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This letter designs and simulates an interference metasurface capable of generating range profiles of false targets, by manipulating the electromagnetic reflection properties of the surface through control codes. Deep deterministic policy gradient algorithm is applied to generate multiple sets of control codes that result in high similarity between the range profiles produced by the metasurface and those of real targets, as measured by the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. Furthermore, the encoded metasurface is able to maintain similarity with the range profiles of real targets even when the incident wave's azimuthal angle is altered, thus achieving dynamic interference angle manipulation.

This work proposes an element with a 1-bit phase resolution that operates in both reflection and radiation modes. The 1-bit phase responses in two operating modes can be realized by switching the states of three integrated p-i-n diodes. The array composed of the elements can be excited as both a reflectarray (RA) by the external feed in space and a phased array (PA) without phase shifters by the integrated feeding network at its bottom. Drawing inspiration from the RA, the feeding network introduces initial phase distributions irradiated by a hypothetical spatial feed above the PA to mitigate the grating lobes of the 1-bit PA. An electronically reconfigurable array antenna prototype composed of 8 $\times $ 16 elements was manufactured and measured to verify its performance. The experimental results indicate that the designed array antenna can realize dynamic beam scanning in the range of ±45° in E-plane and ±30° in H-plane within less than 3 dB gain loss, verifying its feasibility for both RA and PA applications.

Microplastics can enter the human body through the food chain and can cause cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases; thus, it is essential to detect microplastics sensitively and accurately. Traditional methods have some drawbacks, such as a low sensitivity and complicated experimental procedures, so it is difficult to detect microplastics less than 1 μm. While surface enhanced Raman scattering technology can compensate for these shortcomings, there are fewer reports on the quantitative detection of microplastics using SERS technology. In this study, SERS and an internal standard method were utilized to detect microplastics qualitatively and quantitatively. The electric field enhancement effect of common gold, silver, and copper substrates were simulated by the finite element method, and the influence rule of structural parameters on the enhancement factor was obtained to optimize structural parameters. Subsequently, a gold nanopyramid array substrate was prepared using the colloidal sphere template method. Finally, the prepared substrate was applied to detect polystyrene microplastics with a diameter of 500 nm, and the detection of limit is 1.8 × 10−4mg mL−1in the quantitative range of 2–2 × 10−4mg mL−1, and the correlation coefficient of the linear regression equation is 0.9918. The experimental results showed that this proposal has a lower detection limit and a wider quantitative range and expands ideas for the qualitative and quantitative detection of microplastics in seawater.

Graphical Abstract:

The accuracy of the cutting simulation model greatly depends on the constitutive models, thermophysical models, and friction models. However, accurate modeling of physical and mechanical relationships is not enough. The physical and mechanical behavior of the machined surface from the last cut should be modelled in the FE model. In this study, the cutting simulation model of S316L stainless steel was established. The above model consists of two subsequent simulated cuts. The first simulated cut was used to obtain the machined surface with the residual stress, and the second simulated cut was subsequent with the first cut to obtain the actual simulated results. The constitutive model was obtained by the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) and high-temperature hardness experiments. The specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity models were developed by laser thermal conductivity experiments with various temperatures. The friction model between the workpiece and the tool was established by orthogonal cutting experiments. The simulated cutting forces of the first and second cut were extracted and compared with the experimental results to verify the accuracy of the simulation models. The results showed that the average error of cutting forces for the first cut is 28.33 %, but that for the second cut is 8.02 %, which verifies the accuracy of the two-subsequent cutting simulation model. Additionally, the significant differences in the simulated cutting forces between the first and second cutting depict that the residual stress cannot be ignored for the accuracy verification of cutting simulation models.

In order to improve the efficiency and accuracy of antenna optimization, an adaptive evolutionary neural network (AENN)-based optimization design method for the wideband dual-polarized antenna is proposed. The proposed AENN is composed of two networks. The first network is used to predict the structural parameters of the antenna, and the second network uses the structural parameters as input to verify the results of the first network. This method only needs a small number of datasets to pretrain the network, and then, through the advanced workflow, while updating the dataset, the two networks can evolve iteratively, and finally, the antenna structural parameters under the expected electromagnetic response can be obtained. Taking two wideband dual-polarized antennas as numerical examples, this method is compared with other advanced antenna optimization methods, and the effectiveness of this method is verified.

Synthetic lethality (SL) is a potential cancer therapeutic strategy and drug discovery. Computational approaches to identify synthetic lethality genes have become an effective complement to wet experiments which are time consuming and costly. Graph convolutional networks (GCN) has been utilized to such prediction task as be good at capturing the neighborhood dependency in a graph. However, it is still a lack of the mechanism of aggregating the complementary neighboring information from various heterogeneous graphs. Here, we propose the Multiple Attention Graph Convolution Networks for predicting synthetic lethality (MAGCN). First, we obtain the functional similarity features and topological structure features of genes from different data sources respectively, such as Gene Ontology data and Protein-Protein Interaction. Then, graph convolutional network is utilized to accumulate the knowledge from neighbor nodes according to synthetic lethal associations. Meanwhile, we propose a multiple graphs attention model and construct a multiple graphs attention network to learn the contribution factors of different graphs to generate embedded representation by aggregating these graphs. Finally, the generated feature matrix is decoded to predict potential synthetic lethal interaction. Experimental results show that MAGCN is superior to other baseline methods. Case study demonstrates the ability of MAGCN to predict human SL gene pairs.

This brief demonstrated a body-wide RF energy harvester based on textile spoof surface plasmon (SSP) antenna array for wearable wireless power transmission. This harvester includes four patch antennas and SSP waveguides to form an SSP antenna array integrated with clothing to harvest the incident RF energy. Then, a loop and rectifier are integrated and fabricated in the same plane to extract, combine, rectify and output DC power from the multi-path harvested energy in a contactless way and without a complex matching network. They are fabricated with a simple structure, entirely off-the-shelf flexible and textile materials, and a proven fabrication technique. Finally, it is worn on the body to output DC power of $108.89~\mu \text{W}$ when illuminated with a power density of $7.96~\mu \text{W}$ /cm2 at 2.4-2.45 GHz Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) band. This design could be applied to power the potential wearable sensors wirelessly.

In this communication, a novel hybrid decoupler is proposed to reduce mutual coupling for an extremely compact wideband stacked patch multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) array antenna. The hybrid decoupler consists of a dielectric surface and a metasurface. By using a well-designed dielectric surface, the mode of mutual coupling current on the unexcited antenna can become orthogonal to its polarization mode. Moreover, the electrical distance of coupling wave propagation between two elements is prolonged. Antenna decoupling is naturally achieved. Then, the metasurface, which can reject coupling wave propagation, is a complementary method to further improve isolation. Dielectric rod array is designed by partially hollowing the dielectric surface, which can realize optimized dielectric constant of the slab and better combine two decoupling methods. A broadband stacked patch array antenna is chosen as a demonstration to prove that this idea can achieve wide isolation improved bandwidth, as well as high isolation improved degree. Measured results reveal that isolation enhancement ranges from 6 to 21 dB in the frequency band from 1.83 to 2.17 GHz.

Predicting the associations of miRNAs and diseases may uncover the causation of various diseases. Many methods are emerging to tackle the sparse and unbalanced disease related miRNA prediction. Here, we propose a Probabilistic matrix decomposition combined with neighbor learning to identify MiRNA-Disease Associations utilizing heterogeneous data(PMDA). First, we build similarity networks for diseases and miRNAs, respectively, by integrating semantic information and functional interactions. Second, we construct a neighbor learning model in which the neighbor information of individual miRNA or disease is utilized to enhance the association relationship to tackle the spare problem. Third, we predict the potential association between miRNAs and diseases via probability matrix decomposition. The experimental results show that PMDA is superior to other five methods in sparse and unbalanced data. The case study shows that the new miRNA-disease interactions predicted by the PMDA are effective and the performance of the PMDA is superior to other methods.

ABSTRACTAfter spinal cord injury (SCI), a large number of blood-derived macrophages infiltrate the lesion site and phagocytose myelin debris to become foamy macrophages, which leads to chronic inflammation. The drug D-4F, an apolipoprotein A-I peptidomimetic made of D-amino acids, has been reported to promote the lipid metabolism of foamy macrophages in atherosclerosis. However, the role and mechanism of D-4F in SCI are still unclear. In this study, we found that D-4F can promote the removal of myelin debris, reduce the formation of foamy macrophages in the lesion core and promote neuroprotection and recovery of motor function after SCI. These beneficial functions of D-4F may be related to its ability to upregulate the expression of ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1), the main transporter that mediates lipid efflux in foamy macrophages because inhibiting the activity of ABCA1 can reverse the effect of D-4F in vitro. In conclusion, D-4F may be a promising candidate for treating SCI by promoting the clearance of myelin debris by foamy macrophages via the ABCA1 pathway.

Epigenetic modification shapes differentiation trajectory and regulates the exhaustion state of chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells. Limited efficacy induced by terminal exhaustion closely ties with intrinsic transcriptional regulation. However, the comprehensive regulatory mechanisms remain largely elusive. Here, we identify class I histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) as boosters of CAR-T cell function by high-throughput screening of chromatin-modifying drugs, in which M344 and chidamide enhance memory maintenance and resistance to exhaustion of CAR-T cells that induce sustained antitumor efficacy both in vitroand in vivo. Mechanistically, HDACi decrease HDAC1 expression and enhance H3K27ac activity. Multi-omics analyses from RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, and H3K27ac CUT&Tag-seq show that HDACi upregulate expression of TCF4, LEF1, and CTNNB1, which subsequently activate the canonical Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Collectively, our findings elucidate the functional roles of class I HDACi in enhancing CAR-T cell function, which provides the basis and therapeutic targets for synergic combination of CAR-T cell therapy and HDACi treatment.

Allelopathy is considered an environmentally friendly and resource-conserving approach to weed control because allelochemicals degrade easily and cause less pollution than traditional chemical herbicides. In this study, the allelopathic active constituents of Artemisia argyiwere elucidated by activity-guided isolation and ultraperformance liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC–QTOF-MS). First, a crude extract prepared in water was fractionated using macroporous resin D101 to obtain three fractions (Fr.A–C). Combined with the allelopathic activity assay on Setaria viridisand Portulaca oleracea, Fr.C was determined to be the most active fraction. We identified 14 compounds in the active fraction (Fr.C) using UPLC–QTOF-MS, including 13 phenolic compounds. Accordingly, phenolic components have been suggested as the main allelochemicals in A. argyi. Thereafter, Fr.C was further isolated by octadecylsilyl (ODS) chromatography to obtain eight subfractions (Fr.C-1–Fr.C-8). Finally, isochlorogenic acid A (ICGAA) was purified from Fr.C-3 by semipreparative liquid chromatography, which was detected in the growth environment of A. argyi. Furthermore, we evaluated the allelopathic effects of ICGAA on six weeds from different families and genera for the first time. The results showed that ICGAA is a novel allelochemical with broad herbicidal activity. In addition, we analyzed the inhibitory effect and molecular mechanism of ICGAA on the growth of S. viridisseedlings. Optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed the degradation of membrane structures and organelles after ICGAA treatment. Transcriptome and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis showed that ICGAA inhibited the growth of weeds mainly by inhibiting the diterpenoid biosynthesis pathway (especially gibberellins, GAs). The decrease of gibberellin (GA) contents after ICGAA treatment also confirmed these results. In brief, this study provides new material sources and theoretical support for developing biological herbicides for agroecosystems.

Background: MicroRNA is a type of non-coding RNA molecule whose length is about 22 nucleotides. The growing evidence shows that microRNA makes critical regulations in the development of complex diseases, such as cancers, and cardiovascular diseases. Predicting potential microRNA-disease associations can provide a new perspective to achieve a better scheme of disease diagnosis and prognosis. However, there is a challenge to predict some potential essential microRNAs only with few known associations. Objective: In this paper, we propose a novel method, named as a constrained strategy for predicting microRNA-disease associations called CPMDA, which can predict some potential essential microRNAs only with few known associations. Methods: We firstly construct a disease similarity network and microRNA similarity network to preprocess the microRNAs with none available associations. Then, we apply probabilistic factorization to obtain two feature matrices of microRNA and disease. Meanwhile, we formulate a similarity feature matrix as constraints in the factorization process. Finally, we utilize obtained feature matrixes to identify potential associations for all diseases. Result and Conclusion: The results indicate that CPMDA is superior over other methods in predicting potential microRNA-disease associations. Moreover, the evaluation shows that CPMDA has a strong effect on microRNAs with few known associations. In case studies, CPMDA also demonstrated the effectiveness to infer unknown microRNA-disease associations for those novel diseases and microRNAs.

A CoP/graphene composite was synthesized through a coprecipitation and in situ phosphorization protocol using α-Co(OH)2and graphene oxide as precursors. The similar two-dimensional layered structures ensured evenly attached α-Co(OH)2nanosheets on the graphene oxide support and the formation of a sandwich-like structure. The sequential in situ phosphorization strategy not only generated a high density of ultrafine CoP nanocrystals but also simultaneously reduced the graphene oxide support. The enough exposed active sites combined with a highly conductive matrix resulted in an excellent electrochemical catalyst for overall water splitting. The overpotential is only 125 mV at 10 mA·cm2in 0.5 M H2SO4. Good electrocatalytic performance was also exhibited in alkaline conditions for both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The overpotential is 119 mV for HER and 374 mV for OER at 10 mA·cm2in 1 M KOH. More importantly, the composite exhibited much higher exchange current densities during HER processes (1.64 × 10–4A·cm–2in 0.5 M H2SO4and 2.93 × 10–4A·cm–2in 1 M KOH) when compared with similar materials reported before. This low-cost, simple, and efficient approach is suitable for mass production and practical applications.

To realize the resource and high-value utilization, a new approach, named bagasse lignin (BL) used to produce aryl oxygen-containing compounds by catalytic pyrolysis over perovskite, was proposed. LaTi0.2Fe0.8O3(LTF) samples prepared by the sol-gel method (SG) and the solid-state reaction method (SS) were characterized. The catalytic action on BL pyrolysis was performed by the test of TG-DTG and the evaluation of the fixed bed micro-reactor, the components and contents of the products were determined. The results show that LTF samples have cubic perovskite phase, LTF prepared by SG (LTF-SG) is porous with larger specific surface area than LTF prepared by SS (LTF-SS). During the pyrolysis of BL, the addition of LTF lowers the pyrolysis temperature and the activation energy, the contents of CO2and CO in gaseous products reduce by 4.6%–8.0% and 30.7%–34.3%, respectively, the total content of aryl oxygen-containing compounds (including phenolics, guaiacols, syringols and phenylates) in liquid products increases from 62 wt% to more than 72 wt%, and LTF-SG shows better catalytic performance. LTF samples have nice phase and catalytic stabilities for BL pyrolysis after five successive redox cycles.

This paper presents simulation results for double nanohole and inverted bowtie nanoapertures optimized to resonate in the short-wave infrared regime (1050 nm and 1550 nm). These geometries have shown great promise for trapping nanoparticles with applications in optical engineering, physics, and biology. Using a finite element analysis tool, we found that the outline length for inverted bowtie nanoapertures in a 100 nm thick gold film with a 20 nm gap dimension having an optimized transmission resonance for 1050 nm and 1550 nm optical wavelengths is 106.5 nm and 188.5 nm, respectively. With the same gap size, the radii of the circles for the double nanohole nanoapertures are 72 nm and 128 nm. The near-field enhancements of the two structures are almost the same, while the double nanohole geometries have a 20% larger full width at half-maximum than the inverted bowtie. Next, by studying the effect of changing the inner radii of the inverted bowtie corners, we found that the difference between 2 nm and 6 nm corner radii can blue-shift the optical resonance by up to 45 nm. As a result of not having any inner corners, the double nanohole structure requires less precise fabrication and therefore could potentially have a higher successful yield of nanoapertures during the manufacturing process. Lastly, we will show experimental results that confirm the optical resonance of the nanoapertures at 1550 nm. These results will enable better performance and signal-to-noise ratio in nanoaperture trapping for the short-wave infrared wavelength regime.

By using Huygens–Fresnel diffraction integral formula and the transfer matrix method, the analytical expression of radially and azimuthally polarized chirped Airy–Gaussian vortex beams through left-handed materials and right-handed materials can be obtained. We study the effects of the chirp factor and the distribution factor on the radially and azimuthally polarized chirped Airy–Gaussian vortex beams in the propagation process, including the light intensity, the phase distribution, the propagation path, the peak intensity, and the radiation force. The focal position of the beams can be adjusted by the chirp parameter.

In urban areas with many buildings, the scatterers located within one pixel can be assumed to be discrete and sparse (m= 0, 1, or 2). When the abrupt motions of sparse scatterers only happen in a single synthetic aperture radar (SAR) acquisition, these motions cannot be calculated using 2‐D or 3‐D frequency spectrum estimation method based on traditional differential Tomography SAR model. In this paper, a novel approach is proposed to solve this issue. By compensating a phase factor from the acquisition which has an abrupt motion and then maximizing the 3D Elevation‐Linear motion‐Amplitude of periodic motion spectrum at the scatterers locations, the final abrupt motions of the scatterers could be calculated. For the scatterers simulated, the estimation accuracy of the locations along elevation direction, linear motions velocity, the amplitudes of seasonal periodic motions, the amplitudes of relative scattering values, and the abrupt motions in the last acquisition are shown. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve high accuracy for no‐noise situation. The root‐mean‐square errors of the abrupt motions estimation are also acceptable (about 1–2 mm) when the signal‐to‐noise ratio = 10 and 8 dB. Thus, the estimation accuracy of the proposed algorithm can also fulfill the practical applications requirement. The abrupt motions of sparse scatterers in differential tomography SAR imaging could be estimated using the proposed methodThe motions of sparse scatterers include linear motion, seasonal periodic motion, and abrupt motionIn the simulation, the case when the abrupt motion happens at the last acquisition is analyzed

A simple, low-cost, fluorine-free, and ecofriendly method was applied to prepare a novel superhydrophobic Zn–Fe alloy coating on the surface of carbon steel. First of all, the Zn–Fe coating was obtained in an alkaline glycerol non-cyanide Zn–Fe plating solution. Then tetradecanoic acid was grafted onto the Zn–Fe coating by a coordination reaction, leading to a superhydrophobic surface. The water contact angle was up to 166° and the sliding angle was 4°. The as-prepared superhydrophobic coating exhibited high performances, such as strong adhesion to the substrate, impact resistance, self-cleaning, antifouling, and anticorrosion. Importantly, until now, few reports focus on the use of a non-cyanide alkaline glycerol plating bath for electrodeposition, which is green, composition-stable, and corrosion-free for devices. In addition, the growth mechanism of the Echinopsis multiplex-like hierarchical micro/nanostructure of the superhydrophobic surface was studied in detail.

A series of LaM0.2Fe0.8O3(M = Fe, Cu, Al, Ti) samples synthesized by the sol–gel method were used to catalyze the pyrolysis of bagasse alkali lignin (BAL) to produce aryl oxygen-containing compounds. The effects of doping metal ions in the B-site of LaFeO3were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer. Furthermore, the catalytic pyrolysis performances of the perovskites were evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis and the fixed-bed microreactor, and the gaseous and liquid pyrolysis products were analyzed by GC and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), respectively. The results indicated that the perovskites have a cubic crystal phase, porous structure, and large specific surface area. After doping Cu, Al, and Ti ions in the B-site of perovskites, the grain sizes were refined, the performance of catalyzing BAL pyrolysis was improved, and the yields of liquid pyrolysis products increased by 24.1–39.1%. The selectivities of CO2and CO in gaseous products decreased by 5.8–16.3 and 26.0–34.8%, respectively, which resulted from the inhibition of decarboxylation and decarbonylation. The total selectivities of target products, i.e., aryl oxygen-containing compounds (including phenolics, guaiacols, syringols, and phenylates) obtained from BAL pyrolysis catalyzed using perovskites were all greater than 74 wt %, which was higher than that obtained from the pyrolysis of pure BAL (62 wt %) in the absence of catalyst. After 5 cycles of redox reaction, the perovskite still showed a well-maintained structural and catalytic stability.

A new approach, named production of aryl oxygen-containing compounds from the catalytic pyrolysis of bagasse lignin (BL) over perovskite oxide, was proposed. A series of LaTixFe1−xO3(LTF-x) samples were prepared by the solid state reaction method. The crystal phase and morphology of LTF-xwere characterized by XRD and SEM respectively. Catalytic pyrolysis performance of LTF-xwas performed by TG-DTG and the distribution patterns of gaseous, liquid and solid products from BL was investigated using a fixed-bed micro-reactor. The optimal reaction conditions were determined: the pyrolysis temperature was 600 °C, the mass ratio of mBL:mLTF-0.2was 3:1, the velocity of carrier gas was 100 ml·min−1. The gaseous products were mainly composed of CO2, CO, CH4and CnHm(n = 2–4, m = 2n + 2 or m = 2n). The main aryl oxygen-containing compounds in liquid products were phenolics, guaiacols, syringols and phenylates, the rest were benzenes, furans, esters and carboxylic acid. The total contents of aryl oxygen-containing compounds were from 62% up to more than 72% under the action of the perovskite. Moreover, the LTF-0.2 sample had nice regenerability.

A new method for regulating the synthesis of NiMgFe hydrotalcites (NMF LDHs) with the addition of hydroxyl compounds was proposed. A series of NMF LDHs were prepared by the above method, and then were calcined to obtain the NiMgFeOx(NMFOx) samples. The NMFOxsamples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TG-DTG, XPS and CO2-TPD, respectively. The catalytic performance of NMFOxfor depolymerizing calcium lignosulfonate (CLS) was evaluated by hydrothermal reaction. The results showed that the addition of hydroxyl compounds favored reducing the particle sizes of NMF LDHs. For the depolymerization of CSL, the yield of liquid product increased from 45% to 75.8% with the addition of NMFOx-ethanol (NMFOx-ET). The liquid products were mainly phenolics, aromatics, ketones and esters. The total selectivity of oxy-containing compounds was over 90.6%, among them, the phenolics were approximately 35.2%. The valence of Ni and Fe, crystalline phase and basicity almost remained unchanged. The NMFOx-ET samples were recycled for the depolymerization of CLS, moreover, the NMFOx-ET samples had high activity and stability after 4 cycles.

LaTi0.2Fe0.8O3(LTF) was prepared by the sol-gel method, and the effects of calcination temperature on the structure and properties were investigated. A new method of preparing aryl oxygen-containing compounds from bagasse lignin (BL) by the catalytic pyrolysis over LTF was proposed. The results show that LTF has cubic crystal phase and porous structure and its optimal calcination temperature is 800 °C (LTF-800). In the test for catalytic pyrolysis of BL, with the addition of LTF-800, the yield of liquid product reaches the maximum; the contents of phenolics, guaiacols, syringols, phenylates and furans increase obviously, while those of benzenes, esters and carboxylic acid decrease. The total content of aryl oxygen-compounds (including phenolics, guaiacols, syringols and phenylates) in liquid product is more than 74 wt% with the addition of LTF-800, larger than that obtained by single BL pyrolysis (62 wt%). LTF could avoid oxygen-containing functional groups from being excessively destroyed. It has nice regeneration performance by controlled combustion of char even after 5 cycles.

A new process, named one-step valorization of calcium lignosulfonate (CSL), has been proposed and used to produce phenolics via the addition of solid base oxides in a hydrothermal reaction system. A series of solid base oxides derived from layered double hydroxides (LDHs) were prepared by introducing ethanol. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric (TG) and derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) analyses, temperature-programmed desorption of CO2(CO2-TPD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Catalytic tests revealed that the liquid yield was approximately 75.82% under the action of NiMgFeOxduring CSL depolymerization. Meanwhile, the solid residue accounted for only 19.71%, and the rest of the gaseous product was composed primarily of CO2. In the liquid product, the selectivity of phenolics was approximately 78.75% (24.19% phenol, 46.94% guaiacol, and 7.62% syringol). The gel permeation chromatography (GPC) analysis of the tetrahydrofuran soluble residues showed that CSL was efficiently depolymerized. Moreover, NiMgFeOxwas recyclable and exhibited no significant loss of its catalytic activity after four runs.

The inhibition capacity of bound-polyphenol rich insoluble dietary fiber (BP-IDF) from highland barley to carbonyl compounds was studied during in vitrogastrointestinal (GI) digestion. More than 97% of fiber-bound polyphenols were still presented in highland barley BP-IDF (HBBP-IDF) after GI digestion. The fiber-bound polyphenols in HBBP-IDF effectively inhibit carbonyls when simultaneously digested with cookies and French fries and exhibited more pronounced effect during gastric digestion stage, with inhibition of 63.4% for methylglyoxal, 54.3% for glyoxal, 47.6% for malondialdehyde and 42.4% for 4-hydroxy-2-nonenel, respectively. These findings suggest that HBBP-IDF could be use as functional ingredients able to inhibit the formation of carbonyls during digestion process and maintain healthful digestive tract environment.

Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS), as the major DNA sensor, initiates DNA-stimulated innate immune responses and is essential for a healthy immune system. Although some regulators of cGAS have been reported, it still remains largely unclear how cGAS is precisely and dynamically regulated and how many potential regulators govern cGAS. Here we carry out proximity labeling of cGAS with TurboID in cells and identify a number of potential cGAS-interacting or -adjacent proteins. Deubiquitinase OTUD3, one candidate identified in cytosolic cGAS-DNA complex, is further validated to not only stabilize cGAS but also enhance cGAS enzymatic activity, which eventually promotes anti-DNA virus immune response. We show that OTUD3 can directly bind DNA and is recruited to the cytosolic DNA complex, increasing its association with cGAS. Our findings reveal OTUD3 as a versatile cGAS regulator and find one more layer of regulatory mechanism in DNA-stimulated innate immune responses.

The production of H2and O2from solar-light photocatalytic water splitting has attracted significant research attention as a clean and renewable source of energy. In this study, hydrogenated TiO2/SrTiO3porous microspheres were prepared as a high-performance photocatalyst. Titanium glycerolate and then strontium complex precursors were first prepared via a two-step solvothermal process, then, after calcination in air and subsequent H2/Ar reduction treatments, hydrogenated TiO2/SrTiO3porous microspheres with controllable defects and band positions were prepared. Several characterization techniques were used to demonstrate that the catalyst heterostructures, the oxygen-vacancy content, and the unique porous structures synergistically enhanced the visible-light harvesting abilities and photogenerated charge separation, and resulted in improved photocatalytic efficiency for H2and O2evolution. As expected, the optimum treatment conditions provided hydrogenated TiO2/SrTiO3porous microspheres that showed excellent photocatalytic activity with H2and O2evolution rates of 239.97 and 103.79 μmol h−1(50 mg catalyst, under AM 1.5 irradiation), respectively, which were ca. 5.9 and 6.6 times higher, respectively, than those of solid TiO2/SrTiO3materials. Thus, this type of hydrogenated TiO2/SrTiO3porous microsphere catalyst shows great potential as a photocatalyst for solar-energy conversion applications.

Highland barley (HB), oats, and unpolished rice (UR) are known to inhibit starch digestion. β-Glucan and structural barriers are the main factors contributing to low digestibility; however, the hypoglycaemic mechanism of these grains is still unclear. Here, food systems in the forms of flour and chymes were constructed to understand their roles. There was little difference in starch digestibility for the flours of the various grains. We speculated that β-glucan in flours could not delay digestion, and the low viscosity of gelatinised HB flour supported this hypothesis. The digestibility of chymes was lower than flours, especially for HB chyme. After cooking, more bran structures and granular starch were still observed in the HB kernels. The digested grain structure showed that the starch hydrolysis level of UR and oats was higher than that of HB. Also, the starches in the bran encapsulated exhibited a good ability of anti-hydrolysis than those in the exposed endosperm. These results all indicate that intact physical structures effectively hindered gelatinisation and digestion. This study demonstrates that structural barriers exert a more important effect on starch bioaccessibility than β-glucan, which can provide useful guidance for glycaemia management.

Rose jam is a Chinese traditional food, usually preserved from rose petals and sugar. There were few metabolomics studies on rose petals accompanying pickling. We conducted a LC-MS/MS based metabolomics study to feature the dynamics profiles of rose jam nutrients. The rose jams with 10-, 20- and 30-days’ sugar-pickling under different sun-exposure gradients were analyzed.

A medical school in China engaged in reform in 2009 by adapting the medical curriculum of the University of Chicago, USA. Freshmen volunteered for the reform and 50 were randomly selected while the rest remained in the traditional curriculum. In 2014 a study was conducted to determine whether the views of traditional and reform curriculum students on their respective educational experience differed and to identify reform areas that needed improvement. A survey was administered to graduating students to gauge their views on basic science and clinical science education, clerkships, general medical education, and readiness for residency training. Frequency distributions, Mann-Whitney U tests, and Chi-squared tests were used for analysis. Reform curriculum students were more positive about their basic science and clinical science instruction. Clerkships were only somewhat satisfactory to students in both curricula. Reform curriculum students were more likely than those following the traditional curriculum to consider instruction in clinical decision-making and patient care as ‘adequate’. Instruction in population health was considered inadequate by the majority of students. Reform curriculum students were more confident about their preparedness for residency. The traditional curriculum was in need of reform. Reform has been effectively implemented and has increased student confidence and satisfaction with their education although there is room for improvement.

ObjectiveThe relationship between the QRS duration, severity of mechanical dyssynchrony and effi cacy of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is poorly understood. We determined if QRS duration shortening in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy after treatment with CRT was predictive of left ventricular (LV) reverse remodelling.MethodsThirty patients with dilated cardiomyopathy were enrolled. Electrocardiographic and echocardiographic recordings were obtained before and 6 months after CRT. Patients were classifi ed as CRT responders or non-responders based on their echocardiographic parameters 6 months following CRT.ResultsAfter 6 months of CRT, 9 patients (30%) were classifi ed as non-responders. Surprisingly, no signifi cant diff erences in any of the preoperative metrics were found between CRT responders and non-responders. In sharp contrast, the postoperative parameters of the CRT responder group had signifi cantly improved compared to the non-responder group. The average QRS duration of the CRT responders was signifi cantly shorter than that of the non-responders (-37 ± 23 ms vs 0 ± 23 ms; P< 0.01). The relationships between preoperative parameters, the change in QRS duration and LV end-diastolic diameter were analysed for each patient using multi-linear correlation and regression analyses. We found that the change in QRS duration positively correlated with the change in LV end-diastolic diameter (R = 0.583, P= 0.001). Furthermore, multi-linear regression analysis suggested that changes in QRS duration had a signifi cant eff ect on LV end-diastolic diameter (y = 9.739 + 0.272 x, P= 0.006).ConclusionCRT-mediated changes in the QRS duration are predictive of LV reverse remodelling in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Paramyotonia congenita (PC) is a rare autosomal dominant neuromuscular disorder characterized by juvenile onset and development of cold-induced myotonia after repeated activities. The disease is mostly caused by genetic mutations of the sodium channel, voltage-gated, type IV, alpha subunit (SCN4A) gene. This study intended to systematically identify the causative genetic variations of a Chinese Han PC family. Seven members of this PC family, including four patients and three healthy controls, were selected for whole exome sequencing (WES) using the Illumina HiSeq platform. Sequence variations were identified using the SoftGenetics program. The mutation R1448C of SCN4A was found to be the only causative mutation. This study applied WES technology to sequence multiple members of a large PC family and was the first to systematically confirm that the genetic change in SCN4A is the only causative variation in this PC family and the SCN4A mutation is sufficient to lead to PC.

In the present paper, conventional self-consolidating concrete (SCC) incorporating 40% Class F fly ash (FA) replacement for cement, and semi-flowable self-consolidating concrete (SFSCC) incorporating 40% FA and 15% metakaolin (MK) replacement for cement, with or without 1% nano-limestone (nanoLS) addition, were studied. Properties of the fresh concrete mixtures, such as air content, slump flow, and J-ring flow were tested. Properties of the hardened concretes, such as compressive strength, rapid chloride permeability, freezing–thawing resistance, and free drying shrinkage were examined. The results indicated that SCC mixture with 40% FA replacement displayed good workability and adequate compressive strength (33 MPa) at 28 days. In addition to enhancing strength (especially at early ages) and durability, MK also improved shape-holding ability of SFSCC. Addition of nanoLS further increased concrete strength and freezing–thawing resistance and reduced concrete permeability.

•Vitamin E has limited therapeutic effect and even cause side effect in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) children.•Vitamin E may increase fasting glucose level in NAFLD children.•The usage of vitamin E in NAFLD children should be careful.

Water resources are one of the most precious resources on the earth. Faced with the increasingly severe shortage of water, human awareness of water conservation is constantly increasing. This paper analyzes the time series of annual average water consumption in China from 2004 to 2016 and the influencing factors for 13 years. It is concluded that China's per capital water consumption is mainly affected by total water supply, total surface water supply, total ground water supply, total agricultural water supply and total industrial water supply, and the influence of these five factors are all positive, however, it is worth noting that the real factor affecting China's per capital water consumption is the total amount of water used for agriculture and industry, which has nothing to do with the total amount of domestic water.