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We present galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements using a sample of low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) drawn from the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 (Y3) data as lenses. LSBGs are diffuse galaxies with a surface brightness dimmer than the ambient night sky. These dark-matter-dominated objects are intriguing due to potentially unusual formation channels that lead to their diffuse stellar component. Given the faintness of LSBGs, using standard observational techniques to characterize their total masses proves challenging. Weak gravitational lensing, which is less sensitive to the stellar component of galaxies, could be a promising avenue to estimate the masses of LSBGs. Our LSBG sample consists of 23,790 galaxies separated into red and blue color types at $g-i\ge 0.60$ and $g-i< 0.60$, respectively. Combined with the DES Y3 shear catalog, we measure the tangential shear around these LSBGs and find signal-to-noise ratios of 6.67 for the red sample, 2.17 for the blue sample, and 5.30 for the full sample. We use the clustering redshifts method to obtain redshift distributions for the red and blue LSBG samples. Assuming all red LSBGs are satellites, we fit a simple model to the measurements and estimate the host halo mass of these LSBGs to be $\log(M_{\rm host}/M_{\odot}) = 12.98 ^{+0.10}_{-0.11}$. We place a 95% upper bound on the subhalo mass at $\log(M_{\rm sub}/M_{\odot})

Turbulent mixing in the ocean interior is mainly attributed to internal wave breaking; however, the mixing properties and the modulation effects of mesoscale environmental factors are not well known. Here, the spatially inhomogeneous and seasonally variable diapycnal diffusivities in the upper Philippine Sea were estimated from Argo float data using a strain-based, fine-scale parameterization. Based on a coordinated analysis of multi-source data, we found that the driving processes for diapycnal diffusivities mainly included the near-inertial waves and internal tides. Mesoscale features were important in intensifying the mixing and modulating of its spatial pattern. An interesting finding was that, besides near-inertial waves, internal tides also contributed significant diapycnal mixing in the upper Philippine Sea. The seasonal cycles of diapycnal diffusivities and their contributors differed zonally. In the midlatitudes, wind mixing dominated and was strongest in winter and weakest in summer. In contrast, tidal mixing was more predominant in the lower latitudes and had no apparent seasonal variability. Furthermore, we provide evidence that the mesoscale environment in the Philippine Sea played a significant role in regulating the intensity and shaping the spatial inhomogeneity of the internal tidal mixing. The magnitudes of internal tidal mixing were greatly elevated in regions of energetic mesoscale processes. Anticyclonic mesoscale features were found to enhance diapycnal mixing more significantly than cyclonic ones.

An analytic transfer inverse model for Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) observations is proposed to retrieve the cloud-top pressure (CTP) with the consideration of in-cloud photon penetration. In this model, an analytic equation was developed to represent the reflection at the top of the atmosphere from above cloud, in cloud, and below cloud. The coefficients of this analytic equation can be derived from a series of EPIC simulations under different atmospheric conditions using a nonlinear regression algorithm. With estimated cloud pressure thickness, the CTP can be retrieved from EPIC observation data by solving the analytic equation. To simulate the EPIC measurements, a program package using the double-k approach was developed. Compared to line-by-line calculation, this approach can calculate high-accuracy results with a 100-fold computation time reduction. During the retrieval processes, two kinds of retrieval results, i.e., baseline CTP and retrieved CTP, are provided. The baseline CTP is derived without considering in-cloud photon penetration, and the retrieved CTP is derived by solving the analytic equation, taking into consideration in-cloud and below-cloud interactions. The retrieved CTPs for the oxygen A and B bands are smaller than their related baseline CTP. At the same time, both baseline CTP and retrieved CTP at the oxygen B band are larger than those at the oxygen A band. Compared to the difference in baseline CTP between the B band and A band, the difference in retrieved CTP between these two bands is generally reduced. Out of around 10 000 cases, in retrieved CTP between the A and B bands we found an average bias of 93 mb with a standard deviation of 81 mb. The cloud layer top pressure from Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) measurements is used for validation. Under single-layer cloud situations, the retrieved CTPs for the oxygen A band agree well with the CTPs from CALIPSO, the mean difference of which within 5 mb in the case study. Under multiple-layer cloud situations, the CTPs derived from EPIC measurements may be larger than the CTPs of high-level thin clouds due to the effect of photon penetration.

Objective: The authors aimed to explore the apoptosis of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) MDA-MB-231 cells induced by ginsenoside Rh2 and the underlying mechanism. Materials and Methods: Changes in the viability of MDA-MB-231 cells after treatment with 20 (S)-Rh2 and 20 (R)-Rh2 for 48 hours were detected by MTT assay. Changes in the morphology of cell nuclei were observed by DAPI staining. The expressions of caspase-3, caspase-9, cytochrome c, Smac, Bak, and Bax related to the mitochondrial pathway were detected by Western blotting. Results: 20 (S)-Rh2 inhibited the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells, but 20 (R)-Rh2 failed to do so. After treatment with 20(S)-Rh2 for two hours under visible light, they shrank and had incomplete morphology, whereas the morphology of control group hardly changed. Under UV light, the nuclei stained with DAPI were blue. After treatment with 20 (S)-Rh2 for one hour, the nuclei shrank and ruptured, and nearly 90% ruptured at two hours. In contrast, the nuclei of PBS control group remained intact. The activity of caspase-9 in MDA-MB-231 cells treated with 7.5 µg/mL 20 (S)-Rh2 was increased at 30 minutes, and gradually increased over extended time. Under identical conditions, the activity of caspase-9 in control group did not change significantly. Cytochrome c and Smac were released from mitochondria to the cytoplasm at one hour after treatment with 7.5 µg/mL 20 (S)-Rh2. However, such release was not detected in the control group. Bax was translocated after 30 minutes of treatment with 7.5 µg/mL 20 (S)-Rh2, which then gradually accumulated in mitochondria over time and peaked at two hours. The Bax expression in the entire cell lysate remained unchanged. The translocation of Bax was not detected in control group. Conclusion: 20 (S)-Rh2 evidently inhibited the proliferation of TNBC cell line MDA-MB-231. It killed the cells by inducing apoptosis, probably by activating the mitochondrial pathway.

The evolution of mode-2 internal solitary waves (ISWs) modulated by background shear currents was investigated numerically. The mode-2 ISW was generated by the lock-release method, and the background shear current was initialized after the mode-2 ISW became stable. Five sets of experiments were conducted to assess the sensitivity of the modulation process to the direction, polarity, magnitude, shear layer thickness and offset extent of the background shear current. Three distinctly different shear-induced waves were identified as a forward-propagating long wave, oscillating tail and amplitude-modulated wave packet in the presence of a shear current. The amplitudes of the forward-propagating long wave and the amplitude-modulated wave packet are proportional to the magnitude of the shear but inversely proportional to the thickness of the shear layer, as well as the energy loss of the mode-2 ISW during modulation. The oscillating tail and amplitude-modulated wave packet show symmetric variation when the background shear current is offset upward or downward, while the forward-propagating long wave was insensitive to it. For comparison, one control experiment was configured according to the observations of Shroyer et al. (2010); in the first 30 periods, ∼ 36 % of total energy was lost at an average rate of 9 W m−1 in the presence of the shear current; it would deplete the energy of initial mode-2 ISWs in ∼ 4.5 h, corresponding to a propagation distance of ∼ 5 km, which is consistent with in situ data.

In order to monitor the change of regional ecological environment quality, this paper use MODIS and DMSP / OLS remote sensing data, from the production capacity, external disturbance changes and human socio-economic development of the three main factors affecting the quality of ecosystems, select the net primary productivity, vegetation index and light index, using the principal component analysis method to automatically determine the weight coefficient, construction of the formation of enhanced remote sensing ecological index, and the ecological environment quality of Hainan Island from 2001 to 2013 was monitored and analyzed. The enhanced remote sensing ecological index combines the effects of the natural environment and human activities on ecosystems, and according to the contribution of each principal component automatically determine the weight coefficient, avoid the design of the weight of the parameters caused by the calculation of the human error, which provides a new method for the operational operation of regional macro ecological environment quality monitoring. During the period from 2001 to 2013, the ecological environment quality of Hainan Island showed the characteristics of decend first and then rise, the ecological environment in 2005 was affected by severe natural disasters, and the quality of ecological environment dropped sharply. Compared with 2001, in 2013 about 20000 square kilometers regional ecological environmental quality has improved, about 8760 square kilometers regional ecological environment quality is relatively stable, about 5272 square kilometers regional ecological environment quality has decreased. On the whole, the quality of ecological environment in the study area is good, the frequent occurrence of natural disasters, on the quality of the ecological environment to a certain extent.

Due to the way that remote sensing works, it has natural advantage to detect optical constituents in waters. And many kinds of inversion models were constructed based on the three main optical constituents, namely chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), suspended particulate matter (SPM), colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM). Except Chl-a used as an indicator of eutrophication, however, the public generally cares less about other two parameters and is more familiar with Grade I ~ V scheme for utilization and protection purposes. Notice the three main optical constituents are also organic-related to some extent. It offers a possible way to estimate CODMn via remote sensing. According to field measurement conducted along the Guangzhou section of Pearl River (GPR for short), the spatial variation of CODMn in GPR shows some kinds of geographical feature, so does the correlation between CODMn and water color constituents. It indicated the complicated contribution of CODMn in GPR or some other urban rivers. Based on the band setting of GF-1 satellite, two kinds of inversion model of CODMn in GPR were finally constructed. One directly achieved CODMn from regression models of which predictors were different band combinations in different channels of GPR. To make the study more practical, the other one first provided empirical models of the three optical constituents, and then estimated CODMn of GPR based on its relationship with optical constituents. After all, Chl-a, SPM and CDOM could be distinguished optically, and remote sensing models of these three constituents in other studies may also be available.

Global climate change has significantly affected vegetation variation in the third-polar region of the world – the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. As one of the most important indicators of vegetation variation (growth, coverage and tempo-spatial change), the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is widely employed to study the response of vegetation to climate change. However, a long-term series analysis cannot be achieved because a single data source is constrained by time sequence. Therefore, a new framework was presented in this paper to extend the product series of monthly NDVI, taking as an example the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin, one of the most important river basins in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. NDVI products were acquired from two public sources: Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Moderate-Resolution Imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS). After having been extended using the new framework, the new time series of NDVI covers a 384 months period (1982–2013), 84 months longer than previous time series of NDVI product, greatly facilitating NDVI related scientific research. In the new framework, the Gauss Filtering Method was employed to filter out noise in the NDVI product. Next, the standard method was introduced to enhance the comparability of the two data sources, and a pixel-based regression method was used to construct NDVI-extending models with one pixel after another. The extended series of NDVI fit well with original AVHRR-NDVI. With the extended time-series, temporal trends and spatial heterogeneity of NDVI in the study area were studied. Principal influencing factors on NDVI were further determined. The monthly NDVI is highly correlated with air temperature and precipitation in terms of climatic change wherein the spatially averaged NDVI slightly increases in the summer and has increased in temperature and decreased in precipitation in the 32 years period. The spatial heterogeneity of NDVI is in accordance with the seasonal variation of the two climate-change factors. All of these findings can provide valuable scientific support for water-land resources exploration in the third-polar region of the world.

Monitoring PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter d ≤ 2.5 µm) mass concentration has become of more importance recently because of the negative impacts of fine particles on human health. However, monitoring PM2.5 during cloudy and nighttime periods is difficult since nearly all the passive instruments used for aerosol remote sensing are not able to measure aerosol optical depth (AOD) under either cloudy or nighttime conditions. In this study, an empirical model based on the regression between PM2.5 and the near-surface backscatter measured by ceilometers was developed and tested using 6 years of data (2006 to 2011) from the Howard University Beltsville Campus (HUBC) site. The empirical model can explain ∼ 56, ∼ 34 and ∼ 42 % of the variability in the hourly average PM2.5 during daytime clear, daytime cloudy and nighttime periods, respectively. Meteorological conditions and seasons were found to influence the relationship between PM2.5 mass concentration and the surface backscatter. Overall the model can explain ∼ 48 % of the variability in the hourly average PM2.5 at the HUBC site when considering the seasonal variation. The model also was tested using 4 years of data (2012 to 2015) from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) site, which was geographically and climatologically different from the HUBC site. The results show that the empirical model can explain ∼ 66 and ∼ 82 % of the variability in the daily average PM2.5 at the ARM SGP site and HUBC site, respectively. The findings of this study illustrate the strong need for ceilometer data in air quality monitoring under cloudy and nighttime conditions. Since ceilometers are used broadly over the world, they may provide an important supplemental source of information of aerosols to determine surface PM2.5 concentrations.

Various studies indicate that high-resolution oxygen A-band spectrum has the capability to retrieve the vertical profiles of aerosol and cloud properties. To improve the understanding of oxygen A-band inversions and utility, we developed a high-resolution oxygen A-band spectrometer (HABS), and deployed it at Howard University Beltsville site during the NASA Discover Air-Quality Field Campaign in July, 2011. By using a single telescope, the HABS instrument measures the direct solar and the zenith diffuse radiation subsequently. HABS exhibits excellent performance: stable spectral response ratio, high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), high-spectrum resolution (0.016 nm), and high out-of-band rejection (10−5). For the spectral retrievals of HABS measurements, a simulator is developed by combining a discrete ordinates radiative transfer code (DISORT) with the High Resolution Transmission (HITRAN) database HITRAN2008. The simulator uses a double-k approach to reduce the computational cost. The HABS-measured spectra are consistent with the related simulated spectra. For direct-beam spectra, the discrepancies between measurements and simulations, indicated by confidence intervals (95%) of relative difference, are (−0.06, 0.05) and (−0.08, 0.09) for solar zenith angles of 27 and 72°, respectively. For zenith diffuse spectra, the related discrepancies between measurements and simulations are (−0.06, 0.05) and (−0.08, 0.07) for solar zenith angles of 27 and 72°, respectively. The main discrepancies between measurements and simulations occur at or near the strong oxygen absorption line centers. They are mainly due to two kinds of causes: (1) measurement errors associated with the noise/spikes of HABS-measured spectra, as a result of combined effects of weak signal, low SNR, and errors in wavelength registration; (2) modeling errors in the simulation, including the error of model parameters setting (e.g., oxygen absorption line parameters, vertical profiles of temperature and pressure) and the lack of treatment of the rotational Raman scattering. The high-resolution oxygen A-band measurements from HABS can constrain the active radar retrievals for more accurate cloud optical properties (e.g., cloud optical depth, effective radius), particularly for multi-layer clouds and for mixed-phase clouds.

LeAN2 encoding an anthocyanin-associated R2R3-MYB transcription factor was isolated from tomato. The expression of LeAN2 in tomato was induced by low temperature and oxidative stress. Green fluorescent protein was fused to LeAN2 and the complex was expressed transiently in onion epidermal cells. Green fluorescence was observed only in the nucleus. Overexpression of LeAN2 under the control of the CaMV35S promoter in tobacco induced expression of several anthocyanin biosynthetic genes and the content of anthocyanin was markedly higher in transgenic tobacco compared with wild type plants. Transgenic tobaccos conferred tolerance to chilling stress by maintaining a higher chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate, and maximal photochemical efficiency of PS II compared to the wild type plants. Furthermore, the transgenic plants showed lower ion leakage, a lower content of reactive oxygen species, and a higher content of non-enzymatic antioxidans under the chilling stress. They also showed an enhanced resistance to the oxidative stress induced by methyl viologen based on a decreased chlorophyll content loss, lower ion leakage, and an enhanced maximal photochemical efficiency of PS II. These results indicate that overexpression of LeAN2 resulted in an increased anthocyanin accumulation and enhanced resistance to the chilling and oxidative stresses in transgenic tobacco.

Measurements of gaseous pollutants – including ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOX = NO + NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), particle number concentrations (5.6–560 nm and 0.47–30 μm) – and meteorological parameters (T, RH, P) were conducted during the Campaigns of Air Quality Research in Beijing and Surrounding Regions in 2008 (CAREBeijing-2008), from 27 August through 13 October 2008. The data from a total 18 flights (70 h flight time) from near the surface to 2100 m altitude were obtained with a Yun-12 aircraft in the southern surrounding areas of Beijing (38–40° N, 114–118° E). The objectives of these measurements were to characterize the regional variation of air pollution during and after the Olympics of 2008, determine the importance of air mass trajectories and to evaluate of other factors that influence the pollution characteristics. The results suggest that there are primarily four distinct sources that influenced the magnitude and properties of the pollutants in the measured region based on back-trajectory analysis: (1) southerly transport of air masses from regions with high pollutant emissions, (2) northerly and northeasterly transport of less pollutant air from further away, (3) easterly transport from maritime sources where emissions of gaseous pollutant are less than from the south but still high in particle concentrations, and (4) the transport of air that is a mixture from different regions; that is, the air at all altitudes measured by the aircraft was not all from the same sources. The relatively long-lived CO concentration is shown to be a possible transport tracer of long-range transport from the northwesterly direction, especially at the higher altitudes. Three factors that influenced the size distribution of particles – i.e., air mass transport direction, ground source emissions and meteorological influences – are also discussed.

Utilizing the unique characteristics of the cloud over the Southeast Pacific (SEP) off the coast of Chile during the VOCALS field campaign, we compared satellite remote sensing of cloud microphysical properties against in-situ data from multi-aircraft observations, and studied the extent to which these retrieved properties are sufficiently constrained and consistent to reliably quantify the influence of aerosol loading on cloud droplet sizes. After constraining the spatial-temporal coincidence between satellite retrievals and in-situ measurements, we selected 17 non-drizzle comparison pairs. For these cases the mean aircraft profiling times were within one hour of Terra overpasses at both projected and un-projected (actual) aircraft positions for two different averaging domains of 5 km and 25 km. Retrieved quantities that were averaged over a larger domain of 25 km compared better statistically with in-situ observations than averages over a smaller domain of 5 km. Comparison at projected aircraft positions was slightly better than un-projected aircraft positions for some parameters. Overall, both MODIS-retrieved effective radius and LWP were larger but highly correlated with the in-situ measured effective radius and LWP, e.g., for averaging domains of 5 km, the biases are up to 1.75 μm and 0.02 mm whilst the correlation coefficients are about 0.87 and 0.85, respectively. The observed effective radius difference between the two decreased with increasing cloud drop number concentration (CDNC), and increased with increasing cloud geometrical thickness. Compared to the absolute effective radius difference, the correlations between the relative effective radius difference and CDNC or cloud geometric thickness are weaker. For averaging domains of 5 km and 25 km, the correlation coefficients between MODIS-retrieved and in-situ measured CDNC are 0.91 and 0.93 with fitting slopes of 1.23 and 1.27, respectively. If the cloud adiabaticity is taken into account, better agreements are achieved for both averaging domains (the fitting slopes are 1.04 and 1.07, respectively). Our comparison and sensitivity analysis of simulated retrievals demonstrate that both cloud geometrical thickness and cloud adiabaticity are important factors in satellite retrievals of effective radius and cloud drop number concentration. The large variabilities in cloud geometrical thickness and adiabaticity, the dependencies of cloud microphysical properties on both quantities (as demonstrated in our sensitivity study of simulated retrievals), and the inability to accurately account for either of them in retrievals lead to some uncertainties and biases in satellite retrieved cloud effective radius, cloud liquid water path, and cloud drop number concentration. However, strong correlations between satellite retrievals and in-situ measurements suggest that satellite retrievals of cloud effective radius, cloud liquid water path, and cloud drop number concentration can be used to investigate aerosol indirect effects qualitatively.

The healthy status of product reflects its ability to perform a specified task at a reliable and maintainable level in a certain period of time. It is significant for long-term storage and disposable products to estimate storage reliability, determine maintenance intervals, optimize storage cost and accomplish product tasks by means of establishing product health management center (PHMC) aiming at monitoring and managing product’s healthy state synthetically. This paper, regarding PHMC as a system of systems (SoS), builds a framework of PHMC based on the U.S. Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DoDAF), on the basis of comprehensive analysis of the characteristics of usage and maintenance for long-term storage and disposable product in maritime industry. The framework involves personnel, organization, and a variety of maintenance and support activities in relation to product health management. This framework describes the top-level design of the system with the help of high-level conceptual diagram. This paper also makes a specific design of the system in detail based on activity-based modelling (ABM) method. It shows that the framework is a useful practice in terms of adopting systems of system engineering (SOSE) ideas and DoDAF architecture to build PHMC system. Outcomes of the system implementation indicate that, for long-term storage and disposable product, PHMC can improve the efficiency of maintenance and support, at the same time it can reduce maintenance and support cost.

The study of environmental resources usually gets meagre attention particularly in developing countries. This is the first-attempt to study population dynamics and fishery management parameters of a very important aquatic environmental resource Cirrhinus mrigala (Mrigal carp) in Pakistan. For this, six monthly surveys, January to June 2020, collected 720 samples numbers (n), ranging (R) in size from 14 to 37 centimeters (cm) (22±5.445) and weighing from 30 to 527 grams (g) (148±110.673). Collected data was statistically analysed by FAO-ICLARM Stock Assessment Tools II (FiSAT-II). Length-weight relationship (LWR) for Mrigal carp was measured as W=0.014 L2.936 having goodness of fit (R²) value of 0.987. Computed values of asymptotic length (L∞) and growth coefficient (K) were 38.85 cm and 0.180 years-1. Other fishery parameters, viz., theoretical age at which length is zero (to), growth performance index (GPI), total mortality (Z), natural mortality (M) and fishing mortality (F) were estimated at -0.056, Φ'= 2.434 year, Φ= 1.130 year, 1.170 years-1, 0.493 years-1 and 0.677 years-1, correspondingly. Moreover, target reference point (TRP) for maximum sustainable yield (MSY) was calculated as 92160 g. Thus, considering obtained results, it can be concluded that Mrigal carp fishery is degrading and biologically overfished at Chashma Barrage. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that catch should be reduced according to the TRP and conservation management policies should be implemented immediately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new mesoporous Cr-doped Ti[O.sub.2] electrorheological (ER) material is prepared by a copolymer-templated sol-gel method in order to enhance ER activity by improving interfacial polarization. The enhancement of the ER activity of mesoporous Cr-doped Ti[O.sub.2] is explained by the improvement of dielectric properties due to the presence of a high surface area mesoporous structure.

In this study, multilayers from polyethylene imine, heparin and chitosan are prepared at three different pH values of 5, 7 and 9. Water contact angle and quartz microbalance measurements show that resulting multilayers differ in terms of wetting behaviour, layer mass and mechanical properties. The multilayer is then formed within a gradient generation microfluidic (μFL) device. Polyethylene imine or heparin solutions of pH 5 are introduced into one inlet and the same solutions but at pH 9 into another inlet of the μFL device. The pH gradient established during the multilayer formation can be visualized inside the microchamber by pH sensitive fluorophores and confocal laser scanning microscopy. From this setup it is expected that properties of multilayers displayed at distinct pH values can be realised in a gradient manner inside the μFL device. Behaviour of the osteoblast cell line MG-63 seeded and cultured on top of multilayers created inside the μFL device support this hypothesis. It is observed that more cells adhere and spread on multilayers build-up at the basic side of the μFL channel, while those cells on top of multilayers built at pH 5 are fewer and smaller. These results are consistent with the behaviour of MG-63 cells seeded on multilayers formed at discrete pH values. It is particularly interesting to see that cells start to migrate from multilayers built at pH 5 to those built at pH 9 during 6 h of culture. Overall, the presented multilayer formation setup applying pH gradients leads to surfaces that promote migration of cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. Objective:  Atherosclerosis is considered as a chronic inflammatory response in arterial blood vessels. The function of osteopontin (OPN), a proinflammatory cytokine, in the Ang II-induced inflammatory activation in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) remains poorly understood. Methods:  In the present study, the role of OPN was investigated by knocking down OPN using small interfering RNA (siRNA). VSMCs from human saphenous vein were divided into three groups according to RNAi treatment: OPN siRNA group, sham (un-transfected) treated group, and control siRNA group. RNAi effect was investigated by real time PCR, western blotting analysis and ELISA. Then all groups were stimulated with Ang II. The inflammatory activation was assessed by determining the activation of NFκB and activator protein-1 (AP-1), and the release of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-1β. Results:  OPN was knocked down effectively in OPN RNAi group. Inflammatory activations, such as NFκB and AP-1 activation and IL-6 accumulation, were induced by Ang II in sham treated group and control siRNA group. However, it was abolished in OPN siRNA group by the downregulation of OPN compared to sham treated group and control siRNA group. Conclusions:  This result suggested that OPN plays an important role in Ang II-induced inflammatory activation in VSMCs. The finding further supports OPN as a potential target for atherosclerotic therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have proposed a novel memory device with the Cu/CuI0.76S0.14/Pt structure. The intermediate non-stoichiometric film is prepared by pulsed laser deposition. This compound is found with the zincblende structure at room temperature by using x-ray diffraction. Conductance-voltage characteristics reveal that a switching effect exists when the polarity of the voltage biased is changed. By applying a voltage of +0.5?V on the copper electrode, our device is switched on while ?0.8?V induces the OFF-state. The switching operation could be repeated at least 103times, and the GON/GOFFratio is more than 3 × 103. It is expected to be a promising model of nonvolatile memories. With the TEM study, we have analysed the migration of Cu+, S2?and I?under an electric field and attribute the switching effect to the formation and annihilation of ionic conducting paths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance electrorheological (ER) activity by improving interfacial polarization, we prepared a new mesoporous Cr-doped TiO2ER material by a copolymer-templated sol−gel method. The material was characterized by differential scanning calorimeter and thermogravimetric (DSC-TG) analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N2adsorption, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. The ER activity was studied by the rheological curve and yield stress under an electric field. The results showed that the mesoporous Cr-doped TiO2ER material possessed a high surface area over 200 m2/g and a crystalline anatase pore wall doped by different valent Cr ions. The ER activity of mesoporous Cr-doped TiO2was higher than that of nonporous Cr-doped TiO2. The yield stress and ER efficiency of the mesoporous Cr-doped TiO2ER suspension was 3 times as high as that of the nonporous Cr-doped TiO2ER suspension, 7 times as high as that of the mesoporous undoped TiO2ER suspension, and 20 times as high as that of the nonporous pure TiO2ER suspension. Furthermore, the ER activity of mesoporous Cr-doped TiO2showed a dependence on surface area, and the high porosity or surface area samples showed higher ER activity. The dielectric spectra analysis showed that the mesoporous Cr-doped TiO2ER suspension possessed a significantly larger interfacial polarizability compared with the nonporous Cr-doped TiO2ER suspension, and the regular change of polarizability with surface area or porosity was in accordance with the change of ER activity with surface area or porosity. The improvement of dielectric properties or polarization could well explain the enhancement of the ER activity of mesoporous Cr-doped TiO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor about cytarabine as a major chemotherapeutic component in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia published online on November 24, 2005 is presented.

We present a study on the potential and challenges of guiding orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes in hollow-core photonic bandgap fibers (HC-PBGFs). Two 19-cell HC-PBGFs with different structural parameters are comparably investigated. The OAM mode properties in a 37-cell HC-PBGF are also discussed to explore the scalability of OAM states. Characteristics of vector modes and OAM modes are comprehensively analyzed with numerical simulations. The results show HC-PBGF with a larger core could effectively support more OAM modes with lower confinement loss and a larger effective area. In addition, HC-PBGF with a deeper and wider photonic bandgap is advantageous for achieving low crosstalk OAM transmission over a broader band-width. 19-cell HC-PBGFs could support OAM modes with purity beyond 0.9, and the value can be further improved by exploiting the 37-cell HC-PBGF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interfacial structure and the electrical properties of pulsed laser deposition derived La2O3 ultra-thin films on fully depleted SiGe-on-insulator (FD SGOI) substrates before and after post-annealing in NH3 and N2, respectively, have been investigated comparatively. The results from high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopic revealed that interface reactions take place after the NH3 and N2 annealing process, but, as compared with the N2 annealing process, the NH3 annealing process can effectively decrease the thickness of the interfacial layer and incorporate more nitrogen at the dielectric/SiGe interface, resulting in smaller equivalent oxide thickness. The La2O3 capacitors annealed in NH3 show good capacitance-voltage characteristics with negligible hysteresis, smaller interface trap density and lower gate-leakage current density in comparison with those of capacitors annealed in N2. It is demonstrated that the NH3 annealing process can be a promising technology in improving the quality of high-k dielectric on FD SGOI substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RbAg4I5 solid electrolyte films have been prepared using the pulsed laser deposition technique. Their structures have been characterized by x-ray diffraction, and the surface and cross-section morphologies have been investigated by using scanning electron microscopy. It was found that larger energy density of the laser beam favoured the crystallization of RbAg4I5 particles and increased the resistance of the 'off' state, and lower energy density of the laser beam induces the appearance of the AgI phase in the films and reduces the resistance of the 'off' state. A narrow 'window' of the substrate temperature (around 80 °C) for the deposition of pure RbAg4I5 films has also been observed. The RbAg4I5 film deposited on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si(1 1 1) substrates at 80 °C shows a uniform and flat surface. All the RbAg4I5 memory devices show obvious resistive switching behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors build a reference phylogeny of 10,575 evenly-sampled bacterial and archaeal genomes, based on 381 markers. The results indicate a remarkably closer evolutionary proximity between Archaea and Bacteria than previous estimates that used fewer “core” genes, such as the ribosomal proteins.

The chondroitin sulfate (CS)/sodium alginate (SA)/chitosan nanoparticles were prepared by electrostatic spraying technology. Laser particle size analyzer measurements indicated that the size of the particles is strongly affected by the weight ratio of raw materials, receiver rotation speed, injection rate, and so on. The size increased and size distribution moved towards the direction of large particle size with the decrease of applied voltage and increased with the increase of the flow rate and weight ratio of SA to CS; there is an optimal value for the effect of stirring rate on particle size and particle size distribution. The effect of different weight ratios of raw materials and pH on the sustained release rate of the product was investigated using a UV-visible spectrophotometer. Results showed the cumulative release rate of these particles was weight ratio of SA to CS and pH-dependent. The cumulative release rate of the CS/SA/chitosan composite nanoparticles with a weight ratio of SA to CS of 2 : 1 was higher at pH 6.8 than that at pH 1.2. By optimizing the process parameters, the CS/SA/chitosan composite particles were prepared, in which most of CS could pass through the stomach and release in the intestinal tract.

The title compound 1-[2-(3-ethyl-2,2-dimethylcyclobutyl)acetyl]-3-phenylthiourea has been synthesized and its crystal structure was studied. The crystal belongs to triclinic system, space group P-1, a = 10.200(2) Ǻ, b = 12.395(3) Å, c = 15.679(3) Å, α = 92.99(2)o, β = 106.00(3)o, γ = 111.95(3)o, V = 1740.4(6) Å3, Z = 2, μ = 0.187 mm−1, Dc = 1.162 g/cm3, F(000) = 656, R = 0.0784, wR2 = 0.1505, formula unit C17H24N2OS. The title compound has a fragment of 2,2-dimethylcyclobutane and its conformation represents semi-chair. The intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonds are revealed.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v27i1.13

In this study, a CRISPR-Cas12a-mediated dual-mode upconversion luminescence/colorimetric nucleic acid biosensing platform is developed based on UCNP@SiO 2 /CeO 2 (UNSC) nanozyme. Here, UNSC is conjugated with single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) probes used as both peroxidase-like nanozyme and upconversion luminescence donors. When no target nucleic acid is present, ssDNA-conjugated UNSC attaches on magnetic graphene oxide (MGO) via pi-pi stacking force, resulting in upconversion luminescence quenching (OFF) and no color change after magnetic removal of nanozymes attached on the MGO. In the presence of target nucleic acid, Cas12a is specifically activated by targeted nucleic acid and indiscriminately cleaves the ssDNA probes on UNSCs. UNSCs then detach from the MGO surface due to the weakening of binding force, leading to upconversion luminescence recovery (ON) and colorimetric change due to the existence of free nanozyme in the 3,3',5,5'-tetramethyl-benzidine assay. As a proof-of-concept, this biosensing platform shows a limit of detection of around 320 fM in the upconversion luminescence mode and ∼28.4 pM in the colorimetric mode for nucleic acid detection, respectively. This UNSC nanozyme-based CRISPR-Cas12a dual-mode biosensing system also demonstrates high selectivity, good repeatability, and facile operation, which allows easy adaption to other nucleic acid-based detection only by redesigning the sequence of CRISPR RNA., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing Interest The authors report no declarations of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Irreversible pulpitis can develop into pulp necrosis, causing apical periodontitis (AP). The progression of apical periodontitis is always accompanied by periodontal disease. Many similar inflammatory response pathways are involved in both apical periodontitis (AP) and periodontal disease. The infiltration of specific immune cells and the activation of immune responses are thought to play important roles in the transition from irreversible pulpitis to AP and periodontal-related diseases. This study explored immune response characteristics during the transformation of pulpitis to periodontal disease. The study also constructed a predictive model by combining known clinical and imaging indicators related to this transformation. Gene expression data related to irreversible pulpitis, apical periodontitis, and periodontal disease were extracted from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were compared and identified. KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) enrichment analysis was performed to identify immune-related pathways. Key gene signatures were screened, and a retrospective research strategy was used to collect 80 samples from patients with irreversible pulpitis. Information about pulp sensation test indicators, caries depth, root canal curvature, and inflammation indices of the patients were combined, and a logistic regression model of clinical periodontal disease was created. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate the predictive performance of the model. Five genes were identified as common gene signatures during the transition from pulpitis to apical periodontitis and periodontal-involved disease. Following regression and ROC analyses revealed the expression of four genes, and the electric pulp test (EPT) value formed a predictive model with the best specificity and sensitivity in predicting the occurrence of apical periodontitis. A prognostic model was constructed and evaluated for predicting the transition from pulpitis to periodontal disease., Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work. Ethics approval: The present study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tianjin Stomatological Hospital (NO. PH2024-Q-015). The research was performed in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Consent to participate: All the authors made substantial contributions to the study conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of the data; Consent to publish: All the authors read and approved the final manuscript., (© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Society of The Nippon Dental University.)

The heterogeneous injuries and resulting cognitive deficits pose significant challenges in the clinical management of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). However, the pathophysiological mechanisms related to heterogeneities of mTBI are still unclear. This study aims to explore the mechanisms underlying brain remodeling by examining the morphometric similarity (MS) alterations and corresponding transcriptomic signatures across adult and pediatric mTBI (adult mTBI: 112 acute patients, 47 follow-up chronic patients, 66 healthy controls [HCs]; pediatric mTBI: 30 acute patients, 31 HCs). A healthy adult cohort (N = 840) is included to derive the modularized brain MS networks representing interregional cortical connectivity. Subsequently, cortical MS remodeling patterns are identified involving mostly MS increases in the frontal modules with typical high MS and decreases in the occipital module with typical low MS, with more pronounced changes observed in the developing brain with mTBI. The abnormal MS changes are correlated with variable cognitive impairments. Moreover, cortical MS remodeling is also associated with the genes enriched in CA1 pyramidal cells and neuron-specific biological processes. The transcription-related cortical remodeling in mTBI might reveal the disruption of brain cellular architecture. Therapeutic modalities to intervene in specific cortex and tackle CA1 over-activation might better encircle the neurobiology of TBI., (© 2025 The Author(s). Advanced Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a major role in driving acute kidney injury (AKI) by causing oxidative stress and triggering inflammatory responses. However, treatment of AKI with traditional nanomedicines is still challenging because of low ROS scavenging efficacy and poor inflammatory chemotactic. Herein, we have constructed a novel cerium single-atom catalyst (A-CeSACs) for AKI catalytic therapy which targets inflammation and mimics several enzymatic redox activities. After injection of A-CeSACs into AKI mice via tail vein, targeting damaged kidney sites is realized by hitchhiking neutrophils that naturally target sites of inflammation via chemotaxis. After entering the AKI inflammatory environment, A-CeSACs rapidly scavenge multiple ROS via the Ce 3+ /Ce 4+ redox reaction, thus reducing the release of inflammatory factors. The designed A-CeSACs displayed remarkably catalytic therapy efficacy in glycerol-induced AKI mice models. Overall, the present study describes a novel therapeutic strategy for targeted AKI catalytic therapy that is also potentially applicable to other inflammation-related diseases., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The Authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is the primary cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. However, comprehensive studies on the related risk factors with PE and its effects on adverse perinatal outcomes are limited. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence, risk factors, and adverse perinatal outcomes in Chinese women with preeclampsia., Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019, which enrolled 38,496 women without preeclampsia (non-PE) and 1130 women with PE. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to determine the risk factors and adverse perinatal outcomes of PE., Results: Multivariate logistic regression models showed that maternal age > 35 years, pp-BMI overweight/obesity, excessive gestational weight gain, multiparity, twin pregnancy, IVF, cesarean section history, times of abortion history ≥ 2, GDM, and ICP were significantly associated with the risk of PE (all P < 0.05). Women with PE in singleton pregnancies were associated with an increased risk of maternal outcomes of cesarean section, and preterm birth, and a higher risk of neonatal outcomes of stillbirth, low birth weight, fetal distress, neonatal asphyxia, and neonatal unit admission, which were also observed in women with PE in twin pregnancies, except for stillbirth and neonatal asphyxia., Conclusion: This study identified the risk factors and associated adverse perinatal outcomes of PE, which providing comprehensive evidence for clinicians to manage women at risk of PE., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the hospital approved this study protocol (approval no: IRB-20230095-R). Consent for publication: All authors consented for this study’s publication. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Radiology images are one of the most commonly used in daily clinical diagnosis. Typically, clinical diagnosis using radiology images involves disease reporting and classification, where the former is a multimodal task whereby textual reports are generated to describe clinical findings in images, as are common in various domains, e.g., chest X-ray or computed tomography. Existing approaches are mainly supervised, the quality of which heavily depends on the volume and quality of available labeled data. However, for rarer or more novel diseases, enrolling patients to collect data is both time-consuming and expensive. For non-English languages, sufficient quantities of labeled data are typically not available. We propose the Multimodal Multidomain Multilingual Foundation Model. It is useful for rare diseases and non-English languages, where the labeled data are frequently much more scarce, and may even be absent. Our approach achieves encouraging performances on nine datasets, including 2 infectious and 14 non-infectious diseases., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

In functional systems composed of many traits, selection for specialized function can induce trait evolution by acting directly on individual components within the system, or indirectly through networks of trait integration. However, strong integration can also hinder diversification into regions of trait space that are not aligned with axes of covariation among traits. Thus, non-independence among traits may limit functional expansion. We explore this dynamic in the evolution of fin shapes in 106 species from 38 families of coral reef fishes, a polyphyletic assemblage that shows exceptional diversity in locomotor function. Despite expectations of a strong match between form and function, we find subtantial fin shape disparity across species that share a swimming mode. The evolution of fin shape is weakly integrated across the four functionally dominant fins in swimming and integration is weakened as derived swimming modes evolve. The weak integration among fins in the ancestral locomotor condition provides a primary axis of diversification while allowing for off-axis diversification via independent trait responses to selection. However, the evolution of novel locomotor modes coincides with a loss of integration among fins. Our study highlights the need for additional work on the functional consequences of fin shape in fishes., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE). All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

D-serine and D-aspartate are involved in N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)-related physiological and pathological processes. D-aminoacyl-tRNA deacylase 1 (DTD1) may biochemically contribute to D-serine or D-aspartate production. However, it is unclear thus far whether DTD1 regulates D-serine or D-aspartate content in neurobiological processes. In the present research, we found that DTD1 was essential to maintain the D-serine or D-aspartate homeostasis, which was consistent with the phenomenon that DTD1-deficiency resulted in changes in the quantity changes of functional NMDAR subunits in postsynaptic compartments. Moreover, DTD1 played a considerable role in regulating dendritic morphology and synaptic structure. As a consequence, DTD1 affected neurobiological events, including the synaptic strength of the CA3-to-CA1 circuit, dendritic spine density of hippocampal pyramidal neurons, and behavioral performance of mice in the Morris water maze. These findings highlight the important role of DTD1 in synaptic transmission, neuronal morphology, and spatial learning and memory and suggest an undisclosed mechanism of DTD1 that participates the regulation of D-serine or D-aspartate homeostasis in hippocampal neurons., Competing Interests: Compliance and ethics. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© 2024. Science China Press.)

Studies on the function-integrated nanocomposites with well-tuned morphologies have received considerable interest. Here, we reported the preparation of mesoporous carbon nanobowl integrated with stoichiometric γ-Fe 2 O 3 and GdPO 4 nanoparticles (Fe-Gd/MCN-B) for morphological advantage exploration. Followed by (i) emulsion-induced interface anisotropic assembly of polydopamine, (ii) solvent evaporation-induced sorption of Wells-Dawson-like heterometallic cluster of {Fe 6 Gd 6 P 6 } and (iii) temperature-programmed carbonization, Fe-Gd/MCN-B with the size around 200 nm was isolated. Our in-vitro studies revealed that Fe-Gd/MCN-B showed a 63.0 % amplified photoacoustic (PA) signal intensity as compared with its nanospherical analogue of Fe-Gd/MCN-S owing to the enhanced light harvesting and photothermal conversion on the interface of its nanobowl morphology. Furthermore, the combined magnetic resonance (MR) imagining, drug delivery and photothermal treatment efficacy in Fe-Gd/MCN-B were also validated in-vitro. These results demonstrated that the delicate design of the morphology of function-integrated nanocomposites is an available way for enhanced imaging performance., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The clinical benefits of neoadjuvant bevacizumab plus chemotherapy in locally advanced gastric cancer patients are controversial. This study intended to evaluate the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant bevacizumab plus chemotherapy in these patients., Methods: In this retrospective study, 71 locally advanced gastric cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant bevacizumab plus chemotherapy or neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone were divided into bevacizumab plus chemo group (N = 23) and chemo group (N = 48)., Results: Objective response rate (52.2% vs. 35.4%), disease control rate (91.3% vs. 81.3%), surgical resection rate (95.7% vs. 85.4%), R0 resection rate (87.0% vs. 75.0%), and the proportion of patients with tumor regression grade 0-1 (31.8% vs. 17.1%) tended to increase in bevacizumab plus chemo group versus chemo group, although there was no statistical significance. The 48-month progression-free survival (PFS) rates were 58.3% and 33.4% in bevacizumab plus chemo group and chemo group. The 48-month overall survival (OS) rates were 65.1% and 46.5% in bevacizumab plus chemo group and chemo group, respectively. PFS tended to ascend, but OS did not vary in bevacizumab plus chemo group versus chemo group. Bevacizumab plus chemo (vs. chemo) independently related to longer PFS [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.263, P = 0.015], but not OS (HR = 0.207, P = 0.056) in locally advanced gastric cancer patients. The incidence of grade 3-4 adverse events did not vary between groups (all P > 0.05)., Conclusion: Neoadjuvant bevacizumab plus chemotherapy achieves higher treatment response and longer survival to some extent, with tolerable adverse events versus neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone in locally advanced gastric cancer patients, but its application needs further verification., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The Ethics Committee approved the study. The informed consents were obtained from patients or their family members. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The high mortality rate from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is due primarily to challenges in early diagnosis and the development of drug resistance in advanced stages. Many first-line chemotherapeutic drugs induce ferroptosis, a form of programmed cell death dependent on ferrous iron-mediated oxidative stress, suggesting that drug resistance and ensuing tumor progression may in part stem from reduced ferroptosis. Since circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been shown to influence tumor development, we examined whether specific circRNAs may regulate drug-induced ferroptosis in HCC. Through circRNA sequencing, we identified a novel hsa&#95;circ&#95;0000195 (circTTC13) that is overexpressed in HCC tissues. This overexpression is linked to higher tumor grade, more advanced tumor stage, decreased ferroptosis, and poorer overall survival. Overexpression of CircTTC13 in HCC cell lines and explant tumors was associated with increased proliferation rates, enhanced metastatic capacity, and resistance to sorafenib, while also inhibiting ferroptosis. Conversely, circTTC13 silencing reduced malignant characteristics and promoted ferroptosis. In silico analysis, luciferase assays, and fluorescence in situ hybridization collectively demonstrated that circTTC13 directly targets and reduces miR-513a-5p expression, which in turn leads to the upregulation of the negative ferroptosis regulator SLC7A11. Moreover, the inhibition of SLC7A11 mirrored the effect of circTTC13 knockdown, whereas ferroptosis inhibition mimicked the effect of circTTC13 overexpression. Both circTTC13 and SLC7A11 were highly expressed in drug-resistant HCC cells, and circTTC13 silencing induced ferroptosis and reversed sorafenib resistance in explant tumors. These findings identify circTTC13 as a critical driver of HCC progression and resistance to drug-induced ferroptosis via upregulation of SLC7A11. The cicTTC13/miR-513a-5p/SLC7A11 axis represents a potential therapeutic target for HCC., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethical approval: All specimens in this study were obtained during hepatic cancer surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. The collection of these samples was approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, and all patients provided informed consent to participate in this study (Ethics Review No. K-2024-036).This study and included experimental procedures were approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. All animal housing and experiments were conducted in strict accordance with the institutional guidelines of laboratory animals (Ethics Review No. 20230319001, No. 20240508008, No. 20240508008, No. 20241009011). Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)