lenalidomide based regimen head-to-head. We carried out a prospective randomized, open, parallel group trial in patients with TI-NDMM in 3 China centers from March 2020 to December 2022. Sixty-three patients were available for final analysis, ICd (Ixazomib/cyclophosphamide/dexamethasone, n = 31) and RCd (lenalidomide/cyclophosphamide/dexamethasone, n = 32). The primary objective was to compare the two regimens by analyzing the overall response rate (ORR), safety profiles, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). We also explored clinical and the biological characteristics of the patients with primary drug resistance. Baseline characteristics were well balanced between ICd and RCd groups, with the median age 70 vs. 70 years; 12.9% vs. 12.5% of patients had stage III disease; 25.8% vs. 28.1% had high-risk cytogenetic abnormalities. The overall response rate (ORR) at the end of 4 cycles was 87.1% vs. 71.9% (odds ratio [OR], 1.212; 95% CI, 0.938-1.565; P = 0.213); the best ≥ VGPR rate was 41.9% vs. 31.2% (OR, 1.342; 95% CI 0.694-2.597; P = 0.439). Among high-risk cytogenetic patients, ORR was higher in the ICd group, 75% vs. 55.5% (P = 0.620), respectively. After 35 months follow-up, the median PFS were 22 and 23 months between ICd and RCd groups (P = 0.897). Median OS was not reached, estimated 3-year OS rate was 86.4% vs. 85.4% (P = 0.774). The most common adverse events of grade 3 or 4 were neutropenia (6.5% in the ICd group vs. 31.3% in the RCd group), anemia (19.4% vs. 18.8%), pneumonia (0 vs. 15.6%) and diarrhea (12.9% vs. 0). Treatment emergent adverse events (TEAEs) induced dose reduction and discontinuation were 22.6% vs. 37.5% and 3.2% vs. 6.3% in the ICd vs. RCd group, respectively. Exploration data showed that patients with t (4;14) were insensitive to initial RCd treatment. The ICd regimen showed a tendency towards improved ORR compared to RCd regimen. Both ICd and RCd regimens demonstrated less dose reduction and treatment discontinuation, suggesting their tolerability and feasibility for older individuals with TI-NDMM.Trial registration: This study was registered at Chinese Clinical Trial Register (ChiCTR). Trial registration number: ChiCTR2000029863. Date of registration: 15/02/2020., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The Internal Review Board (IRB) of Ruijin Hospital approved this study. Informed consent was obtained from all study participants. The study was carried out following the Declaration of Helsinki. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Predicting disease prognosis and the efficacy of immunotherapy presents a significant challenge in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). By analyzing transcriptome sequencing data from 69 patients and identifying differentially expressed immune genes, a prognostic index named the immune-related gene prognostic index (IRGPI) was established by Lasso-Cox regression. The IRGPI, which consists of six key genes, was found to be a significant predictor of poor prognosis in patients with high IRGPI scores. The model's predictive accuracy was confirmed via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, with area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.85, 0.779, and 0.857 for 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival predictions, respectively. Additionally, patients with high IRGPI scores had increased levels of Treg cells and neutrophils, advanced tumor staging, microvascular invasion grading, and immune checkpoint expression. The IRGPI was also effective in predicting the efficacy of immunotherapy in the IMvigor210 dataset, demonstrating its potential as a valuable tool for assessing patient prognosis and guiding immunotherapy strategies in HCC., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

In the field of multi-organ 3D medical image segmentation, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are limited to extracting local feature information, while Transformer-based architectures suffer from high computational complexity and inadequate extraction of spatial and channel layer information. Moreover, the large number and varying sizes of organs to be segmented result in suboptimal model robustness and segmentation outcomes. To address these challenges, this paper introduces a novel network architecture, DS-UNETR++, specifically designed for 3D medical image segmentation. The proposed network features a dual-branch feature encoding mechanism that categorizes images into coarse-grained and fine-grained types before processing them through the encoding blocks. Each encoding block comprises a downsampling layer and a Gated Shared Weighted Pairwise Attention (G-SWPA) submodule, which dynamically adjusts the influence of spatial and channel attention on feature extraction. Additionally, a Gated Dual-Scale Cross-Attention Module (G-DSCAM) is incorporated at the bottleneck stage. This module employs dimensionality reduction techniques to cross-coarse-grained and fine-grained features, using a gating mechanism to dynamically balance the ratio of these two types of feature information, thereby achieving effective multi-scale feature fusion. Finally, comprehensive evaluations were conducted on four public medical datasets. Experimental results demonstrate that DS-UNETR++ achieves good segmentation performance, highlighting the effectiveness and significance of the proposed method and offering new insights for various organ segmentation tasks., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Tracheal, bronchial, and lung cancer (TBL) is among the most common malignancies worldwide, with persistently high incidence and mortality rates, posing a significant threat to public health. However, existing studies on TBL disease burden are often limited to specific regions or short-term trends, lacking systematic and predictive analyses. This study comprehensively evaluated the global, regional, and national burden of TBL across 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2021, utilizing predictive models to estimate trends from 2022 to 2035. This study used data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 database to systematically analyze the prevalence (ASPR), incidence (ASIR), mortality (ASMR), and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) associated with TBL. Age-standardized rates (ASR) were used to quantify disease burden. Historical trends were assessed using Joinpoint regression analysis, while ARIMA and Bayesian age-period-cohort (BAPC) models were employed to predict future trends. The study also incorporated the Sociodemographic Index (SDI) to investigate the impact of socioeconomic development on TBL burden. In 2021, the global ASPR, ASIR, ASMR, and DALYs for TBL were 37.28, 26.43, 23.50, and 638.60 per 100,000 population, respectively. From 1990 to 2021, ASPR increased slightly (0.09 per 100,000), while ASIR, ASMR, and DALYs declined by 0.07, 0.15, and 0.23 per 100,000, respectively. Regionally, the highest ASPR was observed in the high-income Asia-Pacific region (69.79 per 100,000), while East Asia recorded the highest ASIR (43.41 per 100,000) and ASMR (38.53 per 100,000). Sub-Saharan Africa had the lowest burden. Gender analysis showed that males had a significantly higher TBL burden than females, but their burden declined over the study period. In contrast, females, particularly in older age groups, experienced an increase in burden. Future predictions indicate that the overall TBL burden will decline between 2022 and 2035; however, the burden among females and older adults is projected to rise, with a marked increase in female ASPR. This study highlights the global and regional trends in TBL burden from 1990 to 2021 and provides predictions for future burden. Although the overall burden is declining, significant disparities exist across genders and regions, with East Asia and high-income North America warranting particular attention. Females and older adults are priority groups for future interventions. The findings underscore the importance of early screening, targeted interventions, and region-specific strategies to optimize public health policies, resource allocation, and tailored prevention efforts., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The ethics committee approved the ethical exemption for this study because it utilizes publicly available data that does not contain any confidential information or patient privacy concerns. Consent for publication: All participants in this study consented to publication., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Zero-shot speaker adaptation seeks to enable the cloning of voices for previously unseen speakers by leveraging only a few seconds of their speech samples. Nevertheless, existing zero-shot multi-speaker text-to-speech (TTS) systems continue to exhibit significant disparities in the synthesized speech quality and speaker similarity when comparing unseen to seen speakers. To address these challenges and improve synthesized speech quality and speaker similarity for unseen speakers, this study introduces an efficient zero-shot speaker-adaptive TTS model, DiffGAN-ZSTTS. The model is constructed on the FastSpeech2 framework and utilizes a diffusion-based decoder to enhance the model's generalization ability for unseen speaker samples in zero-shot settings. We present the SE-Res2FFT module, which refines the encoder's FFT block by incorporating SE-Res2Net modules in parallel with the multi-head self-attention mechanism, thereby achieving a balanced extraction of local and global features. Furthermore, we introduce the MHSE module, which employs multi-head attention mechanisms to augment the model's capability in representing speaker reference audio features. The model was trained and evaluated using both the AISHELL3 and LibriTTS datasets, providing a comprehensive evaluation of speech synthesis performance across both seen and unseen speaker conditions in Chinese and English. Experimental results indicate that DiffGAN-ZSTTS substantially improves both the synthesized speech quality and speaker similarity. Additionally, we assessed the model's performance on the Baker and VCTK datasets, which are outside the training domain, and the results reveal that the model can successfully perform zero-shot speech synthesis for unseen speakers with only a few seconds of speech, outperforming state-of-the-art models in both speaker similarity and audio quality., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a therapeutically challenging disease. Metformin, an effective agent for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, has been shown to have antitumour effects on many cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and breast cancer. Currently, the antitumour effects of metformin on SCLC and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. CCK-8, EdU, colony formation, flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, molecular docking, western blotting, nude mouse transplanted tumour model, and immunohistochemistry experiments were conducted to analyse gene functions and the underlying mechanism involved. In vitro experiments demonstrated that metformin inhibited the growth of SCLC cells (H446, H526, H446/DDP and H526/DDP), which was confirmed in xenograft mouse models in vivo. Additionally, metformin induced cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and autophagy in these SCLC cells. The molecular docking results indicated that metformin has a certain binding affinity for EGFR. The western blotting results revealed that metformin decreased the expression of EGFR, p-EGFR, AKT, and p-AKT, which could be reversed by EGF and SC79. Moreover, metformin activated AMPK and inactivated mTOR, and compound C and SC79 increased the levels of p-mTOR. Metformin can not only enhance the antitumour effect of cisplatin but also alleviate the toxic effects of cisplatin on the organs of xenograft model animals. In summary, the current study revealed that metformin inhibits the growth of SCLC by inducing autophagy and apoptosis via suppression of the EGFR/AKT/AMPK/mTOR pathway. Metformin might be a promising candidate drug for combination therapy of SCLC., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval: All animal experiments were approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Hubei University of Medicine [2022-No.035]., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

The LX tight gas reservoir displays significant heterogeneity, with a lack of alignment between engineering treatment and geological evaluation, leading to an unsatisfactory development outcome. Focusing on the Shihezi Formation of LX, a new comprehensive evaluation method is proposed for identifying sweet spots, taking into consideration both geological and engineering factors. The objective function utilized is post-frac production, and the grey correlation method was employed to quantitatively characterize the weight coefficients of geological and engineering parameters. The dual sweet spots index F was obtained through a normalized process. Utilizing the Petrel integrated exploration and development platform, the dual sweet spots index was incorporated into the geological model using coarse-interpolation. Subsequently, a dual sweet spots evaluation model was established to enhance the overall assessment process. The findings indicate the following: (1) There is a strong correlation between open flow production and the F-value, and the model's predicted value closely aligns with the actual value. (2) A section with an F-value greater than 0.5 is identified as the optimal sweet spot, prioritizing development in this area. Sections with F-values within the range of 0.3 to 0.5 may be considered for fracturing but are not the primary choice. Sections with an F-value below 0.3 are deemed inefficient areas. (3) Based on the dual sweet spots evaluation model, it is recommended to focus on single layers He2, He5, and He6 in the LX area due to their superior quality compared to other layers. The research results offer crucial technical support for assessing fracability in this region, and hold significant importance for the selection of fracturing wells and the optimization of frac design., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

The T315I mutation poses a significant threat to patients with chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CP-CML). This study aimed to establish a nomogram to predict the risk of T315I mutation in CP-CML patients. The training cohort included 1,466 patients from 24 hematology centers, and the validation cohort included 820 patients from an additional 20 centers. Peripheral blood blast (PBB), additional chromosomal abnormality (ACA), dasatinib use, non-EMR at 3 months, and BCR::ABL IS  > 1% at 6 months were identified as independent risk factors through multivariate Cox regression analysis. The performance of the nomogram was assessed via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, calibration curves, and decision curve analysis (DCA). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) values at 5, 10, and 15 years were 0.874, 0.925, and 0.930 for the training cohort, and 0.864, 0.814, and 0.803 for the validation cohort, respectively. The calibration curves for both cohorts were close to the ideal diagonal, and the decision curves indicated clinical net benefit. In conclusion, we developed a nomogram to predict the 5-year, 10-year, and 15-year T315I-free survival probabilities of CP-CML patients. This tool can aid clinicians in the early prediction and timely management of high-risk CP-CML patients with the T315I mutation., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval: The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University Institutional Review Board, with a waiver for informed consent (2022, No469). All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Mitochondria are required for protecting host against pathogenic bacteria by activating mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR mt ). Chlorogenic acid (CGA), a phenolic acid compound of green coffee extracts and tea has been shown to exhibit activities such as antioxidant, antibacterial, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, anti-obesity. However, whether CGA regulates innate immunity and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unknown. In this study, we found that CGA increased resistance to Gram-negative pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 in dose dependent manner. Meanwhile, CGA enhanced innate immunity in Caenorhabditis elegans by reducing intestinal bacterial burden. CGA also inhibited the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria. Importantly, CGA inhibited the production of Pseudomonas toxin pyocyanin (PYO) to protect C. elegans from P. aeruginosa PA14 infection. Furthermore, CGA activated the UPR mt and expression of antibacterial peptide genes to promote innate immunity in C. elegans via transcription factor ATFS-1(activating transcription factor associated with stress-1). Unexpectedly, CGA enhanced innate immunity independently of other known innate immune pathways. Intriguingly, CGA also protected mice from P. aeruginosa PA14 infection and activated UPR mt . Our work revealed a conserved mechanism by which CGA promoted innate immunity and boosted its therapeutic application in the treatment of pathogen infection., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Consent for publication: All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Ethical approval: All mouse studies were carried out under standard conditions and in accordance with Zunyi Medical University Animal Care Committee (ZMU21-2305-003) guidelines. This study protocol was approved by Zunyi Medical University Animal Care Committee., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Chaotic systems have been widely employed in constructing hash functions because of their nonlinear characteristics. Nonetheless, some chaotic hash functions are intricately designed, significantly increasing their computational overhead, and some can only generate a single hash value of fixed length, thus lacking flexibility. To overcome the above problems, a novel hash function based on a 2D linear cross-coupled hyperchaotic map (HF-2DLCHM) is introduced and has a parallel feedback structure. Compared to the typical 1D chaotic maps, 2DLCHM has superior dynamic complexity, allowing HF-2DLCHM to resist phase space reconstruction attacks. A parallelizable structure is introduced, enhancing computational efficiency through concurrent processing of operational units. Simultaneously, the feedback mechanism is incorporated to augment the diffusion effect, ensuring better mixing and distribution of information. Moreover, by controlling the size of the input parameter T, the scheme can generate a hash value of [Formula: see text] bits. The experimental results illustrate that this scheme exhibits distribution, confusion, diffusion and collision resistance characteristics approaching their nearly ideal benchmarks while maintaining an acceptable speed. Therefore, this scheme holds substantial practical potential in the domain of data security and privacy protection., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Controlling degradation rate is essential for the biomedical application of biodegradable Zn alloys. Alloying with soluble elements is an effective way to regulate formation of second phases, which differ in potential from the Zn matrix. The potential difference exhibits positive or negative effects on corrosion resistance. This study successfully forms MnZn 13 phase with nano size by altering ECAP temperature. Subsequently, MnZn 13 phase promotes grain refinement, improvement of elongation, and corrosion resistance. Higher elongation in Zn-Mn alloy with MnZn 13 phase is attributed to the grain boundary sliding, deformation twins in MnZn 13 phase. Meanwhile, grain boundary corrosion in Zn-Mn alloy with MnZn 13 phase is incomplete. Corrosion mode of Zn-Mn alloys without MnZn 13 phase is dominated by grain boundary corrosion, accompanied by pitting corrosion. The increased corrosion resistance from MnZn 13 phase stems from its higher potential than Zn matrix. Zn-Mn alloys with and without MnZn 13 phase show a comparable cytocompatibility and osteogenic properties. Our findings provide an effective way to regulating mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of Zn alloys via controlling precipitation., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

The sympathetic nervous system regulates various visceral functions, including those of the heart, lungs, and digestive system, and maintains homeostasis. The prevertebral ganglia (PVG) in the peripheral nervous system serve as a vital relay station, transmitting efferent signals to visceral organs. The PVG receives innervation from intestinofugal afferent neurones (IFANs) that originate from the enteric plexus, as well as from spinal sensory nerves that innervate the enteric tract. While neural circuits comprising sensory and sympathetic nerves have been proposed, the exact diversity of the individual neurones in these circuits is still not well characterized in rats. In this study, we employed single-nuclei RNA-sequencing to characterize all the cell types present in the celiac ganglion (CG). We identified five distinct neural clusters, including celiac noradrenergic and celiac cholinergic neurones (CNA1-4, CACh). Among these, the CNA3 cluster expressed Tacr1 and Cckar, while the CACh cluster expressed Ramp1. Furthermore, we characterised Mki67-positive proliferating cells and found that they expressed genes associated with satellite glial cells (SGCs). Additionally, general resident and sympathetic SGCs with distinct SGC clusters were localised within the CG. Our data provide a valuable resource for investigating neural circuits within the PVG and for identifying target organs innervated by specific neuronal populations., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Recent studies have shed light on the dysregulated nature of cell senescence in many cancers, with implications for tumor immunity and prognosis. However, it is still unclear what role cellular senescence plays in stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD). To address this gap, we investigated the impact of cellular senescence on gastric cancer and its potential prognostic and therapeutic significance. The mRNA expression patterns, gene mutations, and clinical information of STAD were obtained from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) and gene expression omnibus (GEO). Differentially expressed senescence-related genes were identified between gastric cancer tissues and normal tissues, then the prognostic value and functional roles of these genes in immunotherapy were systematically investigated by bioinformatics approaches. To authenticate the dysregulated genes identified within our prognostic signature, we conducted real-time quantitative PCR. Moreover, we verified gene expression patterns in both normal and tumor samples and performed in vitro experiments to modulate gene expression, assessing its impact on cell proliferation and invasion. Leveraging least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis, we successfully established a prognostic signature based on cell senescence-related genes. This signature categorized patients into high and low-risk groups, with the high-risk group exhibiting decreased overall survival likelihood compared to the low-risk group. Notably, these groups demonstrated distinct tumor microenvironment features and immune cell infiltration. Furthermore, patients in the high-risk group exhibited poorer responses to treatment compared to those in the low-risk group. To facilitate clinical application, we developed a nomogram for STAD prognosis prediction. By employing this cell senescence-related signature, we could accurately predict prognosis in STAD and tailor individualized therapeutic strategies, including chemotherapy and immunotherapy., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval: The clinical ethical approval (011) for this study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Wenzhou Medical University. Our research complies with the ARRIVE guidelines ( https://arriveguidelines.org )., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

The forearm function in children is influenced by several factors, with the length relationship between the ulna and radius being particularly important. However, due to the underdevelopment of cartilage in children, assessing this length relationship through imaging techniques is challenging. This study aims to identify a reliable method for evaluating the lengths of the ulna and radius in children, establish normal values for the ratio of the epiphyseal plate lengths of these bones, examine this ratio in children with Monteggia fractures, and investigate its role in determining forearm function in the pediatric population. This multicenter study involved 432 normal children under 15 years of age as controls. A retrospective analysis was conducted on anteroposterior and lateral radiographs from 58 children with Monteggia fractures after surgery. The correlation between the inner-epiphysis ulna-radius length ratio, postoperative Mayo elbow joint function score, and radiographic reduction quality of the brachioradial joint was analyzed. The mean inner-epiphysis ulna-radius length ratio was 1.094, with a standard deviation of 0.024. The maximum value ranged from 1.0336 to 1.168. The medical reference range, with a 95% confidence level, was calculated as 1.047 to 1.141. In children with Monteggia fractures, the postoperative inner-epiphysis ulna-radius length ratio showed significant correlations (P < 0.05) with postoperative imaging reduction quality, as well as the range of pronation, supination, flexion, and extension, and the Mayo elbow score. In normal children, the inner-epiphysis ulna-radius length ratio ranges from 1.0336 to 1.168, with a medical reference range of 1.047 to 1.141 at a 95% confidence level. Restoring this ratio (1.047-1.141) in children with Monteggia fractures can improve elbow function and radiographic radiocapitellar joint reduction quality., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Aiming at the problem that it is difficult to accurately predict wellbore trajectory under complex geological conditions, the NOA-LSTM-FCNN prediction method for steering drilling wellbore trajectory is proposed by combining NOA, LSTM and FCNN. This method adopts LSTM layer to receive input data and capture long-term dependencies within the data, extracting important information. The FCNN layer performs nonlinear mapping on the output of the LSTM layer and further extracts relevant features to enhance prediction accuracy. NOA is employed for hyperparameter optimization of the LSTM-FCNN model. The experimental results show that the prediction effect of the proposed method is better than that of other methods. Taking the prediction results of the well deviation angle of H21 as an example, compared with traditional machine learning methods (LR, SVM and BP) and deep learning methods (CNN, LSTM and GRU), the evaluation index R² of this method was improved by 0.17887, 0.03129, 0.0259, 0.00054, 0.00032 and 0.00031 respectively, showing significant prediction accuracy advantages and strong adaptability. In addition, it applies to various types of wellbore trajectory data, effectively enhancing wellbore trajectory prediction capabilities under complex geological conditions., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

To compare the early to mid-term clinical efficacy of the direct anterior approach (DAA) versus the posterolateral approach (PLA) in total hip arthroplasty (THA) for middle-aged and elderly patients with femoral neck fractures. The patients in our hospital from January 2021 to January 2023 were retrospectively selected. Patients were divided into the DAA group (n = 64 cases) and PLA group (n = 69 cases) based on a non-randomized concurrent controlled trial method. Baseline clinical characteristics and preoperative and postoperative data of patients were collected. These patients were followed up one year. There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between the two groups (P > 0.05). Compared to the PLA group, the DAA group had shorter surgery times (66.33 ± 6.27 vs. 83.32 ± 7.17), shorter incision lengths (9.94 ± 1.10 vs. 13.00 ± 1.48), less intraoperative bleeding (177.81 ± 62.55 vs. 306.34 ± 50.49), and shorter times to postoperative ambulation (1.72 ± 0.83 vs. 3.48 ± 0.63), with all differences being statistically significant (P < 0.05). Moreover, there was no difference in Harris scores between the two groups preoperatively and at 12 months postoperatively (P > 0.05). However, the DAA group was significantly higher than the PLA group at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months postoperatively (P < 0.05). There was no difference in preoperative VAS scores between two groups (P > 0.05), but the VAS scores were significantly reduced at 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, and 1 month postoperatively in the DAA group (P < 0.05). Imaging parameters after THA (abduction angle, forward angle, and difference in length of the lower limbs) and postoperative complications showed no statistically differences between the two groups (P > 0.05). The DAA demonstrates a clear advantage over the PLA in the early to mid-term postoperative period of THA, with less trauma and faster recovery. Given these benefits, the DAA technique is recommended for widespread adoption in clinical practice., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics statement: Ethical approval was waived due to the retrospective nature of the study., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In response to the challenges posed by imbalanced failure diagnosis samples, limited labeled data, and significant computational costs in actual industrial production settings, this paper introduces a high-precision, low-resource, end-to-end fault diagnosis framework. On one hand, we propose a data augmentation method based on GCGAN, which combines CNN and GRU to construct core network structures for the generator and discriminator. We integrate a novel Smoothed Hinge-Cross-Entropy loss function to facilitate the training process, effectively mitigating mode collapse and vanishing gradient issues. On the other hand, we design a lightweight fault diagnosis model based on MDSCNN-ICA-BiGRU. By substituting standard convolutions with depthwise separable convolutions on deeper channels, the model complexity is significantly reduced, facilitating effective extraction of multiscale spatial features. The improved Coordinate Attention (CA) mechanism filters out noise and enhances the extraction of high-frequency characteristics. Combined with BiGRU, the model captures global temporal associations, achieving a fusion of spatiotemporal features. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach performs well on both publicly available simulation datasets and private laboratory datasets. Compared to other benchmark methods, the GCGAN module significantly enhances data augmentation, improving classification accuracy on CNNs by 10%. When compared with classic convolutional networks such as DRSN and WDCNN, our MDSCNN-ICA-BiGRU shows faster and more stable convergence rates, with near-100% accuracy on test sets and an average computation cost reduction of approximately 70%. Even in noisy environments, our method maintains high accuracy with a slow rate of precision decay, indicating robustness and generalization capabilities., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests, (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury (CIRI) is a major complication of acute ischemic stroke (AIS), characterized by calcium overload, oxidative stress, and cell apoptosis. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of Genistein (Gen) in alleviating CIRI by focusing on its effects on the Wnt/Ca 2+ signaling pathway. Using a rat model of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion and in vitro experiments on PC12 cells, we observed that Gen treatment reduced infarct size, improved neurological function, and mitigated calcium overload, oxidative stress, and apoptosis. Further analysis revealed that Gen regulates key proteins in the Wnt/Ca 2+ signaling pathway, including Wnt5a and Frizzled-2, effectively preventing intracellular calcium accumulation and subsequent damage. The knockdown of Frizzled-2 confirmed the pathway's role in mediating calcium overload and subsequent damage. Our findings suggest that Gen alleviates CIRI by inhibiting the Wnt/Ca 2+ signaling pathway, positioning it as a promising candidate for therapeutic intervention in stroke treatment., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial flutter (AFL) are cardiac arrhythmias associated with high morbidity and mortality. This cross-sectional observational study assesses the epidemiological burden of AF/AFL concerning metabolic risk factors using the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 database. Age-standardized disability-adjusted life years rate (ASDR), mortality, and estimated annual percentage change were calculated. The Bayesian Age-Period-Cohort model was utilized to predict future trends in ASDR and age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) for AF/AFL 2030. Between 1990 and 2021, ASDR rose from 34.22 to 34.94, whereas ASMR increased from 1.46 to 1.50 per 100,000 people. High/high-middle Socio-Demographic Index (SDI) regions showed decreasing trends in ASDR and ASMR, whereas low and middle SDI regions showed increasing trends. In 2021, the highest ASDR and ASMR were recorded in Australasia, North America, and Western Europe, with significant country-level variability. Projections indicate a declining trend in ASMR and stable ASDR through 2030. The global rise in AF/AFL attributable to metabolic risk factors necessitates comprehensive and region-specific public health strategies. Further research is warranted to develop and implement effective measures to mitigate these conditions and improve cardiovascular health outcomes worldwide., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

The environmental issues in the construction industry have garnered considerable attention in numerous studies. Ecologically sustainable green concrete addresses environmental challenges in the construction industry. This study investigates the impact of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (0-0.20%) in rice husk ash (15%) concrete to replace Portland cement. The mechanical and durability properties of four concrete mixtures were analysed. Adding 0.1% multi-walled carbon nanotubes and 15% rice husk ash yielded satisfactory results, significantly improving durability compared to concrete without multi-walled carbon nanotubes. With the addition of 0.1-0.2% multi-walled carbon nanotubes, the density and elastic modulus increased, the 28-d sorptivity decreased by 4.64-28.76%. The resistance ability of 111-d mass loss and compressive strength loss increased by 50.93-61.71% and 25.28-48.47% under sulphate attack, respectively. The resistance ability of mass loss increased by 3.7-35.97% under acid attack. And 120-d drying shrinkage resistance improved by 3.08-9.23%. The predicted and experimental results were compared using the Sakata, GL 2000, B3, ACI 209, and CEB-FIP models. Sakata and B3 provided the most accurate early-stage and long-term drying shrinkages with variation coefficients of 0.13-0.33 and 0-0.05, respectively. Moreover, the sustainability of rice husk ash concrete containing multi-walled carbon nanotubes was evaluated, and its environmental friendliness was confirmed. Thus, the viability of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in rice husk ash sustainable concrete significantly contributes to sustainable construction., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

This study aims to refine a radiomics-based diagnostic approach for detecting neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS) and examines the influence of rib suppression on the diagnostic precision of radiomics models using neonatal chest X-ray (CXR) images. A total of 138 CXR images were collected in this study. The data was partitioned into training and validation subsets based on chronological order. We applied rib suppression to the CXR images and extracted and analyzed radiomic features from lung regions both before and after rib suppression. This approach was designed to identify NRDS, develop radiomics models, and assess the impact of rib suppression on model performance. To establish these radiomics models, six machine learning models were utilized in the study. The performance was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). On the validation set, the models demonstrated significant improvements after rib suppression. Specifically, the Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM) achieved an AUC of 0.781 post-suppression compared to 0.556 pre-suppression. Notably, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Logistic Regression (LR) performed particularly well when combining features from both scenarios, achieving AUCs of 0.762 and 0.756. The results indicate the feasibility of developing radiomics models for diagnosing NRDS and highlight the enhancement in model performance due to rib suppression. This study provides a promising new method for the imaging diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, showcasing the potential of radiomics in pediatric imaging., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

The fuel-air mixing is of paramount importance in hypersonic air-breathing vehicles, and its performance is closely related to the fuel injection angle. This article presents an investigation into the influence of the injection angles on the flow and mixing processes in a supersonic combustor at low Mach supersonic inflow. Detailed flow characteristics are compared and analyzed, with a focus on instantaneous and average flows. Besides, several significant mixing parameters are thoroughly depicted. Results show that, in contrast to transverse injection, relatively strong fuel fluctuation is presented on the leeward side in comparison to the windward side in the near field for the inclined injection. Furthermore, the counter-rotating vortex pairs (CVP) are constricted by the inclination of the injection, giving rise to a decrease in jet-cavity interaction. Although inclined injection exhibits favorable performance in backpressure resistance at low Mach supersonic crossflow, it presents a greater challenge in terms of ignition, thus necessitating meticulous design considerations., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

When high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is used to heat human tissues during surgery, shortening the heating time and increasing the heating rate are crucial for implementing surgery. During operations, the vibration frequencies and voltages that are suitable for piezoelectric ceramics can maximize the heating rate of HIFU. To correctly select the frequency and voltage of piezoelectric ceramics, it is necessary to understand the change law between the frequency and voltage of piezoelectric ceramics and the temperature of the heated tissue. Therefore, this study focuses on the piezoelectric ceramics in the ultrasonic transducer that produces HIFU. By coupling the piezoelectric equation, Helmholtz equation, and biological heat transfer equation of piezoelectric ceramics, the solid mechanical properties of piezoelectric ceramics and the sound field and temperature field produced by its vibration are combined to determine the influence of vibration frequency and voltage on heating time. Results show that the relation between the temperature variation of the tissue, vibration frequency, and voltage of the piezoelectric ceramics can be determined using the Rational Taylor function. The maximum voltage that the piezoelectric ceramics with different frequencies can withstand varies greatly., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major health concern, with renal interstitial fibrosis (RIF) as a key feature. Effective management of RIF is crucial for treating CKD. Yiqi Juanshen decoction (YQJSD), as traditional Chinese medicine, has shown promising results in CKD treatment. This study evaluates YQJSD's effectiveness in ameliorating RIF and explores the underlying molecular mechanisms using the unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model. YQJSD has been shown to effectively reduce serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels, decrease extracellular matrix deposition, and down-regulate the expression of α-SMA, COL4α1, Fibronectin (FN). Mechanistically, YQJSD exerts its effects by modulating multiple pathways: it inhibits the NF-κB signaling pathway, inhibiting the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines like NF-κB1, IL-1β, TNF-α, and CCR1. Simultaneously, YQJSD suppresses the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by downregulating the expression of Snail1, Vimentin, Twist1, and FSP1, while increasing E-cadherin expression. Moreover, YQJSD can regulate the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway by decreasing the expression of LOXL2 and PIK3R1, along with p-AKT1/2/3. This modulation of the LOXL2/PI3K/AKT pathway contributes to the inhibition of both EMT and inflammation, highlighting a critical role in the therapeutic intervention against RIF. These findings suggest that YQJSD may serve as a promising therapeutic management of RIF in CKD patients., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

This paper presents a hybrid prediction model, ECOA-BiTCN-BiLSTM, for predicting dew in cold areas. The model integrates BiTCN and BiLSTM neural networks to enhance performance. An enhanced Crayfish optimization algorithm (ECOA) with four mixed strategies was employed to optimize the model's hyperparameters and reduce the impact of arbitrary selection. The proposed ECOA-BiTCN-BiLSTM model was validated using dew data from farmland in a northeastern Chinese city. Comparative experiments were conducted against the BiTCN model, the BiLSTM model, the original BiTCN-BiLSTM model, and other models optimized with advanced swarm intelligence algorithms. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model achieved a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.002424, a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.003984, and a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 0.123050, with a coefficient of determination R 2 of 0.999840. These results indicate that the ECOA-BiTCN-BiLSTM model outperforms the other prediction models across all evaluated metrics, offering higher prediction accuracy and highly effective prediction models., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Extensive studies on the morphological characteristics of the coccyx, using CT or MRI techniques, have been conducted in some European and Asian countries. However, research on coccyx morphology in China remains scarce. A total of 300 subjects, who underwent sacrococcygeal digital radiological scans at the third affiliated hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University between January 2022 and December 2023, were analyzed in this retrospective study. Modified coccyx morphology classification was applied. Imaging focused on the type of coccyx and the number of coccygeal segments. The subjects exhibited coccyx type III (33.3%), type II (32.7%), type I (16.7%), type IV (16%), type V (0.3%), and type VI (1%). 32 males with coccygeal type II; 76 females with coccygeal type III. Significant differences in coccyx morphology were observed between male and female (p < 0.05). Coccygeal morphology showed correlations with age (p = 0.009), body weight (p = 0.01), and BMI (p = 0.039). Among Chinese adults, type III coccyx is the most common, and the 3-segment configuration is the most prevalent. Coccyx types differ by gender, coccyx morphology is correlated with age, weight, and BMI. Our study lays the foundation for future clinical applications of these findings., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval and consent to participate: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the 3rd Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (ZCMU) (01/01/2018/No.ZSLL-KY-2017-045)., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

In experiments to detect heart disease on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) medical images, existing object detection models face several challenges including low accuracy and unreliable detection results. To tackle these issues, this article proposes an innovative method for Object Detection in cardiac MRI medical images called SA-YOLO. This method is based on the YOLOv8 model but introduces several key modifications. Firstly, the standard Spatial Pyramid Pooling Fast module is replaced with a Multi-Channel Spatial Pyramid Pooling module. Secondly, an attention mechanism combining the ideas of Squeeze-Excitation and Coordinate Attention designed, and integrated into the Neck part of the baseline model. Subsequently, the bounding box regression loss function CIoU loss of the model was replaced with the iSD-IoU loss that combines shape loss and distance loss. Finally, comparative experiments were conducted on the Automated Cardiac Diagnosis Challenge cardiac MRI image dataset where it was found that SA-YOLOv8 achieved better results in detecting cardiac pathologies, and improvement of 7.4% in mAP0.5 value and 5.1% in mAP0.5-0.95 value compared to the baseline model., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has revolutionized the field of cellular diversity research. Unsupervised clustering, a key technique in this exploration, allows for the identification of distinct cell types within a population. Graph-based deep clustering methods have shown promise in preserving the structural relationships between cells (nodes) within the data. However, these methods often neglect the inherent distribution of nodes in the graph, leading to incomplete representations of cell populations. Additionally, conventional graph convolutional networks (GCNs) can suffer from oversmoothing, a phenomenon where the network loses the ability to differentiate between samples with similar expression profiles. To address these limitations, we proposed scG-cluster, an innovative deep structural clustering method. This method incorporates two key innovations: (1) Dual-topology adjacency graph: scG-cluster integrates information about node distribution into the traditional adjacency graph used by GCNs. This enriches the graph representation by capturing the spatial relationships between cells in addition to their pairwise similarities. (2) Dual-topology adaptive graph convolutional network (TAGCN): The framework employs a TAGCN architecture with residual concatenation. This network utilizes an attention mechanism to dynamically weight features within the graph, focusing on the most informative aspects for clustering. Additionally, residual connections are implemented to combat oversmoothing, ensuring the network retains the ability to distinguish between subtle differences in cell expression profiles. Furthermore, scG-cluster iteratively refines the clustering centers, leading to enhanced stability and accuracy in the final cluster assignments. Extensive evaluations on six diverse scRNA-seq datasets demonstrate that scG-cluster consistently outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods in terms of both clustering accuracy and scalability. Ablation studies are also conducted to validate the significant contributions of both the residual connections and the attention mechanism to the overall performance of the model. The source code for scG-cluster is publicly available at https://github.com/xixi-wq/scG-cluster ., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

With the increasing demand on high-density integration and better performance of micro-nano optoelectronic devices, the operation temperatures are expected to significantly increase under some extreme conditions, posing a risk of degradation to metal-based micro-/nano-structured metasurfaces due to their low tolerance to high temperature. Therefore, it is urgent to find new materials with high-conductivity and excellent high-temperature resistance to replace traditional micro-nano metal structures. Herein, we have proposed and fabricated a thermally stable graphene assembly film (GAF), which is calcined at ultra-high temperature (~ 3000 ℃) during the reduction of graphite oxide (GO). Compared with micro-nano metals that usually degrade at around 550 ℃, the proposed GAF maintains a high extent of stability at an extremely high temperature up to 900 ℃. In addition, to make GAF a prime candidate to replace micro-nano metals, we have modified its fabrication process for improving its conductivity to 1.3 × 10 6 S/m, which is quite close to metals. Thus, micro-nano optoelectronic devices could retain high efficiency even when GAF replaces the crucial micro-nano metals. To verify the thermostability of optoelectronic devices composed of GAF, we have compared the high-temperature resistance performance of two structures capable of achieving plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) at the THz region, one using micro-nano metals (Aluminum) and the other GAF. The Al metasurface displayed a near-complete loss of PIT effects after a high-temperature treatment, while GAF could remain excellent PIT properties at above 900 ℃, thus enable to fulfil its optimum performance. Overall, the proposed thermostable metasurface provides new pathway for the construction of thermostable optoelectronic devices that can operate under ultra-high temperature scenario., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

This study examines the biocompatibility, osteogenic potential, and effectiveness of polyether ether ketone (PEEK) composites for treating osteonecrosis, seeking to establish a theoretical basis for clinical application. A range of PEEK composite materials, including sulfonated polyether ether ketone (SPEEK), polydopamine-sulfonated polyether ether ketone (SPEEK-PDA), bone-forming peptide-poly-dopamine-sulfonated polyether ether ketone (SPEEK-PDA-BFP), and vascular endothelial growth factor-poly-dopamine-sulfonated polyether ether ketone (SPEEK-PDA-VEGF), were constructed by concentrated sulfuric acid sulfonation, polydopamine modification and grafting of bioactive factors. The experiments involved adult male New Zealand rabbits aged 24-28 weeks and weighing 2.6-4 kg. The SPEEK-PDA-BFP possesses the smallest water contact angle, indicating the highest hydrophilicity, with its surface characterized by a rich density of clustered BFP particles. The SPEEK-PDA-BFP exhibits superior adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation capabilities, along with pronounced bacteriostatic effects, which are attributed to its dense particle clusters. The SPEEK-PDA-BFP facilitates the formation of regular and dense bone trabeculae. Comparative study on treating osteonecrosis with SPEEK-PDA-VEGF and SPEEK-PDA-BFP highlighted the superior formation of mature bone trabeculae and angiogenic protein CD31 around SPEEK-PDA-VEGF. The PEEK composite materials have good biocompatibility, osteogenic activity and bone repair activity. In particular, SPEEK-PDA-VEGF composite materials have the best effect on bone repair., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)