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Abstract Background Laser-assisted hatching (LAH) stands as the predominant technique for removing the zona pellucida (ZP) in embryos, primarily consisting of two methods: drilling laser-assisted hatching (D-LAH) and thinning laser-assisted hatching (T-LAH). Presently, both methods have limitations, and their comparative efficacy for embryo implantation and clinical pregnancy remains uncertain. Aim Evaluate the impact of D-LAH and T-LAH on clinical pregnancy rates within assisted reproductive technology (ART). Methods We systematically searched electronic databases including PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library until July 20, 2022. This study encompassed observational studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs). A 95% confidence interval (CI) was utilized for assessing the risk ratio (RR) of pregnancy outcomes. The level of heterogeneity was measured using I2 statistics, considering a value exceeding 50% as indicative of substantial heterogeneity. Results The meta-analysis scrutinized 9 studies involving 2405 clinical pregnancies from D-LAH and 2239 from T-LAH. Findings suggested no considerable variation in the clinical pregnancy rates between the two techniques (RR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.79–1.10, I2 = 71%, P = 0.41). Subgroup analyses also revealed no substantial differences. However, D-LAH exhibited a notably higher occurrence of singleton pregnancies compared to T-LAH (RR = 2.28, 95% CI: 1.08–4.82, I2 = 89%, P = 0.03). There were no noteworthy distinctions observed in other secondary outcomes encompassing implantation rate, multiple pregnancies, ongoing pregnancy, miscarriage, premature birth, and live birth. Conclusion Both the primary findings and subgroup analyses showed no marked variance in clinical pregnancy rates between D-LAH and T-LAH. Therefore, patients with varying conditions should select their preferred LAH technique after assessing their individual situation. However, due to the restricted number of studies involved, accurately gauging the influence of these laser techniques on clinical outcomes is challenging, necessitating further RCTs and high-quality studies to enhance the success rate of ART. Trial registration PROSPERO: CRD42022347066.

During pregnancy, there is a link between disruption of maternal immune tolerance and preeclampsia, but the molecular mechanisms that regulate maternal and fetal immune tolerance remain unclear. This study employs bioinformatics to identify new markers related to placental immune tolerance and explore their potential role in predicting preeclampsia. Analyzing preeclampsia-related gene expression profiles in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) dataset reveals 211 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the placenta, mainly influencing immune cell differentiation and response pathways. Employing weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and lasso regression, four potential target genes (ANKRD37, CRH, LEP, SIGLEC6) are identified for potential prediction of preeclampsia. Validation using the GSE4707 dataset confirmed the diagnostic and predictive potential of these candidate genes. RT-qPCR verified up-regulation in the placenta, while ELISA showed their correlation with immune tolerance factors associated with placental immune tolerance. As a result of this study, identifies potential biomarkers associated with placental immunity and contributes to understanding the molecular mechanism of preeclampsia.

Background The hsa_circRNA_103809 (circ_0072088) has been an emerging tumour regulator in human cancers, and is identified as one most aberrantly expressed circRNA in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, the role of circ_0072088 remains unclear in PDAC cells. Methods Expression of circ_0072088, microRNA (miR)-545-3p and solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11) was detected by real-time quantitative PCR and western blotting. Cell progression was measured by cell counting kit (CCK)-8 assay, transwell assays and flow cytometry, as well as xenograft tumour models. Glycolysis was evaluated by commercial assay kits. The interaction among circ_0072088, miR-545-3p and SLC7A11 was confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Results Circ_0072088 was upregulated in PDAC tumours and cells; besides, high circ_0072088 level was associated with high tumour-node-metastasis (TNM) stage. The circ_0072088 siRNA suppressed cell viability, migration, invasion, extracellular acidification rate (ECAR), lactate production, glucose uptake, and ATP generation, but promoted apoptosis rate and oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in SW1990 and PANC-1 cells. In vivo, circ_0072088 knockdown retarded tumour growth of PANC-1 cells. Overexpressing miR-545-3p mimicked circ_0072088 siRNA-induced actions, and inhibited cell progression and glycolysis of SW1990 and PANC-1 cells. Moreover, SLC7A11 downregulation could be mediated by both circ_0072008 siRNA and miR-545-3p mimic, and participating in suppressive role in cell progression and glycolysis of SW1990 and PANC-1 cells. In mechanism, miR-545-3p was targeted by circ_0072008, and SLC7A11 was target of miR-545-3p. Conclusion Circ_0072088 elicited oncogenic role in malignant cell progression and glycolysis of PDAC cells through circ_0072088/miR-545-3p/SLC7A11 pathway.Highlights Circ_0072088 was upregulated in PDAC tumours and was associated with high tumour burden. Blocking circ_0072088 suppressed cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and glycolysis in PDAC cells. Circ_0072088 could directly regulate miR-545-3p, and SLC7A11 was a target of miR-545-3p. Restoring miR-545-3p mimicked the effects of circ_0072088 knockdown in PDAC cell in vitro.

Neutralizing antibodies are currently one versatile strategy to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, Li et al. characterize three monoclonal antibodies neutralizing authentic virus infection in vitro and in vivo by targeting the receptor binding domain as evidenced by Cryo-EM.

This research investigated the storability of sea rice paddy in an experimental silo for 11.5 months. Water was circulated in the silo walls from June 30 to maintain a grain bulk temperature of 23°C. The dry-bulb temperatures in three layers (top, middle, and bottom) of paddy bulk showed very small differences, but the intergranular air parameters such as relative humidity (RH), wet-bulb temperature and humidity ratio in middle and bottom bulk layers were significantly higher than those of top bulk layer, and storage insects occurred in these two bulk layers from August to September as a result that sulfuryl fluoride gas fumigation was done on September 30. During storage, the rice's water absorption rate and gruel solids loss decreased with storage time, while the peak temperature of gelatinization (Tp) increased, and water uptake ratio and taste panel score remained unchanged. Fatty acid profile analysis shows that the total, saturated, and unsaturated fatty acid concentrations decreased with storage time, while the unsaturated-to-saturated fatty acid ratio increased. Compared to top bulk layer, the bottom layer had lower water absorption rate and fatty acid concentration, and a similar Tp and better cooking property. Further compared with a short-grain Japonica paddy (cv. Yanfeng) stored in a large cooled warehouse before and after oversummering, sea rice paddy stored in the experimental silo had lower protein content, but had a higher Tp, poly-unsaturated fatty acid content and unsaturated-to-saturated fatty acid ratio, and similar amylose content and taste panel score. These results suggest that sea rice has good storability, and quasi-low-temperature storage (23°C) requires autumn chemical fumigation to control the storage insects.

IntroductionSerum albumin levels at a single time point have been shown to predict mortality in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. However, we believe that the dynamic change in albumin after PD may be more significant. In this study, we investigated the relationship between dynamic serum albumin and the clinical outcome of patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD).MethodsThe participants in this study enrolled 586 patients who underwent CAPD at the peritoneal dialysis center of Second Xiangya Hospital in China. We retrospectively reviewed medical records from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2019. Baseline serum albumin (Alb), time-averaged albumin level (TA-ALB) and serum albumin reach rate (SR: defined as the percentage of serum albumin measurements that reached ≥ 35 g/L) were applied as the predictor variables. All-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality were used as the outcome variables. Hazard function of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality in the study participants were examined by using Cox proportional hazard regression models.ResultsAge (HR = 1.03, 95% CI 1.00–1.05), cardiovascular disease (HR = 1.80, 95% CI 1.07–3.03) and TA-ALB (HR = 0.92, 95% CI 0.85–0.99) were independent risk factors for all-cause mortality in PD patients. Patients with TA-ALB of

ObjectiveThe number of elderly patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) has rapidly increased in the past few decades. We sought to explore the microbiology and outcomes of peritonitis in elderly PD patients compared with younger PD patients.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective study to analyze the clinical characteristics, causative organism distribution, and outcome of all PD patients who developed peritonitis between September 1, 2014 and December 31, 2020, from Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, China. Patients who experienced peritonitis were separated into elderly and younger groups. The elderly was defined as ≥ 65 years old at the initiation of PD.ResultsAmong 1,200 patients, 64(33.9%) in elderly (n = 189) and 215 (21.3%) in younger (n = 1,011) developed at least one episode of peritonitis. A total of 394 episodes of peritonitis occurred in 279 patients. Of these, 88 episodes occurred in 64 elderly patients, and 306 episodes occurred in 215 younger patients. Gram-positive bacteria were the main causative organisms in elderly and younger patients (43.2% and 38.0%, respectively). Staphylococcus and Escherichia coli were the most common gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, respectively. Fungal peritonitis in elderly patients was higher compared with younger patients (χ2 = 6.55, P = 0.01). Moreover, Acinetobacter baumannii (χ 2=9.25, P = 0.002) and polymicrobial peritonitis (χ 2 = 6.41, P = 0.01) in elderly patients were also significantly higher than that in younger patients. Additionally, elderly PD patients had higher peritonitis-related mortality than younger patients (χ 2 = 12.521, P = 0.000), though there was no significant difference in catheter removal between the two groups. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that cumulative survival was significantly lower in elderly patients than younger patients (log rank = 7.867, p = 0.005), but similar technical survival in both groups (log rank = 0.036, p = 0.849).ConclusionsThis retrospective study demonstrated that elderly PD patients were more likely to develop Acinetobacter baumannii, fungal and polymicrobial peritonitis than younger PD patients. In addition, peritonitis-related mortality was significantly higher in elderly patients, whereas peritonitis-related catheter removal was comparable between elderly and younger PD patients. Understanding microbiology and outcome in elderly patients will help to reduce the incidence of PD-associated peritonitis and improve the quality of life.

Dam construction hinders the transport process of water constituents, resulting in various water quality issues in reservoir areas that impede the sustainable development of hydropower. Conventional reservoir operation optimizations to address these issues face challenges in mathematizing multiple water quality objectives and solving high-dimensional computational problems. Taking a comprehensive perspective, we propose a methodology that incorporates the concept of transport timescales into optimal reservoir operation. Firstly, a specific transport timescale is estimated through numerical tracer experiments using a 3D hydrodynamic model. Subsequently, a surrogate model is developed to approximate the hydrodynamic model for computationally efficient estimation. Finally, we employ a non-dominated ranking genetic algorithm, combined with the surrogate model, to search for a Pareto-optimal solution for multiple objectives. As a case study, we selected flushing time as the representation of transport timescales and applied it to Xiangxi Bay (XXB) in the Three Gorges Reservoir, which has experienced serious water quality problems since dam construction. Our results show that under the optimal operation scheme, the average flushing time for the entire XXB is 23.991 d, which represents a 10.9% reduction compared to the practical operation scheme. The reduction rate of flushing time along XXB shows a monotonically increasing trend towards the reservoir mainstream, with a maximum reduction of 90.9%. The proposed methodology provides a heuristic tool that links optimal reservoir operation and the transport process of holistic water constituents for comprehensive water quality management in reservoirs.

Mosquito-specific flaviviruses comprise a group of insect-specific viruses with a single positive RNA, which can affect the duplication of mosquito-borne viruses and the life growth of mosquitoes, and which have the potential to be developed as a vaccine platform for mosquito-borne viruses. In this study, a strain of mosquito flavivirus (MFV) YN15-283-02 was detected in Culicoides collected from Yunnan, China. The isolation of the purified MFV YN15-283-02 from cell culture failed, and the virus was then rescued by an infectious clone. To study the biological features of MFV YN15-283-02 in vitro and in vivo, electron microscopy, phylogenetic tree, and viral growth kinetic analyses were performed in both cell lines and mosquitoes. The rescued MFV (rMFV) YN15-283-02 duplicated and reached a peak in C6/36 cells at 6 d.p.i. with approximately 2 × 106 RNA copies/μL (RNA to cell ratio of 0.1), but without displaying a cytopathic effect. In addition, the infection rate for the rMFV in Ae.aegypti show a low level in both larvae (≤15%) and adult mosquitoes (≤12%).

In order to determine the reasonable height of water-proof coal (rock) pillar when mining multiple coal seams under aquifer, this paper analyzes the expansion height of water-conducting fracture zone when coal seams mining. Considering the expansion law of water-conducting fracture zone in coal seams mining, two schemes of coal seams mining in upper and lower groups and one-time mining of all coal seams are designed for comparative analysis, and the height of water-proof coal (rock) pillar is determined based on the expansion height of water-conducting fracture zone. The results show that the height of water-proof coal (rock) pillar is calculated as 91.08 m when mining upper and lower groups and 105.46 m when mining all coal seams at the same time. According to UDEC numerical simulation results, the height of water-proof coal (rock) pillar is 56.08 m when mining upper and lower groups and 86.36 m when mining all coal seams at the same time. Comparing the results of theoretical calculation and numerical analysis, the maximum value is selected as the final result, and the reasonable water-proof coal (rock) pillar height is determined to be 105.46 m.

With the aid of symbolic computation, a new extended Jacobi elliptic function expansion method is presented by means of a new ansatz, in which periodic solutions of nonlinear evolution equations, which can be expressed as a finite Laurent series of some 12 Jacobi elliptic functions, are very effective to uniformly construct more new exact periodic solutions in terms of Jacobi elliptic function solutions of nonlinear partial differential equations. As an application of the method, we choose the generalized shallow water wave (GSWW) equation to illustrate the method. As a result, we can successfully obtain more new solutions. Of course, more shock wave solutions or solitary wave solutions can be gotten at their limit condition.

Based on the background of Puyang Jiang River, a 2D hydrodynamic model was built to explore the distribution characteristics of tidal range in the downstream section of Puyang River under different flood tide combinations between Puyang River and Qiantang River. The influence of different frequency floods and flood discharges of Puyang River on the flood level of Puyang River was analysed. The results show that the tidal range at each point of the exit section decreases with the increase of floods in Puyang River. Under the same flood conditions of Puyang River, the tidal range at each point of the river increases with the increase of the Qiantang River rushing tide; under the same characteristic tidal conditions, the tidal gradient along the water flow direction of the Sanjiangkou-Xizhuang section increases with the increase of floods in the Puyang River. When Puyang Jiang River suffered flooding from once ten years to twenty years and then to fifty years, the mean value of water level reduction of east and west river is from 0.66 cm to 0.72 cm and then to 0.63 cm, namely, the sensitivity of the discharge of Gaohu flood retarding basin to the water level of east and west river of Puyang Jiang River is first strengthened and then weakened. The research results provide a guidance for flood regulation of Puyang River and optimization of operation in Gaohu flood detention area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extended auxiliary functionmethod is presented for constructing exact traveling wave solutions to nonlinear partial differential equations. The main idea of this method is to take full advantage of the solutions to the elliptic equation to construct exact traveling wave solutions for nonlinear partial differential equations. mKdV equation is chosen to illustrate the application of the extended auxiliary function method. Consequently, more new exact traveling wave solutions are derived that are not obtained by the previously known methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, by introducing some appropriate transformation and with the help of symbolic computation, we study exact travelling wave solutions for the high-order modified Boussinesq equation, a single nonlinear reaction-diffusion equation and a generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation with nonlinear terms of any order by use of the extended-tanh method. Thus, some new exact travelling-wave solutions, which contain kink-shaped solitons, bell-shaped solitons, periodic solutions, combined formal solitons, rational solutions and singular solitons for these equations, are obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An isospectral problem and the associated hierarchy of nonlinear evolution equations is presented. As a reduction, a new generalized nonlinear Schro¨dinger equation is obtained. It is shown that the hierarchy possesses bi-Hamiltonian structure and is integrable in Liouville sense. Moreover, the eigenvalue problem can be nonlinearized as a finite-dimensional completely integrable system under the Bargmann constraint between the potentials and the eigenvalues. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this experiment, freshly harvested rice was dried by natural and mechanical methods. For natural drying, paddy rice was spread on a cement floor under a shelter at a thickness of 4cm, and it was turned twice a day. At a temperature of 19.3°C and a relative humidity of 58.8%, a total of 28 days was needed to reduce the water content from 23.11 to 14.38%. For mechanical drying, the Guwang 5HXG-15B circulating dryer was used, drying temperature was set to 42°C, and it took a total of 5 hours to reduce the water content from 23.1 to 11.8%. The changes in spore count, fatty acid value, germination rate, waist burst rate, whole polished rice rate, and taste value of rice mold after drying were studied. The results showed that compared with mechanical drying, the drying rate of air-dried rice was slower, and the number of mold spores increased from 0.65×105/g to 3.05×105/g, a 3.7 times increase. The number of mold spores in dried rice was not significant. Dried rice fatty acid value of 25.1mg/100g for natural drying was higher than the value of 19.9mg/100g for mechanical drying. High temperature affected rice seed vigor: mechanically dried rice germination rate was 58.0%, far lower than the 87.5% for natural drying. The blasting rate, polished rice rate, and taste value of mechanically dried rice were 5.33%, 57.9%, and 83.7, respectively, which was 2.33%, 58.9%, and 89.3 for naturally-dried rice. The processing quality and taste quality were even worse. Therefore, the drying process of the optimized circulation dryer should be further adjusted to reduce its impact on rice processing quality and taste quality.