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O and Nb are two representative alloying elements of Ti to form high-temperature and corrosion resistance α Ti alloys. The investigation on the thermodynamic characteristics of α Ti–O and Ti–Nb has attracted much attention in recent years. However, in this regard, a satisfied experimental technique or modeling scheme is still yet to be developed due to the appearance of a variety of oxides in Ti–O and the mechanical instability present in Ti–Nb. Herein, we combined first-principles calculations with the cluster expansion method to investigate the ground-state characteristics for α Ti–O and α Ti–Nb systems. The atomic bonding interactions in these two systems were first revealed based on the calculated electronic structures. Afterward, the Debye–Grüneisen model and Monte Carlo simulations were employed together to investigate the thermodynamic properties of α phases in these two systems, and the effect of vibrational entropy on the order–disorder transition temperatures of the phases in α Ti–O system was first examined. A good agreement with experimentally reported phase boundaries is obtained in the Ti–Nb system by handling the mechanical instabilities introduced by the highly distorted structures. In addition, the cluster expansion coefficients for the Ti–O and Ti–Nb system offer a good starting point to investigate the phase equilibrium in Ti–Nb–O ternary alloy. We also believe the insights provided here would be helpful for those who would like to seek an efficient scheme they are confident with to investigate the phase thermodynamic properties of other hcp Ti-based alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intertidal organisms usually live near their upper thermal limits, and are vulnerable to future global warming. As a vital response to thermal stress, thermoregulatory strategy in physiological and behavioral performance is essential for organisms coping with thermal stress and surviving the changing world. To investigate the relationship between the thermoregulatory strategy and habitat temperature, in the present study, we comparatively investigated the thermal responsive strategy among different geographic populations of the supralittoral snail Littoraria sinensis by determining snails’ cardiac function and behavioral performance. Our results indicated that populations inhabiting high ambient temperatures had higher sublethal temperatures (i.e. Arrhenius breakpoint temperatures, ABTs, the temperature at which the heart rate shapely decreases with further heating) and lethal temperatures (i.e. Flatline temperatures, FLTs, the temperature at which heart rate ceases), and behaved less actively (e.g. shorter moving distances and shorter moving time) in the face of high and rising temperatures—a physiological fight strategy. On the other hand, populations at relatively low ambient temperatures had relatively lower physiological upper thermal limits with lower ABTs and FLTs and moved more actively in the face of high and rising temperatures—a behavioral flight strategy. These results demonstrate that the thermoregulatory strategies of the snails are closely related to their habitat temperatures and are different among populations surviving divergent thermal environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents an event‐triggered model‐free adaptive sliding mode control (MFASMC) strategy for nonlinear networked control systems (NCSs) without and with deception attacks. First, a time‐varying pseudo‐partial derivative is introduced to transform the nonlinear NCSs into a linearized model. In the secure environment without attacks, an event‐triggered MFASMC law is proposed based on the designed sliding surface. Then, considering that the transmitted signal is vulnerable to deception attacks, it assumes that the attacker injects false data into the output signal in a probabilistic manner. Under this case, the above event‐triggered MFASMC scheme is implemented by means of attacked output signals. And the network burden can be reduced while ensuring the reachability of the specified sliding surface and the output tracking performance. The key feature of the proposed MFASMC algorithm is that secure tracking control can be achieved using only input/output data without relying on any model information. Finally, the proposed control strategy is verified via the steam‐water heat exchanger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The operating parameters of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) are critical to its performance and working life. This study presents a data-driven modeling approach combining a surrogate model with the particle swarm optimization algorithm to optimize operating parameters for PEMFC and obtain the maximum power density. The results show that the operating parameters significantly influence power density under high current densities, with inlet temperature having the most significant effect. Lower inlet temperature, relative humidity in the cathode and anode, along with higher operating pressure yield improved output performance. The Genetic Algorithm-Backpropagation Neural Network based surrogate model exhibits excellent predictive performance with correlation coefficients of 0.99896 and 0.99815 for the training and test sets, respectively. Optimized conditions achieve a 3.3% increase in power density compared to initial settings, with only a 0.15% error in simulation calculations. This data-driven approach provides valuable insights for maximizing PEMFC efficiency and performance. • An approach combining surrogate model with PSO algorithm to predict PEMFC performance is proposed. • The GA-BP-based surrogate model exhibits excellent predictive performance. • Maximum power density and corresponding operating parameters are achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings increase the urban surface roughness and reduce near‐surface wind speeds in the urban canopy due to the drag effect. Urban heat storage and other effects cause urban warming as well, which decreases the urban boundary layer stability and enhances the turbulence exchange between upper and lower layer. As upper momentum is transported downward, the wind speed of urban canopy increases. Quantitative descriptions of these mechanisms are still lacking currently. This paper presents high‐resolution numerical simulation results of a mega city, Shanghai, China from 2016 to 2020 using the building effect parameterization in WRF (WRF‐BEP) with urban morphological parameters. The dynamic and thermal effects of building morphology on urban canopy wind speed were separated and their quantitative expression functions were given. The results indicate that the influence of building morphology on urban canopy wind speed is mainly dynamic resulting in a wind speed attenuation of approximately 50% and nearly constant. The thermal effect of building morphology on urban canopy wind speed increases with the urban heat island intensity, and the thermal effect could increase urban canopy wind speed by about 30% under the condition of strong urban heat island. The relative contributions of the dynamic and thermal effects of building morphology to urban canopy wind speed change with the wind speed. As wind speed increases, the contribution of the thermal effect of building morphology to urban canopy wind speed gradually decreases. This paper provides a quantitative relationship between the urban canopy wind speed variation and urban morphology, as well as urban heat island intensity. Plain Language Summary: Urbanization changes the dynamic and thermal properties of urban and creates new dynamic and thermal processes in urban areas. Buildings increase the urban surface roughness and reduce urban canopy wind speed due to the drag effect. At the same time, urban warming causes the downward transportation of momentum, which increases the wind speed. Quantitative descriptions of these mechanisms are lacking currently. This study investigated the impact of building morphology on urban canopy wind speed using WRF‐BEP model with high‐resolution urban morphological parameters. The dynamic and thermal effects of building morphology on urban canopy wind speed were separated and their quantitative expression functions were given. Key Points: The dynamic and thermal effects of building morphology on urban canopy wind speed are separatedThe quantitative expression functions of the dynamic and thermal effects of building morphology on wind speed are givenThe relative contributions of the dynamic and thermal effects on urban canopy wind speed are investigated [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analytical solution to the dynamic response of a functionally graded cylindrical tube embedded in a full homogeneous space subjected to elastic SH waves is presented using the wavefunction expansion method. The shear modulus of the functionally graded tube is assumed to have a power-law variation with radius. The wave fields in the tube and unbounded surrounding medium are derived in a form of wavefunction series with unknown coefficients. The wave field coefficients are obtained by satisfying the boundary conditions at the inner and outer tube surfaces. The influences of the inhomogeneity exponent, shear modulus and thickness of the functionally graded tube, and the frequency of the incident SH waves on the dynamic stress concentration factor (DSCF) of the tube are systematically discussed. It is concluded that the application of functionally graded materials (FGMs) with a positive inhomogeneity exponent tends to weaken the DSCF along the inner surface of the tube significantly but intensify that along the outer surface slightly, which is beneficial to the long-term use of the tube. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is considered a promising technology for coupling with renewable energy sources to achieve clean hydrogen production. However, constrained by the sluggish kinetics of the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the acidic abominable environment render the grand challenges in developing the active and stable OER electrocatalyst, leading to low efficiency of PEMWE. Herein, we develop the rutile‐type IrO2 nanoparticles with abundant grain boundaries and the continuous nanostructure through the joule heating and sacrificial template method. The optimal candidate (350‐IrO2) demonstrates remarkable electrocatalytic activity and stability during the OER, presenting a promising advancement for efficient PEMWE. DFT calculations verified that grain boundaries can modulate the electronic structure of Ir sites and optimize the adsorption of oxygen intermediates, resulting in the accelerated kinetics. 350‐IrO2 affords a rapid OER process with 20 times higher mass activity (0.61 A mgIr−1) than the commercial IrO2 at 1.50 V vs. RHE. Benefiting from the reduced overpotential and the preservation of the stable rutile structure, 350‐IrO2 exhibits the stability of 200 h test at 10 mA cm−2 with only trace decay of 11.8 mV. Moreover, the assembled PEMWE with anode 350‐IrO2 catalyst outputs the current density up to 2 A cm−2 with only 1.84 V applied voltage, long‐term operation for 100 h without obvious performance degradation at 1 A cm−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All over the world, potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) production is constrained by several biotic and abiotic factors. Many techniques and mechanisms have been used to overcome these hurdles and increase food for the rising population. In crop plants, the mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade, a significant regulator of the MAPK pathway under various biotic and abiotic stress conditions, is one of the targets to increase productivity. MAPK plays a significant role under drought stress in potato. However, the function of MAPK in drought resistance in potato is poorly understood. In this study, we wanted to identify the function of StMAPK10 in the drought resistance in potato. StMAPK10 was up‐regulated under drought conditions and dynamically modulated by abiotic stresses. Over‐expression and down‐regulation of StMAPK10 revealed that StMAPK10 stimulated potato growth under drought conditions, as demonstrated by changes in SOD, CAT, and POD activity, as well as H2O2, proline, and MDA content. StMAPK10 up‐regulation exaggerated the drought resistance of the potato plant by uplifting antioxidant activities and photosynthetic indices. Overexpressed‐StMAPK10 potato lines showed highly significant results for physiological and photosynthetic indices in response to drought stress, while knockdown expression showed opposite outcomes. Additionally, subcellular localization and phenotypic analysis of transgenic and non‐transgenic plants substantiated the role of the increased expression of StMAPK10 against drought stress. The results could provide novel insights into the functionality of StMAPK10 in drought responses and conceivable mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boron, as both a lithophilic and biophilic element with high solubility, provides profound insights into the history of the Earth and environmental changes through its isotopes present in sediments. However, there are still some challenges in the accurate and precise determination of boron isotopes in sediments, particularly in pre-processing. When using boron-specific resins for the purification and enrichment of boron, it is in an alkaline environment. During the pre-treatment process, insoluble hydroxides of Al, Fe, and rare earth elements precipitate, exhibiting strong boron adsorption in high-pH solutions. This has potential impacts on the accuracy of boron isotope measurements. This study assesses a method that uses Na2CO3 and K2CO3 for dissolution at reduced temperatures and a cationic resin combined with a boron-specific resin for the enrichment and purification of boron in sediments. All the Al, Fe, and rare earth elements, which can generate water-insoluble hydroxides, were mainly removed by the cationic resin column, and boron in the sample solutions without Al, Fe, and rare earth elements was extracted by the boron-specific resin. The boron isotope composition (δ11B) was determined using MC-ICP-MS. The results indicate that this method fully decomposes and efficiently purifies the sediments. The long-term instrumental external reproducibility of δ11B values for NIST SRM 951a, ERM-AE120, and ERM-AE121 were 0.01 ± 0.09‰ (n = 13), −20.28 ± 0.16‰ and 19.98 ± 0.14‰, based on the measurements using a series of international reference materials over the last three years. The measured δ11B values for the standards have various matrices. The δ11B values of GSR-1 (−13.14‰ ± 0.27‰), BHVO-2 (−0.66 ± 0.06‰), AGV-2 (−3.22 ± 0.14‰) and Nass-6 (39.83 ± 0.07‰) are in agreement with the published data within uncertainty. The samples from Sihailongwan Maar Lake (SMK), the Loess Plateau (Loess-1 and Loess-2), shale (SH-1 and SH-2), and basalt (BL-1 and BL-2) were treated. The δ11B values for SMK, Loess-1, and Loess-2 are −10.20 ± 0.29‰, −11.06 ± 0.16‰, and −10.79 ± 0.10‰, showing a close relationship with δ11B of the continental crust. The δ11B values for shale (SH-1 and SH-2) are −7.06‰ ± 0.32‰ and +2.28‰ ± 0.05‰, while those for basalt (BL-1 and BL-2) are −8.78‰ ± 0.09‰ and +2.50‰ ± 0.19‰. These results indicate a significant variation in the δ11B values across these samples. These findings imply that this approach is capable of efficiently enriching and purifying boron in sediments. It enables accurate and precise determination of δ11B in sediments, thus offering a reliable tool for conducting boron isotope studies in sedimentary earth science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into valuable carbon-based compounds has attracted considerable attention. In the quest for efficient electrocatalysts, strain engineering, characterized by localized relative deformation, has emerged as a particularly advantageous strategy for designing highly selective and efficient electrocatalysts. This review focuses on the development of strain in electrocatalytic materials for CO2 reduction reactions. It starts by explaining the characteristics of various strains and their formation mechanisms. Subsequently, it provides a summary of recent research progress in CO2 electrocatalytic reduction based on strain engineering. During electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reactions, strain plays a crucial role in influencing the adsorption energy between various intermediates and catalyst substrates. Finally, the review looks ahead to the future prospects of strain engineering, discussing potential research directions in this field. This work presents a systematic review of constructing strain for CO2 reduction reactions, offering valuable insights into the design of highly efficient electrocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metalloviologens, as emerging electron-transfer photochromic compounds, have shown intriguing properties such as radiochromism, photochromism and photoconductance. However, only a limited number of them have been reported so far. Exploration of new metalloviologens is strongly desired. Herein, we report a new solvothermally synthesized metalloviologen complex [CdCl2(ND)2]n (1, ND = 1,5-naphthalenes) that exhibits photochromic and intrinsic white light emission properties. Density functional theory calculation results reveal that the photochromism could be assigned to photoinduced electron transfer from chlorine atoms to ND molecules. The photoinduced charge-separated states are heat/air stable, attributed to the delocalization of ND and strong intermolecular π–π interactions. Besides, complex 1 consistently emits intrinsic white light when excited with 340–370 nm UV light, achieving high color rendering index (CRI) values (82.54–94.04). By adjusting the excitation wavelength, both "warm" and "cold" white light emission can be produced, making it suitable for the application of a white light emitting diode (WLED). Thus, this work demonstrates that the ND-based metalloviologen is not only helpful in producing photochromism, but also beneficial for creating white-light emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium silicate (LS) glass ceramic with excellent mechanical performance has been used in dental restoration but is seldom used in orthopedics due to its limited bioactivity. Given the osteoconductive features of calcium phosphate-based ceramics, optimizing the P 2 O 5 content to adjust the ratio of CaO to P 2 O 5 may improve the bioactivity of glass ceramics. The effect of P 2 O 5 content on the phase formation, mechanical performance, cell proliferation, cell differentiation and mineralization of glass ceramics were investigated in this study. The results indicated that increasing the content of P 2 O 5 increased the formation temperature of LiAlSi 2 O 6 and provided nucleation sites for Li 2 SiO 3 by forming Li 3 PO 4 which, in turn, promoted the transformation from Li 2 SiO 3 to Li 2 Si 2 O 5. The phase morphology transformed from a lamellar shape to a columnar shape, and then formed an interlocking structure in the specific heat treatment. The phase transformation and formation of Li 3 PO 4 improved cell proliferation, cell differentiation, and mineralization of the glass ceramics. In particular, the glass ceramic with 2.58 mol% P 2 O 5 (LS3) and 4.12 mol% P 2 O 5 (LS4) promoted the expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and achieved the strength requirement of bone. In conclusion, the bioactivity of the glass ceramics was enhanced by increasing the P 2 O 5 content, and the bone-like structure on the surface of the glass ceramic with 4.12 mol% P 2 O 5 may make this material suitable for orthopaedic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To tackle performance issues stemming from assembly errors in practical fuel cell applications, a criss-crossed matching design for anode and cathode bipolar plates (BPP) is proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed design is assessed by joint simulations of finite element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Concurrently, the orthogonal experimental method is utilized to investigate the performance of the criss-crossed matching design at various operating conditions. The results show that the GDL deformation rate of the criss-crossed matching design with error in practical assembly is merely 4.8%, significantly lower than the 19.9% observed in the aligned matching design. Furthermore, the criss-crossed design performance could be improved by 5.9% compared to the aligned matching design in practical assembly with error. The criss-crossed matching design consistently outperforms the aligned matching design at various operating conditions. Notably, the highest performance growth rate, observed in high stoichiometric ratio and high humidity, reaches 12.38%. • A criss-crossed matching design of the bipolar plate is proposed. • Criss-crossed design performance is seldomly impacted by assembly errors. • Criss-crossed matching design increases performance by 5.9% over aligned design. • Criss-crossed matching design works well in various conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many onshore oil fields currently adopt water flooding as a means to supplement reservoir energy. However, due to reservoir heterogeneity, significant differences in permeability exist not only between different reservoirs but also within the same reservoir across different planar orientations. After prolonged fluid flushing in the near-wellbore zone of injection wells, the resulting increased flow resistance between layers exacerbates inefficient and ineffective circulation. A considerable amount of remaining oil is left unexploited in untouched areas, significantly impacting the overall recovery. To investigate the multiscale plugging mechanisms of fracture-dominated pore channels in high-water-cut oil reservoirs and achieve efficient management of fractured large channels, this study explores the formation of the fracture-flushing zone-low saturation oil zone. A physical experimental model with fractures and high-intensity flushing is established to analyze changes in pore structure, mineral composition, residual oil distribution, and other characteristics at different positions near the fractures. The research aims to clarify the mechanism behind the formation of large channels with fracture structures. The results indicate that under high-intensity water flushing, cementing materials are washed away by the flowing water, clay particles are carried to the surface with the injected fluid, and permeability significantly increases, forming high-permeability zones with fracture structures. In the rock interior away from the fracture end, channels, corners, and clustered oil content noticeably decrease, while the content of film-like oil substantially increases, and clay minerals are not significantly washed away. Under strong flushing conditions, the number of residual clay particles near the fracture end is mainly influenced by flow velocity and flushing time; thus, the greater the flushing intensity, the faster the water flow, and the longer the flushing time, the fewer residual clay particles near the fracture end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) drive cancer progression and treatment failure on one hand, while their tumor-restraining functions are also observed on the other. Recent single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analyses demonstrates heterogeneity of CAFs and defines molecular subtypes of CAFs, which help explain their different functions. However, it remains unclear whether these CAF subtypes have the same or different biological/clinical implications in prostate cancer (PCa) or other malignancies. Methods: PCa cells were incubated with supernatant from normal fibroblasts and CAFs to assess their effects on cell behaviors. Sequencing, genomic, and clinical data were collected from TCGA, MSKCC, CPGEA and GEO databases. CAF molecular subtypes and total CAF scores were constructed and grouped into low and high groups based on CAF-specific gene expression. Progression free interval (PFI), clinicopathological features, telomere length, immune cell infiltration, drug treatment and somatic mutations were compared among CAF molecular subtypes and low/high score groups. Results: The PCa CAF-derived supernatant promoted PCa cell proliferation and invasion. Based on differentially expressed genes identified by scRNA-seq analyses, we classified CAFs into 6 molecular subtypes in PCa tumors, and each subtype was then categorized into score-high and low groups according to the subtype-specific gene expression level. Such score models in 6 CAF subtypes all predicted PFI. Telomeres were significantly shorter in high-score tumors. The total CAF score from 6 CAF subtypes was also associated with PFI in PCa patients inversely, which was consistent with results from cellular experiments. Immunosuppressive microenvironment occurred more frequently in tumors with a high CAF score, which was characterized by increased CTLA4 expression and indicated better responses to CTLA4 inhibitors. Moreover, this model can also serve as a useful PFI predictor in pan-cancers. Conclusion: By combining scRNA-seq and bulk RNA-seq data analyses, we develop a CAF subtype score system as a prognostic factor for PCa and other cancer types. This model system also helps distinguish different immune-suppressive mechanisms in PCa, suggesting its implications in predicting response to immunotherapy. Thus, the present findings should contribute to personalized PCa intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Proper sedation of patients, particularly elderly individuals, who are more susceptible to sedation-related complications, is of significant importance in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). This study aims to assess the safety and efficacy of a low-dose combination of midazolam, alfentanil, and propofol for deep sedation in elderly patients undergoing ERCP, compared to a group of middle-aged patients. Methods: The medical records of 610 patients with common bile duct stones who underwent elective ERCP under deep sedation with a three-drug regimen, including midazolam, alfentanil, and propofol at Shandong Provincial Third Hospital from January 2023 to September 2023 were retrospectively reviewed in this study. Patients were categorized into three groups: middle-aged (50–64 years, n = 202), elderly (65–79 years, n = 216), and very elderly (≥ 80 years, n = 192). Intraoperative vital signs and complications were compared among these groups. Results: The three groups showed no significant difference in terms of intraoperative variation of systolic blood pressure (P = 0.291), diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.737), heart rate (P = 0.107), peripheral oxygen saturation (P = 0.188), bispectral index (P = 0.158), and the occurrence of sedation-related adverse events including hypotension (P = 0.170) and hypoxemia (P = 0.423). Conclusion: The results suggest that a low-dose three-drug regimen consisting of midazolam, alfentanil, and propofol seems safe and effective for deep sedation of elderly and very elderly patients undergoing ERCP procedures. However, further studies are required to verify these findings and clarify the benefits and risks of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low‐carbon microalloyed steel with the microstructure of bainite is frequently utilized to produce automotive parts. The systematic investigation of the hot deformation behavior can serve as a reference for the optimization of deformation process parameters. The hot deformation of 0.2C–2.0Mn–0.5Cr microalloyed steel is studied. Based on the stress–strain curve, an Arrhenius model with strain compensation is established. The correlation coefficient R2 and the average absolute relative error calculated according to this model are 0.962 and 4.871%. The microstructure evolution at the strain of 0.90 is studied. In the stable region with substantial power dissipation, the microstructure is uniformly fine. The strain rate is high in the stable region with low‐power dissipation, and the room‐temperature microstructure after deformation retains a large amount of deformation storage energy and fine substructures. During deformation, the banded structures are formed in the instable region. The difference in dislocation density between the band structure and the nearby regions promotes the formation of necklace microstructures. Therefore, the 0.2C–2.0Mn–0.5Cr microalloyed steel has an ideal deformation process window in the range of a hot deformation temperature of 880–920 °C and a strain rate of 0.1–0.3 s−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While climate change significantly influences nitrogen cycling and its related microbial diversity, the effects of warming on nitrate reduction processes and their related microbial communities and functional gene abundances in mangrove sediments are not fully understood. In this study, mangrove sediment slurry was incubated under six controlled temperatures for 28 days to simulate warming trends. Following the incubation, rates of denitrification (DNF), anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANA), and nitrate decomposition reduction to ammonium (DNRA), and net nitrous oxide (N2O) production, functional gene abundances, and the structure of functional microbial taxa were investigated using a 15N tracer method, high-throughput sequencing, and qPCR methods. DNF's optimal temperature was 25 °C, but ANA's ranged from 25 to 35 °C. The DNRA rates; nosZ, nirS, and nrfA gene abundances; nosZ/(nirK + nirS) ratios; and, in particular, net N2O production in the mangrove sediment significantly increased with increasing temperature. Furthermore, DNRA's contributions to nitrate reduction increased from 26.70% at 10 °C to 44.42% at 40 °C, suggesting that the DNRA process transforms more nitrate to ammonia and retains more nitrogen within mangrove sediments than the other processes do. Meanwhile, microbial taxa changed significantly in relation to DNRA, indicating that DNRA is enhanced as temperature increases. Also, temperature explained most of the variance in the dominant bacterial communities (68.3%), nitrate reduction functional genes (91.8%), and process rates (79.9%). Thus, warming promotes nitrogen conservation in mangrove sediments but stimulates N2O emissions, which in turn exacerbates global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) is a dedicated kinase of myosin regulatory light chain (RLC), playing an essential role in the regulation of muscle contraction and cell motility. Much of the knowledge about MLCK comes from the study of vertebrate MLCK, and little is known about insect MLCK. Here, we identified the single MLCK gene in the locust Locusta migratoria, which spans over 1400 kb, includes 62 exons and accounts for at least five transcripts. We found that the five distinct transcripts of the locust MLCK gene are expressed in a tissue‐specific manner, including three muscle‐specific isoforms and two generic isoforms. To characterise the kinase activity of locust MLCK, we recombinantly expressed LmMLCK‐G, the smallest locust MLCK isoform, in insect Sf9 cells. We demonstrated that LmMLCK‐G is a Ca2+/calmodulin‐dependent kinase that specifically phosphorylates serine 50 of locust muscle myosin RLC (LmRLC). Additionally, we found that almost all LmRLC molecules in the flight muscle and the hindleg muscles of adult locusts are phosphorylated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Lysine acetylation is an evolutionarily conserved and widespread post‐translational modification implicated in the regulation of multiple metabolic processes, but its function remains largely unknown in plant pathogenic fungi.A comprehensive analysis combined with proteomic, molecular and cellular approaches was presented to explore the roles of cytoplasmic acetylation in Fusarium oxsysporum f.sp. lycopersici (Fol).The divergent cytoplasmic deacetylase FolSir2 was biochemically characterized, which is contributing to fungal virulence. Based on this, a total of 1752 acetylated sites in 897 proteins were identified in Fol via LC–MS/MS analysis. Further analyses of the quantitative acetylome revealed that 115 proteins representing two major pathways, translational and ribosome biogenesis, were hyperacetylated in the ∆Folsir2 strain. We experimentally examined the regulatory roles of FolSir2 on K271 deacetylation of FolGsk3, a serine/tyrosine kinase implicated in a variety of cellular functions, which was found to be crucial for the activation of FolGsk3 and thus modulated Fol pathogenicity. Cytoplasmic deacetylation by FolSir2 homologues has a similar function in Botrytis cinerea and likely other fungal pathogens.These findings reveal a conserved mechanism of silent information regulator 2‐mediated cytoplasmic deacetylation that is involved in plant‐fungal pathogenicity, providing a candidate target for designing broad‐spectrum fungicides to control plant diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A long afterglow material CaAl2O4:Eu2+,Pr3+ emitting blue light has been synthesized by a high-temperature solid-phase method. The effect of a series of preparation conditions on CaAl2O4:Eu2+,Pr3+ was first investigated using a single-factor preference method, and the optimal synthesis conditions were then obtained through orthogonal tests. The target products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), elemental mapping, fluorescence spectroscopy, and afterglow properties. The XRD results indicate the successful synthesis of CaAl2O4:Eu2+,Pr3+ materials, which was further verified by XPS analysis. The afterglow properties of the target products were further improved by doping with Nd3+ under optimum conditions obtained from orthogonal tests. The improvement was analyzed through XRD, fluorescence, afterglow and thermoluminescence analysis. The results indicate that doping with Nd3+ in CaAl2O4:Eu2+,Pr3+ materials significantly enhanced the afterglow properties, including an initial brightness of 2318 mcd m−2 and a duration of 26.5 hours. Thanks to its excellent blue long afterglow luminescence, the material is anticipated to have applications in energy-efficient lighting systems and solar energy systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the public to enormous health risks and induced wide-ranging impacts on people's mental health. Post-traumatic growth is a possible psychological benefits that may occur during struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. This research explored 1) demographics differences on risk perception of COVID-19 pandemic, engagement in health-protective behavior and post-traumatic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic; and 2) the mediation effect of engaging in health-protective behaviors between risk perception and post-traumatic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Females showed a significant higher level of engagement in health-protective behaviors. People who were married reported a significantly higher level of risk perception, engagement in health-protective behavior and post-traumatic growth than those who were in other marital status (i.e. single, divorced, widowed). People who had acquaintances being infected with COVID-19 reported significant higher level of risk perception and engagement in health-protective behaviors. Engagement in health-protective behaviors mediated the relationship between risk perception and post-traumatic growth. Implications of the results for public health interventions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Transformer architecture has been widely applied in the field of image segmentation due to its powerful ability to capture long-range dependencies. However, its ability to capture local features is relatively weak and it requires a large amount of data for training. Medical image segmentation tasks, on the other hand, demand high requirements for local features and are often applied to small datasets. Therefore, existing Transformer networks show a significant decrease in performance when applied directly to this task. To address these issues, we have designed a new medical image segmentation architecture called CT-Net. It effectively extracts local and global representations using an asymmetric asynchronous branch parallel structure, while reducing unnecessary computational costs. In addition, we propose a high-density information fusion strategy that efficiently fuses the features of two branches using a fusion module of only 0.05M. This strategy ensures high portability and provides conditions for directly applying transfer learning to solve dataset dependency issues. Finally, we have designed a parameter-adjustable multi-perceptive loss function for this architecture to optimize the training process from both pixel-level and global perspectives. We have tested this network on 5 different tasks with 9 datasets, and compared to SwinUNet, CT-Net improves the IoU by 7.3% and 1.8% on Glas and MoNuSeg datasets respectively. Moreover, compared to SwinUNet, the average DSC on the Synapse dataset is improved by 3.5%. • An efficient asymmetric CNN and Transformer parallel framework. • A high-density information fusion strategy with a 0.05M-parameter fusion module. • Customized multi-composite loss function optimized training process. • Adopts low-coupling branch design principle with high portability. • Supports transfer learning to solve the data dependency problem of Transformers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new method for preparing lightweight and thermally insulated foamed ceramics via direct high-temperature foaming using lead fuming furnace slag as the major material, quartz sand as the texturizer, borax as the flux, and AlN as the foaming agent. The effects of the chemical composition and sintering process parameters on the crystalline phase transformation, pore structure, and properties of the foamed ceramics were investigated. The foaming mechanism during sintering was also examined using TG-DSC analysis and pore morphology analyses. These results indicate that the slag content strongly affects the formation of the pore structure. Different sintering parameters can modify the pore structure, and a single crystalline phase (CaSiO 3) was generated during the sintering process. Under the optimum conditions, the foamed ceramics showed the best overall performance with the bulk density, apparent porosity, average pore size, thermal conductivity, and compressive strength of 0.221 g cm−3, 84.53 %, 1.10 mm, 0.1100 W/(m·K), and 2.52 MPa, respectively. Its excellent porous structure and low thermal conductivity make it suitable as a thermal insulation material in building partition walls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we employed the ∂ ¯ -dressing method to investigate the Kundu-nonlinear Schrödinger equation based on the local 2 × 2 matrix ∂ ¯ problem. The Lax spectrum problem is used to derive a singular spectral problem of time and space associated with a Kundu-NLS equation. The N-solitions of the Kundu-NLS equation were obtained based on the ∂ ¯ equation by choosing a special spectral transformation matrix, and a gradual analysis of the long-duration behavior of the equation was acquired. Subsequently, the one- and two-soliton solutions of Kundu-NLS equations were obtained explicitly. In optical fiber, due to the wide application of telecommunication and flow control routing systems, people are very interested in the propagation of femtosecond optical pulses, and a high-order, nonlinear Schrödinger equation is needed to build a model. In plasma physics, the soliton equation can predict the modulation instability of light waves in different media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is one of the most commonly used polymers in drug delivery systems. The investigation of the pharmacokinetic behavior of PEG is important for revealing the toxicity and efficiency of PEG‐related Nano‐drug delivery systems. A high through‐put and selective ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC‐MS/MS) method coupled with collision‐induced dissociation (CID) in source technique was developed and validated to determine PEG1K polymers in cellular samples in this study. The countless precursor ions of PEG1K are dissociated in the source to generate numerous product ions which have different numbers of subunits. The transition of [M+H]+ precursor ions → product ions at m/z 177.1 (four subunits)→89.1 (two subunits) was selected to determine PEG1K due to its high sensitivity. The UHPLC‐MS/MS method coupled with CID in the source showed good linearity over the range of 0.1–10 μg/mL. Intra‐day and inter‐day accuracies and precisions of the assay were all within ± 12.39%. The assay was successfully applied to a cellular pharmacokinetic study of PEG1K in human breast cancer cells. The cytotoxicity of PEG1K polymers was also studied and the results indicated that the cytotoxicity of PEG1K was not significant in the range of 5–1200 μg/mL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) is a dangerous condition with a high mortality rate. Many studies have found an association between adipokines and the development of SAP, but the results are controversial. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis of the association of inflammatory adipokines with SAP. Methods: We screened PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and Cochrane Library for articles on adipokines and SAP published before July 20, 2023. The quality of the literature was assessed using QUADAS criteria. Standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to assess the combined effect. Subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis and publication bias tests were also performed on the information obtained. Result: Fifteen eligible studies included 1332 patients with acute pancreatitis (AP). Pooled analysis showed that patients with SAP had significantly higher serum levels of resistin (SMD = 0.78, 95% CI:0.37 to 1.19, z = 3.75, P = 0.000). The difference in leptin and adiponectin levels between SAP and mild acute pancreatitis (MAP) patients were not significant (SMD = 0.30, 95% CI: -0.08 to 0.68, z = 1.53, P = 0.127 and SMD = 0.11, 95% CI: -0.17 to 0.40, z = 0.80, P = 0.425, respectively). In patients with SAP, visfatin levels were not significantly different from that in patients with MAP (SMD = 1.20, 95% CI: -0.48 to 2.88, z = 1.40, P = 0.162). Conclusion: Elevated levels of resistin are associated with the development of SAP. Resistin may serve as biomarker for SAP and has promise as therapeutic target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation is the predominant epigenetic modification for mRNAs that regulates various cancer-related pathways. However, the prognostic significance of m6A modification regulators remains unclear in glioma. By integrating the TCGA lower-grade glioma (LGG) and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) gene expression data, we demonstrated that both the m6A regulators and m6A-target genes were associated with glioma prognosis and activated various cancer-related pathways. Then, we paired m6A regulators and their target genes as m6A-related gene pairs (MGPs) using the iPAGE algorithm, among which 122 MGPs were significantly reversed in expression between LGG and GBM. Subsequently, we employed LASSO Cox regression analysis to construct an MGP signature (MrGPS) to evaluate glioma prognosis. MrGPS was independently validated in CGGA and GEO glioma cohorts with high accuracy in predicting overall survival. The average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) at 1-, 3- and 5-year intervals were 0.752, 0.853 and 0.831, respectively. Combining clinical factors of age and radiotherapy, the AUC of MrGPS was much improved to around 0.90. Furthermore, CIBERSORT and TIDE algorithms revealed that MrGPS is indicative for the immune infiltration level and the response to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in glioma patients. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that m6A methylation is a prognostic factor for glioma and the developed prognostic model MrGPS holds potential as a valuable tool for enhancing patient management and facilitating accurate prognosis assessment in cases of glioma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Plant intracellular immune receptors, primarily nucleotide‐binding, leucine‐rich repeat proteins (NLRs), detect pathogen effector proteins and activate NLR‐triggered immunity (NTI). Recently, 'sensor' NLRs have been reported to function with 'helper' NLRs to activate immunity. We investigated the role of two helper NLRs, Nrc2 and Nrc3, on immunity in tomato to the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (Pst) mediated by the sensor NLR Prf and the Pto kinase. An nrc2/nrc3 mutant no longer activated Prf/Pto‐mediated NTI to Pst containing the effectors AvrPto and AvrPtoB. An nrc3 mutant showed intermediate susceptibility between wild‐type plants and a Prf mutant, while an nrc2 mutant developed only mild disease. These observations indicate that Nrc2 and Nrc3 act additively in Prf‐/Pto‐mediated immunity. We examined at what point Nrc2 and Nrc3 act in the Prf/Pto‐mediated immune response. In the nrc2/3 mutant, programmed cell death (PCD) normally induced by constitutively active variants of AvrPtoB, Pto, or Prf was abolished, but that induced by M3Kα or Mkk2 was not. PCD induced by a constitutively active Nrc3 was also abolished in a Nicotiana benthamiana line with reduced expression of Prf. MAPK activation triggered by expression of AvrPto in the wild‐type tomato plants was completely abolished in the nrc2/3 mutant. These results indicate that Nrc2 and Nrc3 act with Prf/Pto and upstream of MAPK signaling. Nrc2 and Nrc3 were not required for PCD triggered by Ptr1, another sensor NLR‐mediating Pst resistance, although these helper NLRs do appear to be involved in resistance to certain Pst race 1 strains [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective We aimed to observe the effect of the traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)-based "tertiary hospital-community integrated" treatment program in patients with diabetic kidney disease. Methods A total of 126 patients from the Jiangtai and Cuigezhuang Communities in Chaoyang District were randomly divided into the experimental group and the control group(n =63 patients per group). In the experimental group, the "tertiary hospital-community integrated" treatment program was implemented(including TCM differentiated health preservation, chronic disease management, comprehensive diagnosis and treatment program of integrated Chinese and Western medicine), while in the control group, the existing chronic disease diagnosis, treatment, and management program in the community was implemented(including chronic disease management with regular follow-ups, diagnosis and treatment program of Western medicine). The observation period was 6 months, with 3 months as a course of treatment. The 24 h urine total protein level(24 hUTP), the serum level of creatinine (Scr), and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were compared between the two groups, as well as the effective rates of 24 hUTP, Scr, and eGFR, the rate of achieving standard glucose levels and normal lipid metabolism, including low- density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), triglyceride(TG), and glycosylated hemoglobin (GHB), the level of patients? self-management, and the medical service in utilization. Results There were 120 patients included for analysis(60 in the experimental group and 60 in the control group). The difference in 24 hUTP was significantly different(P < 0.05), while Scr and eGFR were not statistically different between the experimental and control groups after 3 months of treatment. The differences in 24 hUTP, Scr, and eGFR were statistically significant after 6 months (P < 0.05). After 6 months of treatment in both groups, the effective rates of 24 hUTP, Scr, and eGFR were higher in the experimental group than in the control group(78.3%, 48.3%, and 50.0% in the experimental group and 35.0%, 18.3%, and 15.0% in the control group, respectively)(P < 0.05); after 6 months, the LDL-C, TG, and GHB qualified rates were higher in the experimental group than in the control group(75.0%, 83.3%, and 71.7% in the experimental group and 56.7%, 63.3%, and 46.7% in the control group, respectively; P < 0.05); comparing the self-management levels of the two groups after 3 and 6 months of treatment, the total self-management score and the total self-efficacy score were both higher in the experimental group than in the control group (P < 0.05); comparing the time of hospitalization and hospitalization costs of the two groups 6 months after enrollment, the time of hospitalization and hospitalization costs were lower in the experimental group (P < 0.05). Conclusion The "tertiary hospital-community integrated" TCM-based treatment program improves renal function, glucose and lipid metabolism, and patients' self-management; it can reduce the economic burden of families, save medical resources, and improve the utilization of medical services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite recognition in the West that military veterans experience more mental health issues than the general population, little research has focused on this subject in China. This study examined the associations between male veterans' military experience and depression in China. Methods: A sample of 12,914 men including 669 veterans was included in the final analysis and propensity score matching, multivariable regressions and fixed effect model were used. Results: The military experience was associated with a lower likelihood of depression in male veterans. In the subgroup analysis, military experience was associated with a lower likelihood of depression among married and urban male veterans. Military experience was also associated with a lower likelihood of depression in both "junior college and above" and "below junior college" groups. In contrast, evidence was lacking regarding the associations between military experience and depression for unmarried and rural veterans. Conclusions: Individual characteristics could influence the relationship between military experience and depression in male veterans, and the mental health of veterans should be paid more attention and guaranteed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated how implicit theories of mental health (ITMH) influence people's experience of anxiety and depression symptoms during the COVID‐19 pandemic in China. Two thousand and 44 Chinese completed the study during an emergent outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Shaanxi, China. The results suggested that ITMH significantly influence people's experience of anxiety and depression symptoms. Both active and passive coping styles significantly mediated the relationship between ITMH and anxiety/depression, with active coping style as a stronger mediator than passive coping style. Implications of the current research for improving people's mental health during pandemics of infectious diseases and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-quality development of socio-economic, ecological environment, tourism industry and natural resources in the Yellow River Basin is a major strategic task for national development. High-quality development in the Yellow River Basin still has a lot of room for improvement, so it is important for the coupled and coordinated development of water resources-socio-economic-ecological environment-tourism industry in the Yellow River Basin region. In this study, we focus on the major strategic issues of high quality development in the Yellow River Basin in the context of the above-mentioned background and the current forms and policies of sustainable development in China, and conduct research on the theory and methods of assessing the sustainable development of regional water resources-socio-economic-ecological environment-tourism industry. However, by analyzing the existing research literature on sustainable development assessment, we find that most of them focus on a single area or two combinations of modal development studies, and focus on exploring micro-coupling mechanisms, so the generality of macro policy support is rather mediocre, which we fill this gap through this study. The study relies on an innovative macroscopic research perspective that draws pioneeringly on the quality function deployment (QFD) theory in the field of product quality management in marketing, which, it is worth stating, allows for a framework of research perspectives from a systematic and holistic perspective. In this framework, we will propose a G1-entropy value method for indicator importance (weight) assessment. It is worth stating that the G1 method used in this paper is different from the traditional G1 method in that we will introduce the identity information weights of experts to improve the reliability of the subjective assignment method. We will also construct an indicator system for studying the regional sustainable development issues in the Yellow River Basin on this basis, so as to complete the ranking and analysis of the nine provinces and the importance of indicators in the Yellow River Basin. This study will provide a comprehensive theoretical basis for Chinese government and related departments to formulate policies for the high-quality development of water resources, socio-economic, ecological environment and tourism industry in the Yellow River Basin, and also provide theoretical and empirical references for the analysis and assessment of similar international regional sustainability cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we propose a rapid optimization approach to examine its application potential for the design and performance prediction and optimization of a solid fuel ramjet (SFRJ) with a bluff body. For this, the shape of the bluff body is parameterized first using the non-uniform rational B-spline method. We then develop a model for predicting SFRJ performances by incorporating both levy motion-gradient descent and support vector regression methods. It is found that a faster prediction is achievable, while the average error is maintained to be less than 5%. We then develop a multi-objective optimization model by considering the full thrust and minimum total pressure loss (TPL). The optimization model is examined using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm. A cost parameter is also created to facilitate the tradeoffs between the thrust and TPL in the Pareto front, when different bluff-body design configurations are considered. The present results reveal that an increase in the cost parameter will elevate the turbulence intensity within the SFRJs while drawing the incoming air closer to the fuel surface, resulting in an increase in thrust and regression rate, but the TPL will also increase. When prioritizing the TPL reduction in the design stage, the optimized solution reduces TPL by 50%. Meanwhile, the net thrust is shown to be decreased by less than 3.5%. Furthermore, flow-field investigation reveals that the improved performance of the optimized SFRJ is due to more uniform flow velocity gradients around the bluff body and a reduced rear vortex, resulting in reduced momentum loss. Our proposed optimization approach's robustness has been further confirmed with consistent performances, as the ramjet inlet speed varies over a broad range. It shows that our approach has great potential to be applied for the SFRJ performance prediction and optimization, being operated under various conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Torsion deformable spatial beam and Costello theory are used to establish longitudinal-torsional-lateral coupled model of round balance rope. Based on Coulomb's friction law and longitudinal-torsional-lateral coupled model, the nonlinear coupled dynamic model with friction constraint of round balance rope is established. Meanwhile, time-varying multi-segments non–equal-length element transformation method (TMN-ETM) is proposed to save computation time. Then, natural frequencies, lateral responses are calculated when the coupled stiffness coefficient is zero. And the calculations are compared with traditional solution method. The results show that only about few areas in the round balance rope loop have large stress norm value, while the rest parts have small stress values. Besides, dynamic responses of the balance rope with balance rope suspension rotor releasing are conducted. When the static friction is converted to dynamic friction, the friction torque and angle acceleration will be mutated at the switching instants, and slip-stick transition in angle acceleration occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aluminized explosive has attracted more and more attention in recent years because of its high explosive heat and high power. Al2O and AlO are indispensable aluminum oxides in the explosion process of aluminized explosives. The study of the physical properties of solid Al2O and AlO under pressure may play an important role in the understanding of the explosion mechanism of aluminized explosives. Context: The structures, cold-pressed lines and electronic properties of cubic Al2O and AlO are calculated and analyzed based on first-principles calculation in this paper. The optimized structures of Al2O and AlO are in good agreement with those previously studied. The cold pressure line shows that the specific volumes of Al2O and AlO decrease with increasing pressure. The peak values and peak positions of density of state of Al2O and AlO change greatly under pressure. Methods: The CASTEP code was used to execute these calculations throughout the present work, where the plane-wave basis set and norm conserving pseudopotential were employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiologists are often interested in estimating the effect of functions of time‐varying exposure histories in relation to continuous outcomes, for example, cognitive function. However, the individual exposure measurements that constitute the history upon which an exposure history function is constructed are usually mismeasured. To obtain unbiased estimates of the effects for mismeasured functions in longitudinal studies, a method incorporating main and validation studies was developed. Simulation studies under several realistic assumptions were conducted to assess its performance compared to standard analysis, and we found that the proposed method has good performance in terms of finite sample bias reduction and nominal confidence interval coverage. We applied it to a study of long‐term exposure to PM2.5$\text{PM}_{2.5}$, in relation to cognitive decline in the Nurses' Health Study Previously, it was found that the 2‐year decline in the standard measure of cognition was 0.018 (95% CI, −0.034 to −0.001) units worse per 10 μg/m3$\mu \text{g/m}^3$ increase in PM2.5$\text{PM}_{2.5}$ exposure. After correction, the estimated impact of PM2.5$\text{PM}_{2.5}$ on cognitive decline increased to 0.027 (95% CI, −0.059 to 0.005) units lower per 10 μg/m3$\mu \text{g/m}^3$ increase. To put this into perspective, effects of this magnitude are about 2/3 of those found in our data associated with each additional year of aging: 0.044 (95% CI, −0.047 to −0.040) units per 1 year older after applying our correction method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To build prediction models with radiomics features, clinical/conventional radiographic signs and combined scores for the discrimination of micropapillary or solid subtypes (high-risk subtypes) of lung adenocarcinoma. Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 351 patients with and without high-risk subtypes. Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression with cross-validation was performed to determine the optimal features of radiomics model. Missing clinical data were imputed by Multiple Imputation with Chain Equations (MICE). Clinical model with radiographic signs was built and scores of both models were integrated to establish combined model. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves, area under ROC curves and decision curve analysis (DCA) were plotted to evaluate the model performance and clinical application. Results: Stratified splitting allocated 246 patients into training set. MICE for missing values obtained complete and unbiased data for the following analysis. Ninety radiomic features and four clinical/conventional radiographic signs were used to predict the high-risk subtypes. The radiomic model, clinical model and combined model achieved AUCs of 0.863 (95%CI: 0.817–0.909), 0.771 (95%CI: 0.713–0.713) and 0.872 (95%CI: 0.829–0.916) in the training set, and 0.849 (95%CI: 0.774–0.924), 0.778 (95%CI: 0.687–0.868) and 0.853 (95%CI: 0.782–0.925) in the test set. Decision curve showed that the radiomic and combined models were more clinically useful when the threshold reached 37.5%. Conclusions: Radiomics features could facilitate the prediction of subtypes of lung adenocarcinoma. A simple combination of radiomics and clinical scores generated a robust model with high performance for the discrimination of micropapillary or solid subtype of lung adenocarcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pullulan is a polymer produced by Aureobasidium spp. The yield of pullulan production can be impacted by the cellular differentiation of Aureobasidium spp., which changes with alterations in the growth environment. To improve pullulan yield, identifying key factors that regulate cellular differentiation is crucial. In this study, the main form of pullulan synthesis in Aureobasidium pullulans NG was through swollen cells (SC). The results showed that citric acid (CA) can regulate the cellular differentiation of Aureobasidium pullulans NG by accumulating higher levels of CA in the cells to maintain growth in SC form and increase pullulan production. The addition of 1.0% CA to Aureobasidium pullulans NG for 96 h resulted in a significant increase in pullulan production, producing 18.32 g/l compared to the control group which produced 10.23 g/l. Our findings suggest that controlling cellular differentiation using CA is a promising approach for enhancing pullulan production in Aureobasidium pullulans. Key points: • The regulation of cell differentiation in Aureobasidium pullulans NG is demonstrated to be influenced by citric acid. • Intracellular citric acid levels in Aureobasidium pullulans NG have been shown to support the growth of swollen cells. • Citric acid has been found to increase pullulan production in Aureobasidium pullulans NG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oocystis borgei, a microalgae species employed for regulating the quality of aquaculture water, demonstrates the capacity to adsorb noxious substances, curtail the growth of detrimental bacteria, and outcompete blooming cyanobacteria. It can be concentrated by natural sedimentation and stored at room temperature, making it costless and simple to transport and use. To study the mechanism of adaptation to room temperature preservation, O. borgei was concentrated (1.19 × 107−1.21 × 107 cell/mL) and stored for 50 days at low (5 °C, LT), normal (25 °C, NT), and high (35 °C, HT) temperatures, respectively. Polysaccharide content, lipid content, cell survival, and resuscitation were evaluated. RNA-Seq was also used to examine how concentrated O. borgei responded to temperature. During storage, there was an increase in polysaccharide content and a decrease in lipid content, with both being significantly upregulated in the LT and HT groups. Survival and cell density were highest in the NT group. The RNA-Seq analysis revealed extensive differences in transcript levels. ATP synthesis was inhibited in the LT group due to the reduced expression of PsaD, PsaE, PsaF, PsaK, and PsaL. Under HT, the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was facilitated by low levels of redox-related genes (nirA) and high levels of oxidative genes (gdhA, glna, and glts). The findings suggest that storing concentrated O. borgei at room temperature is optimal for microalgae preservation, enhancing theoretical research in this field. Our study provides further theoretical and practical support for the development of O. borgei as a live ecological preparation for aquaculture microalgae ecology management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, a sucrose non‐fermenting‐1‐related protein kinase alpha subunit (TaSnRK1α‐1A) is identified as associated with cold stress through integration of genome‐wide association study, bulked segregant RNA sequencing, and virus‐induced gene silencing. It is confirmed that TaSnRK1α positively regulates cold tolerance by transgenes and ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutants. A plastid‐lipid‐associated protein 6, chloroplastic‐like (TaPAP6L‐2B) strongly interacting with TaSnRK1α‐1A is screened. Molecular chaperone DJ‐1 family protein (TaDJ‐1‐7B) possibly bridged the interaction of TaSnRK1α‐1A and TaPAP6L‐2B. It is further revealed that TaSnRK1α‐1A phosphorylated TaPAP6L‐2B. Subsequently, a superior haplotype TaPAP6L‐2B30S/38S is identified and confirmed that both R30S and G38S are important phosphorylation sites that influence TaPAP6L‐2B in cold tolerance. Overexpression (OE) and EMS‐mutant lines verified TaPAP6L positively modulating cold tolerance. Furthermore, transcriptome sequencing revealed that TaPAP6L‐2B‐OE lines significantly increased jasmonic acid (JA) content, possibly by improving precursor α‐linolenic acid contributing to JA synthesis and by repressing JAR1 degrading JA. Exogenous JA significantly improved the cold tolerance of wheat plants. In summary, TaSnRK1α profoundly regulated cold stress, possibly through phosphorylating TaPAP6L to increase endogenous JA content of wheat plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This article aims to present a direct solution to handle linear constraints in finite element (FE) analysis without penalties or the Lagrange multipliers introduced. Design/methodology/approach: First, the system of linear equations corresponding to the linear constraints is solved for the leading variables in terms of the free variables and the constants. Then, the reduced system of equilibrium equations with respect to the free variables is derived from the finite-dimensional virtual work equation. Finally, the algorithm is designed. Findings: The proposed procedure is promising in three typical cases: (1) to enforce displacement constraints in any direction; (2) to implement local refinements by allowing hanging nodes from element subdivision and (3) to treat non-matching grids of distinct parts of the problem domain. The procedure is general and suitable for 3D non-linear analyses. Research limitations/implications: The algorithm is fitted only to the Galerkin-based numerical methods. Originality/value: The proposed procedure does not need Lagrange multipliers or penalties. The tangential stiffness matrix of the reduced system of equilibrium equations reserves positive definiteness and symmetry. Besides, many contemporary Galerkin-based numerical methods need to tackle the enforcement of the essential conditions, whose weak forms reduce to linear constraints. As a result, the proposed procedure is quite promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantitative analysis of respiratory viruses is of great importance for rapid diagnosis, precision medicine, and prognosis. Several current quantitative analysis systems have been proposed and commercialized. Although they have been proven in trials, quantitative analyzes based on real samples are still complex, time-consuming, and expensive. Therefore, they are not able to directly quantify real samples. In this work, we presented a lab-on-a-chip platform combined with an automated control system to achieve quantitative analysis from samples to results. We developed a multilayer integrated chip to rapidly extract and quantify RNA of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pseudovirus from large-volume nasal swab samples. The dependence of the magnetic bead size and the interfacial effect was studied for the first time, and the conditions of immiscible filtration assisted by surface tension (IFAST) method for nucleic acid extraction were optimized to increase the nucleic acid recovery rate up to 85%. Inside the chip, a pneumatic valve was developed for automatic opening and closing of the liquid channel. The integrated chip platform and automatic control system presented here are advantageous for use in resource-limited settings (RLS). In addition, our method can be extended to other respiratory viruses and other sample types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic response of a composite lining tunnel with an isolation layer under blast-induced cylindrical P waves is investigated by using the wavefunction expansion method. The spring model is introduced to simulate the imperfect interfaces between the structural layers of tunnels. Numerical calculations are carried out based on the Xianglu Mountain Tunnel in Southwest China to illustrate the influence of the source-to-tunnel distance, the degree of interface imperfection, and the shear modulus and thickness of the isolation layer on the dynamic stress concentration factor (DSCF), the radial velocity scaling factor (RVSF), and the hoop velocity scaling factor (HVSF) of the final lining. It is concluded that dynamic stress and peak particle velocity in the final lining are strongly affected by the source location, especially under the condition of a small source-to-tunnel distance and a relatively low incident frequency. The DSCF, RVSF, and HVSF for blasting P waves, the frequency of which is below 200 Hz, agree with the corresponding results for far-field plane P waves if the source-to-tunnel distance surpasses 50 times the inner diameter of the tunnel. The interface imperfection tends to weaken the DSCF in the final lining, and its effect on RVSF and HVSF is frequency-dependent. The isolation layer can significantly reduce the dynamic stress and particle velocity response in the final lining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: CD147 is an important glycoprotein that participates in the progression of diverse cancers. This study aims to explore the specific function of CD147 in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and to reveal related downstream molecular mechanisms. Methods: Followed by silencing of CD147, the viability, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of LUAD cells were measured by CCK8, wound healing, transwell assay, and flow cytometer, respectively. The expression of CD147 and two markers of lipid metabolism (FASN and ACOX1) were detected by qRT-PCR. A xenograft tumor model was constructed to investigate the function of CD147 in vivo. Then transcriptome sequencing was performed to explore the potential mechanisms. After measuring the expression of Rap1 and p-p38 MAPK/p38 MAPK by western blot, the changes of CD147 and lipid metabolism markers (FASN, ACOX1) was detected by Immunohistochemistry. Moreover, a Rap1 activator and a Rap1 inhibitor were applied for feedback functional experiments. Results: CD147 was up-regulated in LUAD cells, and its silencing inhibited cell proliferation, migration, invasion, lipid metabolism dysregulation and promoted apoptosis, while overexpression of CD147 showed the opposite results. Silencing of CD147 also inhibited the growth of tumor xenografts in mice. Transcriptome sequencing revealed 834 up-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 602 down-regulated DEGs. After functional enrichment, the Rap1 signaling pathway was selected as a potential target, which was then verified to be blocked by CD147 silencing. In addition, the treatment of Rap1 activator weakened the inhibiting effects of si-CD147 on the proliferation, migration, invasion, and lipid metabolism in LUAD cells, while the intervention of RAP1 inhibitor showed the opposite results. Conclusions: Silencing of CD147 inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion, lipid metabolism dysregulation and promoted apoptosis of LUAD cells through blocking the Rap1 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liver diseases impose a huge burden worldwide. Although hepatocyte transplantation has long been considered as a potential strategy for treating liver diseases, its clinical implementation has created some obvious limitations. As an alternative strategy, cell therapy, particularly mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) transplantation, is widely used in treating different liver diseases, including acute liver disease, acute-on-chronic liver failure, hepatitis B/C virus, autoimmune hepatitis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, liver fibrosis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Here, we summarize the status of MSC transplantation in treating liver diseases, focusing on the therapeutic mechanisms, including differentiation into hepatocyte-like cells, immunomodulating function with a variety of immune cells, paracrine effects via the secretion of various cytokines and extracellular vesicles, and facilitation of homing and engraftment. Some improved perspectives and current challenges are also addressed. In summary, MSCs have great potential in the treatment of liver diseases based on their multi-faceted characteristics, and more accurate mechanisms and novel therapeutic strategies stemming from MSCs will facilitate clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This correction notice addresses an error in the original article titled "Silencing of CD147 inhibits cell proliferation, migration, invasion, lipid metabolism dysregulation and promotes apoptosis in lung adenocarcinoma via blocking the Rap1 signaling pathway." The authors identified that Figures 1 and 2 were inadvertently swapped. The correction provides the correct figures and captions, and assures readers that the corrections do not alter the interpretations or validity of the research. The error does not significantly impact the overall findings and conclusions of the paper. [Extracted from the article]

The knowledge of the observed inverse energy cascade in typhoon boundary layers holds significant implications for understanding the formation, enhancement, and deformation of typhoons. This study reveals that the observed inverse energy cascade originates from the rapid rotation of typhoons. The transition from the direct energy cascade regime to the inverse energy cascade regime can be characterized by the Zeman length scale. The turbulence structures behave as two dimensional above the Zeman length scale. Through symmetry analysis, it is discovered that the ratio of the inverse energy cascade flux to the direct energy cascade flux is proportional to the turbulence Rossby number with a power of −2. These findings offer a framework for incorporating the inverse energy cascade into the turbulence parameterizations and improving typhoon modeling. Plain Language Summary: The process of the energy flowing inversely to large scales in typhoon boundary layers is important for the evolution of typhoons. This study reveals that this process originates from the rotation of typhoons. This study also establishes a theoretical relation between the ratio of the inverse energy cascade flux to the direct energy cascade flux and the turbulence Rossby number. These findings have practical implications for improving the turbulence parameterizations in numerical models. Key Points: The observed inverse energy cascade in typhoon boundary layers originates from the rapid rotation of typhoonsThe Zeman length scale can characterize the transition from the direct energy cascade regime to the inverse energy cascade regimeThe ratio of the inverse energy cascade flux to the direct energy cascade flux is controlled by the turbulence Rossby number [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from moderate to weak turbulence regimes remains a grand challenge for stable boundary layer parameterizations in weather and climate models. In this study, a critical horizontal Froude number (≈0.28) is proposed to characterize such a transition, which corresponds to the development of quasi two‐dimensional pancake vortices. Traditionally defined stability parameters corresponding to the critical horizontal Froude number are estimated and are consistent with values in the literature. The critical horizontal Froude number can recover previously used height‐ and site‐dependent mean wind speed thresholds. These findings offer a way to constrain the validity range of Monin‐Obukhov similarity theory in numerical models for weather and pollutants dispersion. Plain Language Summary: The transition from moderate to weak turbulence regimes in stable atmospheric boundary layers presents a grand challenge for numerical models. Our results show that such a transition occurs when the horizontal Froude number is equal to a critical value of about 0.28, which is physically connected to the development of quasi two‐dimensional pancake vortices. These findings can help improve turbulence parameterizations in numerical models for weather and pollutants dispersion. Key Points: A critical horizontal Froude number (≈0.28) is proposed to characterize the transition from moderate to weak turbulence regimesThe critical horizontal Froude number corresponds to the development of pancake vorticesPreviously used height‐ and site‐dependent mean wind speed thresholds can be recovered from the critical horizontal Froude number [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Veins are a critical component of the plant growth and development system, playing an integral role in supporting and protecting leaves, as well as transporting water, nutrients, and photosynthetic products. A comprehensive understanding of the form and function of veins requires a dual approach that combines plant physiology with cutting-edge image recognition technology. The latest advancements in computer vision and machine learning have facilitated the creation of algorithms that can identify vein networks and explore their developmental progression. Here, we review the functional, environmental, and genetic factors associated with vein networks, along with the current status of research on image analysis. In addition, we discuss the methods of venous phenotype extraction and multi-omics association analysis using machine learning technology, which could provide a theoretical basis for improving crop productivity by optimizing the vein network architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]