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In this article, we present a novel equivalent circuit model for a dual-band unified absorptive common-mode filter (A-CMF). While existing single-band A-CMFs effectively address electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues in the 2.4–2.48 GHz frequency range, they fall short in covering the 5.17–5.33 GHz band. This study designs a dual-band A-CMF that covers both frequency bands, suppressing common-mode noise while maintaining a compact size suitable for modern electronic devices. The new design includes a wideband suppression reflective common-mode filter and a dual-band common-mode noise absorption circuit. By adjusting the electrical length of transmission lines, this method can rapidly adapt to various manufacturing processes and achieve efficient absorption within the 2.4–2.48 GHz and 5.17–5.33 GHz frequency ranges. Finally, the proposed equivalent circuit is validated using circuit-level and full-wave simulations, as well as a fabricated test sample. The experimental results show that the equivalent circuit model aligns well with both simulation and measurement results, significantly reducing the size of the matching stage and the overall structure.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of knowledge base-optimized and unoptimized large language models (LLMs) in the field of orthopedics to explore optimization strategies for the application of LLMs in specific fields. Methods: This research constructed a specialized knowledge base using clinical guidelines from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and authoritative orthopedic publications. A total of 30 orthopedic-related questions covering aspects such as anatomical knowledge, disease diagnosis, fracture classification, treatment options, and surgical techniques were input into both the knowledge base-optimized and unoptimized versions of the GPT-4, ChatGLM, and Spark LLM, with their generated responses recorded. The overall quality, accuracy, and comprehensiveness of these responses were evaluated by 3 experienced orthopedic surgeons. Results: Compared with their unoptimized LLMs, the optimized version of GPT-4 showed improvements of 15.3% in overall quality, 12.5% in accuracy, and 12.8% in comprehensiveness; ChatGLM showed improvements of 24.8%, 16.1%, and 19.6%, respectively; and Spark LLM showed improvements of 6.5%, 14.5%, and 24.7%, respectively. Conclusion: The optimization of knowledge bases significantly enhances the quality, accuracy, and comprehensiveness of the responses provided by the 3 models in the orthopedic field. Therefore, knowledge base optimization is an effective method for improving the performance of LLMs in specific fields.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a gaseous signaling molecule that regulates various physiological and pathological processes in the central nervous system. It is vital to develop an effective method to detect H2S in vivo to elucidate its critical role. However, current fluorescent probes for accurate quantification of H2S still face big challenges due to complicated fabrication, small Stokes shift, unsatisfactory selectivity, and especially delayed response time. Herein, based on simple postsynthetic modification, we present an innovative strategy by confining H2S-triggered thiolysis of dinitrophenyl (DNP) ether within a luminescent metal–organic framework (MOF) to address those issues. Due to the cleavage of the DNP moiety by H2S, the nanoprobe gives rise to a remarkable fluorescence turn-on signal with a large Stokes shift of 190 nm and also provides high selectivity to H2S against various interferents including competing biothiols. In particular, by virtue of the unique structural property of the MOF, it exhibits an ultrafast sensing ability for H2S (only 5 s). Moreover, the fluorescence enhancement efficiency displays a good linear correlation with H2S concentration in the range of 0–160 μM with a detection limit of 0.29 μM. Importantly, these superior sensing performances enable the nanoprobe to measure the basal value and monitor the change of H2S level in the rat brain.

Retinal artery occlusion (RAO), which is positively correlated with acute ischemic stroke (IS) and results in severe visual impairment, lacks effective intervention drugs. This study aims to perform integrated analysis using UK Biobank plasma proteome data of RAO and IS to identify potential targets and preventive drugs. A total of 7191 participants (22 RAO patients, 1457 IS patients, 8 individuals with both RAO and IS, and 5704 healthy age-gender-matched controls) were included in this study. Unique 1461 protein expression profiles of RAO, IS, and the combined data set, extracted from UK Biobank Plasma proteomics projects, were analyzed using both differential expression analysis and elastic network regression (Enet) methods to identify shared key proteins. Subsequent analyses, including single cell type expression assessment, pathway enrichment, and druggability analysis, were conducted for verifying shared key proteins and discovery of new drugs. Five proteins were found to be shared among the samples, with all of them showing upregulation. Notably, adhesion G-protein coupled receptor G1 (ADGRG1) exhibited high expression in glial cells of the brain and eye tissues. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed pathways associated with lipid metabolism and vascular regulation and inflammation. Druggability analysis unveiled 15 drug candidates targeting ADGRG1, which demonstrated protective effects against RAO, especially troglitazone (−8.5 kcal/mol). Our study identified novel risk proteins and therapeutic drugs associated with the rare disease RAO, providing valuable insights into potential intervention strategies.

Multichannel neural signal acquisition and processing play a pivotal role in advancing neuroscience research. This article proposes a 112-channel system-on-chip (SoC) design for neural signal acquisition and processing, comprising full-channel read-out circuits, neural signal-processing accelerators, and a 32-bit RISC-V core. A clock-domain-crossing (CDC) structure is devised to minimize data storage overhead in read-out circuits, facilitating comprehensive data acquisition and high-throughput simultaneous transmission from all channels. The channel-specific processing unit incorporates hardware-efficient designs for lossless compression, spike detection, and extraction of spike features. A multistage predictor module serves the dual purpose of narrowing data distribution during compression and signal augmentation during spike detection. The proposed design was fabricated in 40-nm technology with an area of 6.67 mm2. The acquisition of 112 channels achieves a peak data rate of 57.3 Mbps, with a total power consumption of 3.07 mW, wherein 0.87 mW is attributed to the read-out circuits. The processing accelerators feature an area consumption of 0.011 mm2/ch, and a minimal power consumption of only $0.2~{\mu }$ W/ch under a 32-kHz clock. The effectiveness of the proposed design is validated through in vivo recording experiments conducted on rats by integrating with flexible implantable electrodes.

Devices that lack adequate clinical validation pose risks for patient care. A new validation standard is proposed to evaluate FDA authorization as an indication of clinical effectiveness in medical AI.

Using the data of listed companies and the DID method, this paper reveals three ways in which green credit policy (GCP) affects corporate debt financing. By controlling credit input, GCP can effectively restrain corporate debt financing in the “two-high” industries. However, the policy also leads to the environmental performance effect and bank credit discrimination effect, as it strengthens the impact of environmental performance on corporate debt financing and weakens banks’ credit discrimination. Under the combined effect of the three ways, GCP has restrained the borrowing growth of state-owned enterprises, but has no significant impact on private firms.

Good compatibility between waterborne epoxy resin (WER) modifier and styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) latex modified asphalt emulsion (SBRE) is an essential premise for good pavement performance of WER and SBR latex compositely modified asphalt emulsion (WSAE). This study aims to explore the compatibility between WER modifier and SBRE. To achieve the goal, several WER modifiers produced by two methods were first selected to modify SBRE, thus the WSAEs were prepared. Next, storage stability and workability of the WSAEs themselves, and high-temperature performance, rheological behavior and temperature sensitivity of their evaporated residues were compared and evaluated via performing a series of experiments, respectively, thus the WER modifier possessing an optimal modification effect was recommended. Results show that the storage stability of WSAEs is sensitive to the amount of WERs. The incorporation of 1% WERs by the mass of SBRE improves the storage stability of SBRE, while WERs that exceed 1% weaken its storage stability. When the WERs reach 3% and 4%, the 5 d storage stability of prepared WSAEs will be beyond the limitation of specification. Incorporating WERs into SBRE negatively affects the workability of SBRE, and the workability of WSAEs is adversely influenced by the WERs content and the storage time. To ensure the construction, the WSAEs with 3% and 4% WERs should not be stored for more than 36 h and 48 h, respectively. The WERs effectively improve the high-temperature performance of SBRE residue, especially the 3% WERs. Besides, the WERs notably enhance the rheological property and thermal stability of SBRE residue. In contrast, the WER modifier produced by chemically modified method has a smaller adverse impact on the storage stability and workability of WSAE, and a larger enhancement on the high-temperature performance, rheological property and thermal stability of SBRE residue, which is thus recommended to modify SBRE.

Within the domain of multimodal communication, the compression of audio, image, and video information is well-established, but compressing haptic signals, including vibrotactile signals, remains challenging. Particularly with the enhancement of haptic signal sampling rate and degrees of freedom, there is a substantial increase in data volume. While existing algorithms have made progress in vibrotactile codecs, there remains significant room for improvement in compression ratios. We propose an innovative Nbeats Network-based Vibrotactile Codec (NNVC) that leverages the statistical characteristics of vibrotactile data. This advanced codec integrates the Nbeats network for precise vibrotactile prediction, residual quantization, efficient Run-Length Encoding, and Huffman coding. The algorithm not only captures the intricate details of vibrotactile signals but also ensures high-efficiency data compression. It exhibits robust overall performance in terms of Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), significantly surpassing the state-of-the-art.

Two-dimensional conductive metal-organic frameworks (2D c-MOFs) with high flexibility in structure design and functionalization have inspired numerous research interests as promising multifunctional materials due to their porous structure, high conductivity, and rich redox active sites. This review offers a concise overview of 2D c-MOF syntheses and their applications in rechargeable batteries. The electron transport mechanism of 2D c-MOFs will be briefly introduced first. Then we discuss the designs and syntheses of 2D c-MOFs, emphasizing the conjugate structure for high conductivity and the redox activity for efficient energy storage. The electrochemical behaviors of the 2D c-MOFs in different rechargeable battery systems are summarized with attention to their structure-performance correlations and storage mechanism. Particular attention is paid to the significant applied potential of 2D c-MOFs in the Na-ion batteries (NIBs) and K-ion batteries (KIBs), which are more sustainable battery chemistries but are plagued by the dissatisfactory battery performances due to the large size of the Na+and K+. The challenges and opportunities regarding their efficient synthesis and rechargeable battery applications are also discussed. We expect this review will spark new endeavors to promote the further development of 2D c-MOFs for advanced rechargeable batteries.

Integrating haptic feedback with audio and video not only expands the perceptual dimensions of multimedia applications but also enhances user engagement and experience. However, higher signal sampling rates and multi-degree-freedom in haptic interaction increase data significantly. For low-latency and reliable transmission of haptic signal (i.e. tactile and kinesthetic signals), efficient haptic coding is crucial. Existing algorithms overlook haptic signal characteristics, leaving room for improvement. We analyze the statistical characteristics of kinesthetic signals in-depth. Based on the local linear characteristics of position and velocity signals, and the sparse distribution of force signal, we propose an improved kinesthetic coding algorithm by combining dead-zone coding with segmented linear prediction. Extensive experiments on the standard datasets of the IEEE P1918.1.1 Haptic Codecs Task Group demonstrate the superior performance compared to state-of-the-art methods, achieving a more than halved reduction in data transmission rates with high signal-to-noise ratios and structural similarity.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is distinguished by its aggressive malignancy, limited treatment avenues and a tendency towards chemotherapy resistance, underscoring the critical need for advanced research to uncover new therapeutic approaches. Stress granules (SGs) that is implicated in cellular self-protection mechanism, along with its associated family molecules have shown pro-cancer effects and are closely related to tumor chemotherapy resistance. In this study we investigated the relationship between Ras GTPase-activating protein-binding proteins 2 (G3BP2), a core component of SGs, and the malignancy of PDAC as well as its resistance to the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine. Analyzing TCGA dataset revealed that the expression of G3BP1 and G3BP2 was significantly upregulated in PDAC compared with adjacent normal pancreatic tissues, and the high expression of G3BP2 rather than G3BP1 was significantly associated with poorer overall survival (OS) in PDAC patients. We demonstrated that knockdown of G3BP2 inhibited the proliferation and invasion of PANC‐1 and CFPAC-1 cells in vitro and in vivo. By analyzing the differentially expressed genes in G3BP2 knockdown and overexpressed PANC‐1 cells, we identified DKC1 that was associated with RNA stability and regulation as the target of G3BP2. We demonstrated that G3BP2 bound to PDIA3 mRNA and recruited them into SGs, increasing the stability of PDIA3 mRNA and attenuating its translation efficiency, thereby promoting DKC1 expression. Furthermore, DKC1 could bind to hENT mRNA and inhibited its expression, which enhanced gemcitabine resistance of PDAC. Therefore, we propose a novel mechanism wherein G3BP2 facilitates PDAC’s resistance to chemotherapy by modulating PDIA3-DKC1-hENT in a SGs-dependent way, suggesting G3BP2 SGs a protentional therapeutic target for the treatment in PDAC.

Numerous studies have compared outcomes of liver resection (LR) of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to those of patients with non-NAFLD-related HCC. However, results have been inconsistent. We aim to clarify this issue. We enrolled 801 patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC, 433 patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related HCC, and 128 patients with NAFLD-related HCC undergoing LR. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) of patients with different etiologies of chronic liver disease was compared using the Kaplan–Meier estimator and log-rank test after propensity score matching (PSM). After PSM, 83 patients remained in each group. The groups did not differ significantly in age, sex, the proportion of patients with pathological American Joint Committee on Cancer stage 1, tumor size > 50 mm, receipt of major resection, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) ≥ 20 ng/ml, presence of cirrhosis, model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score, and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification. The five-year OS of patients with HBV-, HCV-, and NAFLD-related HCC was 78%, 75%, and 78%, respectively (p= 0.789). The five-year DFS of the HBV, HCV, and NAFLD groups was 60%, 45%, and 54%, respectively (p= 0.159). Perioperative morbidity was noted in 17 (20.5%) in the HBV group, 22 (26.5%) in the HCV group, and 15 (18.1%) in the NAFLD group (p= 0.398). The five-year OS, DFS, and perioperative morbidity of patients undergoing LR for NAFLD-related HCC and those for viral hepatitis-related HCC was similar.

Photosystem I (PSI) is one of two large pigment–protein complexes responsible for converting solar energy into chemical energy in all oxygenic photosynthetic organisms. The PSI supercomplex consists of the PSI core complex and peripheral light-harvesting complex I (LHCI) in eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms. However, how the PSI complex assembles in land plants is unknown. Here we describe PHOTOSYSTEM I BIOGENESIS FACTOR 8 (PBF8), a thylakoid-anchored protein in Arabidopsis thalianathat is required for PSI assembly. PBF8 regulates two key consecutive steps in this process, the building of two assembly intermediates comprising eight or nine subunits, by interacting with PSI core subunits. We identified putative PBF8 orthologues in charophytic algae and land plants but not in Cyanobacteria or Chlorophyta. Our data reveal the major PSI assembly pathway in land plants. Our findings suggest that novel assembly mechanisms evolved during plant terrestrialization to regulate PSI assembly, perhaps as a means to cope with terrestrial environments.

Background: Cataract is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. However, little is known about sex differences in cataracts. Our study aimed to explore potential sex differences in the relationships between key social, lifestyle, and physical health risk factors and the incidence of cataracts. Methods: A total of 117,972 participants from the UK Biobank were included in this prospective cohort study. Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and female-to-male ratios of HRs (RHRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for cataract risk factors. Poisson regression was used to assess the incidence of cataracts (per 10,000 person-years). Results: A total of 117,972 individuals without preexisting eye diseases were enroled in the analysis. 4172 subjects (54.8% female) were diagnosed with cataracts during follow-up. The crude incidence rates per 10,000 person-years were 35.06 for females and 29.15 for males. The incidence of cataracts increased in both males and females with factors such as Asian or Black ethnicity, smoking status, obesity, diabetes, and myopia. However, males who consumed alcohol or were unemployed suffered a greater risk of cataracts compared to their female counterparts, while high socioeconomic status, elevated blood pressure and metabolic syndrome were associated with a greater risk of cataracts in females than in males. Conclusion: This study provides a comprehensive overview of sex differences in the associations between cataracts and various risk factors. Our findings highlight that socioeconomic and lifestyle risk factors are more strongly linked to cataract risk in males, whereas females with systemic diseases face a greater risk of developing cataract.

Phase pure cobalt ferrite of spinel structure (CoFe2O4) is experimentally synthesized using bulk powder processing methods and characterized using neutron diffraction methods to quantify cation site occupation, magnetic moment, and magnetic ordering as a function of temperature. Experimentally determined properties were compared with values calculated from first principles obtained using density functional theory. The obtained results show excellent agreement, and the combination of experimental and theoretical methods enables the unambiguous extraction of exchange bond energies between A–A, B–B, and A–B sites in the spinel structure. The agreement between the theoretical predictions and experimental results exceeds that of traditional empirical fitting methods using average magnetization as a function of temperature. The moment of the B site cation was experimentally estimated to be canted by approximately 2.4° at 4 K. The proposed methods offer an opportunity to further explore spinel ferrite systems for a deeper understanding of bonding and exchange interactions within these complex and interesting ferrimagnetic systems.

The widespread dissemination of ultraflexible neural probes depends on the development of advanced materials and implementation strategies that can allow reliable implantation of ultraflexible neural probes into targeted brain regions, especially deep and difficult-to-access brain regions. Here, we report ultraflexible and multidirectional probes that are encapsulated in a biocompatible polymer alloy with controllable dissolution kinetics. Our probes can be reliably implanted into targeted brain regions over large spatial scales, including deep hindbrain regions that are anatomically difficult-to-access in vivo. Chronically implanted probes can enable long-term, multidirectional recordings from several hundreds of neurons across distributed brain regions. In particular, our results show that 87.0% of chronically recorded neurons in the hindbrain are interneurons, whereas only 41.9% of chronically recorded neurons in the cortex are interneurons. These results demonstrate that our ultraflexible neural probes are a promising tool for large-scale, long-term neural circuit dissection in the brain.

Electrochemical reduction of nitrate to ammonia (NH3) converts an environmental pollutant to a critical nutrient. However, current electrochemical nitrate reduction operations based on monometallic and bimetallic catalysts are limited in NH3selectivity and catalyst stability, especially in acidic environments. Meanwhile, catalysts with dispersed active sites generally exhibit a higher atomic utilization and distinct activity. Herein, we report a multielement alloy nanoparticle catalyst with dispersed Ru (Ru-MEA) with other synergistic components (Cu, Pd, Pt). Density functional theory elucidated the synergy effect of Ru-MEA than Ru, where a better reactivity (NH3partial current density of −50.8 mA cm–2) and high NH3faradaic efficiency (93.5%) is achieved in industrially relevant acidic wastewater. In addition, the Ru-MEA catalyst showed good stability (e.g., 19.0% decay in FENH3in three hours). This work provides a potential systematic and efficient catalyst discovery process that integrates a data-guided catalyst design and novel catalyst synthesis for a range of applications.

Ultraflexible microelectrode arrays (MEAs) that can stably record from a large number of neurons after their chronic implantation offer opportunities for understanding neural circuit mechanisms and developing next-generation brain–computer interfaces. The implementation of ultraflexible MEAs requires their reliable implantation into deep brain tissues in a minimally invasive manner, as well as their precise integration with optogenetic tools to enable the simultaneous recording of neural activity and neuromodulation. Here, we describe the process for the preparation of elastocapillary self-assembled ultraflexible MEAs, their use in combination with adeno-associated virus vectors carrying opsin genes and promoters to form an optrode probe and their in vivo experimental use in the brains of rodents, enabling electrophysiological recordings and optical modulation of neuronal activity over long periods of time (on the order of weeks to months). The procedures, including device fabrication, probe assembly and implantation, can be completed within 3 weeks. The protocol is intended to facilitate the applications of ultraflexible MEAs for long-term neuronal activity recording and combined electrophysiology and optogenetics. The protocol requires users with expertise in clean room facilities for the fabrication of ultraflexible MEAs.

Flexible and stretchable neural electrodes are promising tools for high-fidelity interfacing with soft and curvilinear brain surface. Here, we describe a flexible and stretchable neural electrode array that consists of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber network reinforced gold (Au) film electrodes. Under stretching, the interweaving PAN nanofibers effectively terminate the formation of propagating cracks in the Au films and thus enable the formation of a dynamically stable electrode-tissue interface. Moreover, the PAN nanofibers increase the surface roughness and active surface areas of the Au electrodes, leading to reduced electrochemical impedance and improved signal-to-noise ratio. As a result, PAN nanofiber network reinforced Au electrode arrays can allow for reliable in vivo multichannel recording of epileptiform activities in rats.

AimsTo develop a deep learning (DL) model for automatic classification of macular hole (MH) aetiology (idiopathic or secondary), and a multimodal deep fusion network (MDFN) model for reliable prediction of MH status (closed or open) at 1 month after vitrectomy and internal limiting membrane peeling (VILMP).MethodsIn this multicentre retrospective cohort study, a total of 330 MH eyes with 1082 optical coherence tomography (OCT) images and 3300 clinical data enrolled from four ophthalmic centres were used to train, validate and externally test the DL and MDFN models. 266 eyes from three centres were randomly split by eye-level into a training set (80%) and a validation set (20%). In the external testing dataset, 64 eyes were included from the remaining centre. All eyes underwent macular OCT scanning at baseline and 1 month after VILMP. The area under the receiver operated characteristic curve (AUC), accuracy, specificity and sensitivity were used to evaluate the performance of the models.ResultsIn the external testing set, the AUC, accuracy, specificity and sensitivity of the MH aetiology classification model were 0.965, 0.950, 0.870 and 0.938, respectively; the AUC, accuracy, specificity and sensitivity of the postoperative MH status prediction model were 0.904, 0.825, 0.977 and 0.766, respectively; the AUC, accuracy, specificity and sensitivity of the postoperative idiopathic MH status prediction model were 0.947, 0.875, 0.815 and 0.979, respectively.ConclusionOur DL-based models can accurately classify the MH aetiology and predict the MH status after VILMP. These models would help ophthalmologists in diagnosis and surgical planning of MH.

Background: Difficult biliary cannulation and unintended pancreatic cannulation exist in biliary interventions during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Wire-guided cannulation over a pancreatic stent (PS-WGC) and needle-knife precut over a pancreatic stent (PS-NKP) may facilitate biliary cannulation. This study aimed to compare the outcomes of PS-NKP and PS-WGC following guidewire passage into the pancreatic duct. Methods: A total of 304 patients who inserted a pancreatic stent and continued cannulation using wire-guided (PS-WGC) or needle-knife precut (PS-NKP) from October 2018 to November 2021 in three centers were ultimately enrolled in this study. The success rate of cannulation and incidence of complications were compared between the two groups. Results: Results of the success rate of cannulation in the PS-NKP (n= 98) group were significantly higher compared with the PS-WGC (n= 206) group (96.9% vs. 89.8%; P< 0.05). The overall adverse events were 10.2% (31/304), and PS-NKP had lower (PEP) rates compared with the PS-WGC (3.1% vs. 10.7%, P< 0.05). Conclusion: The PS-NKP group is superior to the PS-WGC group in terms of the effectiveness and safety of continued cannulation. Using needle-knife precut, especially early use, over the pancreatic stent to continue cannulation reduced PEP compared with PS-WGC.

Developing reliable sensors that accurately detect deadly chemical gases is critical to global security. Nerve agents are one of the most dangerous chemicals in the world and are often found in gaseous forms in the environment, which remain a challenge to detect because of their low levels. In this paper, a fluorescent probe based on a Zr-based metal–organic framework UiO-66–NH2was proposed. The specific binding between the Zr–O site of UiO-66–NH2and diethyl chlorophosphate (DCP) blocked the ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) process in UiO-66–NH2, thereby enabling the fluorescence turn-on detection of DCP. More importantly, a simple and portable hydrogel soft-solid platform (UiO-66–NH2@Aga) was constructed by incorporating UiO-66–NH2into the formation process of agarose (Aga) hydrogel for fast and sensitive detection of gaseous DCP. When the hydrogel was exposed to a low concentration of DCPvapor, its fluorescence changed from colorless to bright blue, allowing visualization of the DCPgas for analysis. The UiO-66–NH2@Aga integrated solid-state platform showed an excellent response to DCPvapor in the detection range of 1.98 to 9.90 ppm and with a detection limit of 1.16 ppm. This work opened up a unique way to design a convenient, low cost and practical gas physical examination platform.

Graphical abstract:

The detoxification of nerve agents, a class of extremely toxic chemical warfare agents, is urgently needed because they have remained a threat to humanity. To date, zirconium-based metal-organic frameworks (Zr-MOFs) are the most popular catalysts in this realm. However, it is still essential to develop new and efficient catalysts based on Zr-MOFs to achieve more rapid hydrolysis. Herein, we report that the single-atom catalyst (SAC) with Cu single atoms on a UiO-66-NH2support (Cu@UiO-66-NH2) could significantly boost the degradation of the nerve agent simulant. Compared with the pristine UiO-66-NH2, this SAC exhibited remarkable catalytic activity with a half-life for hydrolysis of ∼2 min and better reusability in cyclic experiments. Both experimental and theoretical studies suggest that the atomically dispersed Cu species anchored to the amino groups rather than to the Zr6node of UiO-66-NH2acted as the catalytic active sites, leading to favorable binding geometries with the substrate and the product. A catalytic mechanism on the SAC different from that generally considered on the pristine Zr-MOFs was thus presented to elucidate the enhanced catalytic efficiency.

Graphical abstract: An alternating electrospinning-electrospraying technology was proposed to achieve a silk fibroin-based antibacterial membrane with Janus wettability, as well as good skin affinity and breathability, which serves well as physical and bio-barriers for water resistance, PM2.5 filtration (~98.1%) and bacteria inhibition (efficiency of 95%). This shape memory Janus membrane can adapt mechanically to human body curvatures for functional wearable protections.

The purpose of this article is aimed to solve the problem associated with autonomous driving on the natural paths of planets. The contribution of this work is to propose an improved deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) framework for the autonomous driving on natural roads requires handling uneven surface of different throttle and braking reaction speeds. Our new finding is to design an adapted DDPG algorithm by double critic and excellent experience replay as DCEER-DDPG to reduce the overestimation of state action values. In addition, we created a virtual reality environment with TORCS simulator for fair evaluation. In the experiments, the proposed DCEER-DDPG has a better performance than previous algorithms, which can improve the utilization of driving experience on a natural path and increase the learning efficiency of the strategy. For the future applications, the proposed DCEER-DDPG is used not only on Earth, but also in lunar exploration.

Background:: The study aims to correlate osteogenesis with autophagy during the mineralization induction of MC3T3-e1 through exploring the expression of runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2)/lysosomal-associated transmembrane protein 5 (LAMPT5). Methods:: The induction of mineralization in MC3T3-e1 was followed by detecting the expressions of osteogenesis-related indexes such as RUNX2, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), osteocalcin (OCN), and LAPTM5 using RT-qPCR and Western blot from 0 to 14 days. Transmission electron microscope was utilised in visualizing the alterations of autophagosomes, which was followed by immunofluorescence detecting the subcellular localization of autophagy-related index sequestosome 1 (P62) and microtubule-associated protein 1 light 3 (LC3) protein and scrutinising the expression of P62 mRNA and P62 and LC3 proteins. Results:: Induction of MC3T3-e1 mineralization demonstrated an increased expression of osteogenesis-related indicators such as RUNX2, ALP, OCN, and LAPTM5 (p< 0.05), as evident from the results of RT-qPCR and Western blot. Meanwhile, the expression of autophagosomes increased one day after mineralization induction and then experienced a gradual decline, and enhanced expression of LC3 protein was noted on days 1–2 of mineralization induction but was then followed by a corresponding reduce. In contrast, a continuous increase was reported in the expression of P62 mRNA and protein, respectively (p< 0.05). Up- and down-regulating RUNX2/LAPTM5 expression alone confirmed the aforementioned results. Conclusion:: It was therefore proposed that RUNX2 may be responsible for an early increase and then a gradual decrease in LAPTM5-mediated autophagy through the regulation of its high expression. Meanwhile, increased LAPTM5 expression in osteogenic mineralization presumed that RUNX2/LAPTM5 promoted autophagy and osteogenic expression, which may play a bridging role in the regulation of autophagy and osteogenesis.

This study investigates the effects of employing extended online thematic listening tasks on the development of listening comprehension in an English course focusing on reading and writing skill development. To accomplish this aim, extended online thematic listening tasks were designed and implemented in English as a Foreign-Language (EFL) college level General English course. Pre- and post-tests were conducted to examine students’ gains in overall listening proficiency. Moreover, students’ mid-term and final exams were compared in order to track student progress. Data on student perceptions of online thematic tasks was also collected and analyzed. Findings suggest that extended online thematic listening tasks may constitute a dynamic forum which fosters significant gains in listening comprehension, test performance, and development of learning strategies. In addition, the findings reveal that students’ initial enthusiasm toward extended online listening tasks faded and the efforts that they put into the tasks gradually decreased as the semester progressed. Therefore, time availability and management become an important pedagogical issue in e-learning.

Abstract A reinsurance treaty involves two parties, an insurer and a reinsurer. The two parties have conflicting interests. Most existing optimal reinsurance treaties only consider the interest of one party. [...]

ABSTRACTBackgroundLarge common bile duct (CBD) stones often require lithotripsy. In this study, we aimed to introduce a novel device-elbow basket catheter for mechanical lithotripsy (ML) of CBD stones and assess the efficacy and safety of the novel device.MethodsThis was a retrospective study. A total of 139 patients with large CBD stones who underwent lithotripsy using the elbow basket mechanical lithotripter (EBML) or conventional basket mechanical lithotripter (CBML) during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) from June 2016 to September 2021 in our center were enrolled in the study. The stone clearance rate, intubation time, overall procedure time, and adverse event rate were compared between the two groups.ResultsThe stone clearance rate in the first ERCP program in the EBML (n = 71) group was significantly higher than that in the CBML (n = 68) group (98.6% vs. 88.2%; P< 0.05). The intubation time in the EBML group was significantly shorter than that in the CBML group (median time; 12s vs. 78s; P< 0.001). The overall procedure time in the EBML group was significantly shorter than that in the CBML group (median time; 51 min vs. 63 min; P< 0.001). The adverse event rate (7.4% vs. 1.4%: P> 0.05) was similar between the two groups.ConclusionsML using EBML in patients with large CBD stones is feasible and safe. Compared with the CBML, the stone clearance rate of the EBML is higher in a single procedure and decreases the time of intubation and the overall procedure.

ABSTRACTAcquired chemotherapy resistance is one of the main culprits in the relapse of breast cancer. But the underlying mechanism of chemotherapy resistance remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate that a small adaptor protein, SH3BGRL, is not only elevated in the majority of breast cancer patients but also has relevance with the relapse and poor prognosis of breast cancer patients. Functionally, SH3BGRL upregulation enhances the chemoresistance of breast cancer cells to the first-line doxorubicin treatment through macroautophagic/autophagic protection. Mechanistically, SH3BGRL can unexpectedly bind to ribosomal subunits to enhance PIK3C3 translation efficiency and sustain ATG12 stability. Therefore, inhibition of autophagy or silence of PIK3C3 or ATG12 can effectively block the driving effect of SH3BGRL on doxorubicin resistance of breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. We also validate that SH3BGRL expression is positively correlated with that of PIK3C3 or ATG12, as well as the constitutive occurrence of autophagy in clinical breast cancer tissues. Taken together, our data reveal that SH3BGRL upregulation would be a key driver to the acquired chemotherapy resistance through autophagy enhancement in breast cancer while targeting SH3BGRL could be a potential therapeutic strategy against breast cancer.Abbreviations:ABCs: ATP-binding cassette transporters; Act D: actinomycin D; ACTB/β-actin: actin beta; ATG: autophagy-related; Baf A1: bafilomycin A1; CASP3: caspase 3; CHX: cycloheximide; CQ: chloroquine; Dox: doxorubicin; FBS: fetal bovine serum; GAPDH: glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; GEO: gene expression omnibus; GFP: green fluorescent protein; G6PD: glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase; GSEA: gene set enrichment analysis; IHC: immunochemistry; KEGG: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes; MAP1LC3B/LC3B: microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta; 3-MA: 3-methyladenine; mRNA: messenger RNA; PIK3C3: phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase catalytic subunit type 3; SH3BGRL: SH3 domain binding glutamate-rich protein-like; SQSTM1/p62: sequestosome 1; ULK1: unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase 1

Sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) often worsens with the deterioration of a patient's condition. Therefore, we hypothesized that monitoring AKI dynamically from day 1 to day 3 was potential to predict hospital mortality. Specifically, we explored whether monitoring AKI dynamically in the intensive care unit (ICU) could be a sepsis phenotype predictive of mortality. A new classification was established based on the change in the AKI stage from admission day 1 and day 3. We compared the hospital mortality, cytokines, and immune response pattern between each group.

Glycerol electrooxidation reaction (GOR), as an attractive alternative to oxygen evolution reaction, not only produces value-added formic acid but also facilitates H2production. However, its practical application suffers from the lack of efficient electrocatalysts with high activity at low potentials. Herein, sulfur doped manganese-cobalt hydroxide nanosheets on nickel foam (Mn-Co-S/NF) has been demonstrated as a promising electrocatalytic electrode for GOR, showing high current density at low potentials and high Faradaic efficiency for formate production. The combination of ex situ characterization, operando Raman analysis, and in situ electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurement unveils that S doping leads to the formation of hierarchically porous structure with abundant oxygen vacancies during the reaction, enabling the surface reconstruction to proceed in an easier manner and to a higher degree. As a result, the reconstructed Mn-Co-S/NF possesses highly enhanced charge/mass transfer capability and enriched high valence Co active species. Impressively, in a practical flow electrolyzer, an industrial-level current density of 900 mA cm−2can be achieved at a cell voltage of 2.0 V. It also exhibits H2yield rate of 3.5 mmol cm−2h−1at 200 mA cm−2, realizing up to 30.2% energy saving efficiency compared to water electrolysis.

Tetracycline (TET) residues exist in our lives and endanger our health. For rapid visual detection of tetracycline, we designed a TET colorimetric aptasensor based on aptamer (Apt) to control the aggregation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Apt was adsorbed on the surface of AgNPs to protect the AgNPs from the influence of salt and maintained a dispersed state. The color of the solution was bright yellow. When TET was present, Apt desorbed from the surface of AgNPs and highly combined with TET to form a rigid structure. AgNPs without Apt protection aggregated under the induction of salt, and their color changed to pink. By comparing the three Apts of TET with different chain lengths, we found that the shortest Apt had the best effect on stabilizing AgNPs. The aptasensor constructed based on this mechanism was not only sensitive and fast. It is also highly specific and does not respond to substances similar to TET (chlortetracycline (CTC) and oxytetracycline (OTC)). Under the best conditions, the linear range was 40–480 nM, and the detection limit was 4.33 nM. This method is used in the detection of actual pills and milk samples, with high recovery rate and small relative error. This proves the potential of the aptasensor in food safety testing.

ABSTRACTPrevious studies indicated that long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) serine peptidase inhibitor, Kunitz type 1 antisense RNA1 (SPINT1-AS1) could function as an oncogenic gene in various human cancers. However, the regulatory mechanisms of SPINT1-AS1 in the tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unclear. It was found that SPINT1-AS1 was upregulated in CRC and contributed to the poor prognosis of CRC patients. Silencing of SPINT1-AS1 inhibited proliferation and metastasis but increased apoptosis of CRC cells. Furthermore, we found that SP1 could activate SPINT1-AS1 by acting as a transcription factor. Meanwhile, we identified miR-214 was negatively regulated by SPINT1-AS1. Furthermore, miR-214 repression restored the suppressive effects on malignant biological behaviors of CRC caused by SPINT1-AS1 silencing. In addition, SPINT1-AS1 mediated HDGF expression through targeting miR-214. Finally, overexpressed heparin-binding growth factor (HDGF) overturned the effects on viability, metastasis, and apoptosis of CRC cells induced by SPINT1-AS1 depletion or miR-214 upregulation. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that SP1-induced SPINT1-AS1 could facilitate CRC progression by inhibiting miR-214 and increasing HDGF expression. These findings might provide a new approach for CRC treatment.

A colorimetric assay was described for determination of tetracyclines (TCs) in complex matrices based on dual regulation of gold nanoparticle (AuNP) aggregation and in situsilver metallization. The reaction between p-aminophenol and silver ions (Ag+) catalyzed by aptamer (Apt)-functionalized AuNPs promoted the in situdeposition of Ag shells on AuNPs to afford core–shell bimetallic NPs (Au@AgNPs). When the target is present, Apt is separated from the AuNP surface through the Apt-target interaction. With the desorption of Apts, AuNPs catalyzed the formation of more aggregated Au@AgNPs with a thinner Ag shell, corresponding to the solution color gradually changing from orange-yellow to brown. Using A600/A410as the determination signal, the assay gave visible linear relationships for TCs in the range of 0.3–6.0 μmol L−1with a detection limit (LOD) of 33.6 nmol L−1. In particular, the assay was successfully applied to detect TCs in real samples with the recovery rate ranging from 91.2% to 106% and relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 4.6%. These results meet the requirements of sample analysis.

The patients with relapsed and refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) have poor prognosis, and a novel and effective therapeutic strategy for these patients is urgently needed. Although ubiquitin-specific protease 1 (USP1) plays a key role in cancer, the carcinogenic effect of USP1 in B-cell lymphoma remains elusive. Here we found that USP1 is highly expressed in DLBCL patients, and high expression of USP1 predicts poor prognosis. Knocking down USP1 or a specific inhibitor of USP1, pimozide, induced cell growth inhibition, cell cycle arrest and autophagy in DLBCL cells. Targeting USP1 by shRNA or pimozide significantly reduced tumor burden of a mouse model established with engraftment of rituximab/chemotherapy resistant DLBCL cells. Pimozide significantly retarded the growth of lymphoma in a DLBCL patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model. USP1 directly interacted with MAX, a MYC binding protein, and maintained the stability of MAX through deubiquitination, which promoted the transcription of MYC target genes. Moreover, pimozide showed a synergetic effect with etoposide, a chemotherapy drug, in cell and mouse models of rituximab/chemotherapy resistant DLBCL. Our study highlights the critical role of USP1 in the rituximab/chemotherapy resistance of DLBCL through deubiquitylating MAX, and provides a novel therapeutic strategy for rituximab/chemotherapy resistant DLBCL.

Different covariate balance weighting methods have been proposed by researchers from different perspectives to estimate the treatment effects. This paper gives a brief review of the covariate balancing propensity score method by Imai and Ratkovic (2014), the stable balance weighting procedure by Zubizarreta (2015), the calibration balance weighting approach by Chan, et al. (2016), and the integrated propensity score technique by Sant’Anna, et al. (2020). Simulations are conducted to illustrate the finite sample performance of both the average treatment effect and quantile treatment effect estimators based on different weighting methods. Simulation results show that in general, the covariate balance weighting methods can outperform the conventional maximum likelihood estimation method while the performance of the four covariate balance weighting methods varies with the data generating processes. Finally, the four covariate balance weighting methods are applied to estimate the treatment effects of the college graduate on personal annual income.

The banking sector has changed fundamentally as digital transformation is enabling new technology-driven banking business and creating novel customer requirements. Embracing bank-FinTech strategic collaboration (FSC) has been particularly vital to digital transformation of Chinese city commercial bank. The aim of this paper is to study the impact of FSC on the efficiency of city commercial banks. Using data from Chinese city commercial banks between 2014 and 2019, we first measure bank efficiency scores using stochastic frontier approach. Moreover, we employ the propensity score matching approach and the difference in difference estimation to explore the effect of FSC on bank efficiency. We find that FSC significantly improves bank cost and interest revenue efficiency in the aggregate. Our results also indicate that the positive relationship between FSC and cost efficiency is negatively associated with bank ownership concentration. In addition, the positive effects of FSC on revenue efficiency are weaker in state-owned city banks than in non-state-owned city banks.

Although increasing hidden layers can improve the ability of a neural network in modeling complex nonlinear relationships, deep layers may result in degradation of accuracy due to the problem of vanishing gradient. Accuracy degradation limits the applications of deep neural networks to predict continuous variables with a small sample size and/or weak or little invariance to translations. Inspired by residual convolutional neural network in computer vision, we developed an encoder–decoder full residual deep network to robustly regress and predict complex spatiotemporal variables. We embedded full shortcuts from each encoding layer to its corresponding decoding layer in a systematic encoder–decoder architecture for efficient residual mapping and error signal propagation. We demonstrated, theoretically and experimentally, that the proposed network structure with full residual connections can successfully boost the backpropagation of signals and improve learning outcomes. This novel method has been extensively evaluated and compared with four commonly used methods (i.e., plain neural network, cascaded residual autoencoder, generalized additive model, and XGBoost) across different testing cases for continuous variable predictions. For model evaluation, we focused on spatiotemporal imputation of satellite aerosol optical depth with massive nonrandomness missingness and spatiotemporal estimation of atmospheric fine particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5). Compared with the other approaches, our method achieved the state-of-the-art accuracy, had less bias in predicting extreme values, and generated more realistic spatial surfaces. This encoder–decoder full residual deep network can be an efficient and powerful tool in a variety of applications that involve complex nonlinear relationships of continuous variables, varying sample sizes, and spatiotemporal data with weak or little invariance to translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract:

A J‐shaped relationship of body mass index (BMI) with severe periodontitis has been reported. However, it is unknown for other anthropometric indexes in young adults. A cross‐sectional study examined the relationships in 325 military men and women, aged 20 to 45 years in Taiwan. Anthropometric indexes included BMI, waist circumference (WC), and waist‐to‐height ratio (WHtR). The severity of localized periodontitis was defined as healthy (n = 42), Stage I (initial) (n = 228), and Stage II/III (moderate/severe) (n = 55) according to the 2017 Periodontal Diseases Classification. Smooth curve fitting and multiple logistic regression analyses adjusting for age, sex, betel nut consumption, and smoking were used to determine the threshold effect between various anthropometric and the risk of localized Stage II/III periodontitis. In the spline smoothing plot, the turning points for BMI, WC, and WHtR were 26.1 kg/m2, 90.0 cm, and 0.50, respectively, and a J‐shaped relationship was found for BMI (the likelihood ratio test, P<0.001). In the multiple logistic regressions, BMI ≥27.0 kg/m2, WC ≥90.0 cm and WHtR ≥0.50 were associated with higher risk of localized Stage II/III periodontitis than their counterparts (24.0 to 26.9 kg/m2for BMI) (odds ratios [OR] and 95% confidence intervals: 4.16 [1.39 to 12.49], 2.65 [1.01 to 7.11], and 2.95 [1.20 to 7.24], respectively; all Pvalues <0.05). However, the risk for BMI <24.0 kg/m2was not significant (OR, 1.47 [0.47 to 4.54]). In young adults, obesity defined by various anthropometrics was consistently associated with localized Stage II/III periodontitis and a J‐shaped association was suggestive for BMI.