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Abstract Background The value of quantitatively analyzing peripapillary capillary volume (PPCV) distribution was explored in normal and diabetic retinopathy (DR) eyes using dense B-scan optical coherence tomography angiography (DB OCTA). Methods This was a cross-sectional observational study followed by prospective follow-up for those with DR, which enrolled 101 healthy subjects and 140 DR patients. Dense, automatic, real-time (DART) volume scans of DB OCTA were performed using a Spectralis HRA + OCT2. ImageJ and MATLAB were used to process and calculate PPCV distribution detected by DB OCTA. Results In normal subjects, PPCV distribution were significantly correlated with the age and quadrant location (all P 0.05). The PPCV distribution is significantly correlated with post-treatment best-corrected visual acuity in both the pan-retinal photocoagulation treatment and surgery groups (all P

The need for cross-comparison and validation of all-weather Land Surface Temperature (LST) products has arisen due to the release of multiple such products aimed at providing comprehensive all-weather monitoring capabilities. In this study, we focus on validating two well-established all-weather LST products (i.e. MLST-AS and TRIMS LST) against in-situ measurements obtained from four high-quality LST validation sites: Evora, Gobabeb, KIT-Forest, and Lake Constance. For the land sites, MLST-AS exhibits better accuracy, with RMSEs ranging from 1.6 K to 2.1 K, than TRIMS LST, the RMSEs of which range from 1.9 K to 3.1 K. Because MLST-AS pixels classified as “inland water” are masked out, the validation over Lake Constance is limited to TRIMS LST: it yields a RMSE of 1.6 K. Furthermore, the validation results show that MLST-AS and TRIMS LST exhibit better accuracy under clear-sky conditions than unclear-sky conditions across all sites. Since the accuracy of the all-weather LST products is considerably affected by the input clear-sky LST products, we further compare the all-weather LST with the corresponding input clear-sky LST to conduct an error source analysis. Considering the clear-sky pixels on MLST-AS directly using the estimates from MLST, the error source analysis is limited to examining TRIMS LST and its input (i.e. MODIS LST). The findings indicate that TRIMS LST is highly correlated with MODIS LST. The investigation and validation of the two selected all-weather LST products objectively evaluate their accuracy and stability, which provides important information for applications of these all-weather LST products.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of refractive error (RE) and risk factors for myopia among older adults in the Han and various minority ethnic groups across seven provinces in China. Methods: This cross-sectional study forms a part of the ophthalmic dataset of the China National Health Survey (CNHS). Face-to-face interviews and ophthalmic examinations were conducted in seven provinces located in western and northern China. The age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of RE among Han and seven other ethnic groups aged 50–80 years were compared. A mixed-effects model was used to identify the risk factors associated with RE. Results: A total of 12,902 participants, including 8800 Han and 4102 from ethnic minorities, were included in the study. The age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of myopia, high myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism ranged from 15.3 % (Manchu) to 22.9 % (Han), 0.2 % (Yugur) to 2.8 % (Han), 21.6 % (Tibetan) to 48.9 % (Uyghur), and 38.7 % (Yi) to 57.5 % (Manchu) across different ethnicities, respectively. Compared to the Han population, the Mongolian (odds ratios (OR) 0.62, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.46–0.84, p = 0.002), Tibetan (OR 0.66, 95 % CI 0.52–0.85, p = 0.001), Uyghur (OR 0.63, 95 % CI 0.49–0.80, p 18.5 kg/m2 (all p 24 kg/m2 (p = 0.038 in the >24.0 ≤ 27.0 kg/m2 group or p = 0.041 in the >27.0 kg/m2 group) were less likely to have high myopia. Factors associated with a higher prevalence of hyperopia included older age (all p

With the rapid development of LiDAR and artificial intelligence technologies, 3D point cloud semantic segmentation has become a highlight research topic. This technology is able to significantly enhance the capabilities of building information modeling, navigation and environmental perception. However, current deep learning-based methods primarily rely on voxelization or multi-layer convolution for feature extraction. These methods often face challenges in effectively differentiating between homogeneous objects or structurally adherent targets in complex real-world scenes. To this end, we propose a Graph Transformer point cloud semantic segmentation network (ASGFormer) tailored for structurally adherent objects. Firstly, ASGFormer combines Graph and Transformer to promote global correlation understanding in the graph. Secondly, spatial index and position embedding are constructed based on distance relationships and feature differences. Through a learnable mechanism, the structural weights between points are dynamically adjusted, achieving adaptive spatial structure within the graph. Finally, dummy nodes are introduced to facilitate global information storage and transmission between layers, effectively addressing the issue of information loss at the terminal nodes of the graph. Comprehensive experiments are conducted on the various real-world 3D point cloud datasets, analyzing the effectiveness of proposed ASGFormer through qualitative and quantitative evaluations. ASGFormer outperforms existing approaches with of 91.3% for OA, 78.0% for mAcc, and 72.3% for mIoU on S3DIS dataset. Moreover, ASGFormer achieves 72.8%, 45.5%, 81.6%, 70.1% mIoU on ScanNet, City-Facade, Toronto 3D and Semantic KITTI dataset, respectively. Notably, the proposed method demonstrates effective differentiation of homogeneous structurally adherent objects, further contributing to the intelligent perception and modeling of complex scenes.

Abstract Hypoxic preconditioning (HPC) has been shown to improve organ tolerance to subsequent severe hypoxia or ischemia. However, its impact on intestinal ischemic injury has not been well studied. In this study, we evaluated the effects of HPC on intestinal ischemia in rats. Intestinal rehabilitation, levels of fatty acid oxidation (FAO) by-products, intestinal stem cells (ISCs), levels of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 subunit α (HIF-1α) and its downstream genes such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα), and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1a (CPT1A) were assessed at distinct time intervals following intestinal ischemia with or without the interference of HIF-1α. Our data showed that HPC facilitates the restoration of the intestinal structure and enhances the FAO, by boosting intestinal stem cells. Additionally, HIF-1α, PPARα, and CPT1A mRNA and their protein levels were generally up-regulated in the small intestine of HPC rats as compared to the control group. Our vitro experiment also shows low-oxygen induces highly levels of HIF-1α and its downstream genes, with a concurrent increase in FAO products in IEC-6 cells. Furthermore, the above phenomenon could be reversed by silencing HIF-1α. In conclusion, we hypothesize that HPC can stimulate the activation of intestinal stem cells via HIF-1α/PPARα pathway-mediated FAO, thereby accelerating the healing process post ischemic intestinal injury.

Abstract Background Mental health problems are critical and common in medical staff working in Intensive Care Units (ICU) even at the late stage of COVID-19, particularly for nurses. There is little research to explore the inner relationships between common syndromes, such as depression and burnout. Network analysis (NA) was a novel approach to quantified the correlations between mental variables from the perspective of mathematics. This study was to investigate the interactions between burnout and depression symptoms through NA among ICU nurses. Method A cross-sectional study with a total of 616 Chinese nurses in ICU were carried out by convenience sampling from December 19, 2022 to January19, 2023 via online survey. Burnout symptoms were measured by Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) (Chinese version), and depressive symptoms were assessed by the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). NA was applied to build interactions between burnout and depression symptoms. We identified central and bridge symptoms by R package qgraph in the network model. R package bootnet was used to examined the stability of network structure. Results The prevalence of burnout and depressive symptoms were 48.2% and 64.1%, respectively. Within depression-burnout network, PHQ4(Fatigue)-MBI2(Used up) and PHQ4(Fatigue)-MBI5(Breakdown) showed stronger associations. MBI2(Used up) had the strongest expected influence central symptoms, followed by MBI4(Stressed) and MBI7 (Less enthusiastic). For bridge symptoms. PHQ4(Fatigue), MBI5(Breakdown) and MBI2(Used up) weighed highest. Both correlation stability coefficients of central and bridge symptoms in the network structure were 0.68, showing a high excellent level of stability. Conclusion The symptom of PHQ4(Fatigue) was the bridge to connect the emotion exhaustion and depression. Targeting this symptom will be effective to detect mental disorders and relieve mental syndromes of ICU nurses at the late stage of COVID-19 pandemic.

Soil life revolves around microorganisms that are crucial for soil ecosystems and health. In megacities, the combined exposure of multiple pollutants exerts a significant impact on the structures and functions of soil microorganisms; however, there is a lack of empirical studies on this topic. Hence, we conducted a study including urban parks in Beijing, China. The results indicate that bacteria were abundant in the soils of Beijing parks, showing the same dominant groups but different rare groups. The dominant groups included Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. Candidate phyla radiation bacteria, a large evolutionary radiation of bacterial lineages whose members remain mostly uncultivated, were the main specialists. Under the combined exposure of multiple pollutants, the structures of soil microbial communities in different parks were similar. Community change due to pollutants (31%) was greater than that due to natural factors (2.4%). Among multipollutants, organophosphate esters, led by dibutyl phosphate, had the highest influence on microbial abundance and distribution. An increase in dibutyl phosphate concentration decreased the abundance of Firmicutes, while the abundance of Synergistota was increased. The interactions among pollutants affecting the bacteria were different. Bis(2-chloroethyl) phosphate, nickel and benzo[g,h,i]perylene influenced microorganisms by working with organophosphate esters. High-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, such as benzo[a]pyrene and benzo[g,h,i]perylene, mainly acted on the functional genes and thus affected multiple biogeochemical cycles. Benzo[a]anthracene, bis(2-chloroethyl) phosphate, and arsenic were the primary pollutants affecting metabolic pathways. Our research helps to better understand the impacts of urban environmental pollution on soil microorganisms.

Intelligent detection and recognition of ship targets is the basis of naval battlefield situational assessment and threat estimation. Its core task is to determine whether there is a ship target in the image and to detect, identify, and locate the ship target, which also has broad application prospects in fisheries management, maritime rescue, maritime traffic management, and marine environment monitoring. To this end, a multi-scale ship target detection improved algorithm for remote sensing images is proposed based on the YOLOv5 model, called CPE-YOLO. Firstly, a multi-scale attention fusion module based on coordinate position is proposed to solve the problem of missing spatial perception ability for ship detection in optical remote sensing images, to process the multi-scale coordinate information of feature maps, and to effectively establish long-range channel dependency among multi-scale channel attention. Secondly, a more refined feature pyramid network is constructed to effectively mitigate the impact of target scale variation due to remote sensing images on model performance, and to provide richer feature information for feature fusion layer regression localization. Ultimately, the decoupled head is integrated into the YOLO Head to disentangle the classifier and regressor, facilitating accelerated network convergence and concurrent enhancement of network detection accuracy. Finally, thorough tests on the HRSC2016, ASDC and SIGE datasets are presented to support our methodology. The results show that the performance of our proposed methods is better than other existing methods, with an mAP of 94.0%, 76.5%, and 98.7% on the HRSC2016, ASDC, and SIGE datasets. Moreover, comparative assessments against alternative deep learning methodologies affirm the sustained superiority of the enhanced method across overall performance metrics.

AIM: To investigate the effects of Sonic hedgehog (Shh) gene-modified bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on graft-induced retinal gliosis and retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) survival in diabetic mice. METHODS: Bone marrow-derived MSCs were genetically modified with the Shh gene to generate a stably transfected cell line of Shh-modified MSCs (MSC-Shh). Intravitreal injections of MSC-Shh and green fluorescent protein-modified MSCs (MSC-Gfp; control) were administered in diabetic mice. After 4wk, the effects of MSC-Shh on retinal gliosis were evaluated using fundus photography, and markers of gliosis were examined by immunofluorescence and Western blotting. The neurotrophic factors expression and RGCs survival in the host retina were evaluated using Western blotting and immunofluorescence. The mechanisms underlying the effects of MSC-Shh was investigated. RESULTS: A significant reduction of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) was observed after intravitreal injection of MSC-Shh compared to MSC-Gfp. Significant downregulation of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) was demonstrated in the host retina after MSC-Shh administration compared to MSC-Gfp. The extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), protein kinase B (AKT) and phosphatidylin-ositol-3-kinase (PI3K) pathways were significantly downregulated after MSC-Shh administration compared to MSC-Gfp. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) levels were significantly increased in the host retina, and RGCs loss was significantly prevented after MSC-Shh administration. CONCLUSION: MSC-Shh administration reduces graft-induced reactive gliosis following intravitreal injection in diabetic mice. The ERK1/2, AKT and PI3K pathways are involved in this process. MSC-Shh also increases the levels of neurotrophic factors in the host retina and promoted RGCs survival in diabetic mice.

Abstract Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries promise high‐energy‐density potential to exceed the commercialized lithium‐ion batteries but suffer from limited cycling lifespan due to the side reactions between lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) and Li metal anodes. Herein, a three‐way electrolyte with ternary solvents is proposed to enable high‐energy‐density and long‐cycling Li–S pouch cells. Concretely, ternary solvents composed of 1,2‐dimethoxyethane, di‐isopropyl sulfide, and 1,3,5‐trioxane are employed to guarantee smooth cathode kinetics, inhibit the parasitic reactions, and construct a robust solid electrolyte interphase, respectively. The cycling lifespan of Li–S coin cells with 50 µm Li anodes and 4.0 mg cm−2 sulfur cathodes is prolonged from 88 to 222 cycles using the three‐way electrolyte. Nano‐heterogeneous solvation structure of LiPSs and organic‐rich solid electrolyte interphase are identified to improve the cycling stability of Li metal anodes. Consequently, a 3.0 Ah‐level Li–S pouch cell with the three‐way electrolyte realizes a high energy density of 405 Wh kg−1 and undergoes 27 cycles. This work affords a three‐way electrolyte recipe for suppressing the side reactions of LiPSs and inspires rational electrolyte design for practical high‐energy‐density and long‐cycling Li–S batteries.

This study investigated the impact of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) at Neiguan acupoint (PC6) on the physiological and behavioral responses of participants exposed in virtual height. 40 participants were included in the study and were randomly assigned to either a control group or an intervention group. Participants had an immersive experience with a VR interactive platform that provided somatosensory interaction in height stimulation scenes. Psychological scores, behavioral and cognitive performance, and physiological responses were recorded and analyzed. The results indicated that the intervention group had significantly lower fear scores compared to the control group. Analysis of heart rate variability revealed that the intervention group exhibited improved heart rate variability, indicating enhanced cardiovascular function and emotion regulation. The behavioral and cognitive results demonstrated that the intervention group exhibited higher left eye openness, faster reaction times, and greater movement distance, suggesting enhanced attentional focus, cognitive processing, and reduced avoidance behaviors. These findings suggest that TEAS at PC6 can effectively reduce fear and improve the regulation of physiological and behavioral responses to negative emotional stimuli.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a feed crop due to its rich nutrition and high productivity. The utilization of titanium oxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) brings benefits to agricultural production but also has potential hazards. To investigate the duality and related mechanism of TiO2 NPs on alfalfa, its different doses including 0, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 mg L− 1 (CK, Ti-50, Ti-100, Ti-200, Ti-500, and Ti-1000) were sprayed on leaves. The results showed that greater doses of TiO2 NPs (500 and 1000 mg L−1) negatively affected the physiological parameters, including morphology, biomass, leaf ultrastructure, stomata, photosynthesis, pigments, and antioxidant ability. However, 100 mg L−1 TiO2 NPs revealed an optimal positive effect; compared with the CK, it dramatically increased plant height, fresh weight, and dry weight by 22%, 21%, and 41%, respectively. Additionally, TiO2 NPs at low doses significantly protected leaf tissue, promoted stomatal opening, and enhanced the antioxidant system; while higher doses had phytotoxicity. Hence, TiO2 NPs are dose-dependent on alfalfa. The transcriptomic analysis identified 4625 and 2121 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the comparison of CK vs. Ti-100 and CK vs. Ti-500, respectively. They were mainly enriched in photosynthesis, chlorophyll metabolism, and energy metabolism. Notably, TiO2 NPs-induced phytotoxicity on photosynthetic parameters happened concurrently with the alterations of the genes involved in the porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism and carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms in the KEGG analysis. Similarly, it affected the efficiency of alfalfa energy transformation processes, including pyruvate metabolism and chlorophyll synthesis. Several key related genes in these pathways were validated. Therefore, TiO2 NPs have positive and toxic effects by regulating morphology, leaf ultrastructure, stomata, photosynthesis, redox homeostasis, and genes related to key pathways. It is significant to understand the duality of TiO2 NPs and cultivate varieties resistant to nanomaterial pollution.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the impact of late night shift work on the functional outcomes of patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) treated with endovascular thrombectomy (EVT). Methods: Consecutive AIS patients who underwent EVT between June 2019 and June 2021 were enrolled and divided into non-night shift work and night shift work groups based on their occupational histories. The primary outcome was the modified Rankin Scale score defined 3-month functional outcome. The secondary outcomes were 3-month mortality, symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH), ICH and early recanalization. Results: A total of 285 patients were enrolled, 35 patients (12.3%) were night shift workers, who were younger (P

Backgrounds: The validity of heart rate variability (HRV) has been substantiated in mental workload assessments. However, cognitive tasks often coincide with physical exertion in practical mental work, but their synergic effects on HRV remains insufficiently established. The study aims were to investigate the combined effects of cognitive and physical load on autonomic nerve functions.Methods: Thirty-five healthy male subjects (aged 23.5 ± 3.3 years) were eligible and enrolled in the study. The subjects engaged in n-back cognitive tasks (1-back, 2-back, and 3-back) under three distinct physical conditions, involving isotonic contraction of the left upper limb with loads of 0 kg, 3 kg, and 5 kg. Electrocardiogram signals and cognitive task performance were recorded throughout the tasks, and post-task assessment of subjective experiences were conducted using the NASA-TLX scale.Results: The execution of n-back tasks resulted in enhanced perceptions of task-load feelings and increased reaction times among subjects, accompanied by a decline in the accuracy rate (p < 0.05). These effects were synchronously intensified by the imposition of physical load. Comparative analysis with a no-physical-load scenario revealed significant alterations in the HRV of the subjects during the cognitive task under moderate and high physical conditions. The main features were a decreased power of the high frequency component (p < 0.05) and an increased low frequency component (p < 0.05), signifying an elevation in sympathetic activity. This physiological response manifested similarly at both moderate and high physical levels. In addition, a discernible linear correlation was observed between HRV and task-load feelings, as well as task performance under the influence of physical load (p < 0.05).Conclusion: HRV can serve as a viable indicator for assessing mental workload in the context of physical activities, making it suitable for real-world mental work scenarios.

Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed abnormal brain networks in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) in emotional processing. While any cognitive task consists of a series of stages, little is yet known about the topology of functional brain networks in MDD for these stages during emotional face recognition. To address this problem, electroencephalography (EEG)-based functional brain networks of MDD patients at different stages of facial information processing were investigated in this study. First, EEG signals were collected from 16 patients with MDD and 18 age-, gender-, and education-matched normal subjects when performing an emotional face recognition task. Second, the global field power (GFP) method was employed to divide group-averaged event-related potentials into different stages. Third, using the phase transfer entropy (PTE) approach, the brain networks of MDD patients and normal individuals were constructed for each stage in negative and positive face processing, respectively. Finally, we compared the topological properties of brain networks of each stage between the two groups using graph theory approaches. The results showed that the analyzed three stages of emotional face processing corresponded to specific neurophysiological phases, namely, visual perception, face recognition, and emotional decision-making. It was also demonstrated that depressed patients showed abnormally decreased characteristic path length at the visual perception stage of negative face recognition and normalized characteristic path length in the stage of emotional decision-making during positive face processing compared to healthy subjects. Furthermore, while both the MDD and normal groups’ brain networks were found to exhibit small-world network characteristics, the brain network of patients with depression tended to be randomized. Moreover, for patients with MDD, the centro-parietal region may lose its status as a hub in the process of facial expression identification. Together, our findings suggested that altered emotional function in MDD patients might be associated with disruptions in the topological organization of functional brain networks during emotional face recognition, which further deepened our understanding of the emotion processing dysfunction underlying MDD.

Independent predictors of mortality and transfusion therapy in polytrauma patients from the Chinese population remain unknown. Here, we aimed to identify these predictors by retrospectively collecting and analyzing vital signs and laboratory results for 408 critically ill patients suffering from polytrauma who were treated in Affiliated Kunshan Hospital of Jiangsu University, Jiangsu Province, China from January 2020 to December 2021. We identified risk factors for mortality and transfusion therapy using logistic regression analysis. As a results, we enrolled a total of 408 polytrauma patients, with a male-to-female ratio of 2:1, a mean age of 49.02 ± 16.84 years, a mortality rate of 15.9 %, and a blood transfusion rate of 45.8 %. The multivariate logistic regression showed that decreased Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score (Odds ratio (OR) = 0.72, 95 % confidence interval (95%CI): 0.63–0.83, P

Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) represents a prevalent pathological phenomenon. Traditional treatment approaches primarily aim at restoring blood supply to ischemic organs, disregarding the consequent damage caused by IRI. Belonging to the class of protopanaxadiol ginsenosides that are found in Panax ginseng, ginsenoside Rd (GSRd) demonstrates notable safety alongside a diverse range of biological functions. Its active components exhibit diverse pharmacological effects, encompassing anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, neuroprotective, cardiovascular-protective, and immune-regulatory properties, making it a promising candidate for addressing multiple medical conditions. GSRd shields against I/R injury by employing crucial cellular mechanisms, including the attenuation of oxidative stress, reduction of inflammation, promotion of cell survival signaling pathways, and inhibition of apoptotic pathways. Additionally, GSRd regulates mitochondrial function, maintains calcium homeostasis, and modulates the expression of genes involved in I/R injury. This review seeks to consolidate the pharmacological mechanism of action of GSRd within the context of IRI. Our objective is to contribute to the advancement of GSRd-related pharmaceuticals and provide novel insights for clinicians involved in developing IRI treatment strategies.

While a gambler may occasionally win, continuous gambling inevitably results in a net loss to the casino. This study experimentally demonstrates the profitability of a particularly deceptive casino game: a two-armed antique Mills Futurity slot machine. The main findings clearly show that both non-random and random two-arm strategies, predetermined by the player and repeated without interruption, are always profitable for the casino, despite two coins being refunded for every two consecutive losses by the gambler. We theoretically explore the cyclical nature of slot machine strategies and speculate on the impact of the frequency of switching strategies on casino returns. Our results not only assist casino owners in developing and improving casino designs, but also guide gamblers to participate more cautiously in gambling.

In a renewable-energy-penetrated power system (RPPS), inverter-based resources (IBRs) pose serious challenges to power system stability due to their completely different dynamic characteristics compared with conventional generators; thus, it is necessary to study the dynamic interactions between IBRs and power systems. Although many research efforts have been dedicated to this topic from both power electronics and power system researchers, some research from the power electronics field treats the external power system as a voltage source with an impedance, therefore ignoring the dynamic characteristics of a power system, while most of the research from the power system field applies simulation-based methods, for which it is difficult to directly interpret the interaction mechanism of IBRs and external system dynamics. Thus, none of these studies can explore the accurate dynamic interaction mechanism between IBRs and power systems, leading to performance degradation of IBR-integrated power systems. Our study takes into account the dynamic characteristics of both IBRs and the external power system, resulting in the development of a new open-loop transfer function for RPPSs. Based on this formulation, it is observed that under certain operating conditions, the dynamic interactions between the inverter and the power system help enhance IBR-penetrated power system stability compared with the case for which the external power system is controlled as a voltage source. The study also reveals how the inverter (phase-locked loop, control parameters, etc.), external power system (network strength) and penetration ratio in an IBR-penetrated power system affect the dynamic interactions between IBRs and the external power system using the proposed quantified interaction indices.

Abstract Lithium manganese oxides are considered as promising cathodes for lithium‐ion batteries due to their low cost and available resources. Layered LiMnO2 with orthorhombic or monoclinic structure has attracted tremendous interest thanks to its ultrahigh theoretical capacity (285 mAh g−1) that almost doubles that of commercialized spinel LiMn2O4 (148 mAh g−1). However, LiMnO2 undergoes phase transition to spinel upon cycling cause by the Jahn‐Teller effect of the high‐spin Mn3+. In addition, soluble Mn2+ generates from the disproportionation of Mn3+ and oxygen release during electrochemical processes may cause poor cycle performance. To address the critical issues, tremendous efforts have been made. This paper provides a general review of layered LiMnO2 materials including their crystal structures, synthesis methods, structural/elemental modifications, and electrochemical performance. In brief, first the crystal structures of LiMnO2 and synthetic methods have been summarized. Subsequently, modification strategies for improving electrochemical performance are comprehensively reviewed, including element doping to suppress its phase transition, surface coating to resist manganese dissolution into the electrolyte and impede surface reactions, designing LiMnO2 composites to improve electronic conductivity and Li+ diffusion, and finding compatible electrolytes to enhance safety. At last, future efforts on the research frontier and practical application of LiMnO2 have been discussed.

Summary: Exercise training can stimulate the formation of fatty-acid-oxidizing slow-twitch skeletal muscle fibers, which are inversely correlated with obesity, but the molecular mechanism underlying this transformation requires further elucidation. Here, we report that the downregulation of the mitochondrial disulfide relay carrier CHCHD4 by exercise training decreases the import of TP53-regulated inhibitor of apoptosis 1 (TRIAP1) into mitochondria, which can reduce cardiolipin levels and promote VDAC oligomerization in skeletal muscle. VDAC oligomerization, known to facilitate mtDNA release, can activate cGAS-STING/NFKB innate immune signaling and downregulate MyoD in skeletal muscle, thereby promoting the formation of oxidative slow-twitch fibers. In mice, CHCHD4 haploinsufficiency is sufficient to activate this pathway, leading to increased oxidative muscle fibers and decreased fat accumulation with aging. The identification of a specific mediator regulating muscle fiber transformation provides an opportunity to understand further the molecular underpinnings of complex metabolic conditions such as obesity and could have therapeutic implications.

Most of the existing coal mine water inrush risk assessment methods are global assessment methods, which have the following problems: they ignore the difference in importance of the evaluation indicators at different locations in the study area and assign the same weight value; the area of the danger zone in the evaluation results is thus too large. The evaluation results improve the prediction accuracy by reducing the safe zone area. To address the aforementioned issues, this study employs a local analysis method based on a moving circular window, taking into account the spatial heterogeneity of criterion indicators in the decision-making process. By traversing each position of the raster with a circular moving window, the method performs local standardization and calculates local weights of indicators within the local window range. Based on the obtained maps of locally standardized evaluation criteria and local weights, a local water inrush risk assessment model is established using Geographic Information Systems (ArcGIS), considering the differences in the importance of evaluation indicators within the study area. Taking the Liangshuijing mining area as an example, both global and local evaluation models were employed to assess its water inrush risk. The evaluation results obtained from these two models were compared and validated against geological survey data and historical water inrush points. The comparative analysis between the two methods reveals that the local evaluation model demonstrates higher accuracy. It offers a more precise delineation of the distribution of water inrush risk zones, which better corresponds to the actual conditions within the mine. The localized water inrush risk assessment method proposed in this paper breaks away from the traditional approach of uniformly weighting evaluation indicators across the entire area, offering a novel method for assessing water inrush risk.

High-altitude pulmonary hypertension (HAPH) is a severe and progressive disease that can lead to right heart failure. Intermittent short-duration reoxygenation at high altitude is effective in alleviating HAPH; however, the underlying mechanisms are unclear. In the present study, a simulated 5,000-m hypoxia rat model and hypoxic cultured pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) were used to evaluate the effect and mechanisms of intermittent short-duration reoxygenation. The results showed that intermittent 3-h/per day reoxygenation (I3) effectively attenuated chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension and reduced the content of H2O2 and the expression of NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) in lung tissues. In combination with I3, while the NOX inhibitor apocynin did not further alleviate HAPH, the mitochondrial antioxidant MitoQ did. Furthermore, in PASMCs, I3 attenuated hypoxia-induced PASMCs proliferation and reversed the activated HIF-1α/NOX4/PPAR-γ axis under hypoxia. Targeting this axis offset the protective effect of I3 on hypoxia-induced PASMCs proliferation. The present study is novel in revealing a new mechanism for preventing HAPH and provides insights into the optimization of intermittent short-duration reoxygenation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil and fat are considered potential candidates to satisfy the nutritional demands of the increasing number of older patients requiring both dysphagia rehabilitation and nutritional therapy. Crystalline oil and fat (COF) is a unique material comprising MCT. In this study, we aimed to investigate the ways in which COF produces a cold sensation in the mouth, and assessed its facilitatory effect on swallowing initiation through two experiments. The first experiment, involving 27 participants, revealed that COF significantly reduced the onset latency of cold sensation and prolonged its duration compared to that of the control. The second experiment, involving 20 participants, revealed that the number of swallows significantly increased after swallowing COF. Our study confirms that the application of COF to the tongue induces a cold sensation and facilitates voluntary swallowing initiation. Therefore, COF holds great potential for aiding dysphagic patients.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was previously known as chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It has various main symptoms, such as dyspnea, chronic cough, and sputum, and is often accompanied by dysphagia. Although many published clinical reports have described COPD-related dysphagia, the physiological mechanisms underlying swallowing changes due to COPD remain unclear. Therefore, we analyzed how COPD affects the swallowing reflex using COPD model rats. We performed an electrophysiological study of respiration and swallowing using COPD model induced by intratracheal administration of porcine pancreatic elastase and lipopolysaccharide in Sprague-Dawley male rats. To identify the respiration and swallowing responses, electromyographic activity was recorded from the diaphragm, digastric (Dig), and thyrohyoid (TH) muscles. We confirmed COPD using micro-computed tomography analysis and hematoxylin and eosin staining of the lungs. The duty cycle was defined as the ratio of the inspiration duration to the total respiratory duration. In COPD model rats, the duty cycle was significantly higher than that in control rats. The frequency of the swallowing reflex evoked by electrical stimulation of the superior laryngeal nerve during the inspiration phase was higher in COPD model rats than in control rats. Furthermore, long-term COPD altered Dig and TH muscle activity without pathological muscle change. Our results suggest that COPD increases the frequency of swallowing initiation during the inspiration phase. Furthermore, long-term COPD affects swallowing-related muscle activity without pathological muscle changes. These physiological changes may increase the risk of developing dysphagia. Further studies are necessary to clarify the mechanisms contributing to the functional changes in respiration and swallowing in COPD.

This study compared the results of hemolyzed samples and re-collected samples to investigate a hemolysis influence and an acceptable hemolysis index (HI). Before and after hemolysis, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), amylase (Amy), direct bilirubin (D-bil), total bilirubin (T-bil), creatine phosphokinase (CK), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT), iron, potassium (K), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (Phos), total protein (TP), and uric acid (UA) showed significant results in the paired t-test. LDH, K, iron, AST, CK, GGT, TP, Amy and Phos had a high correlation between the degree of hemolysis and the results of samples. When comparing Roche’s cut-off HI with HIQChigh obtained using quality control (QC) high standard deviation (SD), AST, D-bil, CK, and LDH were similar, but Amy, GGT, K, iron, Phos, and TP were lower than the cut-off HI of Roche, while ALP and ALT were higher. Some analytes which showed no significant results in the paired t-test, were found to have significant results in HI>200. Hence, it is suggested that the hemolyzed sample should be rejected if HI>200. Based on this study that some analytes were affected when HI50.