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Abstract Background N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) methylation, a common form of RNA modification, play an important role in the pathogenesis of various diseases and in the ontogeny of organisms. Nevertheless, the precise function of m6A methylation in photoaging remains unknown. Objectives This study aims to investigate the biological role and underlying mechanism of m6A methylation in photoaging. Methods m6A dot blot, Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), western blot and immunohistochemical (IHC) assays were employed to detect the m6A level and specific m6A methylase in ultraviolet ray (UVR)-induced photoaging tissue. The profile of m6A-tagged mRNA was identified by methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq) and RNA-seq analysis. Finally, we investigated the regulatory mechanism of KIAA1429 by MeRIP-qPCR, RNA knockdown and immunofluorescence assay. Results m6A levels were increased in photoaging and were closely associated with the upregulation of KIAA1429 expression. 1331 differentially m6A methylated genes were identified in the UVR group compared with the control group, of which 1192 (90%) were hypermethylated. Gene ontology analysis showed that genes with m6A hypermethylation and mRNA downregulation were mainly involved in extracellular matrix metabolism and collagen metabolism-related processes. Furthermore, KIAA1429 knockdown abolished the downregulation of TGF-bRII and upregulation of MMP1 in UVR-irradiated human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs). Mechanically, we identified MFAP4 as a target of KIAA1429-mediated m6A modification and KIAA1429 might suppress collagen synthesis through an m6A-MFAP4-mediated process. Conclusions The increased expression of KIAA1429 hinders collagen synthesis during UVR-induced photoaging, suggesting that KIAA1429 represents a potential candidate for targeted therapy to mitigate UVR-driven photoaging.

In this study, SiO2 containing PAO6 microcapsules were endowed with surface active groups by polydopamine (PSPMS). Then the modified microcapsules were in situ grafted into phenolic resin (PF@PSPMS) to control the dispersion and bonding in high viscosity resin. Further, the tribological properties of the PF coating and the prepared liner were analyzed. The results show that the life of PF@PSPMS-coating is 73 times longer than that of PF-coating, the friction coefficient (COF) is reduced by 78%. Meanwhiles the COF of the corresponding liner is reduced from 0.11 to 0.06, and the wear amount is reduced from 64.07 μm to 23.07 μm. The wear mechanism shows that the breakage of PSPMS release lubricating oil at the friction interface, forming a coordinated solid-liquid lubrication effect with PTFE. At the same time, the presence of lubricating oil can remove the debris on the surface of the friction pair and improve the quality of the transfer film. In addition, the dispersion of silica fragments at the friction interface is conducive to improving the hardness and wear resistance. This work provides a new method for the dispersion of microcapsules in the liner and further explains the anti-friction and wear mechanism of silica microcapsules in the liner system, confirming the effectiveness of microcapsules in the liner system.

Abstract Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) typically responds well to conservative treatment, and few patients require surgical intervention. This study aimed to investigate the influence of lifestyle and clinical factors on the prognosis of tennis elbow. This prospective, multicenter, nested case–control study included patients diagnosed with lateral epicondylitis after excluding other conditions. Patients who required surgery because of inadequate improvement after 6 months of conservative treatment were defined as the case group; the remaining patients constituted the control group. Propensity score matching was performed to eliminate baseline differences. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using logistic regression. This study included 265 patients (53 in the case group, 212 in the control group). Multivariate analysis revealed that smoking, alcohol consumption, and frequent physical exercise were independent risk factors for surgical intervention, whereas combined treatment with oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and local corticosteroid injections was a protective factor against surgery. Subgroup analysis showed that heavy drinkers had a 3.74-fold higher risk of requiring surgical treatment within 1 year than occasional drinkers. Smoking and alcohol consumption were associated with non-operative treatment failure in patients with lateral epicondylitis. Combining oral NSAIDs and corticosteroid injections is a favorable conservative treatment option.

Objective: To investigate the bone health improvement effects and mechanism of vitamin K2 alone and in combination with calcium on osteoporotic zebrafish model. Methods: Healthy zebrafish with transgenic Tg line were used as experimental animals. The model of osteoporosis zebrafish was induced by prednisone. The fluorescence area and density of zebrafish osteoblasts were used as indicators to evaluate the bone development of zebrafish which were observed and photographed under microscope. Furthermore, the expression changes of related genes were detected by Real-time qPCR. Results: Vitamin K2 alone and in combination with D3 and calcium chloride could significantly improve the reduction of fluorescence area and fluorescence density of zebrafish osteoblasts induced by prednisolone in the experimental safe dose range of 5~20 μg/mL (P

ObjectiveTo detect antibiotic residues in surface water and urban water supply and assess health risk of the antibiotic residues in a suburban district of Hangzhou municipality, Zhejiang province. MethodsTotally 38 surface water samples were collected from 19 sampling points along the Fuchun River Basin and 58 tap water samples were collected at 29 sampling points of a urban water supply system in a suburban district of Hangzhou municipality during February – March 2023. The residues of 52 antibiotics of 6 categories in the samples of surface water and urban water supply were detected by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrum (UPLC-MS/MS) after solid-phase extraction (SPE). Then we assessed ecological and human health risk correlated with the antibiotic residues detected using risk quotient (RQ ) method.ResultsThe residues of 25 kinds of antibiotics were detected in the surface water samples, and the concentrations of the residues ranged from not detected (ND) to 463.66 ng/L; for the samples of the urban water supply, residues of 6 kinds of antibiotics were detected, with the residue ranges and detection rates of ND – 0.72 ng/L and 93.10% for sulfapyridine, ND – 1.16 ng/L and 86.21% for sulfachloropyridazine, ND – 0.60 ng/L and 6.90% for erythromycin, ND – 0.75 ng/L and 27.59% for clarithromycin, ND – 0.68 ng/L and 34.48% for roxithromycin, and ND – 0.96 ng/L and 86.21% for anhydroerythromycin, respectively. The range of RQ in ecological risk assessment was 0 – 10.56 for the detected residues of 25 antibiotics in the surface water samples and the detected antibiotics with higher ecological risk were sulfadiazine, oxytetracycline, erythromycin, clarithromycin, and anhydroerythromycin. The range of RQ in health risk assessment was 4.45 × 10 – 7 – 1.68 × 10 – 4 for the detected residues of 6 antibiotics in the tap water samples and there was no significant health risk relevant to the detected antibiotics. ConclusionIn a suburban district of Hangzhou municipality, the residues of a number of antibiotics were detected and the residues of sulfadiazine, oxytetracycline, erythromycin, clarithromycin and anhydroerythromycin could result in ecological risks; only trace residues of some antibiotics were detected in tap water samples from urban water supply and the residues were at the levels won’t cause obvious human health risk.

By applying a high projection rate, the binary defocusing technique can dramatically increase 3D imaging speed. However, existing methods are sensitive to the varied defocusing degree, and have limited depth of field (DoF). To this end, a time–domain Gaussian fitting method is proposed in this paper. The concept of a time–domain Gaussian curve is firstly put forward, and the procedure of determining projector coordinates with a time–domain Gaussian curve is illustrated in detail. The neural network technique is applied to rapidly compute peak positions of time-domain Gaussian curves. Relying on the computing power of the neural network, the proposed method can reduce the computing time greatly. The binary defocusing technique can be combined with the neural network, and fast 3D profilometry with a large depth of field is achieved. Moreover, because the time–domain Gaussian curve is extracted from individual image pixel, it will not deform according to a complex surface, so the proposed method is also suitable for measuring a complex surface. It is demonstrated by the experiment results that our proposed method can extends the system DoF by five times, and both the data acquisition time and computing time can be reduced to less than 35 ms.

IntroductionSoluble solids content (SSC) is a pivotal parameter for assessing tomato quality. Traditional measurement methods are both destructive and time-consuming.MethodsTo enhance accuracy and efficiency in SSC assessment, this study employs full transmission visible and near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy and multi-point spectral data collection techniques to quantitatively analyze SSC in two tomato varieties (‘Provence’ and ‘Jingcai No.8’ tomatoes). Preprocessing of the multi-point spectra is carried out using a weighted averaging approach, aimed at noise reduction, signal-to-noise ratio improvement, and overall data quality enhancement. Taking into account the potential influence of various detection orientations and preprocessing methods on model outcomes, we investigate the combination of partial least squares regression (PLSR) with two orientations (O1 and O2) and two preprocessing techniques (Savitzky-Golay smoothing (SG) and Standard Normal Variate transformation (SNV)) in the development of SSC prediction models.ResultsThe model achieved the best results in the O2 orientation and SNV pretreatment as follows: ‘Provence’ tomato (Rp = 0.81, RMSEP = 0.69°Brix) and ‘Jingcai No.8’ tomatoes (Rp = 0.84, RMSEP = 0.64°Brix). To further optimize the model, characteristic wavelength selection is introduced through Least Angle Regression (LARS) with L1 and L2 regularization. Notably, when λ=0.004, LARS-L1 produces superior results (‘Provence’ tomato: Rp = 0.95, RMSEP = 0.35°Brix; ‘Jingcai No.8’ tomato: Rp = 0.96, RMSEP = 0.33°Brix).DiscussionThis study underscores the effectiveness of full transmission Vis-NIR spectroscopy in predicting SSC in different tomato varieties, offering a viable method for accurate and swift SSC assessment in tomatoes.

Background Limited response to programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1)/programmed death 1 (PD-1) immunotherapy is a major hindrance of checkpoint immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The abundance of PD-L1 on the tumor cell surface is crucial for the responsiveness of PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy. However, the negative control of PD-L1 expression and the physiological significance of the PD-L1 inhibition in NSCLC immunotherapy remain obscure.Methods Bioinformatics analysis was performed to profile and investigate the long non-coding RNAs that negatively correlated with PD-L1 expression and positively correlated with CD8+T cell infiltration in NSCLC. Immunofluorescence, in vitro PD-1 binding assay, T cell-induced apoptosis assays and in vivo syngeneic mouse models were used to investigate the functional roles of LINC02418 and mmu-4930573I07Rik in regulating anti-PD-L1 therapeutic efficacy in NSCLC. The molecular mechanism of LINC02418-enhanced PD-L1 downregulation was explored by immunoprecipitation, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), and ubiquitination assays. RIP, luciferase reporter, and messenger RNA degradation assays were used to investigate the m6A modification of LINC02418 or mmu-4930573I07Rik expression. Bioinformatics analysis and immunohistochemistry (IHC) verification were performed to determine the significance of LINC02418, PD-L1 expression and CD8+T cell infiltration.Results LINC02418 is a negative regulator of PD-L1 expression that positively correlated with CD8+T cell infiltration, predicting favorable clinical outcomes for patients with NSCLC. LINC02418 downregulates PD-L1 expression by enhancing PD-L1 ubiquitination mediated by E3 ligase Trim21. Both hsa-LINC02418 and mmu-4930573I07Rik (its homologous RNA in mice) regulate PD-L1 therapeutic efficacy in NSCLC via Trim21, inducing T cell-induced apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, METTL3 inhibition via N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification mediated by YTHDF2 reader upregulates hsa-LINC02418 and mmu-4930573I07Rik. In patients with NSCLC, LINC02418 expression is inversely correlated with PD-L1 expression and positively correlated with CD8+T infiltration.Conclusion LINC02418 functions as a negative regulator of PD-L1 expression in NSCLC cells by promoting the degradation of PD-L1 through the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. The expression of LINC02418 is regulated by METTL3/YTHDF2-mediated m6A modification. This study illuminates the underlying mechanisms of PD-L1 negative regulation and presents a promising target for improving the effectiveness of anti-PD-L1 therapy in NSCLC.

IntroductionNondestructive detection of thin-skinned fruit bruising is one of the main challenges in the automated grading of post-harvest fruit. The structured-illumination reflectance imaging (SIRI) is an emerging optical technique with the potential for detection of bruises.MethodsThis study presented the pioneering application of low-cost visible-LED SIRI for detecting early subcutaneous bruises in ‘Korla’ pears. Three types of bruising degrees (mild, moderate and severe) and ten sets of spatial frequencies (50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450 and 500 cycles m-1) were analyzed. By evaluation of contrast index (CI) values, 150 cycles m-1 was determined as the optimal spatial frequency. The sinusoidal pattern images were demodulated to get the DC, AC, and RT images without any stripe information. Based on AC and RT images, texture features were extracted and the LS-SVM, PLS-DA and KNN classification models combined the optimized features were developed for the detection of ‘Korla’ pears with varying degrees of bruising.Results and discussionIt was found that RT images consistently outperformed AC images regardless of type of model, and LS-SVM model exhibited the highest detection accuracy and stability. Across mild, moderate, severe and mixed bruises, the LS-SVM model with RT images achieved classification accuracies of 98.6%, 98.9%, 98.5%, and 98.8%, respectively. This study showed that visible-LED SIRI technique could effectively detect early bruising of ‘Korla’ pears, providing a valuable reference for using low-cost visible LED SIRI to detect fruit damage.

The development of polymeric materials for the repair and reinforcement of damaged sites in water has many practical applications, especially in ocean engineering. However, it is difficult to construct an anticorrosion coating in water. In addition, curing kinetics, which are the key to enhance the performance of coatings, seem to hardly be observed and regulated in an underwater condition. Herein, a novel underwater in situ repairing coating was prepared. Meanwhile, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was applied to observe its curing behavior underwater. Adhesion tests showed that the coatings cured underwater had good adhesion to different substrate surfaces and the ideal ratio of curing agent to epoxy resin was 0.6. Long-term anticorrosive tests demonstrated that the coatings had an excellent anti-corrosion performance. The viscosity changes in different curing stages were well reflected by frequency response characteristics from Bode and Nyquist curves by EIS. Two equivalent electrical circuits were selected to simulate the impedance date at the initial and final curing stage. A formula was put forward to evaluate the curing degree during the curing process. Finally, the effects of temperature and the ingredient ratio on the reaction rate and curing degree were also investigated here. This underwater in situ repairing coating may find applications in many offshore engineering structures in marine environments, and the EIS technique has attractive development and application prospects when observing the curing information of thermosetting resin systems under special circumstances.

Abstract White‐coat hypertension (WCH) is associated with increased cardiovascular risks. To investigate the relationship between WCH and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), the authors recruited 706 participants who underwent anthropometric measurements, blood laboratory analysis, 24h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), and echocardiography. The authors defined WCH as elevated office BP but normal ABPM over 24h, daytime, and nighttime periods. The authors compared the proportion of LVH between the true normotension (NT) and the WCH population, and further assessed the associations between BP indexes and LVH in the two groups, respectively. The proportion of LVH was significantly higher in the WCH group than in NT participants (19.70% vs. 13.12%, P = .036). In the NT group, 24h SBP, 24h PP, daytime SBP, daytime PP and SD of nighttime SBP were associated with LVH after adjustment for demographic and blood biochemical data (all P

IntroductionFull-thickness skin wound healing remains a serious undertaking for patients. While stem cell-derived exosomes have been proposed as a potential therapeutic approach, the underlying mechanism of action has yet to be fully elucidated. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of exosomes derived from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hucMSC-Exosomes) on the single-cell transcriptome of neutrophils and macrophages in the context of wound healing.MethodsUtilizing single-cell RNA sequencing, the transcriptomic diversity of neutrophils and macrophages was analyzed in order to predict the cellular fate of these immune cells under the influence of hucMSC-Exosomes and to identify alterations of ligand-receptor interactions that may influence the wound microenvironment. The validity of the findings obtained from this analysis was subsequently corroborated by immunofluorescence, ELISA, and qRT-PCR. Neutrophil origins were characterized based on RNA velocity profiles.ResultsThe expression of RETNLG and SLC2A3 was associated with migrating neutrophils, while BCL2A1B was linked to proliferating neutrophils. The hucMSC-Exosomes group exhibited significantly higher levels of M1 macrophages (215 vs 76, p < 0.00001), M2 macrophages (1231 vs 670, p < 0.00001), and neutrophils (930 vs 157, p < 0.00001) when compared to control group. Additionally, it was observed that hucMSC-Exosomes elicit alterations in the differentiation trajectories of macrophages towards more anti-inflammatory phenotypes, concomitant with changes in ligand-receptor interactions, thereby facilitating healing.DiscussionThis study has revealed the transcriptomic heterogeneity of neutrophils and macrophages in the context of skin wound repair following hucMSC-Exosomes interventions, providing a deeper understanding of cellular responses to hucMSC-Exosomes, a rising target of wound healing intervention.

Postharvest quality detection and grading are important factors to improve the commercial value of fruit. The natural biological characteristics bring challenges to the rapid and non-destructive evaluation of the internal quality of fruits with large size and thick peel. A lot of studies have tried to establish a feasible technique to achieve rapid, non-destructive, and accurate detection for this kind of fruit in commercial real-time grading. This article focuses on large-sized and thick-skinned fruits and comprehensively reviews the latest technical progress in the non-destructive detection of internal quality. It can provide a valuable reference for the development of postharvest processing technology for this kind of fruit.

Using experimental methods to study the influence of hole and cracks on the mechanical properties and fracture characteristics of rock-like mortar materials under biaxial compression conditions. The double crack specimens with hole depths from 0–100 mm are prefabricated to study the strength and deformation characteristics of the specimens under different lateral loads σ2 = 0–6 MPa. The evolution process of secondary crack initiation, development, and connection of the hole-crack specimens are recorded. The results show that: (1) One type of rock mortar test material is prepared, and its main physical and mechanical parameters are all within the range of sandstone, which can effectively simulate the stress deformation characteristics of sandstone. (2) When the depth of the holes in cracked samples exceeds 50% of the length, the strength and deformation of the samples undergo a sudden change. When the depth of the hole in the crack specimen increases from 40 mm to 60 mm, the peak stress decreases most significantly. Moreover, the maximum values of the strain value at peak strength and lateral strain both occur at a hole depth of 60 mm. (3) When the cracked specimen contains through-holes, the failure mode is composite fracture and shear composite fracture. When the depth of the hole is different, the fracture forms include tension composite fracture, shear composite fracture, and composite fracture.

In recent years, the incidence of depressive symptoms among Chinese college students has been increasing. Studies have shown that depressive symptoms are related to a variety of psychosocial factors, among which neuroticism, resilience, and attention bias are most notably related, but the correlation among the three is not clear. This study aimed to investigate the influence mechanisms of different degrees of resilience, attentional bias, and neuroticism in the formation of depressive symptoms. The college freshmen of this study were selected through stratified multi-stage cluster sampling. Students provided informed consent and then completed a general situation questionnaire and four scales: the Chinese version of the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, the Attention to Positive and Negative Information Scale, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and the Zung Self-Rating Depressive Symptoms Scale. In total, 1,493 freshmen participated in the research group. Our results showed that low resilience, negative attention bias, and high neuroticism jointly increased the risk of depressive symptoms. There is a significant correlation between these three factors and depressive symptoms. Additionally, strength, tenacity, and attention bias all had more significant effects on the occurrence of depressive symptoms. These findings indicate that there may be an important psychological mechanism for the occurrence, development, and poor prognosis of depressive symptoms.

Pyroptosis and necroptosis are two recently identified forms of immunogenic cell death in the tumor microenvironment (TME), indicating a crucial involvement in tumor metastasis. However, the characteristics of necroptosis and pyroptosis that define tumor microenvironment and prognosis in ccRCC patients remain unknown. We systematically investigated the transcriptional variation and expression patterns of Necroptosis and Pyroptosis related genes (NPRGs). After screening the necroptosis-pyroptosis clusters, the potential functional annotation for clusters was explored by GSVA enrichment analysis. The Necroptosis-Pyroptosis Genes (NPG) scores were used for the prognosis model construction and validation. Then, the correlations of NPG score with clinical features, cancer stem cell (CSC) index, tumor mutation burden (TMB), TME, and Immune Checkpoint Genes (ICGs) were also individually explored to evaluate the prognosis predictive values in ccRCC. Microarray screenings identified 27 upregulated and 1 downregulated NPRGs. Ten overall survival associated NPRGs were filtered to construct the NPG prognostic model indicating a better prognostic signature for ccRCC patients with lower NPG scores (P< 0.001), which was verified using the external cohort. Univariate and multivariate analyses along with Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated that NPG score prognostic model could be applied as an independent prognostic factor, and AUC values of nomogram from 1- to 5- year overall survival with good agreement in calibration plots suggested that the proposed prognostic signature possessed good predictive capabilities in ccRCC. A high-/sNPG score is proven to be connected with tumor growth and immune-related biological processes, according to enriched GO, KEGG, and GSEA analyses. Comparing patients with a high-NPG score to those with a low-NPG score revealed significant differences in clinical characteristics, growth and recurrence of malignancies (CSC index), TME cell infiltration, and immunotherapeutic response (P< 0.005), potentially making the NPG score multifunctional in the clinical therapeutic setting. Furthermore, AIM2, CASP4, GSDMB, NOD2, and RBCK1 were also found to be highly expressed in ccRCC cell lines and tumor tissues, and GASP4 and GSDMB promote ccRCC cells’ proliferation, migration, and invasion. This study firstly suggests that targeting the NPG score feature for TME characterization may lend novel insights into its clinical applications in the prognostic prediction of ccRCC.

Citrus fruits are susceptible to fungal infection after harvest. To reduce the economic loss, it is necessary to reject the infected citrus fruit before storage and transportation. However, the infected area in the early stage of decay is almost invisible on the fruit surface, so the detection of early decayed citrus is very challenging. In this study, a structured-illumination reflectance imaging (SIRI) system combined with a visible light-emitting diode (LED) lamp and a monochrome camera was developed to detect early fungal infection in oranges. Under sinusoidal modulation illumination with spatial frequencies of 0.05, 0.15, and 0.25 cycles mm–1, three-phase-shifted images with phase offsets of − 2π/3, 0, and 2π/3 were acquired for each spatial frequency. The direct component (DC) and alternating component (AC) images were then recovered by image demodulation using a three-phase-shifting approach. Compared with the DC image, the decayed area can be clearly identified in the AC image and RT image (AC/DC). The optimal spatial frequency was determined by analyzing the AC image and pixel intensity distribution. Based on the texture features extracted from DC, AC, and RT images, four kinds of classification models including partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), support vector machine (SVM), least squares-support vector machine (LS-SVM), and k-nearest neighbor (KNN) were established to detect the infected oranges, respectively. Model optimization was also performed by extracting important texture features. Compared to all models, the PLS-DA model developed based on eight texture features of RT images achieved the optimal classification accuracy of 96.4%. This study showed for the first time that the proposed SIRI system combined with appropriate texture features and classification model can realize the early detection of decayed oranges.

Municipal solid waste incineration fly ash is classified as hazardous waste because it contains dioxins and a variety of heavy metals. It is not allowed to be directly landfilled without curing pretreatment, but the increasing production of fly ash and scarce land resources has triggered consideration of the rational disposal of fly ash. In this study, solidification treatment and resource utilization were combined, and the detoxified fly ash was used as cement admixture. The effects of thermal treatment in different atmospheres on the physical and chemical properties of fly ash and the effects of fly ash as admixture on cement properties were investigated. The results indicated that the mass of fly ash increased due to the capture of CO2 after thermal treatment in CO2 atmosphere. When the temperature was 500 °C, the weight gain reached the maximum. After thermal treatment (500 °C + 1 h) in air, CO2, and N2 atmospheres, the toxic equivalent quantities of dioxins in fly ash decreased to 17.12 ng TEQ/kg, 0.25 ng TEQ/kg, and 0.14 ng TEQ/kg, and the degradation rates were 69.95%, 99.56%, and 99.75%, respectively. The direct use of fly ash as admixture would increase the water consumption of standard consistency of cement and reduce the fluidity and 28 d strength of mortar. Thermal treatment in three atmospheres could inhibit the negative effect of fly ash, and the inhibition effect of thermal treatment in CO2 atmosphere was the best. The fly ash after thermal treatment in CO2 atmosphere had the possibility of being used as admixture for resource utilization. Because the dioxins in the fly ash were effectively degraded, the prepared cement did not have the risk of heavy metal leaching, and the performance of the cement also met the requirements.

Food analysis plays a vital role in ensuring the safety and quality of food products [...]

Telomerase activity is elevated in most cancer cells and is required for telomere length maintenance and immortalization of cancer cells. Glucose metabolic reprogramming is a hallmark of cancer and accompanied with increased expression of key metabolic enzymes. Whether these enzymes influence telomerase activity and cell immortalization remains unclear. In the current study, we screened metabolic enzymes using telomerase activity assay and identified lactate dehydrogenase B (LDHB) as a regulator of telomerase activity. Sodium lactate and sodium pyruvate did not influence telomerase activity, indicating LDHB regulates telomerase activity independent of its metabolism regulating function. Further studies revealed that LDHB directly interacted with TERT and regulated the interaction between TERT and TERC. Additionally, long-term knockdown of LDHB inhibited cancer cell growth and induced cell senescence in vitro and in vivo. Higher LDHB expression was detected in pancreatic cancer tissues compared with that in adjacent normal tissues and expression of LDHB correlated negatively with prognosis. Thus, we identified LDHB as the first glucose metabolic enzyme contributing to telomerase activity and pancreatic cancer cell immortalization.

BackgroundLung cancer has considerably high mortality and morbidity rate. Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) tissues highly express lamin B1 (LMNB1), compared with normal tissues. In this study, we knocked down LMNB1 in LUAD cells A549 and NCI-1299 to explore the effect of its inhibition on the proliferation of cells and the potential mechanism.MethodsUsing bioinformatics methods, we analyzed the specificity of LMNB1 mRNA expression level in LUAD and its effect on prognosis from TCGA data. SiRNAs were used to knock down LMNB1 in the A549 cell line, and the knockdown effect was identified by western blotting and qRT-PCR. Through CCK8 cell proliferation assay, wound healing assay, TRAP, cloning formation Assay, DNase I-TUNEL assay, ATAC-seq, immunofluorescence, FISH, in vivo mouse xenograft studies, etc, we evaluated the influence and mechanism of LMNB1 on LUAD cell line proliferation in vitro and in vivo.ResultsAccording to bioinformatics analysis, LMNB1 is substantially abundant in LUAD tissues and is associated with tumor stage and patient survival (P

Based on the Meteorological Information Comprehensive Analysis and Processing System Version 4 (MICAPS4),the R & D team of Hebei Meteorological Observatory independently designed and developed a set of disastrous weather case retrieval and training system. By the collation and preservation of historical disastrous weather cases and associated data,this system has not only realized the retrieval,analysis,training,collection,management of the weather cases and other functions,but also solved the accumulation and use of historical data. In additon,it has expanded historical data application function of the MICAPS system. This system can be used in such aspects as disastrous weather forecast and warning business,scientific research and forecaster training. It is highly portable and has a good prospect of popularization and application.

Moisture content (MC) is one of the important factors to assess the quality of maize seeds. In this study, the feasibility of using long-wave near infrared (LWNIR) hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technique with the spectral range of 930-2548 nm for predicting MC of single maize seeds was observed. The averaged spectra extracted from whole and centroid regions in the embryo side of single maize seeds were pretreated by Savizky-Golay smoothing and first derivative (SG-D1). A combination of uninformative variable elimination (UVE) and successive projections algorithm (SPA) was proposed to select feature wavelengths (variables) from LWNIR hyperspectral data. The quantitative relationship between feature wavelengths and MC was established by partial least square (PLSR) and least square-support vector machine (LS-SVM), respectively. Results illustrated that the UVE-SPA-LS-SVM model established based on spectra of centroid region obtained the best performance for MC detection of the single maize seeds. The correlation coefficient of prediction (Rpre) and root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) were 0.9325 and 1.2109, respectively. Finally, MC distribution of single maize seed was visualized by pseudo-color map. This study showed LWNIR HSI technique was feasible to measure MC of single maize seeds and a robust and accurate model could be established based on UVE-SPA-LS-SVM method with the spectra of centroid regions.

Nondestructive determination the internal quality of thick-skin fruits has always been a challenge. In order to investigate the prediction ability of full transmittance mode on the soluble solid content (SSC) in thick-skin fruits, the full transmittance spectra of citrus were collected using a visible/near infrared (Vis/NIR) portable spectrograph (550–1100 nm). Three obvious absorption peaks were found at 710, 810 and 915 nm in the original spectra curve. Four spectral preprocessing methods including Smoothing, multiplicative scatter correction (MSC), standard normal variate (SNV) and first derivative were employed to improve the quality of the original spectra. Subsequently, the effective wavelengths of SSC were selected from the original and pretreated spectra with the algorithms of successive projections algorithm (SPA), competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) and genetic algorithm (GA). Finally, the prediction models of SSC were established based on the full wavelengths and effective wavelengths. Results showed that SPA performed the best performance on eliminating the useless information variable and optimizing the number of effective variables. The optimal prediction model was established based on 10 characteristic variables selected from the spectra pretreated by SNV with the algorithm of SPA, with the correlation coefficient, root mean square error, and residual predictive deviation for prediction set being 0.9165, 0.5684°Brix and 2.5120, respectively. Overall, the full transmittance mode was feasible to predict the internal quality of thick-skin fruits, like citrus. Additionally, the combination of spectral preprocessing with a variable selection algorithm was effective for developing the reliable prediction model. The conclusions of this study also provide an alternative method for fast and real-time detection of the internal quality of thick-skin fruits using Vis/NIR spectroscopy.

Cigarette filter rods are a kind of easily deformed and irregularly shaped parts, and the quality of cigarette filter rods is often measured by the filter rod roundness index, although they are affected by factors such as environment and humidity, which can affect the detection of filter rod roundness and show blurred images. For the detection of blurred filter rod image roundness, an improved active contour snake model algorithm is proposed. The experimental results show that in the analysis of the algorithm iteration number on the model performance, the model performance gradually leveled off at the iteration number of 200. Comparing the PR of the improved algorithm with the traditional snake algorithm with the balloon force snake algorithm, the accuracy and recall rates obtained were 0.803 and 0.798, respectively, which were greater than the other two algorithms; the error of the value of the residual under the improved snake algorithm was always smaller than the other algorithms, which indicated that the convergence effect of the improved snake algorithm on the error of filter bar roundness was better than the other experimental algorithms. The abovementioned results indicate that the improved snake algorithm has high feasibility and effectiveness in the application of filter bar roundness error detection and has a significant value.

Moisture content (MC) is one of the important indexes to evaluate maize seed quality. Its accurate prediction is very challenging. In this study, the long-wave near-infrared hyperspectral imaging (LW-NIR-HSI) system was used, and the embryo side (S1) and endosperm side (S2) spectra of each maize seed were extracted, as well as the average spectrum (S3) of both being calculated. The partial least square regression (PLSR) and least-squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) models were established. The uninformative variable elimination (UVE) and successive projections algorithm (SPA) were employed to reduce the complexity of the models. The results indicated that the S3-UVE-SPA-PLSR and S3-UVE-SPA-LS-SVM models achieved the best prediction accuracy with an RMSEP of 1.22% and 1.20%, respectively. Furthermore, the combination (S1+S2) of S1 and S2 was also used to establish the prediction models to obtain a general model. The results indicated that the S1+S2-UVE-SPA-LS-SVM model was more valuable with Rpre of 0.91 and RMSEP of 1.32% for MC prediction. This model can decrease the influence of different input spectra (i.e., S1 or S2) on prediction performance. The overall study indicated that LW-HSI technology combined with the general model could realize the non-destructive and stable prediction of MC in maize seeds.

At present, the apple grading system usually conveys apples by a belt or rollers. This usually leads to low hardness or expensive fruits being bruised, resulting in economic losses. In order to realize real-time detection and classification of high-quality apples, separate fruit trays were designed to convey apples and used to prevent apples from being bruised during image acquisition. A semantic segmentation method based on the BiSeNet V2 deep learning network was proposed to segment the defective parts of defective apples. BiSeNet V2 for apple defect detection obtained a slightly better result in MPA with a value of 99.66%, which was 0.14 and 0.19 percentage points higher than DAnet and Unet, respectively. A model pruning method was used to optimize the structure of the YOLO V4 network. The detection accuracy of defect regions in apple images was further improved by the pruned YOLO V4 network. Then, a surface mapping method between the defect area in apple images and the actual defect area was proposed to accurately calculate the defect area. Finally, apples on separate fruit trays were sorted according to the number and area of defects in the apple images. The experimental results showed that the average accuracy of apple classification was 92.42%, and the F1 score was 94.31. In commercial separate fruit tray grading and sorting machines, it has great application potential.

Over the past decades, imaging and spectroscopy techniques have been developed rapidly with widespread applications in non-destructive agro-food quality determination. Seeds are one of the most fundamental elements of agriculture and forestry. Seed viability is of great significance in seed quality characteristics reflecting potential seed germination, and there is a great need for a quick and effective method to determine the germination condition and viability of seeds prior to cultivate, sale and plant. Some researches based on spectra and/or image processing and analysis have been explored in terms of the external and internal quality of a variety of seeds. Many attempts have been made in image segmentation and spectra correction methods to predict seed quality using various traditional and novel methods. This review focuses on the comparative introduction, development and applications of emerging techniques in the analysis of seed viability, in particular, near infrared spectroscopy, hyperspectral and multispectral imaging, Raman spectroscopy, infrared thermography, and soft X-ray imaging methods. The basic theories, principle components, relative chemometric processing, analytical methods and prediction accuracies are reported and compared. Additionally, on the foundation of the observed applications, the technical challenges and future outlook for these emerging techniques are also discussed. Keywords: Seed viability, NIR, Hyperspectral imaging, Raman spectroscopy, Infrared thermography, Soft X-ray imaging

The basic optical properties of fruit tissues are significant and helpful to be known when they are utilized for internal quality detection. The integrating sphere (IS) system was established to measure diffuse reflectance spectra (R') of peel-flesh layer, absorption coefficient (μα) and reduced scattering coefficient (μ's) of flesh layer of `Ya' pear tissues using inverse adding-doubling (IAD) method in 900-1700 nm. Aiming at studying the relationship between soluble solids content (SSC) and optical properties (μα and μ's), partial least square (PLS) regression was employed to establish calibration models based on three wavelength regions. Results showed that better correlations were found using reflectance and μα spectra than using scattering ones with full wavelengths in 900-1350 nm. Moreover, reflectance spectra (rp = 0.8911, RMSEP = 0.4965 °Brix) with 27 effective wavelength (EWs) and μα spectra (rp = 0.8641, RMSEP = 0.5506 °Brix) with 14 EWs both performed satisfactory results using competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS). Good result (rp = 0.8856, RMSEP = 0.5081 °Brix) could also be found by the combination of reflectance and μα spectra with 38 EWs. Results of independent validation test showed that EWs of μα spectra was more promising in pear SSC prediction even though the model stability was not as good as these obtained by reflectance. Therefore, more research needs to be done to improve the stability and accuracy of the IS system. This study illustrated the availability for multiple index quality attributes detection of fruit tissues by detecting reflectance and optical properties information using IS system.

Abstract Heat wave is serious natural disaster that can harm human health and affect social economy, transportation and ecological environment. This paper investigates the long term trends of high temperature events in three major cities (Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang) of northern China during 1970–2019, and quantifies the contributions of main influencing factors to the variability of high temperature days. High temperature events in Beijing–Tianjin–Shijiazhuang cities mainly occur from June to July and account for 60–65% of the annual total, showing a significant upward trend in the interannual change. There is a trend of high temperature events starting early and ending late in recent 50 years, and this trend is intensified by the increasing urbanization. Due to geographical location and city scale, the frequency and intensity of high temperature events show difference among Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang cities. Variance analysis shows that climate warming contributes 20.2–25.5% to the variability of high temperature days, while urban heat island accounts for 14.7–24.2%, equal to the sum of the contributions from atmospheric circulation and solar activity.

Altered gut microbiota has been identified during psychological stress, which causes severe health issues worldwide. The integrity of the intestinal barrier and blood–brain barrier regulates the process of bacterial translocation and can supply the nervous system with real-time information about the environment. However, the association of gut microbiota with psychological stress remains to be fully interpreted. In this study, we established a psychological stress model using an improved communication box and compared the expression of tight junction proteins in multiple regions of the intestinal (duodenum, jejunum, ileum) and blood–brain (amygdala, hippocampus) barriers between model and control rats. We also conducted fecal microbiota analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Expression levels of the stress-related indicators adrenocorticotropic hormone, NR3C1,2, and norepinephrine were increased in the model group compared to control group. Psychological stress reduced brain and intestinal levels of tight junction proteins, including claudin5, occludin, α-actin, and ZO-1. Microbiota analysis revealed elevated microbial diversity and fecal proportions of Intestinimonas, Catenisphaera, and Globicatella in the model group. Further analysis indicated a negative correlation of Allisonella and Odoribacter, as well as a positive correlation of norank_f__Peptococcaceae, Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, and Coprococcus_2, with claudin5, occludin, α-actin, and ZO-1. Our use of a rodent model to explore the association between compromised intestinal and blood–brain barriers and altered fecal microbiota under psychological stress improves our understanding of the gut–brain axis. Here, cues converge to control basic developmental processes in the intestine and brain such as barrier function. This study provides new directions for investigating the pathogenesis of emotional disorders and the formulation of clinical treatment.

ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between attentional bias and the severity of depression as assessed by the TORAWARE state and physical symptoms.MethodsWe enrolled 55 patients with depression and 60 healthy people. The Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-24), Somatic Self-Rating Scale (SSS), and the Chinese version of the Self-Rating Scale for the TORAWARE State of Neurosis (SSTN) were selected to assess the severity of psychological symptoms. Dot-probe tasks were used to detect attentional bias. We then analyzed the correlation of attentional bias with the total scores on the symptom scales.ResultsThe negative attentional bias and negative disengaging index scores were both greater than 0 (t = 3.15 and 2.78, respectively; all P < 0.01). The negative attention bias score was positively correlated with the SSTN and negative disengaging index scores (r = 0.29 and 0.53, respectively; all P < 0.05). SSTN score was positively correlated with the total HAMD and SSS scores (r = 0.34 and 0.38, respectively; all P < 0.05).ConclusionThere is no direct correlation between negative attentional bias and depression. It may be through the intermediate mechanism of TORAWARE state to influence symptoms.

Sleep disorders are known to increase the risk of hypertension, yet few studies have investigated the relation between sleep disorders and morning blood pressure (BP). This study aimed to determine, whether the morning BP is associated with sleep quality and sleep-disordered breathing. A total of 144 hypertensive patients were included in this cross-sectional study. Each subject underwent anthropometric measurements, biochemical testing, 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring, and polysomnography (PSG). Sleep quality and sleep-disordered breathing were determined by PSG parameters of sleep architecture and sleep respiratory. There were no significant differences between subjects with and without morning hypertension in the parameters of sleep architecture and sleep respiratory. In multiple regression analysis, morning BP was independently associated with night-time BP and morning BP surge, but not with the parameters of sleep architecture and sleep respiratory. Further analysis showed that both night-time BP and morning BP surge were independently associated with the sleep respiratory parameters. In conclusion, sleep-disordered breathing might indirectly affect the morning BP by elevated night-time BP, yet neither poor sleep quality nor sleep-disordered breathing was major determinants of elevated morning BP in hypertensive patients.

Watercore is an internal physiological disorder affecting the quality and price of apples. Rapid and non-destructive detection of watercore is of great significance to improve the commercial value of apples. In this study, the visible and near infrared (Vis/NIR) full-transmittance spectroscopy combined with analysis of variance (ANOVA) method was used for online detection of watercore apples. At the speed of 0.5 m/s, the effects of three different orientations (O1, O2, and O3) on the discrimination results of watercore apples were evaluated, respectively. It was found that O3 orientation was the most suitable for detecting watercore apples. One-way ANOVA was used to select the characteristic wavelengths. The least squares-support vector machine (LS-SVM) model with two characteristic wavelengths obtained good performance with the success rates of 96.87% and 100% for watercore and healthy apples, respectively. In addition, full-spectrum data was also utilized to determine the optimal two-band ratio for the discrimination of watercore apples by ANOVA method. Study showed that the threshold discrimination model established based on O3 orientation had the same detection accuracy as the optimal LS-SVM model for samples in the prediction set. Overall, full-transmittance spectroscopy combined with the ANOVA method was feasible to online detect watercore apples, and the threshold discrimination model based on two-band ratio showed great potential for detection of watercore apples.

With the development of society, the economy, and national security, the exploitation of deep underground space has become an inevitable trend in human society. However, high-temperature-related problems occur in deep underground spaces. The high temperature of deep underground space is essentially influenced by the thermal characteristics of the surrounding rock. According to the mathematical model of heat transfer of the surrounding rock in deep underground space, similar criteria numbers are established. Experiments were carried out to investigate the thermal characteristics of the surrounding rock. The distribution characteristics of temperature were determined by the Fourier number (Fo) and Biot number (Bi), and the effects of heat transfer time, airflow velocities, and air temperature and radial displacement on the distribution characteristics of temperature were studied. The results indicate that the surrounding rock temperature decreases with long heat transfer times, high airflow velocities, and low air temperatures.

In the paper, mesopores and macropores are introduced inside the crystals of micrometer microporous titanium silicate-1 (TS-1) to solve the problem of active site coverage and mass transfer during extrusion. Hierarchically porous titanium silicalite-1 (HPTS-1) was acquired by treating micrometer microporous TS-1 with TPABr and ethanolamine. Extruded HPTS-1 maintained greatly superior catalytic performance and possessed high mechanical strength. Characterization results showed that extruded HPTS-1 possessed macroporous, mesoporous structure inside the crystals. These abundant pores are not only beneficial for diffusion reactants, but also make Ti-peroxo species (η2), active oxidation sites in TS-1/H2O2 system become much more reactive. The formula of extruded HPTS-1 was optimized using an orthogonal experiment. The maximum strength of extruded HPTS-1 was up to 200 N/cm, the highest yield of propylene oxide was 92.5% and the specific rate was up to 41.9%. The research provides a scientific basis for producing extruded catalysts with excellent catalytic performance and high mechanical strength in industrial applications.