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This study investigated the effects of food culture on the economic and ecological development of rural rivers and adolescents’ intentions toward tourism in high-risk leisure environments. The study applied a mixed-methods design. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to recruited participants, and 900 responses were collected and analyzed, with SPSS 26.0 used to perform basic statistical validation and Pearson’s correlation analysis. Structured interviews were conducted to collect the opinions of experts, tourists, and residents of the investigated areas. A multivariate analysis was used to analyze the results, which revealed that superior economic, societal, and ecological development is associated with greater leisure, tourism, and consumption intentions. However, varying levels of environmental literacy among tourists can present challenges. Problems such as tourism waste; overdevelopment; loss of historic architectural features; and pollution of water, forests, and air may deter young tourists from revisiting an area and diminish their willingness to engage in and share leisure experiences.

AIM: To investigate the role of autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) on a diabetic mice model (DM) and the potential mechanism. METHODS: Male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into a normal control group (NC group) and an DM group. DM were induced by multiple low-dose intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) 60 mg/kg●d for 5 consecutive days. DM mice were randomly subdivided into untreated group (DM group), 3-MA (10 mg/kg●d by gavage) treated group (DM+3-MA group) and chloroquine (CQ; 50 mg/kg by intraperitoneal injection) treated group (DM+CQ group). The fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels were recorded every week. At the end of experiment, retinal samples were collected. The expression levels of pro-apoptotic proteins cleaved caspase-3, cleaved poly ADP-ribose polymerase 1 (PARP1) and Bax, anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, fibrosis-associated proteins Fibronectin and type 1 collagen α1 chain (COL1A1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), inflammatory factors interleukin (IL)-1β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, as well as autophagy related proteins LC3, Beclin-1 and P62 were determined by Western blotting. The oxidative stress indicators 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were detected by commercial kits. RESULTS: Both 3-MA and CQ had short-term hypoglycemic effect on FBG and reduced the expression of VEGF and inflammatory factors IL-1β and TNF-α in DM mice. 3-MA also significantly alleviated oxidative stress indicators 8-OHdG and MDA, decreased the expression of fibrosis-related proteins Fibronectin and COL1A1, pro-apoptotic proteins cleaved caspase-3, cleaved PARP1, as well as the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2. CQ had no significant impact on the oxidative stress indicators, fibrosis, and apoptosis related proteins. The results of Western blotting for autophagy related proteins showed that the ratio of LC3 II/LC3 I and the expression of Beclin-1 in the retina of DM mice were decreased by 3-MA treatment, and the expression of P62 was further increased by CQ treatment. CONCLUSION: 3-MA has anti-apoptotic and anti-fibrotic effects on the retina of DM mice, and can attenuate retinal oxidative stress, VEGF expression and the production of inflammatory factors in the retina of DM mice. The underlying mechanism of the above effects of 3-MA may be related to its inhibition of early autophagy and hypoglycemic effect.

Abstract Background Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) and psychological distress are common psychological problems in breast cancer (BC) patients and ultimately affecting their health‐related quality of life (HRQoL). Heart rate variability (HRV) can reflect the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system. However, the pathways through which HRV influences between FCR and HRQoL are unclear. This study preliminarily explored the intermediary role of HRV in FCR and HRQoL in BC patients. Methods A total of 101 BC patients participated in this study. HRV parameters were measured by a 5‐min dynamic electrocardiogram. FCR, psychological distress and HRQoL were evaluated by the Fear of disease progression simplified scale (FOP‐Q‐SF), Distress thermometer and SF‐36 concise health survey. The intermediary effect model was established to test the intermediary effect of high frequency‐HRV (HF‐HRV) on FCR and HRQoL. Results FCR and psychological distress were negatively correlated with HRV in the time domain, negatively correlated with HF‐HRV in the frequency domain, and positively correlated with low frequency/high frequency (LF/HF). HF‐HRV had a partial mediating effect on the FCR and physical health and mental health, with effects of 30.23% and 9.53%, respectively. Conclusion FCR and psychological distress are correlated with HRV parameters in the time domain and the frequency domain, and we preliminarily believe that parasympathetic nerves play an important intermediary role between FCR and subjective physical and mental health. This may provide intervention information for improving the HRQoL of BC patients.

The microstructure evolution and precipitation phase distribution of 7075 aluminum alloy friction stir welding (FSW) joint were investigated under liquid CO2 cooling conditions. The fine grained 7075 aluminum alloy was developed by four-pass equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) and FSW joints with CO2 cooling at room temperature. It was found that CO2 cooling could effectively reduce the peak temperature of the weld, leading to a refinement of the welded grain and an improvement of the welded joint. Various recrystallization mechanisms were found in different areas of the weld. The grain boundary and dislocation density of large angles gradually decreased from the weld stir-zone (SZ) to the heat-affected-zone (HAZ) regions, and the anisotropy increased. The type of precipitated phase and the relationship with the matrix interface were determined by detecting the spacing between the precipitated phase and the crystal plane of the matrix. CO2 forced cooling not only enhanced the matrix dislocation strengthening and grain boundary strengthening, but also effectively improved the size and type of precipitated phases and the colattice strengthening effect. In addition, liquid CO2 cooling can greatly reduce the PFZ width and enhance the Zener pinning effect.

Breast cancer is a grave traumatic experience that can profoundly compromise patients’ psychological resilience, impacting their overall quality of life. The oxytocin system represents one of the essential neurobiological bases of psychological resilience and plays a critical role in regulating resilience in response to social or traumatic events during adulthood. Oxytocin, through its direct interaction with peripheral or central oxytocin receptors, has been found to have a significant impact on regulating social behavior. However, the precise mechanism by which the activation of peripheral oxytocin receptors leads to improved social is still not completely comprehended and requires additional research. Its activation can modulate psychological resilience by influencing estrogen and its receptors, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, thyroid function, 5-hydroxytryptamine metabolism levels, and arginine pressure release in breast cancer patients. Various interventions, including psychotherapy and behavioral measures, have been employed to improve the psychological resilience of breast cancer patients. The potential effectiveness of such interventions may be underpinned by their ability to modulate oxytocin release levels. This review provides an overview of the oxytocin system and resilience in breast cancer patients and identifies possible future research directions and interventions.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of managing cancer and living meaningfully (CALM), a psychological intervention with semi-structured interviews, on cancer-related fatigue (CRF), quality of life (QOL), and sleep quality in patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer, which may be accompanied by changes in cytokine levels. Methods: A total of 152 GI cancer patients with CRF were enrolled in the study during treatment. Patients were randomly assigned to CALM or usual care (UC) groups. Patients in the CALM group received 12 weeks of CALM plus usual care, and patients in the UC group received usual care plus usual health education. All study participants were evaluated at baseline and at 12 weeks using the Revised Piper Fatigue Scale, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scale, while cytokine levels were measured. Results: At 12 weeks, the differences in total CRF, QOL, sleep quality, IL-6, IL-4, and TNF-α levels were statistically significant not only in the CALM group compared to patients in the UC group ( t = −7.902, t = 2.163, t = −2.187, t = 3.313, t = −4.120, t = −3.853, respectively; P

Summary This paper considers multiuser downlink transmission and detection in a multiple input‐multiple output (MIMO) visible light communication (VLC) system. We combine two promising techniques: space‐shift keying (SSK) and optical orthogonal codes (OOCs). Multiuser downlink transmission is realized by allowing each activated LED to transmit user‐specific OOC simultaneously. An OOC despreader is implemented at the front end of each user terminal (UT) to extract the desired signal and mitigate multiuser interference (MUI). The second part of UT receiver aims to extract the index of the corresponding active LED based on maximum likelihood (ML) or zero‐forcing (ZF) algorithm. The figure of merit we used to access the performance of the proposed downlink multiuser SSK system is the average symbol error rate (SER). Comprehensive Monte Carlo simulations have been undertaken for different system setup to evaluate SER at UT receiver. It is demonstrated that for a specified SER, the required SNR for ML‐based detection algorithm is 3 dB less than the ZF detector in the MUI‐free scenario. On the other hand, the ZF detector outperforms ML detector in the case with residual MUI and limited channel state information (CSI). Both algorithms are computationally attractive, hence can be put into practice in multiuser VLC MIMO system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Paclitaxel is a widely used cancer treatment drug that has a significant inhibitory effect on cervical cancer cells (HeLa cells). This study aims to investigate the effects of paclitaxel on HeLa cells and evaluate the application of terahertz (THz) spectroscopy and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors in this process. Methods: We utilized an SPR biosensor in conjunction with THz spectroscopy to measure the terahertz absorbance spectra of HeLa cells exposed to various concentrations of paclitaxel. The minimum number of cells used for detection was 15.25 × 105. At the same time, cell proliferation levels were assessed through proliferation assays and compared with the terahertz spectroscopy data. Results: The experimental results indicated that with the increasing concentration of paclitaxel, the terahertz absorbance spectra of HeLa cells exhibited a blue shift, and cell proliferation was significantly inhibited. The results of the proliferation assays were consistent with the terahertz spectroscopy data, validating the effectiveness of this method. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the combination of THz spectroscopy and SPR biosensors is a promising technology that can provide a simple, rapid, and low-cost method for studying chemistry–biology relationships, especially in the field of drug evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]