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Cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) is one of the most aggressive and lethal types of skin cancer. Cytoskeletal remodeling is a key factor in the progression of CMM. Previous research has shown that activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) inhibits metastasis in bladder cancer by regulating actin cytoskeleton remodeling through gelsolin. However, whether ATF3 plays a similar role in cytoskeletal remodeling in CMM cells remains unknown. Various gene and protein expression analyses were performed using techniques such as reverse transcription quantitative PCR, western blot, immunofluorescent staining, and immunohistochemical staining. CMM viability, migration, and invasion were examined through cell counting kit-8 and transwell assays. The interactions between cell division cycle 42 (CDC42) and ATF3 were investigated using chromatin immunoprecipitation and dual-luciferase reporter assays. CDC42 was upregulated in CMM tissues and cells. Cytoskeletal remodeling of CMM cells, as well as CMM cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, were inhibited by CDC42 or ATF3. ATF3 targeted the CDC42 promoter region to regulate its transcriptional activity. ATF3 suppresses cytoskeletal remodeling in CMM cells, thereby inhibiting CMM progression and metastasis through CDC42. This research may provide a foundation for using ATF3 as a therapeutic target for CMM.

For conventional operation, the submodules of a static synchronous compensator based on a T-type converter with modular multilevel dc-link require high capacitance to suppress capacitor voltage ripple. Being different from that, an intriguing discovery reveals the capacitor voltage ripple is in phase with arm voltage in capacitive reactive power mode and opposite in inductive reactive power mode. As a result, a low-capacitance operation is proposed by exploiting this intriguing discovery. To better accommodate the proposed low-capacitance operation, this article presents a hierarchical control strategy that integrates a single PI controller, a model predictive control with a single objective, and an enhanced algorithm for sorting capacitor voltages. Finally, simulation and experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed low-capacitance operation and its hierarchical control strategy.

Cascaded cost volume-based stereo matching has gained significant attention for its ability to produce high-resolution depth maps with efficient hardware utilization. However, previous methods often perform uniform offset sampling within a predicted disparity range, which can easily overlook the ground-truth disparity, leading to error propagation and accumulation. Moreover, these methods lack specific designs to tackle spatial feature misalignment, which limits their effectiveness in real-time applications. In this article, we introduce a lightweight cascaded stereo matching framework that features a disparity range scaling (DRS) module and a spatial feature calibration (SFC) module. The DRS module adaptively adjusts the disparity sampling range and constructs a new cost volume that incorporates finer semantic features, ensuring that computational and memory resources are focused on more critical regions. The SFC module performs selective sampling and calibration to extract the most informative and representative features at each position, effectively mitigating spatial feature misalignment. Through rigorous experiments across SceneFlow, KITTI 2012, and KITTI 2015, our model’s effectiveness and efficiency have been confirmed, demonstrating that it outperforms other speed-based algorithms while remaining competitive with state-of-the-art approaches.

When selecting the spatial grid size in finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations, it is necessary to balance numerical dispersion and computational resources. Coarser grids are less computationally intensive but decrease simulation accuracy, while finer grids can reduce numerical dispersion and enhance accuracy at the cost of increased simulation time. To address this challenge, this letter introduces a super-resolution deep learning network (SR-FDTDNet), which aims to improve FDTD simulation methods. SR-FDTDNet seeks to uncover the implicit mapping between coarse-grid and fine-grid simulation fields, enabling the reconstruction of fine-grid simulations from coarse-grid FDTD simulations. It can capture local information in the spatial and temporal dimensions of simulation data and model long-term dependencies through parallel computing, effectively addressing the complexity of FDTD simulation data. Results from practical electromagnetic simulation scenarios demonstrate that SR-FDTDNet significantly improves simulation efficiency while maintaining high accuracy in reconstructing fine-grid simulation fields.

High-entropy ceramics are an emerging class of materials with fascinating characteristics. However, elemental immiscibility and crystal complexity limit the development of a general synthesis strategy, and common methods yield bulk materials. Here, we introduce a transformative non-equilibrium flame aerosol technique for synthesizing high-entropy nanoceramics. This scalable, one-step process enables the production of high-entropy oxide nanoceramics with an unprecedented diversity of crystal structures, including fluorite-phase materials that integrate up to 22 distinct cation elements. The method’s capacity for entropic stabilization and grain refinement significantly improves the thermal stability of these nanostructures. In a representative application, a Pt-(MgCoNiCuZn)O high-entropy single-atom catalyst showed superior activity and long-term stability, maintaining constant CO2conversion over 670 h and dramatically outperforming conventional catalysts. The general approach opens a vast composition and structure space for the creation of high-entropy oxide nanomaterials for application across diverse fields, including catalysis, energy storage, sensing, and thermal management.

The interphase is vital for optimizing the mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced B4C ceramics. In this study, the TiB2interface composed of one or several layers of fine TiB2grains was in-situ formed between B4C and SiC fibers by introducing Ti3SiC2-coated SiCfinto B4C matrix. The TiB2interface not only obviously reduced the densification temperature of the B4C ceramics, but also enhanced the mechanical properties. The micro-mechanics modeling was performed to investigate the weak interphase and thermal residual stress distribution induced by TiB2, where the stress tend to deflect or propagate at the fiber-matrix interface, compared to B₄C-SiCfceramics. The particle toughening inside the TiB2interface layer and stress transfer at the weak interface were identified as the major factors for the improvement of fracture toughness in this system. These results provide valuable guidance for improving the comprehensive performance of B4C-SiCfceramic composites by interface regulation in future investigations.

A novel static model of planetary roller screw mechanisms (PRSMs) is proposed to obtain the load distribution over threads by an energy method. The energy method consists of the structural potential energy and an optimization problem. The potential energy is calculated by structural discretization. And the optimization problem, whose objective is the structural potential energy, is obtained by combining the principle of minimum potential energy with the forces balance constraints. The load distribution is the result of the optimization problem. A finite element model is established for validation. Compared with previous models, the proposed model has lower complexity and higher precision. To further verify the reliability and practicability of the proposed model, effects of the nut position, shaft diameter, and number of roller threads on the load distribution are analyzed based on the proposed model. The results show that the nut position has little influence on the load distribution. The shaft diameter and number of roller threads significantly impact the load distribution.

The driving test is the only way to verify that learner drivers have acquired the competencies stipulated in the national curriculum. Therefore, exploring the key factors that influence the outcome of the driving test is of particular importance in assisting learner drivers to gain solid behind-the-wheel skills. Interpretable machine learning (ML) is employed to analyze the probability of learner drivers’ passing the driving skills test (called the Subject 2 test in China) using a data set comprising personal characteristics, training mode, frequency of driving errors, deducted points, percentage of qualified training times, and score of constructed graphs related to driving behaviors. The data are collected from a driving school in China. A prediction model of the Subject 2 test outcome is constructed by adapting the Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) ML method. Furthermore, the SHapley Additive exPlanation (SHAP) is employed to explore the relationships between key influencing factors and the aforementioned outcome. The results indicate that the LightGBM predicts the outcome of the Subject 2 test effectively. The deducted points in the real car training (DP-RC) and the frequency of driving errors in virtual reality (VR) training (FE-VR) have a significant impact on the probability of passing the Subject 2 test.

AbstractBackgroundPostoperative gastrointestinal complications (GICs) were potentially fatal to patients who underwent aortic arch surgery. The aim of this study was to construct a prediction model of GICs.MethodsWe retrospectively studied the medical records of 3063 patients who underwent aortic arch surgery. Patients were randomly divided into derivation and validation cohorts at a ratio of 4:1. A nomogram was constructed in the derivation cohort.ResultsA total of 157 patients with GICs were identified. In the derivation cohort, multivariate analysis identified six predictors of GICs including hypertension, ASA classification, preinduction MAP, aortic cross-clamp time, CPB time, and intraoperative transfusion of red blood cells. Compared with the patients without GICs, the patients with GICs had higher mortality, and longer ICU and hospital stays. We also divided the patients into four intervals according to the risk of GICs.ConclusionsThis study developed a reliable prediction model of GICs after aortic arch surgery. This prediction model had been well verified in our research centre, and further external verification was required before it can be recommended for clinical application.

Graphical Abstract:

In order to study the effect of design parameters on the contact performance of cycloid reducer, a new contact collision force model applicable to various restitution coefficients is proposed. Firstly, based on the L-N nonlinear contact theory and improved Winkler model, a contact force model with contact depth index and damping was proposed. Secondly, Hertzian contact theory was used to clarify the contact area, precise position and relative contact speed between the output pin and the cycloidal wheel in the presence of a clearance. By using the improved contact force model and simulation analysis, the effects of structural design parameters and working condition parameters on contact force were discussed. Finally, with the goal of reducing the contact force and volume of the reducer, the NSGA-II multi-objective genetic algorithm was used to construct an optimization model for the structural parameters of the reducer. The results show that the optimized structural parameters can effectively reduce the contact force of the output mechanism.

The thermal runaway model of a cylindrical ternary lithium-ion battery was constructed in the simulation software. The thermal runaway model was triggered by heating the battery cell. At the same time, two sets of control models were established: one group did not turn on the liquid cooling during the whole process, and the other group turned on the liquid cooling at the moment of the thermal runaway of the heated battery cell. The results show that in the model without liquid cooling, a large amount of heat generated by thermal runaway is transferred to the surrounding cells, causing the surrounding cells to lose control one by one. However, in the control group, because the liquid cooling is turned on at the moment of the cell thermal runaway, the heat generated by the cell thermal runaway is quickly taken away by the coolant, and the temperature of the surrounding cell is lower than the runaway critical value, so there is no thermal runaway, so as to effectively curb the appearance of thermal spread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kawasaki disease (KD), which is also known as cutaneous mucosal lymph node syndrome, is an acute, self-limiting, necrotizing vasculitis with unclear cause that primarily affects small- and medium-sized blood vessels and most commonly affects children aged 6 months to 5 years. Currently, diagnosis is based primarily on typical clinical symptoms. Approximately 15%–20% of patients are highly suspected of having KD; however, they do not match the diagnostic criteria for typical KD, which is referred to as incomplete Kawasaki disease (IKD), and this has become a major challenge in the diagnosis and treatment of KD. We describe a case of a 7-year-old boy who had a fever and jaundice as his initial symptoms. After a series of clinical laboratory and imaging examinations and marked improvement of symptoms after treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), IKD was considered as the diagnosis. When children present with jaundice and fever, physicians should consider KD as a possible diagnosis to ensure early detection and treatment of the disease.

Antiambipolar heterojunctions are regarded as a revolutionary technology in the fields of electronics and optoelectronics, enabling the switch between positive and negative transconductance within a single device, which is crucial for diverse logic circuit applications. This study pioneers a mixed-dimensional photodetector featuring antiambipolar properties, facilitated by the van der Waals integration of one-dimensional CdSxSe1–xnanowires and two-dimensional Te nanosheets. This antiambipolar device enables flexible control over carrier transport via gate voltage, thus paving new paths for future optoelectronic devices. Furthermore, by precisely managing the stoichiometry of the ternary alloy CdSxSe1–xnanowires, fine-tuning of the nanowire band structure is achieved. This allows for customizable heterojunction band alignment (Type I and Type II), enabling adjustable band alignment. Through sophisticated band engineering, optimal Type II band alignment is achieved at the CdSxSe1–x/Te interface, significantly enhancing the device’s photoelectric conversion efficiency through the synergistic effect of different dimensional materials. Exhibiting outstanding photoresponse across a broad spectral range from ultraviolet to near-infrared, especially under 450 nm illumination, the CdSxSe1–x/Te heterojunction photodetector demonstrates superior performance, including an impressive responsivity of 284 A W–1, a high detectivity of 1.07 × 1017Jones, an elevated external quantum efficiency of 7.83 × 104%, and a swift response time of 11 μs. Ultimately, this customizable antiambipolar photodetector lays a solid foundation for the advancement of next-generation optoelectronic technologies.

Smart metal–metal oxide heterointerface construction holds promising potentials to endow an efficient electron redistribution for electrochemical CO2reduction reaction (CO2RR). However, inhibited by the intrinsic linear-scaling relationship, the binding energies of competitive intermediates will simultaneously change due to the shifts of electronic energy level, making it difficult to exclusively tailor the binding energies to target intermediates and the final CO2RR performance. Nonetheless, creating specific adsorption sites selective for target intermediates probably breaks the linear-scaling relationship. To verify it, Ag nanoclusters were anchored onto oxygen vacancy-rich CeO2nanorods (Ag/OV-CeO2) for CO2RR, and it was found that the oxygen vacancy-driven heterointerface could effectively promote CO2RR to CO across the entire potential window, where a maximum CO Faraday efficiency (FE) of 96.3% at −0.9 V and an impressively high CO FE of over 62.3% were achieved at a low overpotential of 390 mV within a flow cell. The experimental and computational results collectively suggested that the oxygen vacancy-driven heterointerfacial charge spillover conferred an optimal electronic structure of Ag and introduced additional adsorption sites exclusively recognizable for *COOH, which, beyond the linear-scaling relationship, enhanced the binding energy to *COOH without hindering *CO desorption, thus resulting in the efficient CO2RR to CO.

This work presents the impact of heavy ion irradiation on vertical-diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (VDMOSFETs), particularly focusing on the ionization and displacement damage pivotal for the operation of devices in space environments. We conducted experiments using irradiation with chlorine, silicon, fluorine, and oxygen ions. Our analysis involves calculating the linear energy transfer (LET) and nonionizing energy loss (NIEL) for various ion incidences, followed by determining the ionizing absorbed dose ( $D _{\mathrm {i}}$ ) and displacement absorbed dose ( $D _{\mathrm {d}}$ ) based on these parameters. Subsequently, we normalized the effects of heavy ion irradiation by examining the threshold voltage shift ( $\Delta V _{\mathrm {TH}}$ ) for ionization damage, and the drain-leakage current variation ( $\Delta I _{\mathrm {DLC}}$ ) and drain-saturation current variation ( $\Delta I _{\mathrm {DSC}}$ ) for displacement damage. Our findings reveal that the displacement damage, characterized by the $\Delta I _{\mathrm {DLC}}$ indicator, serves as a dependable metric for normalizing the impact across varying ion species. This discovery is significant for the equivalent study of different kinds of spaceborne charged ion irradiation in power VDMOS transistors.

Recently proposed leapfrog complying-divergence implicit-finite-difference time-domain (CDI-FDTD) method features many advantages over other unconditionally stable FDTD methods, such as unconditional stability, complying-divergence, and efficient leapfrog scheme with reduced right-hand-side (RHS) flops. This article investigates leapfrog CDI-FDTD schemes with weakly conditional stability. Two novel efficient schemes are proposed for problems with fine structures on one and two dimensions, respectively, namely, the hybrid implicit-explicit (HIE) and weakly conditionally stable (WCS) leapfrog CDI-FDTD. Their update equations and stability analysis are presented. Unification of the two schemes with weakly conditional stability and the unconditionally stable leapfrog CDI-FDTD is also provided. With this unified formulation, different leapfrog CDI-FDTD schemes can be flexibly selected according to the structural features of the problems. Numerical results show that although the proposed schemes are conditionally stable, the proposed schemes have the advantages of both less dispersion errors and higher efficiency over unconditionally stable leapfrog CDI-FDTD. Moreover, since the proposed schemes are formulated in the fundamental form and have complying-divergence, compared to conventional WCS-FDTD and HIE-FDTD, they not only are more efficient but also have less error, especially near the source region.

This article investigates the impact of bismuth-heavy ion and high-energy proton irradiation on single-event burnout (SEB) and complete off-state drain-leakage degradation (CO-DLD) in n-channel 115-V-rated vertical-diffused (VD) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). Initially, bismuth-heavy ion irradiation experiments are conducted to determine the SEB failure threshold voltage (VSEB). CO-DLD is observed, and it is hypothesized that increased temperatures at the source contact and silicon surface may contribute to this degradation. Subsequent experiments with high-energy proton irradiation aim to examine the role of temperature in CO-DLD, eventually discounting it as a contributing factor. Displacement damage is then identified as the principal cause of CO-DLD, with this hypothesis being corroborated by technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations. The comprehensive analysis of both experiments and simulations concludes that temperature-induced source-contact degradation is not the primary driver of CO-DLD. Instead, displacement damage caused by bismuth-heavy ion and high-energy proton irradiation emerges as the predominant mechanism behind CO-DLD. This finding is significant as both experiments and simulations confirm that displacement damage leads to CO-DLD in VDMOS transistors, shedding light on protecting the VDMOS from degrading.

Predicting drug–target interactions (DTIs) is one of the crucial tasks in drug discovery, but traditional wet-lab experiments are costly and time-consuming. Recently, deep learning has emerged as a promising tool for accelerating DTI prediction due to its powerful performance. However, the models trained on limited known DTI data struggle to generalize effectively to novel drug–target pairs. In this work, we propose a strategy to train an ensemble of models by capturing both domain-generic and domain-specific features (E-DIS) to learn diverse domain features and adapt them to out-of-distribution data. Multiple experts were trained on different domains to capture and align domain-specific information from various distributions without accessing any data from unseen domains. E-DIS provides a comprehensive representation of proteins and ligands by capturing diverse features. Experimental results on four benchmark data sets in both in-domain and cross-domain settings demonstrated that E-DIS significantly improved model performance and domain generalization compared to existing methods. Our approach presents a significant advancement in DTI prediction by combining domain-generic and domain-specific features, enhancing the generalization ability of the DTI prediction model.

Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) is frequently used as a plasticizer to enhance the plasticity and durability of agricultural products, which pose adverse effects to human health and the environment. Aquaporin 1 (AQP1) is a main water transport channel protein and is involved in the maintenance of intestinal integrity. However, the impact of DEHP exposure on gut health and its potential mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we determined that DEHP exposure induced a compromised duodenum structure, which was concomitant with mitochondrial structural injury of epithelial cells. Importantly, DEHP exposure caused duodenum inflammatory epithelial cell damage and strong inflammatory response accompanied by activating the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway. Mechanistically, DEHP exposure directly inhibits the expression of AQP1 and thus leads to an inflammatory response, ultimately disrupting duodenum integrity and barrier function. Collectively, our findings uncover the role of AQP1 in phthalate-induced intestinal disorders, and AQP1 could be a promising therapeutic approach for treating patients with intestinal disorders or inflammatory diseases.

In order to achieve visual measurement error compensation for the surface of thin-walled components with chatter, a new real-time adaptive correction method for chatter motion error is proposed in this paper. Firstly, according to the mechanism of the chatter effect, an error analysis model of the dynamic structured light phase principal value is derived. Then, a real-time optimization method for the motion phase error in the frame of structured light projection is proposed. Meanwhile, a compensation method based on an adaptive grating projection period is proposed to eliminate the cumulative error of inter-frame chatter motion. Finally, a structured light visual inspection system and an experimental platform for chattering thin-walled parts are established for experimental verification. The experimental results under slight and severe chatter conditions indicate that the proposed method can optimize the phase errors within the projected frame in real time under any scenario, compensate for the cumulative errors between projected frames, and improve the point cloud accuracy of real-time 3D reconstruction.

Based on previous studies on lactic acid (LA) production from food waste (FW, “cooked” waste from canteens and restaurants), the present study explored the feasibility of LA production from kitchen garbage (KG, “raw” waste from household kitchens). A considerable pretreatment method for fermentable sugar release in KG was investigated, and acid pretreatment was found to significantly promote polysaccharide hydrolysis. Furthermore, the optimal conditions of acid pretreatment were investigated through response surface methodology and determined to be 1.45% (w/v) sulfuric acid, 118.14 °C and 0.66 h, respectively, resulting in a polysaccharide conversion rate of 72.88%. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction revealed that the hemicellulose and lignin of KG were dissolved, which increased polysaccharide conversion in KG during acid pretreatment. Enterococcus mundtiiwas used in LA fermentation because it could metabolize a variety of fermentable sugars, including glucose, xylose, and fructose. Finally, the feasibility of LA production from KG hydrolysate with acid pretreatment was explored, and the maximum LA concentration and yield reached 60.3 g/L and 0.83 g/g total sugar, and 0.31 g/g KG (dry weight), respectively, which were 11% higher than those without acid pretreatment.

ABSTRACTBackgroundThere is an ongoing debate regarding the comparative merits of splenectomy (SP) and splenic preservation in the surgical management of gastric cancer. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to shed light on potential differences in survival outcomes and postoperative complications associated with these two procedures.MethodAn exhaustive literature search was conducted across multiple databases, namely PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. We utilized a random-effects model via RevMan 5.4 software to conduct a meta-analysis of the hazard ratios (HRs) and risk ratios (RRs) associated with SP and spleen preservation. Subgroup analyses were based on various attributes of the included studies. We employed funnel plots to assess publication bias, and sensitivity analysis was conducted to gauge the stability of the combined results. Both funnel plots and sensitivity analysis were performed using Stata 12.ResultOur research incorporated 23 observational studies and three randomized controlled trials, involving a total of 6,255 patients. SP did not yield superior survival outcomes in comparison to splenic preservation, a conclusion that aligns with the combined results of the randomized controlled trials. No statistically significant difference in survival prognosis was observed between SP and splenic preservation, irrespective of whether the patients had proximal gastric cancer or proximal gastric cancer invading the stomach’s greater curvature. SP exhibited a higher incidence of all postoperative complications, notably pancreatic fistula and intraabdominal abscesses. However, it did not significantly differ from splenic preservation in terms of anastomotic leakage, incision infection, intestinal obstruction, intra-abdominal bleeding, and pulmonary infection. No significant difference in postoperative mortality between SP and splenic preservation was found. Funnel plots suggested no notable publication bias, and sensitivity analysis affirmed the stability of the combined outcomes.ConclusionDespite the lack of significant differences in certain individual complications and postoperative mortality, the broader pattern of our data suggests that SP is associated with a greater overall frequency of postoperative complications, without providing additional survival benefits compared to splenic preservation. Thus, the routine implementation of SP is not advocated.

Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), as the most common phthalate, has been extensively used as a plasticizer to improve the plasticity of agricultural products, which pose severe harm to human health. Mitochondrial dynamics and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis are indispensable for maintaining mitochondria-associated ER membrane (MAM) integrity. In this study, we aimed to explore the effect of DEHP on the nervous system and its association with the ER–mitochondria interaction. Here, we showed that DEHP caused morphological changes, motor deficits, cognitive impairments, and blood–brain barrier disruption in the brain. DEHP triggered ER stress, which is mainly mediated by protein kinase R-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK) signaling. Moreover, DEHP-induced mitofusin-2 (Mfn2) downregulation results in imbalance of the mitochondrial dynamics. Interestingly, DEHP exposure impaired MAMs by inhibiting the Mfn2-PERK interaction. Above all, this study elucidates the disruption of the Mfn2-PERK axis-mediated ER–mitochondria interaction as a phthalate-induced neurotoxicity that could be potentially developed as a novel therapy for neurological diseases.

Diabetic nephropathy is a common complication of diabetes, accumulating evidence underscores the pivotal role of tubulointerstitial fibrosis in the progression of diabetic nephropathy. However, the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Although the mechanisms in diabetic nephropathy fibrosis have been the focus of many studies, only limited information is currently available concerning microRNA regulation in tubulointerstitial fibrosis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the roles of miR-320a-3p and bone morphogenetic protein-6 (BMP6) in tubulointerstitial fibrosis. After inducing fibrosis with high glucose in HK-2 cells, we found that miR-320a-3p is significantly up-regulated, whereas BMP6 is markedly down-regulated. These changes suggest close link between miR-320a-3p and BMP6 in tubulointerstitial fibrosis. To elucidate this phenomenon, miR-320a-3p mimic, inhibitor and siBMP6 were employed. We observed in miR-320a-3p mimic group the fibrosis marker include alpha smooth muscle actin and type I collagen was significantly up-regulated, whereas BMP6 exhibited the opposite trend. Additionally, we found icariin could alleviate tubulointerstitial fibrosis by downregulation the miR-320a-3p expression. In conclusion, miR-320a-3p promotes tubulointerstitial fibrosis during the development of DN by suppressing BMP signal pathway activity via inhibiting BMP6 expression. Suggesting that miR-320a-3p represents a potential therapeutic target for tubulointerstitial fibrosis induced by diabetic nephropathy.

The leapfrog alternating direction implicit finite-difference time-domain (ADI-FDTD) method, as an effective implementation of ADI-FDTD, has garnered widespread attention and extension. However, it has been found that the commonly used leapfrog ADI-FDTD method for lossy media exhibits field leakage whereby nonzero electromagnetic fields could leak through structures that should be nonpenetrable, such as perfect electrical conductor structures. This numerical flaw limits the broader application of the leapfrog ADI-FDTD method. To address this issue, this article introduces a leapfrog ADI-FDTD method for lossy media free from field leakage. The method is derived from the unified ADI-FDTD formulation employing the fundamental scheme with matrix-operator-free right-hand sides. Numerical results demonstrate that the method is not only immune to field leakage issue but also yielding higher accuracy when modeling lossy media. Furthermore, due to the utilization of the fundamental scheme, it requires less computational operations compared with the conventional leapfrog ADI-FDTD method for lossy media.

Encapsulating nanomaterials in carbon is one of the main ways to increase the cathode stability, but it is difficult to simultaneously optimize the rate capacity and enhance durability derived from the insufficient ion transport channels and deficient ion adsorption sites that constipate the ion transport and pseudocapacitive reaction. Herein, we develop the ligand-confined growth strategy to encapsulate the nano-Na3V2(PO4)3cathode material in various carbon channels (microporous, mesoporous, and macroporous) to discriminate the optimal carbon channels for synchronously improving rate capacity and holding the high-rate cycle stability. Benefiting from the unobstructed ion/charge transport channels and flexible maskant created by the interconnected mesoporous carbon channels, the prepared Na3V2(PO4)3nanoparticles confined in mesoporous carbon channel (Mes-NVP/C) achieve a discharge-specific capacity of 70 mAh g–1even at the ultrahigh rate of 100 C, higher than those of the Na3V2(PO4)3nanoparticles confined in microporous and macroporous carbon channel (Micr-NVP/C and Macr-NVP/C), respectively. Significantly, the capacity retention rate of Mes-NVP/C after 5000 cycles at 20 C is as high as 90.48%, exceeding most of the reported work. These findings hold great promise for traditional cathode materials to synergistically realize fast charging ability and long cycle life.

We propose a programmable topological metasurface to integrate intelligent modulations of spatial and surface waves. A general design method is presented to design the programmable metasurface elements with PIN diodes. The surface waves can be controlled to propagate along the topological domain-wall interface by programming the C3-symmetry elements, while the spatial waves are modulated by the patterns of C6-symmetry elements. By independently controlling the bias voltages of meta-elements, the programmable topological metasurface can generate different coding patterns with distinct combinations of C3- and C6-symmetries in real time, respectively achieving the dynamical manipulation of the surface- and spatial-wave by using distinct element states in a time-division manner. To validate the modulation performance, we perform both near- and far-field tests with different coding patterns. Experimental results demonstrate good agreement with numerical simulations, thereby showcasing the flexible manipulations of surface waves and spatial waves by the topological metasurface. The proposed metasurface opens up new possibilities for multifunctional metadevices, which hold great potentials for future wireless communications and smart sensing systems.

Background: The accurate locating of fault sections in a distribution network can lay an effective foundation for the rapid processing of faults. However, the waveform of highresistance grounding faults is relatively weak, which increases the difficulty of fault feature extraction and localization. In addition, the complex operating conditions and interference factors of the actual distribution network can affect the fault section localization method, leading to incorrect location problems.Objective: In order to overcome the limitations of existing fault section localization methods on fault resistance values and application scenarios, a fault section localization method for distribution networks based on synchronous phasor measurement is proposed in this paper.Methods: Firstly, the transient zero sequence equivalent network of single-phase to ground faults in the distribution network is analyzed, revealing the differences in zero-sequence current within different sections of the faulty line. At the same time, based on the zero-sequence current waveform recorded by the waveform measurement device in actual distribution network, the characteristics of the waveform in different sections in the time and frequency domains are analyzed. Furthermore, a fault feature extraction method based on wavelet packet transform is proposed to construct fault differential features for different sections. Then, the grey correlation analysis method is adopted to calculate the correlation coefficients between different sections to construct locating criteria, thereby achieving accurate locating of fault sections in distribution network.Results: The experimental results using field data indicate that the localization accuracy can reach 98.90%, and the calculation time is about 102.65 ms, which has high localization accuracy and localization efficiency.Conclusion: Through analysis and relevant experiments, it is concluded that the proposed method can accurately locate faults in actual distribution networks, and still has correct locating results for high resistance grounding faults. The effectiveness of the method has been verified.

Uncertainty evaluation is essential in critical dimension small-angle X-ray scattering (CD-SAXS) as it reflects the reliability of the measurement results. In this work, we introduce a new version of the bootstrap method for uncertainty evaluation in CD-SAXS to obtain both mean values and their associated uncertainties of nanostructure parameters. We further incorporate a more suitable centered bootstrap percentile method and a bias correction procedure for skewed bootstrap distributions in CD-SAXS. Subsequently, we conduct simulations and measurements on CD-SAXS using both 1-D and 2-D gratings. The accuracy of the proposed method is verified by comparison with the optical critical dimension (OCD), and the precision of the proposed method is verified by comparison with the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. The results indicate that the proposed bootstrap method is an effective candidate for uncertainty evaluation in CD-SAXS and other model-based measurement techniques.

Since the implementation of the transportation power strategy, China’s transportation industry has developed rapidly, yet the number of road traffic accidents has remained high in recent years. Many scholars have investigated the factors influencing traffic accidents to find the underlying mechanisms, thereby enhancing road traffic safety. Compared to general accidents, the factors influencing major road traffic accidents are more complex. This study focuses on examining the relationships between factors affecting major road traffic accidents. Data on 968 major road traffic accidents from 2012 to 2018 in China were collected and organized. The accident information fields were analyzed to identify seven attributes: accident province, accident region, accident quarter, accident time, accident form, accident vehicle, and weather condition. The Apriori association rule algorithm was employed to mine and solve the strong association rules between accident attribute values. The associations between different influencing factors and the form of accident results were analyzed, with a deeper exploration of three-factor and four-factor rules. The results indicate that certain causal factors jointly contribute to major accidents, particularly in the western region, represented by Guangxi. These accidents mainly involved trucks and occurred in rainy and snowy weather during the first quarter. The conclusions of this research can provide the transportation management department with measures to improve urban road traffic safety and reduce the occurrence of traffic accidents.

Erectile dysfunction ranks among the prevalent sexual disorders in men. Several studies have indicated a potential link between gut microbiota and erectile dysfunction. To validate this potential association, we were to screen statistical data from genome-wide association studies of gut microbiota and erectile dysfunction. pvalues of less than 1 × 10−5were set as the threshold for screening instrumental variables that were strongly associated with gut microbiota. At the same time, in order to obtain more convincing findings, we further excluded instrumental variables with possible chain imbalance, instrumental variables with the presence of palindromes, instrumental variables with F-statistics less than 10, and instrumental variables associated with risk factors for erectile dysfunction. Five methods including inverse-variance weighted method, weighted median method, weighted mode, Mendelian randomization egger method and Mendelian randomization pleiotropy residual sum and outlier test were then used to analyse the 2591 instrumental variables obtained from the screening. We identified correlations between six gut microbiota and the risk of erectile dysfunction. The genus Ruminococcaceae UCG-013 exhibited an inverse association with the risk of developing erectile dysfunction (0.79 (0.65–0.97), P= 0.0214). Conversely, the genus Tyzzerella3 (1.13 (1.02–1.26), P= 0.0225), genus Erysipelotrichaceae UCG-003 (1.18 (1.01–1.38), P= 0.0412), genus LachnospiraceaeNC2004group (1.19 (1.03–1.37), P= 0.0191), genus Oscillibacter (1.23 (1.08–1.41), P= 0.0022), and family Lachnospiraceae (1.26 (1.05–1.52), P= 0.0123) demonstrated positive associations with an increased risk of erectile dysfunction. These sensitivity analyses of the gut microbiota were consistent. This study demonstrated a possible causal relationship between gut microbiota and erectile dysfunction risk through Mendelian randomization analysis, providing new potential possibilities for the prevention and treatment of erectile dysfunction.

Visible light communication (VLC) has attracted much attention in the research of sixth-generation (6G) systems. Furthermore, channel modeling is the foundation for designing efficient and robust VLC systems. In this paper, we present extensive VLC channel measurement campaigns in indoor environments, i.e., an office and a corridor. Based on the measured data, the large-scale fading characteristics and multipath-related characteristics, including omnidirectional optical path loss (OPL), K-factor, power angular spectrum (PAS), angle spread (AS), and clustering characteristics, are analyzed and modeled through a statistical method. Based on the extracted statistics of the above-mentioned channel characteristics, we propose a statistical spatial channel model (SSCM) capable of modeling multipath in the spatial domain. Furthermore, the simulated statistics of the proposed model are compared with the measured statistics. For instance, in the office, the simulated path loss exponent (PLE) and the measured PLE are 1.96 and 1.97, respectively. And, the simulated medians of AS and measured medians of AS are 25.94° and 24.84°, respectively. Generally, the fact that the simulated results fit well with measured results has demonstrated the accuracy of our SSCM.

This article first defines finite-time semipassivity of switched nonlinear systems by using multiple storage functions and multiple supply rates. It means that each active subsystem is finite-time passive outside a ball, while the total of the energy changing at all switching times is bounded. Based on this passivity concept, finite-time practical stability is obtained. Then, a set of finite-time fuzzy adaptive semipassification controllers and a switching law relate to state are designed constructively to solve output tracking control problem of uncertain switched strict-feedback nonlinear systems. Finally, the effectiveness of the developed control method is validated by two simulation examples.

Erectile dysfunction is a common sexual disorder in men. Some studies have found a strong association between some serum metabolites and erectile dysfunction. To investigate this association further, we used bidirectional Mendelian randomisation to investigate causality and possible biological mechanisms.Firstly, this study screened the statistics of genome-wide association studies of serum metabolites and erectile dysfunction to obtain instrumental variables. Inverse variance weighting was used as the primary method for causal effect analysis of instrumental variables in forward or reverse Mendelian randomisation, and the results obtained by MR-Egger regression and the weighted median method were used as references. Subsequently, the metabolites causally associated with erectile dysfunction were subjected to replication analyses and meta-analyses, and the results of the meta-analyses were analysed by pathway analyses to find influential pathways. In this process, Mendelian randomisation results need to be assessed for stability and reliability using sensitivity analysis.It was found that a total of six serum metabolites were causally associated with erectile dysfunction in a forward Mendelian randomisation study. 1,3,7-trimethyluraten (0.85 (0.73–0.99), P= 0.0368), ergothioneine (0.65 (0.45–0.94), P= 0.0226) and gamma-glutamylglutamate (0.63 (0.46–0.88), P= 0.0059) were protective against the development of erectile dysfunction, whereas 2-hydroxyhippurate (1.10 (1.02–1.19), P= 0.0152), N2,N2-dimethylguanosine (1.57 (1.02–2.40), P= 0.0395) and octanoylcarnitine (1.38 (1.06–1.82), P= 0.0183) were able to induce the development of erectile dysfunction. In addition, metabolic pathway analysis showed that 1,3,7-trimethylurate was able to influence the development of erectile dysfunction via the caffeine metabolism pathway (P= 0.0454). On the other hand, reverse Mendelian randomisation analysis showed that erectile dysfunction reduced serum homocitrulline levels (0.99 (0.97–1.00), P= 0.0360). Sensitivity analyses, including heterogeneity tests and pleiotropy tests, confirmed the reliability of the results.In conclusion, this study demonstrated a bidirectional causal relationship between serum metabolites and erectile dysfunction using bidirectional Mendelian randomisation analysis and replication meta-analysis. On this basis, this study provides a new direction of thinking and strong evidence for the therapeutic application and adjunctive diagnosis of serum metabolites in erectile dysfunction, and provides a certain reference value for subsequent related studies.

This study presents atmospheric N2O mole fractions measured from discrete air samples from 2001 to 2018 at Mt. Waliguan (WLG) station (36°17′N, 100°54′E, 3816 m asl) in China, which is a global background station of the World Meteorological Organization/Global Atmosphere Watch Programme (WMO/GAW) in central Eurasia. Observed N2O characteristics of annual means, interannual variability, and seasonal cycles were investigated. Our results show that N2O at WLG possess a distinct increasing trend and a statistically significant seasonal cycle, with an average growth rate of 0.9±0.01 ppb yr−1(1σ)(1ppb=10−9), which is close to the global mean. The detrended seasonal cycle shows a trough of −0.25±0.04 (1σ) ppb in June and a peak of 0.13±0.07 (1σ) ppb in September, with an amplitude of 0.38 ppb. The pattern is due to combined effects of variation in surface sources, vertical convection within the boundary layer and stratosphere to troposphere transportation (STE). The interannual variability in growth rate was partly driven by quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) of tropical zonal wind through stratospheric transport into the troposphere. According to a cluster analysis of back trajectories and the corresponding average N2O load, most air masses cover arid and semi-arid areas in inner Asia with low N2O emissions, indicating that the atmospheric N2O at the WLG represents the background N2O level in central Eurasia.

The Space Advanced Technology demonstration satellite (SATech-01), a mission for low-cost space science and new technology experiments, organized by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), was successfully launched into a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of ∼500 km on July 27, 2022, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. Serving as an experimental platform for space science exploration and the demonstration of advanced common technologies in orbit, SATech-01 is equipped with 16 experimental payloads, including the solar upper transition region imager (SUTRI), the lobster eye imager for astronomy (LEIA), the high energy burst searcher (HEBS), and a High Precision Magnetic Field Measurement System based on a CPT Magnetometer (CPT). It also incorporates an imager with freeform optics, an integrated thermal imaging sensor, and a multi-functional integrated imager, etc. This paper provides an overview of SATech-01, including a technical description of the satellite and its scientific payloads, along with their on-orbit performance.

Adjusting location and distribution of Al sites in the zeolite framework is critical for catalysis, and typical strategies include using zeolites as starting Al source. However, this approach is still challenging for aluminosilicate ITH zeolite. Herein, the distribution of Al species in the framework of ITH was efficiently regulated by implementing LTA zeolite as the aluminum source added in the starting gels (LTA-ITH). The obtained LTA-ITH zeolites have similar nanosheet morphology, textual parameters, and acidic properties to those of conventional ITH synthesized from boehmite (C-ITH), while the results of 27Al MAS NMR spectra and 1-hexene cracking indicate that they have a different Al distribution. The use of LTA zeolite in starting gel is favorable for the formation of more Al species in sinusoidal and straight channels, compared with the C-ITH. Catalytic tests in the conversion of methanol to light olefin showed that LTA-ITH exhibited enhanced catalyst lifetime and propene selectivity compared with the C-ITH, which is reasonably attributed to the different locations of Al species in their respective ITH frameworks.

Element-based peridynamics (EBPD) for transient and steady heat conduction of isotropic and anisotropic materials is proposed, which can conveniently study the thermal transfer problems with cracks. The interactions of EBPD are described using 2-node rod elements for one-dimensional (1D) problems, 3-node triangle elements for two-dimensional (2D) problems and 4-node tetrahedron elements for three-dimensional (3D) problems. An additional rule constructing elements in the EBPD is added to reduce element numbers and delete the low mesh quality elements. The EBPD transient heat conduction equations are derived from the Lagrangian formalism, and the steady heat conduction equations are obtained by the variation principle. The treatments of surface effects, boundary conditions and crack descriptions are provided in detail. The forward difference time increment scheme and Gauss elimination method are used to solve transient and steady heat conduction problems respectively. A series of numerical examples, including 1D, 2D and 3D transient and steady heat conduction problems, are used to validate the proposed EBPD model. The temperature fields of the model with cracks are solved by the proposed method, which has the potential to study thermomechanical and thermal shock problems.

Beam pumping units (BPUs) are key equipment in oilfield production. Currently, many fault diagnosis methods for BPUs have been developed, and most of them are based on feature or image classification of indicator diagrams. However, low-quality monitoring data and the limited proportion of effective pixels in indicator diagram greatly restrict the performances of these methods. This article proposes an efficient two-step fault diagnosis method for BPUs. In the first step, to overcome the impact of low-quality monitoring data, a dynamic time warping-based matching method is proposed to extract the period of the data, and then a physical model driven method optimized by Bayesian gradient descent is proposed to reconstruct the data. In the second step, to overcome the impact of the limited proportion of effective pixels in indicator diagram, a parallel deep network is proposed which directly takes the time series of the displacement and the load of BPUs as the inputs. Extensive experiments on dataset from 45 real oil wells have shown that, the proposed method can achieve the best performance compared with the state-of-the-art methods, meanwhile the computational load is only 5% of other deep learning-based methods.

Background Gastrointestinal complications need to be paid more attention, especially in critically ill patients. The purpose of this study was to identify the risk factors and short-term outcomes of gastrointestinal complications after open surgery for type A aortic dissection.Methods A retrospective single-institutional study including patients who underwent open surgery for type A aortic dissection during 2012-2020 was conducted. Univariate analysis and logistic regression analysis were used to identify risk factors associated with gastrointestinal complications. The related clinical outcomes were compared between the patients with and without gastrointestinal complications.Results Among the 2746 patients, 150 developed gastrointestinal complications. The development of gastrointestinal complications contributed to the higher rate of mortality (P= .008), longer stay in the intensive care unit (P< .001), and longer hospital stay (P< .001). Logistic regression analysis showed that age (odds ratio [OR] 1.020; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.005-1.057; P= .011), American Society of Anesthesiologists classification greater than grade III (OR 1.724; 95%CI 1.179-2.521, P= .005), pre-induction mean arterial pressure (OR 0.978; 95%CI 0.965-0.990, P= .001), aortic cross-clamp time (OR 1.012; 95%CI 1.005-1.019, P= .001), cardiopulmonary bypass time (OR 1.007; 95%CI 1.002-1.011, P= .002), and intraoperative transfusion of red blood cells (OR 1.214; 95%CI 1.122-1.314, P= .001) were independent risk factors for gastrointestinal complications.Conclusions The incidence of gastrointestinal complications after open surgery for type A aortic dissection was 5.5%, resulting in increased mortality and prolonged hospital stay. It is necessary to take suitable strategies to reduce the incidence of gastrointestinal complications.

Lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) are one of the most promising candidates for next-generation energy storage systems. To develop long-life LSBs, there is an urgent need to develop functional materials with higher catalytic activity toward polysulfides and reduced dendritic lithium growth. Herein, an electrostatic field electrocatalyst is designed in a zwitterionic covalent organic framework (COF) with a “two birds with one stone” ability for simultaneously overcoming obstacles in the lithium metal anode and sulfur cathode. The synergism between cationic and anionic moieties in the zwitterionic COF creates an electrostatic field for bidirectionally catalyzing S cathode conversion. Besides, the rational design of zwitterionic COF as a separator modification layer allows lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) dissociation and fast lithium-ion conduction, which alleviates lithium dendrite growth and thus improves the cycling life of LSBs. This contribution not only pioneers the application of zwitterionic COF in the field of LSBs but also highlights the potential of electrostatic field electrocatalysts.

To control the microstructure and improve the mechanical properties of Mn–Cu alloy additive manufacturing components, this work adopts various scanning strategies (rotations of 0°, 45°, 67°, and 90° between successive layers) to change the heat input distribution and heat dissipation. The results show that the scanning strategies can impact the porosity, cracks, grain size, and grain growth direction of Mn–Cu alloy additive manufacturing parts. By adjusting scanning strategies to change the heat flow direction the columnar-to-equiaxed transition can be achieved. The samples exhibit minimal cracks and pores (porosity of 0.0006 %). Using a scanning rotation angle of 67° during processing, the maximum tensile strength can reach 510 MPa with a 29 % elongation, attributed to effective grain refinement and a high dislocation density. This study demonstrates the feasibility of grain refinement and improved mechanical properties for the Mn–Cu alloys by changing the scanning strategies.

Squalene is a triterpenoid compound and widely used in various industries such as medicine and cosmetics due to its strong antioxidant and anticancer properties. The purpose of this study is to increase the accumulation of squalene in filamentous fungi using exogeneous butenafine hydrochloride, which is an inhibitor for squalene epoxidase. The detailed settings achieved that the filamentous fungi, Trichoderma virensPS1-7, produced squalene up to 429.93 ± 51.60 mg/L after culturing for 7 days in the medium consisting of potato infusion with glucose at pH 4.0, in the presence of 200 µmbutenafine. On the other hand, no squalene accumulation was observed without butenafine. This result indicated that squalene was biosynthesized in the filamentous fungi PS1-7, which can be used as a novel source of squalene. In addition, we successfully obtained highly 13C-enriched squalene by using [U-13C6]-glucose as a carbon source replacing normal glucose.Graphical AbstractSqualene can be accumulated on large scale by filamentous fungi Trichoderma virensPS1-7 with butenafine hydrochloride inhibiting the squalene epoxidase.