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Background: Dengue fever (DF) and West Nile fever (WNF) have become endemic worldwide in the last two decades. Studies suggest that individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM) are at a higher risk of developing severe complications from these diseases. Identifying the factors associated with a severe clinical presentation is crucial, as prompt treatment is essential to prevent complications and fatalities. This article aims to summarize and assess the published evidence regarding the link between DM and the risk of severe clinical manifestations in cases of DF and WNF. Methodology/Principal findings: A systematic search was conducted using the PubMed and Web of Science databases. 27 studies (19 on DF, 8 on WNF) involving 342,873 laboratory-confirmed patients were included in the analysis. The analysis showed that a diagnosis of DM was associated with an increased risk for severe clinical presentations of both DF (OR 3.39; 95% CI: 2.46, 4.68) and WNF (OR 2.89; 95% CI: 1.89, 4.41). DM also significantly increased the risk of death from both diseases (DF: OR 1.95; 95% CI: 1.09, 3.52; WNF: OR 1.74; 95% CI: 1.40, 2.17). Conclusions/Significance: This study provides strong evidence supporting the association between DM and an increased risk of severe clinical manifestations in cases of DF and WNF. Diabetic individuals in DF or WNF endemic areas should be closely monitored when presenting with febrile symptoms due to their higher susceptibility to severe disease. Early detection and appropriate management strategies are crucial in reducing the morbidity and mortality rates associated with DF and WNF in diabetic patients. Tailored care and targeted public health interventions are needed to address this at-risk population. Further research is required to understand the underlying mechanisms and develop effective preventive and therapeutic approaches. Author summary: In our study, we investigated the association between diabetes mellitus (DM) and the risk of severe clinical manifestations in cases of dengue fever (DF) and West Nile fever (WNF). By analyzing 27 studies involving over 342,000 laboratory-confirmed patients, we found compelling evidence supporting a link between DM and an increased risk of severe complications in both DF and WNF. Moreover, DM was found to significantly raise the risk of mortality from these diseases. Our findings emphasize the importance of early detection and appropriate management strategies for diabetic individuals residing in endemic areas. Healthcare providers should be vigilant in monitoring diabetic patients with febrile symptoms, as they are more susceptible to developing severe disease. Tailored care and targeted interventions are crucial to minimize the morbidity and mortality rates associated with DF and WNF in diabetic individuals. These findings have significant implications for public health, highlighting the need for awareness campaigns and preventive measures aimed at diabetic individuals. Further research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms and develop effective strategies for prevention and treatment. By addressing these issues, we can reduce the impact of DF and WNF on individuals with DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's Ecological Protection Red Lines (ERLs) policy has proven effective in constructing regional ecological security patterns and protecting ecological space. However, the existing methods for the identification of high conservation value areas (HCVAs) usually use physical models, whose parameters and processes are complex and only for a single service, affecting the ERL delineation. In this study, the data-driven machine learning (ML) models were innovatively applied to construct a framework for ERL identification. First, the One-Class Support Vector Machine (OC-SVM) was used to generate negative samples from natural reserves and ecological factors. Second, the supervised ML models were applied to predict the HCVAs by using samples. Third, by applying the same ecological factors, the traditional physical models were used to assess the ecological services of the study area for reference and comparison. Take Chengdu–Chongqing Urban Agglomeration (CY) as a case study, wherein data from 11 factors and 1822 nature reserve samples were prepared for feasibility verification of the proposed framework. The results showed that the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of all ML models was more than 97%, and random forest (RF) achieved the best performance at 99.57%. Furthermore, the land cover had great contributions to the HCVAs prediction, which is consistent with the land use pattern of CY. High-value areas are distributed in the surrounding mountains of CY, with lush vegetation. All of the above results indicated that the proposed framework can accurately identify HCVAs, and that it is more suitable and simpler than the traditional physical model. It can help improve the effectiveness of ERL delimitation and promote the implementation of ERL policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate the safety and efficacy of indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence‐guided inguinal lymph node dissection (ILND) in patients with penile cancer. Patients and Methods: A prospective, single‐blind, randomised controlled clinical trial (ChiCTR2100044584) was performed among patients with penile caner who underwent bilateral modified ILND at four centres in China between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2022. Patients aged 18–80 years and diagnosed with squamous cell carcinomas were included. Each enrolled patient was randomly assigned to either ICG fluorescence‐guided ILND by a laparoscopic or robot‐assisted approach in one groin, with non‐ICG fluorescence‐guided ILND in the other groin acting as a control. The primary outcome was the number of retrieved ILNs. Secondary outcomes included complications according to the Clavien–Dindo classification and the ILN non‐compliance (inadequate removal of ILNs) rate. Results: A total of 45 patients were included in the intention‐to‐treat (ITT) analysis, and the 42 who completed the entire study were included in the per protocol (PP) analysis. There were no ICG‐related complications in any of the patients. The results of the ITT and PP analyses indicated that the total number of unilateral ILNs retrieved was higher on the ICG side than on the non‐ICG side (mean 13 vs 9 ILNs, difference 4 ILNs [95% CI 2.7–4.4], P = 0.007), and the number of unilateral deep and superficial ILNs was higher on the ICG side. Furthermore, the LN non‐compliance rate was lower on the ICG side than on the non‐ICG side. Additionally, there was no significant difference in local complications in the groins between the two sides (P > 0.05). Conclusion: An ICG fluorescence‐guided ILND was safe for patients with penile cancer. This procedure can improve the number of ILNs retrieved and reduce the LN non‐compliance rate without increased complications. ICG fluorescence‐guided ILND is beneficial and recommended for selected patients with penile cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The association of the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index with intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (ICAS) and extracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (ECAS) is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship of TyG index with the distribution and severity of ICAS and ECAS. Method: Patients who underwent digital subtraction angiography (DSA) for evaluating ICAS/ECAS in Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University from January 2017 to October 2021 were retrospectively enrolled in our study. Clinical characteristics, DSA data, blood routine, lipid profile and fasting glucose were recorded. The association of TyG index and ICAS/ECAS status were investigated in four aspects: location and distribution of stenosis, stenosis severity and whether stenosis is symptomatic. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association. Restricted cubic splines were constructed to model the non-linear relationship between the TyG index and different arterial stenosis status. Results: Among 1129 included patients, the median age was 62 (IQR 55–68) years, and 71.3% were male. The median TyG index was 8.81 (8.40, 9.21). Elevated TyG index was significantly associated with ICAS, combined ICAS/ECAS, anterior circulation stenosis, posterior circulation stenosis, combined anterior/posterior circulation stenosis, severe stenosis, both asymptomatic and symptomatic stenosis. This association was maintained after adjusting for age, sex, smoking, drinking, medical history of hypertension and stroke, platelet, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein. Multivariable-adjusted spline regression models showed that a progressively increasing risk of arterial stenosis was related to an elevated TyG index. Conclusion: Elevated TyG index was associated with ICAS/ECAS. TyG index might be a useful indicator of ICAS and severe stenosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute type A aortic dissection (AAAD) has a high probability of postoperative adverse outcomes (PAO) after emergency surgery, so exploring the risk factors for PAO during hospitalization is key to reducing postoperative mortality and improving prognosis. An artificial intelligence approach was used to build a predictive model of PAO by clinical data‐driven machine learning to predict the incidence of PAO after total arch repair for AAAD. This study included 380 patients with AAAD. The clinical features that are associated with PAO were selected using the LASSO regression analysis. Six different machine learning algorithms were tried for modeling, and the performance of each model was analyzed comprehensively using receiver operating characteristic curves, calibration curve, precision recall curve, and decision analysis curves. Explain the optimal model through Shapley Additive Explanation (SHAP) and perform an individualized risk assessment. After comprehensive analysis, the authors believe that the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) model is the optimal model, with better performance than other models. The authors successfully built a prediction model for PAO in AAAD patients based on the XGBoost algorithm and interpreted the model with the SHAP method, which helps to identify high‐risk AAAD patients at an early stage and to adjust individual patient‐related clinical treatment plans in a timely manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important irritant trace gas in the atmosphere, ammonia (NH3) significantly impacts human health and environment. Bottom-up emission inventories are widely used to estimate ammonia emissions and their geographical distributions over China. However, high uncertainties are still associated with emission inventories due to inaccurate emission factors used. The Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm is a population-based stochastic optimization algorithm used to solve complicated optimization problems. We quantify NH3 emissions and lifetime from Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) NH3 observations together with MERRA-2 wind fields based on the DE algorithm. Two inland cities, Urumchi and Golmud in China, are chosen to study of the NH3 emissions based on the distributions of NH3 total columns and wind fields. The NH3 emissions rate estimated is about 5.84 × 10−11 and 4.19 × 10−11 kg·m−2s−1 in Urumchi and in the Golmud area from May to September from 2008 to 2023, respectively. The lifetime of NH3 estimated in the two areas is 4.31 and 9.19 h, respectively. We compare the NH3 emissions and lifetime estimated in this study with the values in other studies, and the results show the reliability of the method used. This work is one of few quantitative studies of NH3 emissions from cities using satellite observations in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, and it's of great importance to understand its underlying mechanisms and find new treatments. Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) is an active lipid that exerts its effects through S1P receptors on the cell surface or intracellular signal, and regulates many cellular processes such as cell growth, cell proliferation, cell migration, cell survival, and so on. S1PR modulators are a class of modulators that can interact with S1PR subtypes to activate receptors or block their activity, exerting either agonist or functional antagonist effects. Many studies have shown that S1P plays a protective role in the cardiovascular system and regulates cardiac physiological functions mainly through interaction with cell surface S1P receptors (S1PRs). Therefore, S1PR modulators may play a therapeutic role in cardiovascular diseases. Here, we review five S1PRs and their functions and the progress of S1PR modulators. In addition, we focus on the effects of S1PR modulators on atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion injury, diabetic cardiovascular diseases, and myocarditis, which may provide valuable insights into potential therapeutic strategies for cardiovascular disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the help of the CiteSpace research tool and taking the bibliometric method, this paper conducts a visual analysis of 476 research papers on rural education revitalization published in Chinese core journals and CSSCI journals of CNKI General Library from 2016 to 2021. It finds that the domestic rural education revitalization research is rapidly gaining attention and is highly related to rural revitalization strategy research, but the overall research collaboration network is relatively loose. The research mainly focuses on the connotation essence, value orientation and key strategies of rural education revitalization, showing structured research themes, refined content and diversified fields. In terms of time series, domestic rural education revitalization research has gone through development and deepening, and the degree of research systematization has been improved. In the future, the domestic academic community should further clarify conceptual terms, advocate empirical research, and expand research perspectives as well as strengthen scientific research cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a path-following control method for autonomous ground vehicle with significant input delays. First, a vehicle path-following model including input delay is developed. Then, a robust predictive controller design is developed, in which a delay estimator as well as a state predictor is adopted so that control law design as well as controller gain calculation can be conducted without considering the input delay. Thus, the controller synthesis work can be greatly simplified. Finally, comparative co-simulation tests with Matlab/Simulink and Carsim are presented to verify the efficiency as well as the performance of the proposed path-following control approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of pooled data from different repeated survey series to study long-term trends is handicapped by a measurement difficulty: different survey series often use different scales to measure the same attitude and thus generate scale-incomparable data. In this article, the authors propose the latent attitude method (LAM) to address this scale-incomparability problem, on the basis of the assumption that attitudes measured by ordinal categories reflect a latent attitude with cut points. The method extends the latent variable method in the case of a single survey series to the case of multiple survey series and leverages overlapping years for identification. The authors first assess the validity of the method with simulated data. The results show that the method yields accurate estimates of mean attitudes and cut point values. The authors then apply the method to an empirical study of Americans' attitudes toward China from 1974 to 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major challenges in photocatalytic hydrogen production is to improve the separation efficiency of photo-generated carriers. Therefore, we prepared ZIS/BMO heterojunctions by hydrothermal method to promote the directional separation of photogenerated carriers. A series of characterization results show that the successful preparation of heterojunctions substantially increases the separation and transfer rate of photogenerated carriers. 11% ZIS/BMO had the highest photocatalytic hydrogen production performance reached 1502.6 μmol/g/h, which is 2.78 times than ZIS monomer. Simple construction of heterojunctions but dramatic improvement of photocatalytic hydrogen production performance opens up new horizons for photocatalyst modification. • A series of ZnIn 2 S 4 /Bi 2 MoO 6 heterojunction photocatalysts were prepared by a facile method. • The charge transfer and separation efficiency was enhanced. • A hydrogen production rate of 1502.6 μmol/g/h was achieved via this strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cost-effective CO 2 conversion to value-added products remains a great challenge until present. Here, we have discovered that the ethylenediamine (EDA) assisted preparation of Ni/CeO 2 catalyst remarkably promotes the CO 2 methanation performance at low temperatures. The Ni/CeO 2 -EDA catalyst exhibits a CO 2 conversion efficiency of 84% and a CH 4 selectivity of 98% at 225 °C, and no visible decline of CO 2 conversion is observed even after 70h of continuous reaction. The involvement of EDA is shown to effectively result in a more uniform distribution of Ni species, coupled with a reduction in particle size. In addition, the smaller particle size of Ni results in a rapid dissociative adsorption of hydrogen and H 2 spillover. Accordingly, oxygen vacancies on the CeO 2 surface are created and adequate H atoms are engendered for CO 2 hydrogenation. Furthermore, both the formate and CO pathways occur simultaneously on the Ni/CeO 2 -EDA catalyst, enhancing the low-temperature methanation activity. Herein, the EDA-assisted strategy provides an effective methodology in terms of well-dispersion and highly active catalysts for low-temperature CO 2 methanation. [Display omitted] • The addition of ethylenediamine promotes the Ni dispersion and CO 2 methanation activity on Ni/CeO 2. • Ni/CeO 2 -EDA catalyst presents 84% CO 2 conversion and 98% CH 4 selectivity at 225 °C. • The well-dispersion Ni particles facilitates a rapid dissociative adsorption of hydrogen and H 2 spillover. • The formate and CO route path way occurs over Ni/CeO 2 -EDA catalyst in parallel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a sequel to [C. Xue and A. Zhang, Doubled Hecke algebras and related quantum Schur duality, preprint (2021), arXiv:2108.07587[math.RT], accepted for publication in Algebra Colloq.], in this article we first introduce a so-called duplex Hecke algebras of type B which is a ℚ(q)-algebra associated with the Weyl group 풲(B) of type B, and symmetric groups 픖l for l = 0, 1,…,m, satisfying some Hecke relations (see Definition 3.1). This notion originates from the degenerate duplex Hecke algebra arising from the course of study of a kind of Schur–Weyl duality of Levi-type (see [B. Shu and Y. Yao, On enhanced reductive groups (I): Enhanced Schur algebras and the dualities related to degenerate duplex Hecke algebras, with an appendix by B. Liu, submitted (2023)]), extending the duplex Hecke algebra of type A arising from the related q-Schur–Weyl duality of Levi-type (see [C. Xue and A. Zhang, Doubled Hecke algebras and related quantum Schur duality, preprint (2021), arXiv:2108.07587[math.RT], accepted for publication in Algebra Colloq.]). A duplex Hecke algebra of type B admits natural representations on certain tensor spaces. We then establish a Levi-type q-Schur–Weyl duality of type B, which reveals the double centralizer property between such duplex Hecke algebras and ıquantum groups studied by Bao and Wang in [H. Bao and W. Wang, A new approach to Kazhdan–Lusztig theory of type B via quantum symmetric pairs, Astérisque 402 (2018)]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Canopy architecture is critical in determining the fruit-zone microclimate and, ultimately, in determining an orchard's success in terms of the quality and quantity of the fruit produced. However, few studies have addressed how the canopy environment leads to metabolomic and transcriptomic alterations in fruits. Designing strategies for improving the quality of pear nutritional components relies on uncovering the related regulatory mechanisms. Results: We performed an in-depth investigation of the impact of canopy architecture from physiological, metabolomic and transcriptomic perspectives by comparing pear fruits grown in a traditional freestanding system (SP) or a flat-type trellis system (DP). Physiological studies revealed relatively greater fruit sizes, soluble solid contents and titratable acidities in pear fruits from DP systems with open canopies. Nontargeted metabolite profiling was used to characterize fruits at the initial ripening stage. Significant differences in fruit metabolites, including carbohydrates, nucleic acids, alkaloids, glycerophospholipids, sterol lipids, and prenol lipids, were observed between the two groups. Transcriptomic analysis indicated that a series of organic substance catabolic processes (e.g., the glycerol-3-phosphate catabolic process, pectin catabolic process and glucan catabolic process) were overrepresented in fruits of the DP system. Moreover, integrative analysis of the metabolome and transcriptome at the pathway level showed that DP pear fruits may respond to the canopy microenvironment by upregulating phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway genes such as PpPOD. Transient assays revealed that the contents of malic acid and citric acid were lower in the pear flesh of PpPOD RNAi plants, which was associated with regulating the expression of organic acid metabolism-related genes. Conclusions: Our results provide fundamental evidence that at the physiological and molecular levels, open-canopy architecture contributes to improving pear fruit quality and is correlated with increased levels of carbohydrates and lipid-like molecules. This study may lead to the development of rational culture practices for enhancing the nutritional traits of pear fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of the lithium (Li)-ion battery industry in electric vehicles (EVs) and electronic devices, coal-based Li ore is expected to be a new-type Li resource to meet the rapidly growing demand for Li. However, the traditional Li extraction process involves high temperature to activate minerals. Herein, a low-temperature sulfuric acid baking followed by water leaching was investigated in this study. The influences of baking and leaching conditions on Li leaching rate were explored in detail. Under the optimal conditions of 70 wt% H2SO4, baking temperature 180°C, baking time 1 h, leaching temperature 25°C, and leaching time 1 h, the Li leaching rate reached 84.42%. In addition, the sequential chemical extraction, XRD, and SEM-EDS results indicated that Al-Li-containing minerals were converted to soluble minerals during the baking process with sulfuric acid and then were extracted through water leaching into the solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consequences of relying on solid fuels are disproportionately borne by minorities, the marginalized, and rural communities. However, the social disparities in transitioning from polluting energy to clean energy are not well understood. We track changes in the main energy source used for cooking among Chinese households between 2010 and 2018. We find that the proportion of households who rely on clean energy increased from 53.7% in 2010 to 80.1% in 2018. We detect substantial disparities in clean energy use between rural and urban areas, across regions, and between ethnic minorities and the Han majority. Urban status, regional variations, and household characteristics entirely accounted for the observed ethnic differences in clean energy use. Over time, disparities across rural–urban, regional, and ethnic boundaries declined, and household characteristics became irrelevant to the ethnic differences. Therefore, China's efforts to mitigate the imbalance in socioeconomic development also reduced ethnic inequalities in clean energy use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tamoxifen (Tam) is an effective treatment for estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer. However, a significant proportion of patients develop resistance under treatment, presenting a therapeutic challenge. The study aims to determine the role of early growth response protein (EGR) 3 in tamoxifen resistance (TamR) and elucidate its molecular mechanism. Methods: TamR cell models were established and NGS was used to screening signaling alternation. Western blot and qRT-PCR were used to analysis the expression of ERα, EGR3, MCL1 and factors associated with apoptosis. CCK8, colony formation and apoptosis assay were used to analysis resistance to Tam. Immunofluorescence, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and dual luciferase assays were used to investigate mechanism of regulation. Results: We observed that EGR3, a deeply rooted ERα response factor, showed increased upregulation in response to both estrone (E1) and Tam in TamR cells with elevated level of E1 and ERα expression, indicating a potential connection between EGR3 and TamR. Mechanically, manipulating EGR3 expression revealed that it imparted resistance to Tam through increased expression of the downstream molecule MCL1 (apoptosis suppressor gene) that it regulated. Mechanismly, EGR3 directly binds to the promoter of the anti-apoptotic factor MCL1 gene, facilitating its transcription. Furthermore, apoptosis assays revealed that E1 reduces Tam induced apoptosis by upregulating EGR3 expression. Importantly, clinical public database confirmed the high expression of EGR3 in breast cancer tissue and in Tam-treated patients. Conclusions: These findings shed light on the novel estrogen/EGR3/MCL1 axis and its role in inducing TamR in ER positive breast cancer. EGR3 emerges as a promising target to overcome TamR. The elucidation of this mechanism holds potential for the development of new therapeutic modalities to overcome endocrine therapy resistance in clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Overexpression of miR-455-3p facilitates apoptosis and autophagy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. • miR-455-3p affects the progression of AML through UBN2. • UBN2 regulates PPARα-mediated apoptosis and autophagy in AML cells. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is one of the deadliest hematologic malignancies, and its targeted therapy has developed slowly. The molecular mechanism of the pathophysiology of the disease remains to be clarified. The aim of our study was to probe the specific regulatory mechanism of miR-455-3p in AML. This study measured the levels of miR-455-3p and ubinuclein-2 (UBN2) in AML cell lines, evaluated cell viability with CCK-8, used flow cytometry to estimate the cell cycle and apoptosis, detected cell apoptosis and autophagy-related protein levels by Western blotting, and added 50 μM chloroquine (CQ) to evaluate the relationship between autophagy and AML. In animal experiments, HL-60 cells were injected into male non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency disease (NOD/SCID) mice through the tail vein to determine survival time and observe the degree of liver and spleen damage in the mice. miR-455-3p was prominently reduced in the peripheral blood and AML cell lines, and UBN2 showed high expression. The transfected miR-455-3p mimic effectively restrained the activity of AML cells, whereas overexpression of UBN2 or the addition of the autophagy inhibitor CQ reversed the effect of miR-455-3p. The interaction between UBN2 and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα) was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation, and overexpression of PPARα reversed the promoting effect of UBN2 knockdown on apoptosis and autophagy in AML cells. In conclusion, miR-455-3p mediates PPARα protein expression through UBN2, exacerbating AML cell apoptosis and autophagy. This study found that miR-455-3p plays an important role in AML cell apoptosis and autophagy, which may provide novel insights for the treatment of AML diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) is a novel assay to detect pneumocystis jjrovecii (Pj) which has been defined to be more sensitive than qPCR in recent studies. We aimed to explore whether clinical features of pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) were associated with ddPCR copy numbers of Pj. Methods: A total of 48 PCP patients were retrospectively included. Pj detection was implemented by ddPCR assay within 4 h. Bronchoalveolar fluid (BALF) samples were collected from 48 patients with molecular diagnosis as PCP via metagenomic next generation sequencing (mNGS) or quantitative PCR detection. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were performed to screen out possible indicators for the severity of PCP. The patients were divided into two groups according to ddPCR copy numbers, and their clinical features were further analyzed. Results: Pj loading was a pro rata increase with serum (1,3)-beta-D glucan, D-dimmer, neutrophil percentage, procalcitonin and BALF polymorphonuclear leucocyte percentage, while negative correlation with albumin, PaO2/FiO2, BALF cell count, and BALF lymphocyte percentage. D-dimmer and ddPCR copy number of Pj were independent indicators for moderate/severe PCP patients with PaO2/FiO2 lower than 300. We made a ROC analysis of ddPCR copy number of Pj for PaO2/FiO2 index and grouped the patients according to the cut-off value (2.75). The high copy numbers group was characterized by higher level of inflammatory markers. Compared to low copy number group, there was lower level of the total cell count while higher level of polymorphonuclear leucocyte percentage in BALF in the high copy numbers group. Different from patients with high copy numbers, those with high copy numbers had a tendency to develop more severe complications and required advanced respiratory support. Conclusion: The scenarios of patients infected with high ddPCR copy numbers of Pj showed more adverse clinical conditions. Pj loading could reflect the severity of PCP to some extent. Strengths and Limitations: This is the first study to investigate the relationship between ddPCR copy number and the clinical characteristics of patients with PCP. Droplet digital PCR was a more sensitve and accurate method than qPCR for detection of pathogens. This was a retrospective study and we did not include more samples for it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skin photodamage, which is induced by ultraviolet (UV) radiation, is a prevalent cause of skin damage. In this study, a transdermal drug delivery system is developed for the topical treatment of skin photodamage, which is composed of tetrahedral framework nucleic acids (tFNAs) and lipoic acid (LA). The tFNAs‐LA (TLA) nanocomposite exhibits excellent biocompatibility, as well as antioxidant, anti‐apoptotic, and anti‐inflammatory capabilities. tFNA, as a carrier, facilitates TLA for cell entry and skin penetration, while the loaded LA enhances the antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory capabilities. In photodamaged human dermal fibroblast (HDF), TLA promotes proliferation and migration while inhibiting apoptosis activation and reactive oxygen species production. Moreover, TLA modulates apoptosis‐related proteins and NF‐κB signaling pathways, increasing cellular secretion while suppressing inflammatory responses in photodamaged HDF cells. In the in vivo experiment, topical application of TLA promotes tissue healing in photodamaged skin, and regulates the expression of inflammation and collagen‐related proteins. It is suggested that the transdermal ability of TLA enables non‐invasive therapy for skin photodamage, highlighting the potential of employing nucleic acid‐based transdermal drug delivery systems for skin disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ever‐increasing demand for data storage and neuromorphic computing calls for innovative, high‐density solutions, such as resistive random‐access memory (RRAM). However, the integration of resistive switching and rectification at the nanoscale remains a formidable challenge. In this study, we introduce a bistable [2]catenane‐based supramolecular junction that simultaneously functions as a resistive switch and a diode. All supramolecular junctions are highly stable and reproducible over thousands of resistive switching cycles, because the nano‐confinement of two mechanically interlocked rings can stabilize the radical states of pyridinium moieties under ambient conditions. The successful realization of supramolecular junctions in functionality with a thickness of approximately 2 nm presents a promising avenue for the development of molecule‐scale based RRAM for a better solution to high density and energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ever‐increasing demand for data storage and neuromorphic computing calls for innovative, high‐density solutions, such as resistive random‐access memory (RRAM). However, the integration of resistive switching and rectification at the nanoscale remains a formidable challenge. In this study, we introduce a bistable [2]catenane‐based supramolecular junction that simultaneously functions as a resistive switch and a diode. All supramolecular junctions are highly stable and reproducible over thousands of resistive switching cycles, because the nano‐confinement of two mechanically interlocked rings can stabilize the radical states of pyridinium moieties under ambient conditions. The successful realization of supramolecular junctions in functionality with a thickness of approximately 2 nm presents a promising avenue for the development of molecule‐scale based RRAM for a better solution to high density and energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple sclerosis (MS), a T-cell-mediated autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS), is characterized by white matter demyelination, axon destruction, and oligodendrocyte degeneration. Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug, has anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and antiviral properties. However, to date, there are no in-depth studies on the effect of ivermectin on the function effector of T cells in murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS. Here, we conducted in vitro experiments and found that ivermectin inhibited the proliferation of total T cells (CD3+) and their subsets (CD4+ and CD8+ T cells) as well as T cells secreting the pro-inflammatory cytokines IFN-γ and IL-17A; ivermectin also increased IL-2 production and IL-2Rα (CD25) expression, which was accompanied by an increase in the frequency of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg). Importantly, ivermectin administration reduced the clinical symptoms of EAE mice by preventing the infiltration of inflammatory cells into the CNS. Additional mechanisms showed that ivermectin promoted Treg cells while inhibiting pro-inflammatory Th1 and Th17 cells and their IFN-γ and IL-17 secretion; ivermectin also upregulated IL-2 production from MOG35–55-stimulated peripheral lymphocytes. Finally, ivermectin decreased IFN-γ and IL-17A production and increased IL-2 level, CD25 expression, and STAT5 phosphorylation in the CNS. These results reveal a previously unknown etiopathophysiological mechanism by which ivermectin attenuates the pathogenesis of EAE, indicating that it may be a promising option for T-cell-mediated autoimmune diseases such as MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous development of satellite payload and system-on-chip (SoC) technology, spaceborne real-time synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging systems play a crucial role in various defense and civilian domains, including Earth remote sensing, military reconnaissance, disaster mitigation, and resource exploration. However, designing high-performance and high-reliability SAR imaging systems that operate in harsh environmental conditions while adhering to strict size, weight, and power consumption constraints remains a significant challenge. In this paper, we introduce a spaceborne SAR imaging chip based on a SoC architecture with system fault-tolerant technology. The fault-tolerant SAR SoC architecture has a CPU, interface subsystem, memory subsystem, data transit subsystem, and data processing subsystem. The data processing subsystem, which includes fast Fourier transform (FFT) modules, coordinated rotation digital computer (CORDIC) modules (for phase factor calculation), and complex multiplication modules, is the most critical component and can achieve various modes of SAR imaging. Through analyzing the computational requirements of various modes of SAR, we found that FFT accounted for over 50% of the total computational workload in SAR imaging processing, while the CORDIC modules for phase factor generation accounted for around 30%. Therefore, ensuring the fault tolerance of these two modules is crucial. To address this issue, we propose a word-length optimization redundancy (WLOR) method to make the fixed-point pipelined FFT processors in FFT modules fault tolerant. Additionally, we propose a fault-tolerant pipeline CORDIC architecture utilizing error correction code (ECC) and sum of squares (SOS) check. For other parts of the SoC architecture, we propose a generic partial triple modular redundancy (TMR) hardening method based on the HITS algorithm to improve fault tolerance. Finally, we developed a fully automated FPGA-based fault injection platform to test the design's effectiveness by injecting errors at arbitrary locations. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed methods significantly improved the chip's fault tolerance, making the SAR imaging chip safer and more reliable. We also implemented a prototype measurement system with a chip-included board and demonstrated the proposed design's performance on the Chinese Gaofen-3 strip-map continuous imaging system. The chip requires 9.2 s, 50.6 s, and 7.4 s for a strip-map with 16,384 × 16,384 granularity, multi-channel strip-map with 65,536 × 8192 granularity, and multi-channel scan mode with 32,768 × 4096 granularity, respectively, and the system hardware consumes 6.9 W of power to process the SAR raw data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Efimov effect and its universal property are of paramount importance in quantum few-body physics. Despite this, the predicted ground state Efimov resonance has not yet been observed in 39,40,41K–87Rb mixtures within the currently available observation window. Cooling atoms in the microgravity environment of outer space might overcome this limitation, whereas the residual curvature of the strong magnetic fields may result in significant atom leakage. In this work, we propose an optical method based on far-detuned time-averaged dipole potential to counteract the three-dimensional inhomogeneous field. The target intensity distribution can be conveniently obtained by modulating the central position of the quasi-1D print beam using acoustic optical modulators. Within a volume of 300 × 300 × 400 µm3, the residual potential fluctuations can be reduced by two orders of magnitude to less than 100 pK. The proposed approach offers a realistic prospect of investigating the Efimov-type resonance in the 40K–87Rb Bose–Fermi mixture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is increasing evidence that immune dysfunction plays an important role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) is bioanalytical method, which can detect serum inflammatory factors in patients. MSD has higher sensitivities, capturing a narrower range of proteins compared to other methods typically used in similar studies. The present study was aimed to explore the correlation between the levels of serum inflammatory factors and psychiatric symptoms in patients with schizophrenia at different stages and investigate a wide panel of inflammatory factors as independent factors for the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Methods: We recruited 116 participants, including patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FEG, n = 40), recurrence patients (REG, n = 40) with relapse-episode schizophrenia, and a control group (healthy people, HP, n = 36). Patients are diagnosed according to the DSM -V. The plasma levels of IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6, TNF-α, CRP, VEGF, IL-15, and IL-16 were tested by the MSD technique. Patient-related data was collected, including sociodemographic data, positive and negative symptom scale (PANSS), and brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS) and subscale scores. The independent sample T test, χ2 test, Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), the least significant difference method (LSD), Spearman's correlation test, binary logistic regression analysis and ROC curve analysis were used in this study. Results: There were significant differences in serum IL-1β (F = 2.37, P = 0.014) and IL-16 (F = 4.40, P < 0.001) levels among the three groups. The level of serum IL-1β in the first-episode group was significantly higher than in the recurrence group (F = 0.87, P = 0.021) and control group (F = 2.03, P = 0.013), but there was no significant difference between the recurrence group and control group (F = 1.65, P = 0.806). The serum IL-16 levels in the first-episode group (F = 1.18, P < 0.001) and the recurrence group (F = 0.83, P < 0.001) were significantly higher than in the control group, and there was no significant difference between the first-episode group and the recurrence group (F = 1.65, P = 0.61). Serum IL-1β was negatively correlated with the general psychopathological score (GPS) of PANSS (R=-0.353, P = 0.026). In the recurrence group, serum IL-16 was positively correlated with the negative score (NEG) of the PANSS scale (R = 0.335, P = 0.035) and negatively correlated with the composite score (COM) (R=-0.329, P = 0.038). In the study, IL-16 levels were an independent variable of the onset of schizophrenia both in the first-episode (OR = 1.034, P = 0.002) and recurrence groups (OR = 1.049, P = 0.003). ROC curve analysis showed that the areas under IL-16(FEG) and IL-16(REG) curves were 0.883 (95%CI:0.794–0.942) and 0.887 (95%CI:0.801–0.950). Conclusions: Serum IL-1β and IL-16 levels were different between patients with schizophrenia and healthy people. Serum IL-1β levels in first-episode schizophrenia and serum IL-16 levels in relapsing schizophrenia were correlated with the parts of psychiatric symptoms. The IL-16 level may be an independent factor associating with the onset of schizophrenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing evidence indicates that respiratory tract microecological disorders may play a role in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Understanding the composition of the respiratory microbiome in COPD and its relevance to respiratory immunity will help develop microbiome-based diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. One hundred longitudinal sputum samples from 35 subjects with acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) were analysed for respiratory bacterial microbiome using 16S ribosomal RNA amplicon sequencing technology, and the sputum supernatant was analysed for 12 cytokines using a Luminex liquid suspension chip. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering was employed to evaluate the existence of distinct microbial clusters. In AECOPD, the respiratory microbial diversity decreased, and the community composition changed significantly. The abundances of Haemophilus, Moraxella, Klebsiella, and Pseudomonas increased significantly. Significant positive correlations between the abundance of Pseudomonas and TNF-α, abundance of Klebsiella and the percentage of eosinophils were observed. Furthermore, COPD can be divided into four clusters based on the respiratory microbiome. AECOPD-related cluster was characterized by the enrichment of Pseudomonas and Haemophilus and a high level of TNF-α. Lactobacillus and Veillonella are enriched in therapy-related phenotypes and may play potential probiotic roles. There are two inflammatory endotypes in the stable state: Gemella is associated with the Th2 inflammatory endotypes, whereas Prevotella is associated with the Th17 inflammatory endotypes. Nevertheless, no differences in clinical manifestations were found between these two endotypes. The sputum microbiome is associated with the disease status of COPD, allowing us to distinguish different inflammatory endotypes. Targeted anti-inflammatory and anti-infective therapies may improve the long-term prognosis of COPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a comparative study of lateral motion controller design for distributed drive vehicle. Aiming at handling long input delays, two types of robust controllers are specifically investigated. First, a Lyapunov‐Krasovskii functional based robust controller design is proposed. Considering input delay, the design conditions of the state‐feedback controller are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), which can be effectively solved using LMI toolbox. Second, based on the same control law, a robust predictive controller design is further presented. However, different from the Lyapunov‐Krasovskii functional based robust controller, the control gain of the proposed robust predictive controller is calculated without considering the input delay. An input delay estimator and a predictor are developed instead to reconstruct the delay‐dependent state, which is further used to generate a new feedback error. Moreover, the feasibility of this control scheme is theoretically proved. Finally, extensive co‐simulations with Carsim and Matlab/Simulink are conducted to compare the performance between these two controllers. Compared with the Lyapunov‐Krasovskii functional based robust controller, longer input delay can be handled by using the proposed robust predictive controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Gut microbiota dysbiosis induced by acute pancreatitis (AP) exacerbates pancreatic injury and systemic inflammatory responses. The alleviation of gut microbiota dysbiosis through faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is considered a potential strategy to reduce tissue damage and inflammation in many clinical disorders. Here, we aim to investigate the effect of gut microbiota and microbiota‐derived metabolites on AP and further clarify the mechanisms associated with pancreatic damage and inflammation. Experimental Approach: AP rat and mouse models were established by administration of caerulein or sodium taurocholate in vivo. Pancreatic acinar cells were exposed to caerulein and lipopolysaccharide in vitro to simulate AP. Key Results: Normobiotic FMT alleviated AP‐induced gut microbiota dysbiosis and ameliorated the severity of AP, including mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative damage and inflammation. Normobiotic FMT induced higher levels of NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide)‐associated metabolites, particularly nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN). NMN administration mitigated AP‐mediated mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative damage and inflammation by increasing pancreatic NAD+ levels. Similarly, overexpression of the NAD+‐dependent mitochondrial deacetylase sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) alleviated the severity of AP. Furthermore, SIRT3 deacetylated peroxiredoxin 5 (PRDX5) and enhanced PRDX5 protein expression, thereby promoting its antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory activities in AP. Importantly, normobiotic FMT‐mediated NMN metabolism induced SIRT3–PRDX5 pathway activation during AP. Conclusion and Implications: Gut microbiota‐derived NMN alleviates the severity of AP by activating the SIRT3–PRDX5 pathway. Normobiotic FMT could be served as a potential strategy for AP treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In brain–computer interface (BCI) systems, motor imagery electroencephalography (MI-EEG) signals are commonly used to detect participant intent. Many factors, including low signal-to-noise ratios and few high-quality samples, make MI classification difficult. In order for BCI systems to function, MI-EEG signals must be studied. In pattern recognition and other fields, deep learning approaches have recently been successfully applied. In contrast, few effective deep learning algorithms have been applied to BCI systems, especially MI-based systems. In this paper, we address these problems from two aspects based on the characteristics of EEG signals: first, we proposed a combined time–frequency domain data enhancement method. This method guarantees that the size of the training data is effectively increased while maintaining the intrinsic composition of the data. Second, our design consists of a parallel CNN that takes both raw EEG images and images transformed through continuous wavelet transform (CWT) as inputs. We conducted classification experiments on a public data set to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm. According to experimental results based on the BCI Competition IV Dataset2a, the average classification accuracy is 97.61%. A comparison of the proposed algorithm with other algorithms shows that it performs better in classification. The algorithm can be used to improve the classification performance of MI-based BCIs and BCI systems created for people with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Moore's Law's development law, traditional floating gate memory is constrained by charge tunneling, and its size is approaching the physical limit, which is insufficient to meet the requirements of large data storage. The introduction of new information storage devices may be the key to overcoming the bottleneck. Resistive random access memory (RRAM) has garnered interest due to its fast switching speed, low power consumption, and high integration density. The resistive switching (RS) behaviors can be demonstrated in many materials, including transition metal oxides, perovskite oxides and organic matter, etc. Among these materials, graphene oxide (GO) with its unique physical, chemical properties and excellent mechanical properties is attracting significant attention for use in RRAM owing to its RS operation and potential for integration with other graphene-based electronics. However, there is unacceptable variability in RS reliability, including retention and endurance, which is the key factor that affects the development of memristors. In addition, the RS mechanism of GO-based RRAM has not been systematically discussed. In this article, we discuss systematically several typical models of the switching mechanism of GO-based RRAM and a summary of methods for improving the device's RS performance. This article concludes by discussing the applications of GO-RRAM in artificial neural networks, flexible devices, and biological monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, storage and utilization (CCSU) technologies, CO2 has gradually become a desired feedstock for the production of value-added chemicals like methane (CH4). Ceria (CeO2)-based catalysts have gained much attention because of their potential to efficiently hydrogenate CO2 to CH4 under mild conditions. Here we systematically outline the advances in CeO2-based catalysts for CO2 methanation mainly from the perspective of mechanism investigation and catalyst development. Various in situ/operando and ex situ technologies have verified that active metal and oxygen vacancies at the metal/metal oxide–CeO2 interface act as the prime active sites to promote the formation and hydrogenation of key intermediates during the CO2 methanation reaction. Kinetic analysis and in situ DRIFT characterization combined with theoretical calculations revealed that the reaction mechanism toward CO2 methanation is sensitive to active sites, and the formate route versus the carboxyl (CO*) route has been widely detected as the main methanation pathway over CeO2-based catalysts. Additionally, mainstream strategies to improve CeO2-based catalysts include optimizing reducibility, adjusting the distribution of basic sites, dispersing active metal supported on CeO2, and increasing the amount of oxygen vacancies or additional active sites for CO2 adsorption and selective hydrogenation into CH4. Finally, perspectives on the deeper understanding of active sites and intermediates' evolution and the challenges of CeO2-based catalysts for CO2 methanation in future investigations are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Moore's Law's development law, traditional floating gate memory is constrained by charge tunneling, and its size is approaching the physical limit, which is insufficient to meet the requirements of large data storage. The introduction of new information storage devices may be the key to overcoming the bottleneck. Resistive random access memory (RRAM) has garnered interest due to its fast switching speed, low power consumption, and high integration density. The resistive switching (RS) behaviors can be demonstrated in many materials, including transition metal oxides, perovskite oxides and organic matter, etc. Among these materials, graphene oxide (GO) with its unique physical, chemical properties and excellent mechanical properties is attracting significant attention for use in RRAM owing to its RS operation and potential for integration with other graphene-based electronics. However, there is unacceptable variability in RS reliability, including retention and endurance, which is the key factor that affects the development of memristors. In addition, the RS mechanism of GO-based RRAM has not been systematically discussed. In this article, we discuss systematically several typical models of the switching mechanism of GO-based RRAM and a summary of methods for improving the device's RS performance. This article concludes by discussing the applications of GO-RRAM in artificial neural networks, flexible devices, and biological monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, Co–Fe layered double hydroxides are prepared by a hydrothermal method. The Co–Fe layered double hydroxides are used as an adsorbent for the investigation of the thermodynamic parameters and adsorption kinetics of methyl orange from aqueous solution. The results show that adsorption is affected by adsorbent dosage, adsorption time, and temperature. The characteristics of samples are investigated using X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms. The adsorption saturation level of Co–Fe layered double hydroxides on methyl orange is studied, with the results showing that the maximum uptake capacity for methyl orange is 10.21 mg g−1 based on Co–Fe layered double hydroxides. The adsorption kinetics of methyl orange is consistent with the Temkin isotherm equation and quasi-secondary kinetic model. Furthermore, separation is easily accomplished under the action of an applied magnetic field. The prepared Co–Fe layered double hydroxides can be applied as an effective adsorbent for decontamination of anionic dyes in industrial effluents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesenchymal stem cell‐derived conditioned medium (MSC‐CM) improves cardiac function after myocardial infarction; however, this cardioprotective effect is moderate and transient. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) pretreatment partially improves MSC‐CM‐mediated cardioprotective effects owing to the presence of paracrine factors. However, the mechanism underlying these improved effects remains unknown. To study the effect of LPS‐pretreated MSC‐CM on hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R)‐induced injury, MSCs were treated with or without LPS (400 ng/mL) for 48 h, and the supernatant was collected (MSC‐CM). Subsequently, H9c2 cells were co‐cultured with Nor‐CM (CM derived from LPS‐untreated MSCs) and LPS‐CM (CM derived from LPS‐pretreated MSCs) for 24 h and subjected to H/R. MSC‐CM inhibited the progression of H/R‐induced injury in H9c2 cells, and this protective effect was enhanced via LPS pretreatment as evidenced by the improved apoptosis assessment index (i.e. caspase‐3 and B‐cell lymphoma‐2 [Bcl‐2] expression) and decreased levels of lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) and cardiac troponin (cTn). In addition, the results of haematoxylin–eosin staining (H&E), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and TdT‐mediated dUTP nick‐end labelling (TUNEL) validated that MSC‐CM inhibited H/R‐induced injury in H9c2 cardiomyocytes. LPS pretreatment downregulated the expression of high mobility group box‐1 (HMGB1) and BTB and CNC homology‐1 (Bach1) proteins in MSCs but upregulated the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and insulin‐like growth factor (IGF). HMGB1 knockdown (MSC/siHMGB1‐CM) significantly decreased the expression of Bach1 and increased the expression of VEGF, HGF and IGF. Bach1 knockdown (MSC/siBach1‐CM) did not alter the production of HMGB1 but increased the expression of VEGF and IGF. LPS pretreatment did not alter the expression of the paracrine factors VEGF and HGF in the MSC/siHMGB1 group but increased their expression in the MSC/siBach1 group. The myocyte anti‐apoptotic effects of MSCs/siBach1‐CM were similar to those of untreated MSCs, which were not enhanced by LPS. LPS‐pretreated MSC‐CM protects H9c2 cells against H/R‐induced injury partly through the HMGB1/Bach1 signalling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manganese oxides have wide application in the ambient decomposition of ozone, although their activities are affected by many parameters. Morphology engineering and metal doping are, together, one of the most effective methods to enhance catalytic activity for O3 decomposition. Herein, a topochemical transformation route to Mn3O4 nanospheres composed of 2D nanosheets is first provided by using layered β-MnOOH as the precursor. Then, silver nanoparticles are deposited over the Mn3O4 nanosheets via a redox reaction without any extra reducing agents. In comparison with Mn3O4 with a conventional octahedral morphology, the prepared Mn3O4 nanosphere (Mn3O4-NF), and its Ag-doped composite, Mn3O4@Ag (Mn3O4@Ag-NF), both retain the morphology of β-MnOOH, and display better reducibility and higher oxygen vacancies. The best catalytic performance for O3 decomposition is found over Mn3O4@Ag-NF, which exhibits ∼88.5% removal efficiency within 24 h at a space velocity of 600 L g−1 h−1 and a relative humidity of 50% at room temperature. This work emphasizes the advantages of nanosheet morphology and metal doping in optimizing the catalytic activity for O3 elimination of manganese oxide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) was a common cancer type diagnosed with frequent metastases, harboring an unfavorable therapeutic response, and results in a poor prognosis. More promising therapeutic targets are urgently required for treating ccRCC. This study was conducted to explore the role of oxidative phosphorylation in ccRCC development and reveal its clinical potential. We first identified oxidative phosphorylation-related clusters based on consensus clustering and validated their diversity in the genome instability, environmental infiltration, and immunosuppression by Gistic, ESTIMATE, GSVA, and TIDE web tools. We also compared their prognostic and clinical feature differences and predicted the IC50 level between the clusters using pRRophetic. Subsequently, we performed weighted gene coexpression network analysis to select cluster-related genes and performed functional analysis for them. The cluster-related genes were adopted to construct a risk score and nomogram for predicting patient prognosis with predictive accuracy evaluated. Finally, we performed lentivirus to induce ccRCC cell PTPRG overexpression and conducted western blot experiments to detect the critical protein expression of oxidative phosphorylation, apoptosis, cell cycle, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition processes. Also, the cell cycle and apoptosis level were evaluated by flow cytometry. As a result, we discovered that both the C1 cluster and high-risk group predicted patient survival with high accuracy and characterized lower survival rates, lower oxidative phosphorylation levels, higher immune infiltration, and malignant clinical features. Besides, we observed that overexpression of PTPRG activated oxidative phosphorylation and inhibited apoptosis. Its overexpression also depressed the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and promoted G1/S cell cycle arrest. Comprehensively, we confirmed the anticancer role of oxidative phosphorylation in ccRCC cells and discovered its association with immune and immunosuppression. PTPRG was also identified as a potential therapeutic target due to its multiple anticancer effects. We believe this study discovered a novel mechanism of ccRCC pathological progression and will provide promising targets for therapeutic strategy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiative transfer models require vast computing resources to solve cloud transmittance and reflectance from the radiative transfer equation. As a result, models offering precise simulation in operations often acquire individual cloud transmittance or reflectance from a lookup table precomputed for practicable scenarios. To further expedite the computation of global horizontal irradiance and to reduce the storage requirements, the Fast All-sky Radiation Model for Solar applications (FARMS) parameterized the lookup table using elementary functions with specified coefficients. This study extends FARMS direct normal irradiance (DNI) computation by utilizing hyperbolic tangent functions and various polynomial functions to parameterize the cloud transmittance for scattered solar radiation in the circumsolar region. The parameterization is implemented in FARMS with DNI (FARMS-DNI) and accounts for the circumsolar radiation when assessing or forecasting DNI. The evaluation, with long-term observations at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's, Solar Radiation Research Laboratory, and the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement, Southern Great Plains, Central Facility, shows that the parameterized DNIs are virtually identical with those computed by coupling FARMS-DNI to a lookup table of cloud transmittance. This parameterization has diverse applications in radiative transfer models and numerical weather prediction models used to assess or forecast direct solar radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The supramolecular lead iodide perovskite crystals, {[NH4(18-crown-6)]PbI3}∞ (1), (18-crown-6 = 1,4,7,10,13,16-hexaoxacyclooctadecane), was successfully achieved by a facile solvent evaporation strategy using a DMF solution containing equal molar quantities of PbI2, NH4I and 18-crown-6. The supramolecular perovskite was characterized by microanalysis for C, H and N elements, thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and single crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. DSC measurements demonstrated that 1 experiences a two-step thermotropic phase transition around 333 K and 383 K, respectively. The phase transition is relevant to the disorder–order transformation of the 18-crown-6 molecule at ∼333 K, while both breaking-symmetry and ordered-disordered transformation of the 18-crown-6 molecule occurred at ∼383 K. In addition, the sharp change of the PbI6 coordination octahedron distortion degree plays a synergistic role in the two-step phase transition. The dielectric relaxation occurs above 243 K in 1 and is mainly attributed to the displacement of the NH4+ ions relative to the ring of the 18-crown-6 molecule and {PbI3}∞ chain induced by an AC electrical field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by invasion of the joints of the central axis that involves soft tissues and joints surrounding the spine. Stretching training rehabilitation (STR) has been widely applied for the treatment of AS. The Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway is closely related to AS. In this study, we aimed to explore the potential molecular mechanisms underlying the protective effect of STR on AS both in vitro and in vivo. Male DBA/1 mice were employed to establish an AS animal model. Hematoxylin-eosin staining showed that STR reversed pathological damages in bone tissues and the total antioxidant capacity of AS mice and increased the antioxidant capacity by upregulating superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde expression in DBA/1 mice. The MTT, RT-qPCR, and Western blotting results further indicated that STR improved the survival rate of cells by downregulating the expression of target genes in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and by inhibiting cell inflammation and apoptosis. In conclusion, our findings indicated that STR treatment might be an effective therapeutical strategy for AS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has the highest percentage of lymphocytic infiltration among breast cancer subtypes, and TNBC patients may benefit from anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy. However, some cases whether the immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) shows low targeting efficiency have occurred and effective synergistic targets need to be found, which inspired our exploration of the co-expression analysis of MCT4 (SLC16A3) and PD-L1 (CD274) and their potential regulatory mechanisms. After bioinformatic analysis of the relationship between MCT4 and PD-L1, we validated their positive co-expression relationship in triple-negative breast cancer through multiple immunohistochemical staining (mIHC), CRISPR/Cas9, and lentiviral transduction for MCT4 knockout (sgMCT4/231 KO) or overexpression (pEGFP-N1-MCT4/231). We examined the effect of lactate treatment on PD-L1 expression in triple-negative breast cancer cells by qRT-PCR and Western blot. Combined with our results, we found that MCT4 positively regulated PD-L1 expression through discharging lactate and stabilized PD-L1 through promoting its glycosylation by the classic WNT pathway in MDA-MB-231 cells. More importantly, the high co-expression of MCT4 and PD-L1 appears to predict more effective targets for treating TNBC, which would improve immune checkpoint therapy for TNBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting products of organic chemical reactions is useful in chemical sciences, especially when one or more reactants are new organics. However, the performance of traditional learning models heavily relies on high-quality labeled data. In this work, to utilize unlabeled data for better prediction performance, we propose a method that combines semi-supervised learning with graph convolutional neural networks for chemical reaction prediction. First, we propose a Mean Teacher Weisfeiler–Lehman Network to find the reaction centers. Then, we construct the candidate product set. Finally, we use an Improved Weisfeiler–Lehman Difference Network to rank candidate products. Experimental results demonstrate that, with 400k labeled data, our framework can improve the top-5 accuracy by 0.7% using 35k unlabeled data. When the proportion of unlabeled data increases, the performance gain can be larger. For example, with 80k labeled data and 35k unlabeled data, the performance gain with our framework can be 1.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to promote the citizenship of China's rural floating population and improve the level of new urbanization, as an important source of property income for rural floating population, the transfer of agricultural land or not has an important impact on whether they choose to return to their hometowns or settle in cities. Based on data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS), this paper explores the mechanism of the impact of agricultural land transfer on the urban settlement intention of rural floating population by constructing a structural equation modeling and bootstrap test. The results show that agricultural land transfer has a significant positive impact on the urban settlement intention of rural floating population, with occupational prestige and identity recognition playing a part in mediating the effect. Actively promoting the identification and orderly transfer of agricultural land rights, improving the quality of urban employment for rural floating population by strengthening vocational skills training, and accelerating the equalization of urban public services to enhance the identity recognition of rural floating population are important in promoting the orderly and effective integration of rural floating population into cities and their genuine citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A human can infer the magnitude of interaction force solely based on visual information because of prior knowledge in human–robot interaction (HRI). A method of reconstructing tactile information through cross-modal signal processing is proposed in this paper. In our method, visual information is added as an auxiliary source to tactile information. In this case, the receiver is only able to determine the tactile interaction force from the visual information provided. In our method, we first process groups of pictures (GOPs) and treat them as the input. Secondly, we use the low-rank foreground-based attention mechanism (LAM) to detect regions of interest (ROIs). Finally, we propose a linear regression convolutional neural network (LRCNN) to infer contact force in video frames. The experimental results show that our cross-modal reconstruction is indeed feasible. Furthermore, compared to other work, our method is able to reduce the complexity of the network and improve the material identification accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modification of mesoporous carbon (MC) with phosphoric acid as the phosphorus source is an effective mean of increasing the electroactive center. In this study, phosphorus was successfully introduced into the MC framework through a simple water-phase self-assembly process. The prepared phosphorus-doped mesoporous carbon (PMC) material had a high phosphorus content (2.21 at%). It showed a high specific capacitance of 231 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1 in a three-electrode system. Compared with pure MC (154 F g−1), the electrochemical double-layer capacitance (EDLC) performance of PMC has been greatly improved because of its higher content of electrocatalytic active centers, granting it the potential of becoming an ideal high-performance electrode material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of big data, using big data to realize the online estimation of battery SOH has become possible. Traditional solutions based on theoretical models cannot take into account driving behavior and complicated environmental factors. In this paper, an approximate SOH degradation model based on real operating data and environmental temperature data of electric vehicles (EVs) collected with a big data platform is proposed. Firstly, the health indicators are extracted from the historical operating data, and the equivalent capacity at 25 °C is obtained based on the capacity–temperature empirical formula and the capacity offset. Then, the attenuation rate during each charging and discharging process is calculated by combining the operating data and the environmental temperature. Finally, the long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network is used to learn the degradation trend of the battery and predict the future decline trend. The test results show that the proposed method has better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research has attributed the socio-economic disparity in COVID-19 infections to differences in degrees of exposure or economic resources. This study proposes beliefs about COVID-19 as a potential additional explanation. We conducted a nationally representative US survey with six measures of COVID-19 beliefs. Socio-economic status was measured through educational level. Compared with less-educated respondents, highly educated respondents treat COVID-19 more seriously, including believing in (1) face mask use, (2) asymptomatic transmission, (3) media non-exaggeration, (4) the necessity of stay-at-home orders, (5) a likelihood of themselves being infected with COVID-19 and (6) no protection of God against COVID-19. The educational gradient in COVID-19 beliefs was largely explained by differential levels of belief in science across education. Our findings suggest that encouraging public trust in science can potentially reduce the educational gradient in COVID-19 infections in the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]