Search

IntroductionA complicated scenario where “multiple disease threats coexist and multiple health influencing factors are intertwined” is demonstrated by the fact that dental caries, obesity myopia and scoliosis have emerged as global public health issues. The problem of diseases co-existing in living things can be resolved by using probiotics. Lactobacillus plantarum, has gained attention recently due to its probiotic properties, useful traits, and potential medical applications.ObjectiveExamining the anti-obesity and anti-caries effects of L. plantarum ATCC 14917 on dental caries and obese rat models caused by a high-fat and high-sugar diet is the aim of this study.MethodIn vitro, we assessed the L. plantarum strain’s probiotic properties, such as its antibacterial activity and ability to build biofilms, to determine its ability to inhibit Streptococcus mutans. Prior to the in vivo experiment, the subsist test for L. plantarum ATCC 14917 was carried out by mimicking its capacity to lower blood sugar and blood lipid levels as well as its tolerance to gastrointestinal disorders. In order to assess the health promotion effect of L. plantarum in vivo. Three-week-old rats were fed a high-sugar, high-fat diet for 8 weeks. They were split into three groups: the control group (Control), the caries and obesity group (CA _OB) and the caries and obesity treated with L. plantarum ATCC14917 group (LP). L. plantarum ATCC 14917 was applied during the experiment, and the associated indices were then thoroughly assessed. These included the use of Mirco-CT to calculate the enamel volume, the staining of liver and fat cell sections, serological analysis, and 16S rRNA sequencing of feces.ResultsIt was proved that the L. plantarum could inhibit the proliferation of S. mutans and remove dental plaque biofilm in time, which showed the remarkable effects of anti-caries in vitro. The demineralization rate of enamel decreased by 44.10% due to the inhibition of acid production by pathogenic bacteria. Moreover, In intestinal and stomach juice simulations, L. plantarum has a high survival rate. The characteristics of bacterial activity in a wide range of pH could degrade triglycerides and glucose in vitro smoothly. The LP group demonstrated it by reducing animal weight, serum biochemical indices, and HE-stained adipocytes as compared to the CA_OB group. 16S rRNA sequencing data showed that a high-fat and high-sugar diet induced the imbalance of intestinal flora, which showed an increase in microbial abundance, including unclassified_o__Clostridia_UCG-014, unclassified_f__Oscillospiraceae, Turicibacter, unclassified_f__Lachnospiraceae, Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1. After the intervention of L. plantarum, the number of Lactobacillus, Limosilactobacillus, unclassified_f__Muribaculaceae, Blautia, Faecalibaculum increased significantly.ConclusionTherefore, L. plantarum ATCC 14917 performed the potential of reducing tooth decay and controlling weight gain by a single strain. Support the management of dental caries and obesity, and establish a foundation for future functional food research and development.

In the field of autonomous vehicles (AVs), accurately discerning commander intent and executing linguistic commands within a visual context presents a significant challenge. This paper introduces a sophisticated encoder-decoder framework, developed to address visual grounding in AVs. Our Context-Aware Visual Grounding (CAVG) model is an advanced system that integrates five core encoders—Text, Emotion, Image, Context, and Cross-Modal—with a multimodal decoder. This integration enables the CAVG model to adeptly capture contextual semantics and to learn human emotional features, augmented by state-of-the-art Large Language Models (LLMs) including GPT-4. The architecture of CAVG is reinforced by the implementation of multi-head cross-modal attention mechanisms and a Region-Specific Dynamic (RSD) layer for attention modulation. This architectural design enables the model to efficiently process and interpret a range of cross-modal inputs, yielding a comprehensive understanding of the correlation between verbal commands and corresponding visual scenes. Empirical evaluations on the Talk2Car dataset, a real-world benchmark, demonstrate that CAVG establishes new standards in prediction accuracy and operational efficiency. Notably, the model exhibits exceptional performance even with limited training data, ranging from 50% to 75% of the full dataset. This feature highlights its effectiveness and potential for deployment in practical AV applications. Moreover, CAVG has shown remarkable robustness and adaptability in challenging scenarios, including long-text command interpretation, low-light conditions, ambiguous command contexts, inclement weather conditions, and densely populated urban environments.

Objective In the treatment of lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis (LDS) with Posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) surgery, interbody fusion implants play a key role in supporting the vertebral body and facilitating fusion. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of implantation depth on sagittal parameters and functional outcomes in patients undergoing PLIF surgery. Methods This study reviewed 128 patients with L4‐L5 LDS between January 2016 and August 2019. All patients underwent an open PLIF surgery that included intravertebral decompression, implantation of pedicle screws and cage. We grouped according to the position of the center of the cage relative to the L5 vertebral endplate. Patients with the center of the cage located at the anterior 1/2 of the upper end plate of the L5 vertebral body were divided into Anterior group, and located at the posterior 1/2 of the upper end plate of the L5 vertebral body were divided into Posterior group. The lumbar lordosis (LL), segmental lordosis (SL), sacral slope (SS), pelvic incidence (PI), pelvic tilt (PT) and slope degree (SD) was measured for radiographic outcomes. We used the visual analog scale (VAS) and the oswestry disability index (ODI) score to assess functional outcomes. Paired t‐test was used to compare imaging and bedside data before and after surgery between the two groups, and independent sample t‐test, χ2 test and Fisher exact test were used to compare the data between the two groups. Result The mean follow‐up of Anterior group was 44.13 ± 9.23 months, and Posterior group was 45.62 ± 10.29 months (P > 0.05). The LL, SL, PT, SS, SD and PI‐LL after operation showed great improvements, relative to the corresponding preoperative values in both groups (P

Improving the corrosion resistance, osteogenic activity, and antimicrobial capacity of the magnesium-based implant is considered the key to promoting their large-scale clinical application. In this study, we reported a novel calcium-phosphorus coating induced by gentamicin (G)-loaded polydopamine for the surface treatment of the magnesium alloy. According to material characterization, immersion tests, and electrochemical analysis, the composite coating has a dense structure and a high crystallinity for greater corrosion resistance. Meanwhile, drug release and antimicrobial experiments demonstrated that the magnesium matrix loaded with gentamicin showed strong inhibition of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, and the calcium-phosphorus coating further prolonged the release profile of G, which would contribute to the long-term bactericidal activity of the magnesium implants. In addition, the coating significantly promoted the adhesion, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation ability of MC3T3-E1. The results of in vivo experiments confirmed that magnesium alloys with composite coatings significantly promoted bone regeneration under infected conditions. This study provides a promising strategy for the development of multifunctional magnesium-based implants with good corrosion resistance, and antibacterial and osteogenic capabilities.

Purpose: Improving agricultural carbon-output efficiency is an important path to realize the “double carbon” goal in the Yellow River Basin. In the context of rapid urbanization development, it is significant to explore whether promoting urbanization will affect agricultural carbon-output efficiency. Methods: Based on panel data of 75 cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2000 to 2020, this paper uses the super-DEA model, three-dimensional kernel density model, and Markov chain model to measure and analyze the spatio-temporal evolution of agricultural carbon-output efficiency in the Yellow River Basin. The panel Tobit model is used on this basis to analyze the relationship between urbanization and carbon-output efficiency in agriculture. Results: The results show the following: (1) The level of agricultural carbon-output efficiency in the Yellow River Basin is low and has not reached an effective state, showing a slow downward trend in general where the agricultural carbon-output efficiency in the lower reaches is higher than that in the middle reaches, and the upper reaches has the lowest. (2) Agricultural carbon-output efficiency in the Yellow River Basin has a negative trend of transitioning to a low level overall and maintaining its original level, and it is difficult to realize the leapfrog transfer between states. Agricultural carbon-output efficiency has an obvious spatial spillover effect and “club convergence” phenomenon; the high-efficiency area has a positive driving effect on the neighborhood area, while the low-efficiency area has a negative impact on the neighborhood area. (3) The level of urbanization has a significant positive impact on the carbon-output efficiency of agriculture in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin, which plays an important role in promoting the green development of agriculture.

In this study, response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) were used to predict and validate the optimal processing method of Schizonepetae Herba Carbonisata (SHC). The highest overall desirability (OD) value of the total flavonoids content (TFC), total tannin content (TTC), and adsorption capacity (AC) were used as response values. The optimal processing technology processing time lasted 10 min at a processing temperature of 178 °C and the herbs/machine had a volume of 77 g/5 L. The Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography/Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS), combined with chemometrics, was used to investigate the changes of compounds in Schizonepetae Herba (SH) before and after being charred. A total of 104 compounds were tentatively identified in SH and 83 in SHC. Fifteen differential compounds were found between by chemometrics SH and SHC. Altogether, our findings can provide a practical approach to the processing technology of carbonizing by stir-frying SH.

Lung injury may persist during the recovery period of COVID-19 as shown through imaging, six-minute walk, and lung function tests. The pathophysiological mechanisms leading to long COVID have not been adequately explained. Our aim is to investigate the basis of pulmonary susceptibility during sequelae and the possibility that prothrombotic states may influence long-term pulmonary symptoms of COVID-19. The patient’s lungs remain vulnerable during the recovery stage due to persistent shedding of the virus, the inflammatory environment, the prothrombotic state, and injury and subsequent repair of the blood-air barrier. The transformation of inflammation to proliferation and fibrosis, hypoxia-involved vascular remodeling, vascular endothelial cell damage, phosphatidylserine-involved hypercoagulability, and continuous changes in serological markers all contribute to post-discharge lung injury. Considering the important role of microthrombus and arteriovenous thrombus in the process of pulmonary functional lesions to organic lesions, we further study the possibility that prothrombotic states, including pulmonary vascular endothelial cell activation and hypercoagulability, may affect long-term pulmonary symptoms in long COVID. Early use of combined anticoagulant and antiplatelet therapy is a promising approach to reduce the incidence of pulmonary sequelae. Essentially, early treatment can block the occurrence of thrombotic events. Because impeded pulmonary circulation causes large pressure imbalances over the alveolar membrane leading to the infiltration of plasma into the alveolar cavity, inhibition of thrombotic events can prevent pulmonary hypertension, formation of lung hyaline membranes, and lung consolidation.

Many discharged COVID-19 patients affected by sequelae experience reduced quality of life leading to an increased burden on the healthcare system, their families and society at large. Possible pathophysiological mechanisms of long COVID include: persistent viral replication, chronic hypoxia and inflammation. Ongoing vascular endothelial damage promotes platelet adhesion and coagulation, resulting in the impairment of various organ functions. Meanwhile, thrombosis will further aggravate vasculitis contributing to further deterioration. Thus, long COVID is essentially a thrombotic sequela. Unfortunately, there is currently no effective treatment for long COVID. This article summarizes the evidence for coagulation abnormalities in long COVID, with a focus on the pathophysiological mechanisms of thrombosis. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by various types of cells can carry SARS-CoV-2 through the circulation and attack distant tissues and organs. Furthermore, EVs express tissue factor and phosphatidylserine (PS) which aggravate thrombosis. Given the persistence of the virus, chronic inflammation and endothelial damage are inevitable. Pulmonary structural changes such as hypertension, embolism and fibrosis are common in long COVID. The resulting impaired lung function and chronic hypoxia again aggravates vascular inflammation and coagulation abnormalities. In this article, we also summarize recent research on antithrombotic therapy in COVID-19. There is increasing evidence that early anticoagulation can be effective in improving outcomes. In fact, persistent systemic vascular inflammation and dysfunction caused by thrombosis are key factors driving various complications of long COVID. Early prophylactic anticoagulation can prevent the release of or remove procoagulant substances, thereby protecting the vascular endothelium from damage, reducing thrombotic sequelae, and improving quality of life for long-COVID patients.

The intestinal tract, with high expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), is a major site of extrapulmonary infection in COVID-19. During pulmonary infection, the virus enters the bloodstream forming viremia, which infects and damages extrapulmonary organs. Uncontrolled viral infection induces cytokine storm and promotes a hypercoagulable state, leading to systemic microthrombi. Both viral infection and microthrombi can damage the gut–blood barrier, resulting in malabsorption, malnutrition, and intestinal flora entering the blood, ultimately increasing disease severity and mortality. Early prophylactic antithrombotic therapy can prevent these damages, thereby reducing mortality. In this review, we discuss the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection and intestinal thrombosis on intestinal injury and disease severity, as well as corresponding treatment strategies.

This research navigates the dynamic terrain of global academia, where an increasing number of scholars seek international opportunities for diverse academic growth. Recognizing a significant gap in the existing literature, this study proposes to delve into the oftenoverlooked dimension of adaptive performance among foreign academics. Building on the foundation of cross-cultural adaptation theory, the research empirically tests the interplay between emotional intelligence and psychological resilience in shaping the adaptive performance of foreign lecturers. In an effort to ground this exploration, a structured questionnaire was administered to 800 lecturers based in tier 1 cities, including new tier 1 cities, in China. These cities were strategically chosen due to their dense populations and being hubs for a majority of higher educational institutes. The ensuing analysis, conducted through PLS-SEM, yielded compelling evidence affirming the pivotal roles of emotional intelligence and psychological resilience as influential factors in determining adaptive performance. Crucially, the study unraveled the significant mediating role played by psychological resilience in linking emotional intelligence and adaptive performance. These findings not only contribute to the academic discourse but also offer actionable insights for practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]