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Parental involvement is crucial for children’s stress management, and co-regulation of stress can have a positive effect. To facilitate parental involvement in children’s stress management in learning, we proposed an embodied connected system, which provides stress detection, stress information feedback, and encouragement prompts, aiming to help parents better understand and engage in children’s stress-regulation process. This article focuses on the impact of interactive encouragement prompts provided to parents on children’s stress management. The within-group experiment was used to collect stress data and scales from 36 parent–child groups during a controlled learning experiment, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents and children. The results indicate that the encouragement prompts provided to the parents enhance the effectiveness of stress relief in children facilitated by parental involvement. In particular, the psychological stress was reduced, and the communication between parents and children became more effective. In addition, active parental involvement and timely encouragement prompts can improve children’s stress-coping abilities, providing an interactive intervention approach for learning stress management.

Abstract Objective To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of antibiotic bone cement combined with the lobulated perforator flap based on the descending branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery (d-LCFA) in the treatment of infected traumatic tissue defects in the foot, in accordance with the Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) concept. Methods From December 2019 to November 2022, 10 patients with infected traumatic tissue defects of the foot were treated with antibiotic bone cement combined with the d-LCFA lobulated perforator flap. The cohort comprised 6 males and 4 females, aged 21 to 67 years. Initial infection control was achieved through debridement and coverage with antibiotic bone cement, requiring one debridement in nine cases and two debridements in one case. Following infection control, the tissue defects were reconstructed utilizing the d-LCFA lobulated perforator flap, with the donor site closed primarily. The flap area ranged from 12 cm×6 cm to 31 cm×7 cm. Postoperative follow-up included evaluation of flap survival, donor site healing, and ambulatory function of the foot. Results The follow-up period ranged from 7 to 24 months, averaging 14 months. Infection control was achieved successfully in all cases. The flaps exhibited excellent survival rates and the donor site healed by first intention. Based on the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle-hindfoot scale, pain and function were evaluated as excellent in 3 cases, good in 5 cases, and moderate in 2 cases. Conclusion The application of antibiotic bone cement combined with the d-LCFA lobulated perforator flap is an effective treatment for infected traumatic tissue defects of the foot with the advantages of simplicity, high repeatability, and precise curative effects. The application of the d-LCFA lobulated perforator flap in wound repair causes minimal damage to the donor site, shortens hospital stays, lowers medical expenses, and accelerates patient rehabilitation, aligning with the ERAS concept. Therefore, it is a practice worth promoting in clinical use.

2,2′,4,4′-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE47) is a foodborne environmental risk factor for depression, but the pathogenic mechanism has yet to be fully characterized. In this study, we clarified the effect of BDE47 on depression in mice. The abnormal regulation of the microbiome-gut-brain axis is evidenced closely associated with the development of depression. Using RNA sequencing, metabolomics, and 16s rDNA amplicon sequencing, the role of the microbiome-gut-brain axis in depression was also explored. The results showed that BDE47 exposure increased depression-like behaviors in mice but inhibited the learning memory ability of mice. The RNA sequencing analysis showed that BDE47 exposure disrupted dopamine transmission in the brain of mice. Meanwhile, BDE47 exposure reduced protein levels of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and dopamine transporter (DAT), activated astrocytes and microglia cells, and increased protein levels of NLRP3, IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α in the brain of mice. The 16 s rDNA sequencing analysis showed that BDE47 exposure disrupted microbiota communities in the intestinal contents of mice, and faecalibaculum was the most increased genus. Moreover, BDE47 exposure increased the levels of IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α in the colon and serum of mice but decreased the levels of tight junction protein ZO-1 and Occludin in the colon and brain of mice. In addition, the metabolomic analysis revealed that BDE47 exposure induced metabolic disorders of arachidonic acid and neurotransmitter 2-Arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG) was one of the most decreased metabolites. Correlation analysis further revealed gut microbial dysbiosis, particularly faecalibaculum, is associated with altered gut metabolites and serum cytokines in response to BDE47 exposure. Our results suggest that BDE47 might induce depression-like behavior in mice through gut microbial dysbiosis. The mechanism might be associated with the inhibited 2-AG signaling and increased inflammatory signaling in the gut-brain axis.

BACKGROUND The prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD) faces dual challenges: the aspirin-induced gastrointestinal injury, and the residual cardiovascular risk after statin treatment. Geraniol acetate (Gefarnate) is an anti-ulcer drug. It was reported that geraniol might participate in lipid metabolism through a variety of pathways. The aim of this study was to assess the lipidlowering effects of gefarnate in statin-treated CAD patients with residual hypertriglyceridemia. METHODS In this prospective, open-label, randomized, controlled trial, 69 statin-treated CAD patients with residual hypertriglyceridemia were randomly assigned to gefarnate group and control group, received gefarnate (100 mg/3 times a day) combined with statin and statin alone, respectively. At baseline and after one-month treatment, the levels of plasma triglyceride, highdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and total cholesterol were tested. RESULTS After one-month gefarnate treatment, triglyceride level was significantly lowered from 2.64 mmol/L to 2.12 mmol/L (P = 0.0018), LDL-C level lowered from 2.7 mmol/L to 2.37 mmol/L (P = 0.0004), HDL-C level increased from 0.97 mmol/L to 1.17 mmol/L (P = 0.0228). Based on statin therapy, gefarnate could significantly reduce the plasma triglyceride level (P = 0.0148) and increase the plasma HDL-C level (P = 0.0307). Although the LDL-C and total cholesterol levels tended to decrease, there was no statistically significant difference. CONCLUSIONS The addition of gefarnate to statin reduced triglyceride level and increased HDL-C level to a significant extent compared to statin alone in CAD patients with residual hypertriglyceridemia. This suggested that gefarnate might provide the dual benefits of preventing gastrointestinal injury and lipid lowering in CAD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bacterial mastitis in cows is a huge challenge to the dairy cattle breeding and production industry. This study examined the relationship between mastitis and bacterial diversity at different sampling sites in dairy farms. Methods: High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA V4 region was used to analyze the abundance and diversity of bacterial population sampled from seven different sites in a dairy farm, named healthy cow milk (N), cow milk from a mastitis cow (C), perimammary (T), milk collecting cup (B), turntable surface (P), feces (F) and bedding material (W). Result: In total, 2757356 reads were obtained from the sequencing results, which were annotated to 29 phyla, 67 classes, 166 orders, 295 families, 696 genera and 306 species. In all samples, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were the dominant microflora, while Oscillospira-UCG-005 and Atopostipes were the dominant genera in different proportions, indicating certain differences in bacterial flora structure among different samples. Furthermore, alpha diversity analysis revealed high richness and diversity among different samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Michael addition is usually taken as a base-catalyzed reaction. Most fluorescent probes have been designed to detect thiols in slightly alkaline solutions (pH 7-9). The sensing reactions of almost all Michael-type fluorescent probes for thiols are faster in a high pH solution than in a low pH solution. In this work, we synthesized a series of 7-substituted 2-(quinolin-2-ylmethylene)malonic acids (QMAs, substituents: NEt2, OH, H, Cl, or NO2) and their ethyl esters (QMEs) as Michael-type fluorescent probes for thiols. The sensing reactions of QMAs and QMEs occur in distinct pH ranges, pH < 7 for QMAs and pH > 7 for QMEs. On the basis of experimental and theoretic studies, we have clarified the distinct pH effects on the sensing reactivity between QMAs and QMEs and demonstrated that two QMAs (NEt2, OH) are highly sensitive and selective fluorescent probes for thiols in acidic solutions (pH < 7) and promising dyes that can label lysosomes in live cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Michael addition is usually taken as a base-catalysed reaction. However, our synthesized 2-(quinolin-2-ylmethylene) malonic acid (QMA) as a Michael-type thiol fluorescent probe is acid-active in its sensing reaction. In this work, based on theoretic calculation and experimental study on 7-hydroxy-2-(quinolin-2-ylmethylene) malonic acid, we demonstrated that QMA as a Michael acceptor is acid-activatable, i.e., it works only in solutions at pH<7, and the lower the pH of solutions is, the higher reactivity QMA has. In alkaline solution, the malonate QMA[-2H+]2- cannot react with both RS- and RSH. In contrast, 2-(quinolin-2-ylmethylene) malonic ester (QME), the ester of QMA, reveal a contrary pH effect on its sensing reaction, that is, it can sense thiols in alkaline solutions but not in acidic solutions, like a normal base-catalysed Michael addition. The values of activation enthalpies from theoretic calculation support the above sensing behavior of two probes under different pH conditions. In acidic solutions, the protonated QMA is more highly reactive towards electrophilic attack over its other ionized states in neutral and alkaline solutions, and so can react with lowly reactive RSH. In contrast, there is a big energy barrier in the interaction of QME with RSH (acidic solutions), and the reaction of QME with the highly reactive nucleophile RS- is a low activation energy process (in alkaline solutions). Theoretic calculation reveals that the sensing reaction of QMA undergoes a 1,4-addition process with neutral thiols (RSH), and a 1,2-addition pathway for the sensing reaction of QME with RS- . Therefore, the sensing reaction of QMA is an acid-catalysed Michael addition via a 1,4-addition, and a normal base-catalysed Michael addition via a 1,2-addition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiological and clinical data suggest that estrogen retards the progression of atherosclerosis. This study aims to elucidate whether the phenotypic regulation of human vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) by estrogen may involve effects on the hyaluronan matrix. VSMC were synchronized by serum withdrawal and subsequently stimulated with 0.001, 0.01, 0.1 and 1 μM estradiol (E2) in the presence or absence of platelet-derived growth factor BB (PDGF-BB) for 24 h. E2 reduced mRNA-expression of hyaluronic acid synthase (HAS) 1 in the presence and absence of PDGF-BB. In contrast, HAS2- and HAS3-mRNA-expression were not affected. This E2-mediated effect on HAS1 mRNA-expression was accompanied by reduced hyaluronan secretion and a shift of HA toward lower molecular weight as evidenced by molecular sieve chromatography. The downregulation of HAS1 was abrogated by the estrogen receptor (ER) α and β antagonist ICI182780 and could be mimicked by the ERα-agonist propyl-pyrazole triol (PPT). On the contrary, the ERβ-agonist diarylpropionitrile (DPN) had no effect on HAS1 mRNA-expression. To investigate whether the downregulation of HAS1 was causally involved in the phenotypic regulation of human VSMC by E2, lentiviral overexpression of HAS1 was conducted. Overexpression of HAS1 abrogated the inhibition of sustained ERK1/2 phosphorylation and in turn inhibition of DNA-synthesis by E2. For the first time this study provides strong evidence that HAS1-driven HA-synthesis is a target of E2 in human VSMC and that E2 mediates part of its anti-proliferative effects through an ERα-dependent inhibition of HA-synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a fully Bayesian methodology for generalized kernel mixed models (GKMMs), which are extensions of generalized linear mixed models in the feature space induced by a reproducing kernel. We place a mixture of a point-mass distribution and Silverman's g-prior on the regression vector of a generalized kernel model (GKM). This mixture prior allows a fraction of the components of the regression vector to be zero. Thus, it serves for sparse modeling and is useful for Bayesian computation. In particular, we exploit data augmentation methodology to develop a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm in which the reversible jump method is used for model selection and a Bayesian model averaging method is used for posterior prediction. When the feature basis expansion in the reproducing kernel Hilbert space is treated as a stochastic process, this approach can be related to the Karhunen-Loève expansion of a Gaussian process (GP). Thus, our sparse modeling framework leads to a flexible approximation method for GPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, metric learning in the semisupervised setting has aroused a lot of research interest. One type of semisupervised metric learning utilizes supervisory information in the form of pairwise similarity or dissimilarity constraints. However, most methods proposed so far are either limited to linear metric learning or unable to scale well with the data set size. In this letter, we propose a nonlinear metric learning method based on the kernel approach. By applying low-rank approximation to the kernel matrix, our method can handle significantly larger data sets. Moreover, our low-rank approximation scheme can naturally lead to out of-sample generalization. Experiments performed on both artificial and real-world data show very promising results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aminosulfonic acid is an environmentally friendly catalyst. Grinding a mixture of aromatic aldehydes, barbituric acid, and H 2 NSO 3 H at room temperature (without any solvent) gave 5-arylidene barbituric acid in high yields, providing a simple and efficient route to synthesis of these compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generalization of large margin classification methods from the binary classification setting to the more general multicategory setting is often found to be non-trivial. In this paper, we study large margin classification methods that can be seamlessly applied to both settings, with the binary setting simply as a special case. In particular, we explore the Fisher consistency properties of multicategory majorization losses and present a construction framework of majorization losses of the 0-1 loss. Under this framework, we conduct an in-depth analysis about three widely used multicategory hinge losses. Corresponding to the three hinge losses, we propose three multicategory majorization losses based on a coherence function. The limits of the three coherence losses as the temperature approaches zero are the corresponding hinge losses, and the limits of the minimizers of their expected errors are the minimizers of the expected errors of the corresponding hinge losses. Finally, we develop multicategory large margin classification methods by using a so-called multiclass C-loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Loess Plateau is one of the main regions for growing apple trees in China, but a shortage of water resources and low utilization of nitrogen have restricted its agricultural development. A 2-year field experiment was conducted which included three levels of soil water content (SWC), 90–75%, 75–60%, and 60–45% of field capacity, and five levels of nitrogen application (Napp), 0.7, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4 and 0.3 kg/plant. The treatments were arranged in a strip-plot design with complete randomized blocks with three replications. For both years, the water and Napp had significant (P