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Abstract The study discussed the effects of different mineral incorporations and the curing time on the strength of modified magnesium phosphate cement (MPC) mortars through mechanical tests, mathematical model analysis and microstructure characterization. Fly ash (FA), silica fume (SF), and metakaolin (MK), which exhibit excellent durability and bonding properties, were used to modify the MPC. A quantitative relationship was established between the strength of modified MPC mortars and the mineral incorporation and curing time. First, the strength of each mineral-modified MPC mortar cured in air with different mineral incorporations and curing durations was evaluated. The strengths of MPC mortars containing 10% fly ash, 15% silica fume, and 10% metakaolin—which perform best in their incorporations—were compared to analyze the function of the three minerals. To establish the relationship between strength and mineral incorporation and curing time, three mathematical models, linear model, general nonlinear model, and data distribution shape nonlinear model (DDSNM), are commonly used for material property analysis based on statistics. DDSNM best describes the trend of strength change among the three models and the error is small for three minerals. Based on DDSNM, the influence of various minerals on the strength of MPC mortar was quantitatively evaluated by calculating the variable partial derivatives, and verified by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. MK performs the best in improving the flexural strength performance of MPC, while SF performs the best in the compressive strength. FA-MPC has low sensitivity to dosage fluctuations and is easy to prepare.

Abstract Coupling high-capacity cathode and Li-anode with solid-state electrolyte has been demonstrated as an effective strategy for increasing the energy densities and safety of rechargeable batteries. However, the limited ion conductivity, the large interfacial resistance, and unconstrained Li-dendrite growth hinder the application of solid-state Li-metal batteries. Here, a poly(ether-urethane)-based solid-state polymer electrolyte with self-healing capability is designed to reduce the interfacial resistance and provides a high-performance solid-state Li-metal battery. With its dynamic covalent disulfide bonds and hydrogen bonds, the proposed solid-state polymer electrolyte exhibits excellent interfacial self-healing ability and maintains good interfacial contact. Full cells are assembled with the two integrated electrodes/electrolytes. As a result, the Li||Li symmetric cells exhibit stable long-term cycling for more than 6000 h, and the solid-state Li-S battery shows a prolonged cycling life of 700 cycles at 0.3 C. The use of ultrasound imaging technology shows that the interfacial contact of the integrated structure is much better than those of traditional laminated structure. This work provides an interesting interfacial dual-integrated strategy for designing high-performance solid-state Li-metal batteries.

Most space shuttle fuel tanks use a center column to hold the Propellant Management Device (PMD). This paper analyzes the gas–liquid interface state in the tanks with a central column during microgravity experiments conducted in the Chinese Space Station. It launches an extended study to investigate the gas–liquid interface state under different gravity conditions. Using the perturbation method and boundary layer theory, we numerically calculated the morphology of the gas–liquid interface under varying gravity conditions based on the Young–Laplace equation. The results were then compared to those obtained from existing commercial software and were found to be consistent. Based on this, the study develops two types of calculation procedures. The first procedure generates the corresponding shape of the liquid surface by inputting the height of the liquid surface endpoints and the gravity level. The second procedure is based on the targeting method and generates the corresponding liquid surface by inputting the volume of the liquid in the storage tank and the gravity level. The procedures were used to analyze the variation of gas–liquid interface properties under different gravity conditions. This study offers theoretical support for liquid management in aerospace engineering fuel tanks.

IntroductionEmotional words are often used as stimulus material to explore the cognitive and emotional characteristics of individuals with depressive disorder, while normal individuals mostly rate the scores of affective words. Given that individuals with depressive disorder exhibit a negative cognitive bias, it is possible that their depressive state could influence the ratings of affective words. To enhance the validity of the stimulus material, we specifically recruited patients with depression to provide these ratings.MethodsThis study provided subjective ratings for 501 Chinese affective norms, incorporating 167 negative words selected from depressive disorder patients’ Sino Weibo blogs, and 167 neutral words and 167 positive words selected from the Chinese Affective Word System. The norms are based on the assessments made by 91 patients with depressive disorder and 92 normal individuals, by using the paper-and-pencil quiz on a 9-point scale.ResultsRegardless of the group, the results show high reliability and validity. We identified group differences in three dimensions: valence, arousal, and self-relevance: the depression group rated negative words higher, but positive and neutral words lower than the normal control group.ConclusionThe emotional perception affected the individual’s perception of words, to some extent, this database expanded the ratings and provided a reference for exploring norms for individuals with different emotional states.

The microthruster is generally chosen as the actuator of the drag-free satellite control system, and the layout directly affects the stability of the satellite control. Due to the extremely rigorous objectives of drag-free control, a design method for the redundant thruster layout is proposed in this paper to improve the control stability of the satellite and reduce the allocation error of the control system. First, the factors corresponding to the allocation errors of redundant thruster layouts are analyzed. And the minimum number of thrusters required for satellite control is determined through the calculation method of thruster redundancy. Then, the design criterion of reducing the allocation error and increasing the satellite control stability is put forward. To demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the design method proposed in this paper, the space gravitational wave detection satellite is taken as a simulation case. Thrust distribution models corresponding to the designed thruster layouts are established, and the results show that a proper layout can not only improve stability but also reduce fuel consumption. The research is looking forward to providing a reference for designing the microthruster layout of the gravitational wave detection satellite in the future.

IntroductionSolid organ transplant (SOT) recipients can experience bone loss caused by underlying conditions and the use of immunosuppressants. As a result, SOT recipients are at risk for decreased bone mineral density (BMD) and increased fracture incidences. We propose a network meta-analysis (NMA) that incorporates all available randomized control trial (RCT) data to provide the most comprehensive ranking of anti-osteoporotic interventions according to their ability to decrease fracture incidences and increase BMD in SOT recipients.MethodsWe will search MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL, CENTRAL and CNKI for relevant RCTs that enrolled adult SOT recipients, assessed anti-osteoporotic therapies, and reported relevant outcomes. Title and full-text screening as well as data extraction will be performed in-duplicate. We will report changes in BMD as weighted or standardized mean differences, and fracture incidences as risk ratios. SUCRA scores will be used to provide rankings of interventions, and quality of evidence will be examined using RoB2 and CINeMA.DiscussionsTo our knowledge, this systematic review and NMA will be the most comprehensive quantitative analysis regarding the management of bone loss and fractures in SOT recipients. Our analysis should be able to provide physicians and patients with an up-to-date recommendation for pharmacotherapies in reducing incidences of bone loss and fractures associated with SOT. The findings of the NMA will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal.

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique that is being tested clinically for treatment of a variety of neural disorders. Animal studies investigating the underlying mechanisms of tACS are scarce, and nearly absent in the cerebellum. In the present study, we applied 10–400 Hz alternating currents (AC) to the cerebellar cortex in ketamine/xylazine anesthetized rats. The spiking activity of cerebellar nuclear (CN) cells was transsynaptically entrained to the frequency of AC stimulation in an intensity and frequency-dependent manner. Interestingly, there was a tuning curve for modulation where the frequencies in the midrange (100 and 150 Hz) were more effective, although the stimulation frequency for maximum modulation differed for each CN cell with slight dependence on the stimulation amplitude. CN spikes were entrained with latencies of a few milliseconds with respect to the AC stimulation cycle. These short latencies and that the transsynaptic modulation of the CN cells can occur at such high frequencies strongly suggests that PC simple spike synchrony at millisecond time scales is the underlying mechanism for CN cell entrainment. These results show that subthreshold AC stimulation can induce such PC spike synchrony without resorting to supra-threshold pulse stimulation for precise timing. Transsynaptic entrainment of deep CN cells via cortical stimulation could help keep stimulation currents within safety limits in tACS applications, allowing development of tACS as an alternative treatment to deep cerebellar stimulation. Our results also provide a possible explanation for human trials of cerebellar stimulation where the functional impacts of tACS were frequency dependent.

The continuity and accuracy of real-time (RT) global satellite navigation system (GNSS) sensing of atmospheric water vapor can be seriously affected by a lack of connectivity. To mitigate this issue, a method has been developed that utilizes the International GNSS Service (IGS) ultrarapid satellite orbit and an established RT service (RTS) for satellite clock correction. This method ensures the accuracy of RT atmospheric water vapor estimation even when communication is interrupted. The established RTS utilizes variations in historical clock correction data from the user side to extrapolate its RT high-precision value. Through experimentation, it has been determined that using a quadratic polynomial and an eighth-order harmonic-based function along with 1-h historical clock correction data is optimal for establishing this RTS method. The 2-D and 3-D accuracies of static Precise Point Positioning can achieve centimeter to millimeter levels, and the estimated average root mean square (rms) of zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) is equivalent to the RT archived products. When compared to the precipitable water vapor results obtained from IGS ZTD products, the averaged rms values of GPS, Galileo, and BDS-3 PWV reach 3.12, 4.41, and 6.43 mm, respectively, which can meet the accuracy requirements of general numerical weather forecasting and other applications during communication interruptions.

Highlights A core–sheath structured phase change nanocomposite (PCN) with aligned and overlapping interconnected BNNS networks were successfully fabricated. The PCN has an ultrahigh in-plane thermal conductivity (28.3 W m−1 K−1), excellent flexibility and high phase change enthalpy (101 J g−1). The PCN exhibits intensively potential applications in the thermal management of 5G base stations and thermoelectric generators.

This paper reviews the application of multiphase flow simulation technology for constructing intelligent oil and gas fields. By utilizing the theoretical multiphase flow simulation model and solution algorithm, the practical engineering application of this technology in various oil and gas gathering and transportation system scenarios, including subsea production systems in offshore oil and gas fields, well site gathering and transportation production systems in onshore gas fields, and platform gathering and transportation production systems, was assessed and described. In addition, the role of multiphase flow simulation technology in intelligent oilfield surface production was discussed from the perspective of surface oil and gas pipeline networks and intelligent oilfield operations. Moreover, the future development prospects of multiphase pipeline transport simulation technology were proposed, providing a reference for improving related research and constructing intelligent oilfields.

Objective: To examine the association between urbanization and psychological well-being (PWB) in China. Methods: Data were obtained from the 2015 China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) and included 3,071 men and 3,385 women aged 50 years or older who lived in 288 communities across 12 provinces and municipalities. The urbanization index, which summarizes 12 urbanization dimensions at community level, was categorized into tertiles representing low, medium, and high levels of urbanization. PWB was assessed by scoring three self-reported questions. Gender-stratified multilevel analyses were used to estimate the association between urbanization and PWB. Results: After controlling for individual-level factors, the urbanization index was associated positively with PWB. More specifically, an increase of one SD in the score of community population density, economic activity, housing, education, sanitation, or diversity was associated significantly with PWB in both genders. In addition, increases in the score of community communications, social services, transportation, or modern markets were associated significantly with PWB in women, but not in men. Conclusion: Urbanization has, on average, had an independent and positive effect on PWB in middle-aged and older Chinese populations, with many components of urbanization being separately and positively associated with PWB, especially in women.

In this paper, the coupling effect of multiphysical fields of droplet migration is deeply studied by constructing a physical model of droplet migration with multiphysical fields. Digital holographic interferometry and particle image velocimetry are used to simultaneously measure the temperature and velocity fields of the mother liquor in the process of droplet migration for the first time. Due to the advancements of measuring, the zero-velocity region is also in the region where the thermal wake appears, four vortexes appear in the droplet migration and the off-axis behavior of double-droplet migration is found. The aim of this work is to analyze the coupling relationship of multiphysical fields, so as to reveal the physical laws of thermocapillary migration of single droplet and multiple droplets with the same phase and heterophase and to study the driving mechanism of the thermocapillary force and the flow of the mother liquor.

Tourist impact management in ecotourism destinations requires an accurate description of tourists' spatiotemporal behavior patterns and recreation preferences to minimize the ecological environmental impact and maximize the recreation experience. This study classified tourist behaviors into five typical behavior patterns based on the digital footprints of tourists visiting Ziwuyu of the Qinling Mountains, including 348 traveling tracks and 750 corresponding geotagged photographs: short-distance, traversing, reentrant, large loop, and small loop. Furthermore, each behavior pattern's recreation preference was identified using photograph analysis. Tourists with large-loop and reentrant behavior patterns have 89.8% and 30% chances of visiting Jianshanding, respectively. Key protected areas are faced with the risk of ecological environmental damage. Based on the behavior pattern differentiation and preference of tourists, this paper provides a decision-making basis for the classified management and guidance of tourists in ecotourism destinations. It has reference value for the management of similar ecotourism destinations.

IntroductionSpinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a rare autosomal-recessive neuromuscular disease. Health state utility values (HSUV) are used in health economic evaluation regarding the desirability of health outcomes such as a certain health state or change in health states over time. There is no utility data of Chinese patients with SMA.Materials and methodsVignettes were developed for 10 pediatric neurologists to value the utility of Chinese patients with Type I SMA. A mixed patient/proxy derived approach using EQ-5D-Y-3L, EQ-5D-3L, and CHU9D was adopted to estimate the HSUV data of patients with Type II and III SMA, including 112 patients and 301 caregivers.ResultThe utility of Type I SMA patients ranged from 0.19 to 0.72 with the health state improved from “permanent ventilation” to “walking”. The utility of children patients with Type II and III SMA derived from EQ-5D-Y-3L ranged from 0.33 to 0.82 while that derived from CHU9D ranged from 0.46 to 0.75. The utility of adult patients with Type II and III SMA measured by EQ-5D-3L ranged from 0.30 to 0.83.ConclusionThe better health states the patients with SMA were in, the higher were the HSUV. The utilities derived from population with different age and disease subtypes were not statistically different when patients with SMA were in the same health states. We recommend further studies on the Chinese specific value set for EQ-5D-Y-3L and other PBMs for children to derive more robust utility data.

Novel treatment options for pancreatic cancer are desperately needed. De-regulated kinases can be regularly detected in pancreatic cancer. Multiple pathway inhibitors were developed to exploit these features, among them selective inhibitors of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase isoforms 1 and 2 (JNK1 and 2). We evaluated the effectiveness of four different JNK inhibitors on pancreatic cancer cell lines. Cell mobility and migration were evaluated in scratch assay and Boyden chamber assay. Mechanism of cell death was analyzed via apoptosis assays in FACS and immunoblotting as well as cell cycle analysis via FACS, and qPCR. JNK2 knockout cells were generated using siRNA transfection. Among the inhibitors, JNK inhibitor IX (JNK-in-IX), designed as specific inhibitor against JNK2 was proven highly effective in inhibiting cell growth, mobility and migration. We were able to show that JNK-in-IX caused DNA damage resulting in G2 arrest mediated through p53 and p21. Interestingly, JNK-in-IX acted independently of its primary target JNK2. In summary, JNK-in-IX was shown highly effective in pancreatic cancer. This study underlines the need for modeling systems in testing therapeutic options as JNK2 was previously not indicated as a potential target.

ObjectiveTo investigate the gender-specific associations between exposure to urbanization and psychological stress in China experiencing rapid urbanization.MethodsData were obtained from the 2015 China Health and Nutrition Survey. A total of 4,388 men and 5,098 women aged at least 18 years were obtained from 288 communities across 12 provinces and municipalities. Tertiles of the urbanization index, summarizing 12 urbanization dimensions at the community level, were used to define low, medium, and high levels of urbanization. The psychological stress was measured based on the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale. The gender-stratified multilevel analysis (Level-1: Individuals, Level-2: Communities, and Level-3: provinces/municipalities) was used to estimate the association between exposure to urbanization and psychological stress.ResultsAfter controlling for age, education status, marital status, work status, household income per capita, current smoking, alcohol drinking, sleep duration, BMI, and chronic conditions, the urbanization index was negatively associated with psychological stress in women (Ptrend = 0.017) but not men (Ptrend = 0.476). More specifically, a one-standard deviation increase in the score of community population density (β = −0.329, P = 0.329), modern markets (β = −0.247, P = 0.044), education (β = −0.448, P = 0.002), and housing (β = −0.380, P = 0.005) was negatively associated with psychological stress only in women, separately.ConclusionOur data revealed that living in the most urbanized communities is associated with lower levels of psychological stress for women but not men. Thus, this study can help empower decision-makers to accurately target vulnerable communities and plan effective strategies to address psychological outcomes.

Abstract Phase change materials (PCMs) can be used for efficient thermal energy harvesting, which has great potential for cost-effective thermal management and energy storage. However, the low intrinsic thermal conductivity of polymeric PCMs is a bottleneck for fast and efficient heat harvesting. Simultaneously, it is also a challenge to achieve a high thermal conductivity for phase change nanocomposites at low filler loading. Although constructing a three-dimensional (3D) thermally conductive network within PCMs can address these problems, the anisotropy of the 3D framework usually leads to poor thermal conductivity in the direction perpendicular to the alignment of fillers. Inspired by the interlaced structure of spider webs in nature, this study reports a new strategy for fabricating highly thermally conductive phase change composites (sw-GS/PW) with a 3D spider web (sw)-like structured graphene skeleton (GS) by hydrothermal reaction, radial freeze-casting and vacuum impregnation in paraffin wax (PW). The results show that the sw-GS hardly affected the phase transformation behavior of PW at low loading. Especially, sw-GS/PW exhibits both high cross-plane and in-plane thermal conductivity enhancements of ~ 1260% and ~ 840%, respectively, at an ultra-low filler loading of 2.25 vol.%. The thermal infrared results also demonstrate that sw-GS/PW possessed promising applications in battery thermal management.

Abstract Background Sepsis is a common complication of severe wound injury and infection, with a very high mortality rate. The P2Y12 receptor inhibitor, cangrelor, is an antagonist anti-platelet drug. Methods In our study, we investigated the protective mechanisms of cangrelor in CLP-induced pulmonary injury in sepsis, using C57BL/6 mouse models. Results TdT-mediated dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL) and Masson staining showed that apoptosis and fibrosis in lungs were alleviated by cangrelor treatment. Cangrelor significantly promoted surface expression of CD40L on platelets and inhibited CLP-induced neutrophils in Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) (p

Ym1 is a rodent-specific chitinase-like protein (CLP) lacking catalytic activity, whose cellular origins are mainly macrophages, neutrophils and other cells. Although the detailed function of Ym1 remains poorly understood, Ym1 has been generally recognized as a fundamental feature of alternative activation of macrophages in mice and hence one of the prevalent detecting targets in macrophage phenotype distinguishment. Studies have pointed out that Ym1 may have regulatory effects, which are multifaceted and even contradictory, far more than just a mere marker. Allergic lung inflammation, parasite infection, autoimmune diseases, and central nervous system diseases have been found associations with Ym1 to varying degrees. Thus, insights into Ym1’s role in diseases would help us understand the pathogenesis of different diseases and clarify the genuine roles of CLPs in mammals. This review summarizes the information on Ym1 from the gene to its expression and regulation and focuses on the association between Ym1 and diseases.

Ecosystem services are the beneficial goods and services that ecosystems provide to humans. Urbanization is an important feature of human social development. While promoting economic and social development, it also brings about land degradation, resource depletion, environmental pollution and other problems, intensifying the transformation of natural ecosystems into semi-natural and artificial ecosystems, ultimately leading to the loss of ecosystem service functions and declining value. The study of the impact of urbanization on the value of ecosystem services is of critical importance for the conservation of ecosystems and sustainable development. This study examined the spatio-temporal patterns of urbanization’s impacts on ecosystem service value in the Yellow River Basin from the perspective of spatio-temporal heterogeneity. Findings: (1) Both the ecosystem service value (ESV) and urbanization level (UL) in the Yellow River Basin were on the rise on the whole, but they were significantly spatially negatively correlated and mainly characterized by the high–low spatial clustering of “low ESV–high UL” and “high ESV–low UL”. This negative correlation was gradually weakened with the transformation of the urbanization development mode and ecological restoration projects in the Yellow River Basin. (2) The impacts of the five urbanization subsystems on the value of ecosystem services were diverse. Landscape urbanization had a negative impact on the value of ecosystem services in all regions; economic urbanization and innovation urbanization changed from having a negative to a positive impact; and demographic urbanization and social urbanization had both a positive and a negative impact. (3) To promote the coordinated development of ecological environmental protection and urbanization in the YRB, this paper proposes to change the urbanization development model, implement ecological restoration by zoning, and formulate classified development plans. This study compensates for the shortcomings of current studies that ignore the different impacts of urbanization subsystems on ecosystem service value and lack sufficient consideration of the spatio-temporal heterogeneity characteristics of urbanization and ESVs, enriches the theoretical understanding of the interrelationships between natural and human systems in basin areas, and provides a scientific basis for the rational formulation of urban planning and ecological protection policies in the region, which is of great theoretical and practical significance.

(1) Background: To examine the relationship among just-world beliefs, self-control, and cyberaggression among college students. (2) Methods: A total of 1133 college students were surveyed using the just-world belief scale, self-control scale, and cyberaggression scale. (3) Results: The results showed that college students with low levels of belief in justice frequently showed cyberaggression; belief in a just world directly and negatively predicted cyberaggression, and indirectly predicted student cyberaggression through self-control; gender moderated the indirect effect of self-control on cyberaggression and the direct effect of belief in a just world on cyberaggression. (4) Conclusions: Belief in a just world significantly and negatively predicts cyberaggression; self-control has an indirect significant effect on cyberaggression; the direct effect of belief in a just world on cyberaggression and the mediating effect of self-control on this association are moderated by gender.

Monitoring of uric acid (UA) levels in biological samples is of great significance for human health, while the development of a simple and effective method for the precise determination of UA content is still challenging. In the present study, a two-dimensional (2D) imine-linked crystalline pyridine-based covalent organic framework (TpBpy COF) was synthesized using 2,4,6-triformylphloroglucinol (Tp) and [2,2′-bipyridine]-5,5′-diamine (Bpy) as precursors via Schiff-base condensation reactions and was characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) assays. The as-synthesized TpBpy COF exhibited excellent visible light-induced oxidase-like activity, ascribed to the generation of superoxide radicals (O2•−) by photo-generated electron transfer. TpBpy COF could efficiently oxidase the colorless substrate 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzydine (TMB) into blue oxidized TMB (oxTMB) under visible light irradiation. Based on the color fade of the TpBpy COF + TMB system by UA, a colorimetric procedure was developed for UA determination with a detection limit of 1.7 μmol L−1. Moreover, a smartphone-based sensing platform was also constructed for instrument-free and on-site detection of UA with a sensitive detection limit of 3.1 μmol L−1. The developed sensing system was adopted for UA determination in human urine and serum samples with satisfactory recoveries (96.6–107.8%), suggesting the potential practical application of the TpBpy COF-based sensor for UA detection in biological samples.

Background: Focused ultrasound (FUS) has excellent characteristics over other non-invasive stimulation methods in terms of spatial resolution and steering capability of the target. FUS has not been tested in the cerebellar cortex and cellular effects of FUS are not fully understood. Objective/hypothesis: To investigate how the activity of cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs) is modulated by FUS with varying pulse durations and pulse repetition frequencies. Methods: A glass microelectrode was inserted into the cerebellar vermis lobule 6 from the dorsal side to extracellularly record single unit activity of the PCs in anesthetized rats. Ultrasonic stimulation (500 kHz) was applied through a coupling cone, filled with degassed water, from the posterior side to target the recording area with varying pulse durations and frequencies. Results: Simple spike (SS) activity of PCs was entrained by the FUS pattern where the probability of spike occurrences peaked at around 1 ms following the onset of the stimulus regardless of its duration (0.5, 1, or 2 ms). The level of entrainment was stronger with shorter pulse durations at 50-Hz pulse repetition frequency (PRF), however, peri-event histograms spread wider and the peaks delayed slightly at 100-Hz PRF, suggesting involvement of a long-lasting inhibitory mechanism. There was no significant difference between the average firing rates in the baseline and stimulation periods. Conclusion: FUS can entrain spiking activity of single cells on a spike-by-spike basis as demonstrated here in the rat cerebellar cortex. The observed modulation potentially results from the aggregate of excitatory and inhibitory effects of FUS on the entire cortical network rather than on the PCs alone.

Abstract Hyperalgesia, which often occurs in people suffering from alcohol use disorder, may drive excessive drinking and relapse. Emerging evidence suggests that the lateral habenula (LHb) may play a significant role in this condition. Previous research suggests that endocannabinoid signaling (eCBs) is involved in drug addiction and pain, and that the LHb contains core components of the eCBs machinery. We report here our findings in rats subjected to chronic ethanol vapor exposure. We detected a substantial increase in endocannabinoid-related genes, including Mgll and Daglb mRNA levels, as well as monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) protein levels, as well as a decrease in Cnr1 mRNA and type-1 cannabinoid receptor (CB1R) protein levels, in the LHb of ethanol-exposed rats. Also, rats withdrawing from ethanol exposure displayed hypersensitivity to mechanical and thermal nociceptive stimuli. Conversely, intra-LHb injection of the MAGL inhibitor JZL184, the fatty acid amide hydrolase inhibitor URB597, or the CB1R agonist WIN55,212-2 produced an analgesic effect, regardless of ethanol or air exposure history, implying that alcohol exposure does not change eCB pain responses. Intra-LHb infusion of the CB1R inverse agonist rimonabant eliminated the analgesic effect of these chemicals. Rimonabant alone elicited hyperalgesia in the air-, but not ethanol-exposed animals. Moreover, intra-LHb JZL184, URB597, or WIN55,212-2 reduced ethanol consumption in both homecages and operant chambers in rats exposed to ethanol vapor but not air. These findings suggest that LHb eCBs play a pivotal role in nociception and facilitating LHb eCBs may attenuate pain in drinkers.

Abstract In view of the problems of high cost and low reliability in obtaining operation information such as flow rate and pressure of offshore natural gas production system, research on soft sensing is carried out, and a dynamic data‐driven model bank is established, in purpose of estimating single‐well flow rate and wellhead pressure, providing convenience tool for online monitoring and system safety analysis. Combining dynamic and steady‐state samples, introducing black‐box identification techniques including orthogonal least square regression and deep learning along with parameter correction techniques such as bi‐objective least square algorithm and transfer learning, a series of nonlinear auto‐regressive models with exogenous inputs (NARX) are built, consisting of black‐box and gray‐box polynomial NARX (Poly‐NARX) models as well as deep neural network NARX (DNN‐NARX) models, approximately describing the dynamic performance of gas production well. Through realistic operation data, the simulation results of Poly‐NARX, DNN‐NARX, and multiple‐layer‐perception‐NARX models are compared. It is observed that gray‐box DNN‐NARX model shows the best performance with advantages of higher global applicability, better approximation ability, and stronger generalization ability. Proposed model bank is of high expansibility and engineering applicability for soft sensing problems in the petroleum industry, laying the ground work for building smart oil and gas field.

The maternal-fetal immune disorder is considered to be an important factor of preterm birth (PTB); however, the underlying mechanism is still not fully understood. This study was designed to explore the innate and adaptive immune features in the decidua during term and preterm labor. Women delivered at term or preterm were classified into four groups: term not in labor (TNL, N=19), term in labor (TL, N=17), preterm not in labor (PNL, N=10), and preterm in labor (PIL, N=10). Decidua basalis and parietalis were collected and analyzed for macrophage subtypes (M1 and M2) as well as T helper 1 (Th1), Th2, Th17 and regulatory T (Treg) cells by flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. Our results demonstrated significantly decreased frequencies of M2 cells and elevated M1/M2 ratio in the PIL group compared to that in the PNL group in both decidua basalis and parietalis, whereas no significant differences were found between the above two groups in both sites in terms of the polarization status of Th cells. On the contrary, macrophage subsets were comparable in the TL and TNL groups, whereas elevated Th1 percentages and Th1/Th2 ratio were observed in TL women compared to that in TNL women in the decidua. Interestingly, although the frequencies and ratios of Th17 and Treg were comparable among the four groups, the Th17/Treg ratios of these groups were significantly increased in decidua basalis than that in decidua parietalis. Collectively, the M1/M2 imbalance is associated with the breakdown of maternal-fetal immune tolerance during PTB, whereas the aberrant Th1/Th2 profile plays an important role in immune disorder during term labor. Moreover, Th17/Treg deviation is more remarkable in decidua basalis than in decidua parietalis.

Orphan nuclear receptor Nur77 has been reported to be implicated in a diverse range of metabolic processes, including carbohydrate metabolism and lipid metabolism. However, the detailed mechanism of Nur77 in the regulation of metabolic pathway still needs to be further investigated. In this study, we created a global nur77 knockout zebrafish model by CRISPR/Cas9 technique, and then performed whole-organism RNA sequencing analysis in wildtype and nur77-deficient zebrafish to dissect the genetic changes in metabolic-related pathways. We found that many genes involved in amino acid, lipid, and carbohydrate metabolism changed by more than twofold. Furthermore, we revealed that nur77−/− mutant displayed increased total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG), alteration in total amino acids, as well as elevated glucose. We also demonstrated that the elevated glucose was not due to the change of glucose uptake but was likely caused by the disorder of glycolysis/gluconeogenesis and the impaired β-cell function, including downregulated insb expression, reduced β-cell mass, and suppressed insulin secretion. Importantly, we also verified that targeted expression of Nur77 in the β cells is sufficient to rescue the β-cell defects in global nur77−/− larvae zebrafish. These results provide new information about the global metabolic network that Nur77 signaling regulates, as well as the role of Nur77 in β-cell function.

In Singapore, preschool children with developmental disabilities receive developmental interventions by multidisciplinary teams of providers across various settings. Cessation of in-person sessions during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated providers to pivot rapidly and use virtual platforms to continue delivering interventions. This cross-sectional study assessed the effects of this challenging experience on providers' psychological wellbeing, including resilience, depression, stress, and anxiety. Ninety-five providers anonymously completed (i) an online questionnaire which included questions on their perceptions of the provision of virtual services and stress; (ii) the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC); and (iii) the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS). Among participants who used virtual platforms to continue providing interventions, 83.3% reported difficulties during sessions. Over half (57.9%; n = 55) reported increased stress compared to pre-COVID-19. The mean CD-RISC score (62.7; range: 36-88) was lower than that of general population samples, indicating reduced resilience. Lack of flexibility to work from home, difficulties providing interventions online, higher self-reported stress, and a non-hospital setting were significantly associated with lower resilience. Prevalence rates of depression, anxiety, and stress were 13.7% (n = 13), 42.1% (n = 40), and 56.8% (n = 54), respectively, with school-based settings significantly associated with a positive screen for depression. The results reveal the often-invisible psychological ill-effects in providers of children with developmental disabilities and underscore the need for targeted support to improve their resilience and overall mental wellbeing so that they can continue to effectively provide the crucial interventions needed by the children under their care.

Abstract Although lithium (Li) and sodium (Na) metals can be selected as the promising anode materials for next‐generation rechargeable batteries of high energy density, their practical applications are greatly restricted by the uncontrollable dendrite growth. Herein, a platinum (Pt)–copper (Cu) alloy‐coated Cu foam (Pt–Cu foam) is prepared and then used as the substrate for Li and Na metal anodes. Owing to the ultrarough morphology with a three‐dimensional porous structure and the quite large surface area as well as lithiophilicity and sodiophilicity, both Li and Na dendrite growths are significantly suppressed on the substrate. Moreover, during Li plating, the lithiated Pt atoms can dissolve into Li phase, leaving a lot of microsized holes on the substrate. During Na plating, although the sodiated Pt atoms cannot dissolve into Na phase, the sodiation of Pt atoms elevates many microsized blocks above the current collector. Either the holes or the voids on the surface of Pt–Cu foam what can be extra place for deposited alkali metal, what effectively relaxes the internal stress caused by the volume exchange during Li and Na plating/stripping. Therefore, the symmetric batteries of Li@Pt–Cu foam and Na@Pt–Cu foam have both achieved long‐term cycling stability even at ultrahigh areal capacity at 20 mAh cm−2.

Multi-task optimization (MTO) is a novel emerging evolutionary computation paradigm. It focuses on solving multiple optimization tasks concurrently while improving optimization performance by utilizing similarities among tasks and historical optimization knowledge. To ensure its high performance, it is important to choose proper individuals for each task. Most MTO algorithms limit each individual to one task, which weakens the effects of information exchange. To improve the efficiency of knowledge transfer and choose more suitable individuals to learn from other tasks, this work proposes a general MTO framework named individually guided multi-task optimization (IMTO). It divides evolutions into vertical and horizontal ones, and each individual is fully explored to learn experience from the execution of other tasks. By using the concept of skill membership, individuals with higher solving ability are selected. Besides, to further improve the effect of knowledge transfer, only inferior individuals are selected to learn from other tasks at each generation. The significant advantage of IMTO over the multifactorial evolutionary framework and baseline solvers is verified via a series of benchmark studies.

When aerial cameras get aerial remote sensing images, the defocus will occur because of reasons such as air pressure, temperature and ground elevation changes, resulting in different image sharpness of continual aerial remote sensing images. Nowadays, the rapidly developing feature matching algorithm will rapidly reduce the registration rate between images with different image sharpness. Therefore, in order to enable aerial cameras to get image sharpness parameters according to the locations of aerial image feature points with inconsistent sharpness, this paper proposes a feature matching algorithm between aerial images with different sharpness by using DEM data and multiple constraints. In this paper, the feature matching range is extended according to the modified aerial imaging model and the nonlinear soft margin support vector machine. Then the relative moving speed and its variation of the feature points in the image are obtained by using the extended L-k optical flow, and finally the epipolar geometric constraint is introduced. To locate the feature points is obtained under multiple constraints, there is no need to calculate the feature point descriptors, and some mismatched point pairs are corrected, which improves the matching efficiency and precision. The experimental results show the feature matching precision of this algorithm is more than 90%, and the running time and matching precision can meet various application needs of aerial cameras.

After nitrogen treatments, plant leaves become narrower and thicker, and the chlorophyll content increases. However, the molecular mechanisms behind these regulations remain unknown. Here, we found that the changes in leaf width and thickness were largely compromised in the shade avoidance 3 (sav3) mutant. The SAV3 gene encodes an amino-transferase in the auxin biosynthesis pathway. Thus, the crosstalk between shade and nitrogen in Arabidopsis leaf development was investigated. Both hypocotyl elongation and leaf expansion promoted by the shade treatment were reduced by the high-N treatment; high-N-induced leaf narrowing and thickening were reduced by the shade treatment; and all of these developmental changes were largely compromised in the sav3 mutant. Shade treatment promoted SAV3 expression, while high-N treatment repressed SAV3 expression, which then increased or decreased auxin accumulation in cotyledons/leaves, respectively. SAV3 also regulates chlorophyll accumulation and nitrogen assimilation and thus may function as a master switch responsive to multiple environmental stimuli.

Focusing on the physical appearance of the food itself, and limiting the focus on shape to the concept of symmetry, this research investigated how food shape influences consumer perceptions of healthiness and naturalness and their subsequent food preferences. By conducting three empirical studies involving self-reported preference and trade-off choices, this research verified that it is a two-staged process of naturalness and healthiness that mediates the main effect of symmetry on foods preference. Furthermore, the incremental perceived unhealthiness of food would mitigate the positive effect of food symmetry. These findings are meaningful for food marketing managers and policymakers when making food-related decisions.

It is the theoretical basis to analyze the hydrodynamics mechanism of ionic liquid in an electrostatic field to ensure that the ionic liquid electrospray thruster possesses good wettability. Stable and continuous electrowetting emitters are closely related to thrust noise, resolution, and stability. Therefore, it is urgent to explore the law of ionic liquid electrowetting emitters in an electrostatic field to improve the performance of thrusters. The article proposes a new hybrid emitter structure, which consists of a V-blade emitter and a square capillary. It also carries out numerical simulation of emitter electrowetting under normal gravity and atmospheric conditions and emission experiments to explore the process of ionic liquid layer spreading on the external surface of the emitter. The dimensions of the emitter d1, d2, and θ and the physical properties of ionic liquids jointly determine the electrowetting velocity, the threshold of wetting voltage, and the liquid layer thickness. By analyzing the influence of various variables on electrowetting, a complete emitter electrowetting law of ionic liquid electrospray thrusters is summarized, which provides an important basis for the optimization of the emitter structure. Considering the scale of the emitter and bond ≈1, the meniscus in the electrostatic field is mainly affected by gravity, surface tension, viscous force, and electrophoretic force. Accordingly, it is worth noting that electrophoretic force is calculated by the Maxwell stress tensor method that treats ionic liquids as a dielectric to ensure the continuity of the meniscus. Although it can satisfy the electrowetting study at the macroscale, the interaction between anions and cations at the micro-scale is ignored. The numerical simulation results and the experimental results are correlated. It is proved that the method used in this article is accurate enough to simulate electrowetting before the liquid layer breaks up to form ion emission.

The micro-newton thrust generated by an ionic liquid electrospray thruster (ILET) can be used for drag-free control, attitude precise control, networking, and formation flight of micro-nano-satellites or spacecraft. Fabrication of high-quality emitters is one of the key technologies for the application of ILETs. A new method for fabricating externally wetted emitters is presented in this article. This method uses low-speed wire cutting (LSWC) combined with electrochemical etching, and the externally wetted emitter is fabricated in three steps. First, the tungsten cuboid is shaped by LSWC to get the geometry of the emitter. Second, the emitter is cleaned by superacid to remove the oxide layer that critically prevents the ionic liquid from wetting the emitter. Finally, microchannels are etched on the emitter surface by electrochemical etching. The tungsten emitter fabricated by the above-mentioned steps can obtain excellent wettability, and its microchannel can reduce the contact angle between the wall and the ionic liquid and enhance the capillary force that promotes the ionic liquid to climb along the emitter. The ionic liquid is spread into a uniform liquid film on the emitter surface to ensure a stable and continuous flow supply so that the thruster can work in pure ionic emission mode for a long time with low noise, high resolution, and a high thrust power ratio. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of all elements before and after the pickling emitter proves the feasibility of removing the oxide layer. The morphology features of the emitter are measured and observed using a metallographic microscope and profilometer, including the microchannel structure and its size and tip size and the thickness of the liquid film. Through repeated observation and evaluation, the etching parameters are recorded, including the amplitude and frequency of AC voltage, the etching time, the depth of emitter immersion in the solution, and the concentration of NaOH solution. In order to compare the performance of an externally wetted emitter and a porous emitter, the same process is used to fabricate two kinds of emitters. The conclusions on beam current, the resolution and noise of beam current, ignition reliability, and emission time are summarized during the emission testing. The emission tests indicate that the externally wetted emitter exhibits outstanding performance, which depends on its better wettability and the fact that the microchannels are not easily blocked by the products of electrochemical reaction.

In recent years, the exploration of tumor microenvironment has provided a new approach for tumor treatment. More and more researches are devoted to designing tumor microenvironment-responsive nanogels loaded with therapeutic drugs. Compared with other drug carriers, nanogel has shown great potential in improving the effect of chemotherapy, which is attributed to its stable size, superior hydrophilicity, excellent biocompatibility, and responsiveness to specific environment. This review primarily summarizes the common preparation techniques of nanogels (such as free radical polymerization, covalent cross-linking, and physical self-assembly) and loading ways of drug in nanogels (including physical encapsulation and chemical coupling) as well as the controlled drug release behaviors. Furthermore, the difficulties and prospects of nanogels as drug carriers are also briefly described.

Changmaogu is a very rare and endangered rice landrace cultivated in a very limited area by Lama people, a branch of Bai ethnic group in Lanping County, Yunnan, China. No study on this precious landrace had been reported. This study was intended to explore the genetic diversity so as to develop strategy for conserving Changmaogu. The Changmaogu samples were compared with other three varieties (Hejing 16, Nipponbare and Hongxiangmi), using 24 pairs of SSR markers. Among all varieties, Changmaogu showed the richest genetic diversity. Cluster analysis also showed that Changmaogu can be distinguished in the genetic distance of 0.68. These data suggested that landrace is of great significance for the selection of rice varieties under the harsh environment and the acquisition of parents in the breeding work. The high altitude, low temperature and complex microbial community may be the important factors of genetic diversity in Changmaogu. The influence of ‘agriculture-processing-marketing’ mode of landraces should be continuously tracked. The strategy for conservation and sustainable development of Changmaogu was proposed in the present paper. Highlights - Changmaogu, a very rare and endangered rice landrace cultivated in a very limited area by Lama people, has more abundant genetic diversity than the three compared cultivars-Hejing 16, Nipponbare and Hongxiangmi, which enables it to adapt to changing environmental conditions, ensures local food supply and agricultural economic development, and makes it an effective supplement to the rice gene pool. - The result of UPGMA clustering analysis based on genetic distance led to the formation of three clusters, which Changmaogu had further genetic distance compared with hybrid rice Hejing 16 and rice parents Nipponbare, further revealing the utilization potential of Changmaogu in crop breeding. - The genetic diversity of Changmaogu and Hongxiangmi was compared to reveal the important position of Changmaogu in the protection of landrace, and to explore the potential impact of commercial activities on the genetic diversity of landrace. - According to the case of Changmaogu, this paper puts forward reasonable and effective strategies for the protection, which can be derived and applied to the protection of other landraces.

Previous studies have reported the involvement of γδ T cells in recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA); however, both pathogenic and protective effects were suggested. To interrogate the role of γδ T cells in RSA, peripheral blood from RSA patients and healthy women with or without pregnancy were analyzed for γδ T cells by flow cytometry (n = 9–11 for each group). Moreover, the decidua from pregnant RSA patients and healthy controls (RSA-P and HC-P group, respectively) was simultaneously stained for γδ T cells by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and bulk sequenced for gene expression. Our results demonstrated that the frequencies of peripheral γδ T cells and their subpopulations in RSA patients were comparable to that in healthy subjects, but the PD1 expression on Vδ2+ cells was increased in pregnant patients. Furthermore, peripheral Vδ2+ cells in RSA-P patients demonstrated significantly increased expression of CD107a, as compared to that in pregnant healthy controls. In addition, RSA-P patients had higher proportion of IL-17A-secreting but not IL-4-secreting Vδ2+ cells compared to the control groups. In decidua, an inflammatory microenvironment was also evident in RSA-P patients, in which CCL8 expression and the infiltration of certain immune cells were higher than that in the HC-P group, as revealed by transcriptional analysis. Finally, although the presence of γδ T cells in decidua could be detected during pregnancy in both RSA patients and healthy subjects by multicolor IHC analysis, the expression of CD107a on γδ T cells was markedly higher in the RSA-P group. Collectively, our results indicated that the increased activation, cytotoxicity, and inflammatory potential of peripheral and/or local γδ T cells might be responsible for the pathogenesis of RSA. These findings could provide a better understanding of the role of γδ T cells in RSA and shed light on novel treatment strategies by targeting γδ T cells for RSA patients.

The quality of Tarocco blood orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck), which has been cultivated for many years, has degraded substantially. Decreased sugar content, decreased blood color, and increased sour flavor have developed as a result. To improve fruit quality, we studied the effects of bagging and sodium nitroprusside, as a nitric oxide (NO) donor, on the fruit quality of Tarocco blood orange two months before picking. The results showed that NO treatment effectively improved the content of total soluble solids and limonene in the fruit, as well as the color and hardness of the fruit, but reduced the tannin content. It also increased the contents of soluble sugar, fructose, sucrose, vitamin C, amino acids, and mineral elements. NO treatment inhibited the activities of polygalacturonase and pectin esterase, delayed the degradation of protopectin, and promoted the accumulation of anthocyanins, total flavonoids, and flavonoids synthesis. Thus, NO treatment improved the aroma, flavors, and physical properties of blood orange fruit.

Twitter spam classification is a tough challenge for social media platforms and cyber security companies. Twitter spam with illegal links may evolve over time in order to deceive filtering models, causing disastrous loss to both users and the whole network. We define this distributional evolution as a concept drift scenario. To build an effective model, we adopt K-L divergence to represent spam distribution and use a multiscale drift detection test (MDDT) to localize possible drifts therein. A base classifier is then retrained based on the detection result to gain performance improvement. Comprehensive experiments show that K-L divergence has highly consistent change patterns between features when a drift occurs. Also, the MDDT is proved to be effective in improving final classification result in both accuracy, recall, and f-measure.

In recent years, the Chinese government is making great efforts to develop electric vehicle (EV) technologies to reduce carbon emissions and to protect the environment. A large number of EVs and facilities, such as charging stations (CSs), battery swapping stations (BSSs), and central charging stations (CCSs), have been deployed. However, a huge number of EVs connecting into the power grid may cause problems, such as voltage fluctuation etc. Meanwhile, the peak demand for charging will also lead to an increase in the cost of deployment of charging infrastructure. A price-based demand response (DR) program can be used to achieve goals, such as cost savings and reduction of the peak demand for charging. But to maximize the charging service capacity while minimizing the total cost is a challenging task as it is usually a tripartite game between the government, EV owners, and EV battery service providers. We considered it as a multi-objective optimization problem. First, a battery-swapping cost model is designed to describe the objective problem. It includes a battery demand model, a DR-based subsidy cost model and a charging cost model. Then, we leverage a covariance matrix adaption evolution strategy (CMAES)-based algorithm to deal with the multi-objective high dimension optimization problem and achieve the goal of maximizing the charging service capacity while minimizing the total cost. The experimental results confirm that the peak demand for battery swapping service can be reduced effectively and the total cost can be reduced by nearly 12% with our optimized subsidy strategy. Furthermore, the standard deviation evaluation results confirm the stability and the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

A dandelion algorithm (DA) is a recently-proposed intelligent optimization algorithm and shows an excellent performance in solving function optimization problems. However, like other intelligent algorithms, it converges slowly and falls into local optima easily. To overcome these two flaws, a dandelion algorithm with probability-based mutation (DAPM) is proposed in this paper. In DAPM, both Gaussian and Levy mutations can be used interchangeably according to a given probability model. In this paper, three probability models are discussed, namely linear, binomial, and exponential models. The experiments show that DAPM achieves better overall performance on standard test functions than DA.

This article proposes a new emitter structure of needle-capillary ionic liquid electrospray thruster and carries out numerical simulation and theoretical analysis to discover the emitter infiltration effect under the conditions of no liquid supply and liquid supply. Emitter physical dimensions L, d, θ, β and the contact angles α, γ between the ionic fluid and the structure jointly determine the configuration of the meniscus. By analyzing the influence of various variables on the infiltration, a complete emitter infiltration law of needle-capillary ionic liquid electrospray thruster is summarized. In addition, the phenomena of infiltration relaxation and periodical infiltration oscillation are found in the numerical simulation under the condition of liquid supply, which provide an important basis for the optimization of the emitter structure. Considering Bond number ≪ 10−2 and working in a space environment, the liquid is mainly affected by surface tension and viscous force. Meanwhile, the meniscus formed by the ionic fluid satisfies the requirement that it has rotational axis symmetry and constant mean curvature surface, thereby obtaining the mathematical analytical expression of the quasi-static meniscus, the Delaunay surface. The numerical simulation results and analytical solutions are fitted, and an excellent consistency is obtained with an extremely small fitting deviation. Besides, the classification inferences of the type of Delaunay surface to which the meniscus belongs to are explored.

Objective: Globally, developed countries such as the United States, Canada, Germany, Korea, have carried out long-term and systematic biomonitoring programs for environmental chemicals in their populations. The China National Human Biomonitoring (CNHBM) was to document the extent of human exposure to a wide array of environmental chemicals, to understand exposure profiles, magnitude and ongoing trends in exposure in the general Chinese population, and to establish a national biorepository. Methods: CNHBM adopted three-stage sampling method to obtain a nationally representative sample of the population. A total of 21,888 participants who were permanent residents in 31 provinces were designed to interviewed in this national biomonitoring (152 monitoring sites × 3 survey units × 2 sexes × 6 age groups × 4 persons = 21,888 persons) in 2017–2018. Unlike the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the CNHBM will follow the same participants in subsequent cycles allowing for dynamic, longitudinal data sets for epidemiologic follow-up. Each survey cycle of CNHBM will last 2 years and each subsequent cycle will occur 3 years after the prior cycle’s completion. Results: In 2017–2018, the CNHBM created a large cohort of Chinese citizens that included districts/counties questionnaire, community questionnaire collecting information on villages/communities, individual questionnaire, household questionnaire, comprehensive medical examination, and collection of blood and urine samples for measurement of clinical and exposure biomarkers. A total of 21,746 participants were finally included in CNHBM, accounting for 99.4% of the designed sample size; and 152 PSUs questionnaires, 454 community questionnaires, 21,619 family questionnaires, 21,712 cases of medical examinations, 21,700 individual questionnaires, 21,701 blood samples and 21,704 urine samples were collected, respectively. Planned analyses of blood and urine samples were to measure both inorganic and organic chemicals, including 13 heavy metals and metalloids, 18 poly- and per-fluorinated alkyl substances, 12 phthalate metabolites, 9 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons metabolites, 4 environmental alkylated phenols, and 2 benzene metabolites. Conclusions: CNHBM established the first nationally representative, prospective cohort in the Chinese population to understand the baseline and trend of internal exposure of environmental chemicals in general population, and to understand environmental toxicity.

The glucagon receptor (GCGR) is activated by glucagon and is essential for glucose, amino acid, and lipid metabolism of animals. GCGR blockade has been demonstrated to induce hypoglycemia, hyperaminoacidemia, hyperglucagonemia, decreased adiposity, hepatosteatosis, and pancreatic α cells hyperplasia in organisms. However, the mechanism of how GCGR regulates these physiological functions is not yet very clear. In our previous study, we revealed that GCGR regulated metabolic network at transcriptional level by RNA-seq using GCGR mutant zebrafish (gcgr−/−). Here, we further performed whole-organism metabolomics and lipidomics profiling on wild-type and gcgr−/− zebrafish to study the changes of metabolites. We found 107 significantly different metabolites from metabolomics analysis and 87 significantly different lipids from lipidomics analysis. Chemical substance classification and pathway analysis integrated with transcriptomics data both revealed that amino acid metabolism and lipid metabolism were remodeled in gcgr-deficient zebrafish. Similar to other studies, our study showed that gcgr−/− zebrafish exhibited decreased ureagenesis and impaired cholesterol metabolism. More interestingly, we found that the glycerophospholipid metabolism was disrupted, the arachidonic acid metabolism was up-regulated, and the tryptophan metabolism pathway was down-regulated in gcgr−/− zebrafish. Based on the omics data, we further validated our findings by revealing that gcgr−/− zebrafish exhibited dampened melatonin diel rhythmicity and increased locomotor activity. These global omics data provide us a better understanding about the role of GCGR in regulating metabolic network and new insight into GCGR physiological functions.

In search of new therapies for pancreatic cancer, cytokine pathways have attracted increasing interest in recent years. Cytokines play a vital role in the crosstalk between tumour cells and the tumour microenvironment. The related inflammatory cytokines IL-4 and IL-13 can regularly be detected at increased levels in the microenvironment of pancreatic cancer. They share a receptor heterodimer consisting of IL-4Rα and IL-13Rα1. While IL-4Rα induces a more oncogenic phenotype, the role of IL-13Rα1 was yet to be determined. ShRNA-based knockdown of IL-13Rα1 was performed in Capan-1 and MIA PaCa-2. We assessed cell growth and migratory capacities under the influence of IL-13Rα1. Pathway alterations were detected by immunoblot analysis. We now have demonstrated that the loss of IL-13Rα1 induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells. This was associated with an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Loss of IL-13Rα1 also abolished the effects of exogenous IL-4 and IL-13 stimulation. Interestingly, in wild type cells, cytokine stimulation caused a similar increase in migratory capacities as after IL-13Rα1 knockdown. Overall, our results indicate the vital role of IL-13Rα1 in the progression of pancreatic cancer. The differential expression of IL-4Rα and IL-13Rα1 has to be taken into account when considering a cytokine-targeted therapy in pancreatic cancer.

Background/Aims: Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder, and complement 3 (C3) is closely related to schizophrenia. We investigated the association between C3 polymorphisms and schizophrenia in a Northeast Han Chinese population. Methods: A total of 2240 Chinese people, consisting of 1086 patients with schizophrenia and 1154 healthy controls, were recruited for this study. Ten single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; rs11569562, rs344555, rs2241393, rs2241392, rs11569514, rs445750, rs451760, rs11672613, rs2230205, and rs2250656) in C3 were selected and genotyped. Results: Genotype distribution analysis indicated that rs11569514 was significantly associated with schizophrenia. In the dominant model (AA vs. GG+GA genotypes), we found a significant protective effect for rs344555 against schizophrenia (odds ratio [OR]: 0.72, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.53–0.99, P = 0.04). In the codominant model (TT vs. AA), we found a significant risk effect for rs11569514 on schizophrenia (OR: 4.39, 95% CI: 2.06–9.37, P < 0.001). Haplotypes, including TG (rs11569562 and rs344555), TGG (rs11569562-rs344555-rs2241393), AG (rs344555-rs2241393), CGGGT (rs11569562-rs344555-rs2241393-rs2241392-rs11569514), and ACGTG (rs11569514-rs445750-rs451760-rs11672613-rs2230205), showed either a risk or protective role for schizophrenia. Conclusions: SNP rs11569514 in C3 and haplotypes of C3 variants were associated with schizophrenia in a Han Chinese population.

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a population-based algorithm designed to tackle various optimization problems. However, its performance deteriorates significantly when optimization problems are subjected to noise. PSO is strongly influenced by its previous best particles and global best one, which may lead to premature convergence and fall into local optima. This also holds true for various PSO variants dealing with optimization problems in noisy environments. Opposition-based learning (OBL) is well-known for its ability to increase population diversity. In this paper, we propose hybrid PSO algorithms that introduce OBL into PSO variants for improving the latter's performance. The proposed hybrid algorithms employ probabilistic OBL for a swarm. In contrast to other integrations of PSO and OBL, we select the top fittest particles from the current swarm and its opposite swarm to improve the entire swarm's fitness. Experiments on 20 benchmark functions subject to different levels of noise show that the proposed hybrid PSO algorithms outperform their counterpart PSO variants as well as composite differential evolution in most cases.

A crane system often works in a complex environment. It is difficult to model or learn its true dynamics by traditional system identification approaches. If a dynamics model is created by minimizing its prediction error, its use tends to introduce inaccuracies and thus lead to suboptimal performance. Is it possible to learn the dynamics model of a crane that can achieve the best performance, instead of learning its true dynamics? This work answers the question by presenting a performance-driven model predictive control (P-MPC) algorithm for a two-dimensional underactuated bridge crane. In the proposed dual-layer control architecture, an inner-loop controller uses a proportional–integral–derivative controller to achieve anti-sway rapidly. An outer-loop controller uses MPC to ensure accurate trolley positioning under control constraints. Compared with classical MPC, this work proposes a data-driven method for plant modeling and controller parameter updating. By considering the control target at the learning stage, the method can avoid adjusting the controller to deal with uncertainty. We use Bayesian optimization in an active learning framework where a locally linear dynamics model is learned with the intent of maximizing control performance and then used in conjunction with optimal control schemes to efficiently design a controller for a given task. The model is updated directly based on the performance observed in experiments on the physical system in an iterative manner till a desired performance is achieved. The controller parameters and prediction models of the best closed-loop performance can be found through continuous experiments and iterative optimization. Simulation and experiment results show that we can explicitly find the dynamics model that produces the best performance for an actual system, and the method can quickly suppress swing and realize accurate trolley positioning. The results verified its effectiveness, feasibility, and superior performance on comparing it with state-of-the-art methods.