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A multi-group of strong atmospheric waves (wave packet nos. 1–5) over China associated with the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha′apai (HTHH) volcano eruptions were observed in the mesopause region using a ground-based airglow imager network. The horizontal phase speed of wave packet nos. 1 and 2 is approximately 309 and 236 m s−1, respectively, which is consistent with Lamb wave L0 mode and L1 mode from theoretical predictions. The amplitude of the Lamb wave L1 mode is larger than that of the L0 mode. The wave fronts of Lamb wave L0 and L1 below the lower thermosphere are vertical, while the wave fronts of L0 mode tilt forward above the lower atmosphere, exhibiting internal wave characteristics which show good agreement with the theoretical results. Two types of tsunamis were simulated; one type of tsunami is induced by the atmospheric-pressure wave (TIAPW), and the other type of tsunami is directly induced by the Tonga volcano eruption (TITVE). From backward ray-tracing analysis, the TIAPW and TITVE were likely the sources of wave packet nos. 3 and 4–5, respectively. The scale of tsunamis near the coast is very consistent with the atmospheric AGWs observed by the airglow network. The atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs) triggered by TITVE propagate nearly 3000 km inland with the support of a duct. The atmospheric-pressure wave can directly affect the upper atmosphere and can also be coupled with the upper atmosphere through the indirect way of generating a tsunami and, subsequently, tsunami-generating AGWs, which will provide a new understanding of the coupling between ocean and atmosphere.

Forest harvesting is one of the anthropogenic activities that most significantly affect the carbon budget of forests. However, the absence of explicit spatial information on harvested carbon poses a huge challenge in assessing forest-harvesting impacts, as well as the forest carbon budget. This study utilized provincial-level statistical data on wood harvest, the tree cover loss (TCL) dataset, and a satellite-based vegetation index to develop a Long-term harvEst and Allocation of Forest Biomass (LEAF) dataset. The aim was to provide the spatial location of forest harvesting with a spatial resolution of 30 m and to quantify the post-harvest carbon dynamics. The validations against the surveyed forest harvesting in 133 cities and counties indicated a good performance of the LEAF dataset in capturing the spatial variation of harvested carbon, with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.83 between the identified and surveyed harvested carbon. The linear regression slope was up to 0.99. Averaged from 2003 to 2018, forest harvesting removed 68.3 ± 9.3 Mt C yr−1, of which more than 80 % was from selective logging. Of the harvested carbon, 19.6 ± 4.0 %, 2.1 ± 1.1 %, 35.5 ± 12.6 % 6.2 ± 0.3 %, 17.5 ± 0.9 %, and 19.1 ± 9.8 % entered the fuelwood, paper and paperboard, wood-based panels, solid wooden furniture, structural constructions, and residue pools, respectively. Direct combustion of fuelwood was the primary source of carbon emissions after wood harvest. However, carbon can be stored in wood products for a long time, and by 2100, almost 40 % of the carbon harvested during the study period will still be retained. This dataset is expected to provide a foundation and reference for estimating the forestry and national carbon budgets. The 30 m × 30 m harvested-carbon dataset from forests in China can be downloaded at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.23641164.v2 (Wang et al., 2023).

Abstract Astrophysical jets play crucial roles in star formation and transporting angular momentum away from accretion discs, however, their collimation mechanism is still a subject of much debate due to the limitations of astronomical observational techniques and facilities. Here, a quasi-static toroidal magnetic field is generated through the interaction between lasers and a four-post nickel target, and our all-optical laboratory experiments reveal that a wide-angle plasma plume can be collimated in the presence of toroidal magnetic fields. Besides the confinement effects, the experiments show the jet can also be accelerated by the enhanced thermal pressure due to the toroidal magnetic fields compressing the flow. These findings are verified by radiation magneto-hydrodynamic simulations. The experimental results suggest certain astrophysical narrow plasma flows may be produced by the confinement of wide-angle winds through toroidal fields.

Accurately estimating the net ecosystem exchange of CO 2 (NEE) in cropland ecosystems is essential for understanding the impacts of agricultural practices and climate conditions. However, significant uncertainties persist in the estimation of regional cropland NEE due to landscape heterogeneity and variations in the efficacy of upscaling models. Here, we applied an integrated approach that combined object-based image analysis (OBIA) techniques with advanced machine learning (ML) approaches to upscale regional cropland NEE. We conducted a thorough evaluation of the upscaling approach across four distinct cropland areas characterized by diverse climate conditions. Our study confirmed that OBIA techniques can efficiently segment cropland objects, thereby enhancing the representation and accuracy of characteristics relevant to cropland features. The sequential least squares programming algorithm, among the three methods used for ML model integration, demonstrated exceptional performance in predicting NEE, with an R 2 value exceeding 0.80 across all study areas and peaking at 0.90 in the most successful area. On average, there was an 18 % improvement compared to the poorest-performing ML model and a 6 % enhancement compared to the best-performing ML model. The upscaled regional products exhibited superior performance in characterizing cropland NEE patterns compared to pixel-based products. Additionally, we utilized the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) to assess driver importance, revealing that phenology and radiation had the greatest influence on prediction accuracy, followed by temperature and soil moisture. This study highlights the potential of integrating OBIA techniques with machine learning approaches for upscaling regional cropland NEE, while concurrently reducing estimation uncertainties., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Phthalates (PAEs) are synthetic compounds extensively employed in consumer products. Blood pressure (BP) in children can vary, the degree of visit-to-visit BP variability (VVV) is at least partially independent of BP. The interactions between PAEs exposure, pubertal-related genetic susceptibility and lifestyles on childhood VVV are not investigated. This study utilized data from a cohort collected from Oct 2017-2020 in Xiamen, China. Seven urine PAE metabolites were measured. The long-term VVV was characterized employing the standard deviation (SD) and average real variability. We constructed a genetic risk score (GRS) of pubertal-related genes and healthy lifestyle scores. Exposed to high levels of mono-2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl phthalate (MEHHP) (OR=1.43, 95 %CI=1.07, 1.92) and mono-2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl phthalate (OR=1.36, 95 % CI=1.01, 1.83) was related to increased SBP-SD, and the OR for high SBP-SD related to high GRS was 1.38 (95 % CI=1.02, 1.85). Compared to participants who had low GRS and low MEHHP exposure, participants exhibiting high GRS and MEHHP levels were more likely to experience high SBP-SD (OR=2.00, P<0.05). Individuals exhibiting low GRS, low MEHHP levels, and adhering to healthy lifestyles were associated with the least probability of experiencing high SBP-SD (OR=0.31, P<0.05). Increased PAEs exposure could elevate childhood systolic VVV, and exacerbated the adverse impact of pubertal-related genetic susceptibility on the high VVV of SBP; however, healthy lifestyles might alleviate these adverse effects. Promoting healthy lifestyles and reducing PAEs exposure for preventing elevated BP variability among children is important, especially for individuals with greater genetic susceptibility to early pubertal onset. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATION: Blood pressure (BP) in children can vary, as a noninvasive, inexpensive and applicable method, the extent of visit-to-visit variability (VVV) is at least partially independent of BP. The interactions between phthalates (PAEs) exposure, variants of puberty-related genes and lifestyles on VVV are not investigated. Increased childhood systolic VVV might be associated with PAEs exposure, with the associations more pronounced combined with pubertal genetic susceptibility. Yet, healthy habits could partly eliminate such adverse effects. Our study underscores the importance of advocating for healthy lifestyles and reducing exposure to PAEs, especially among individuals with high genetic susceptibility to early puberty onset., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) remains an incurable disease stage with ineffective treatments options. Here, the androgen receptor (AR) coactivators CBP/p300, which are histone acetyltransferases, were identified as critical mediators of DNA damage repair (DDR) to potentially enhance therapeutic targeting of CRPC. Key findings demonstrate that CBP/p300 expression increases with disease progression and selects for poor prognosis in metastatic disease. CBP/p300 bromodomain inhibition enhances response to standard of care therapeutics. Functional studies, CBP/p300 cistrome mapping, and transcriptome in CRPC revealed that CBP/p300 regulates DDR. Further mechanistic investigation showed that CBP/p300 attenuation via therapeutic targeting and genomic knockdown decreases homologous recombination (HR) factors in vitro, in vivo, and in human prostate cancer (PCa) tumors ex vivo. Similarly, CBP/p300 expression in human prostate tissue correlates with HR factors. Lastly, targeting CBP/p300 impacts HR-mediate repair and patient outcome. Collectively, these studies identify CBP/p300 as drivers of PCa tumorigenesis and lay the groundwork to optimize therapeutic strategies for advanced PCa via CBP/p300 inhibition, potentially in combination with AR-directed and DDR therapies., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Ammonia is thought to be a cytotoxin and its increase in the blood impairs cell function. However, whether and how this toxin triggers cell death under pathophysiological conditions remains unclear. Here we show that ammonia induces a distinct form of cell death in effector T cells. We found that rapidly proliferating T cells use glutaminolysis to release ammonia in the mitochondria, which is then translocated to and stored in the lysosomes. Excessive ammonia accumulation increases lysosomal pH and results in the termination of lysosomal ammonia storage and ammonia reflux into mitochondria, leading to mitochondrial damage and cell death, which is characterized by lysosomal alkalization, mitochondrial swelling and impaired autophagic flux. Inhibition of glutaminolysis or blocking lysosomal alkalization prevents ammonia-induced T cell death and improves T cell-based antitumour immunotherapy. These findings identify a distinct form of cell death that differs from previously known mechanisms., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Members of the leucine rich repeat (LRR) and PDZ domain (LAP) protein family are essential for animal development and histogenesis. Densin-180, encoded by LRRC7, is the only LAP protein selectively expressed in neurons. Densin-180 is a postsynaptic scaffold at glutamatergic synapses, linking cytoskeletal elements with signalling proteins such as the α-subunit of Ca 2+ /calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. We have previously observed an association between high impact variants in LRRC7 and Intellectual Disability; also three individual cases with variants in LRRC7 had been described. We identify here 33 individuals (one of them previously described) with a dominant neurodevelopmental disorder due to heterozygous missense or loss-of-function variants in LRRC7. The clinical spectrum involves intellectual disability, autism, ADHD, aggression and, in several cases, hyperphagia-associated obesity. A PDZ domain variant interferes with synaptic targeting of Densin-180 in primary cultured neurons. Using in vitro systems (two hybrid, BioID, coimmunoprecipitation of tagged proteins from 293T cells) we identified new candidate interaction partners for the LRR domain, including protein phosphatase 1 (PP1), and observed that variants in the LRR reduced binding to these proteins. We conclude that LRRC7 encodes a major determinant of intellectual development and behaviour., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Photo-, microbial, and abiotic dark reduction of soil mercury (Hg) may all lead to elemental mercury (Hg(0)) emissions. Utilizing lab incubations, isotope signatures of Hg(0) emitted from mining soils were characterized to quantify the interplay and contributions of various Hg reduction pathways, which have been scarcely studied. At 15 °C, microbial reduced Hg(0) showed a negative mass-dependent fractionation (MDF) (δ 202 Hg = -0.30 ± 0.08‰, 1SD) and near-zero mass-independent fractionation (MIF) (Δ 199 Hg = 0.01 ± 0.04‰, 1SD), closely resembling dark reduced Hg(0) (δ 202 Hg = -0.18 ± 0.05‰, Δ 199 Hg = -0.01 ± 0.03‰, 1SD). In comparison, photoreduced Hg(0) exhibited significant MDF and MIF (δ 202 Hg = -0.55 ± 0.05‰, Δ 199 Hg = -0.20 ± 0.07‰, 1SD). In the dark, Hg isotopic signatures remained constant over the temperature range of 15-35 °C. Nonetheless, light exposure and temperature changes together altered Hg(0) MIF signatures significantly. Isotope mixing models along with Hg(0) emission flux data highlighted photo- and microbial reduction contributing 79-88 and 12-21%, respectively, of the total Hg(0) emissions from mining soils, with negligible abiotic dark reduction. Microorganisms are the key driver of soil Hg(0) emissions by first dissolving HgS and then promoting ionic Hg formation, followed by facilitating the photo- and microbial reduction of organically bound Hg. These insights deepen our understanding of the biogeochemical processes that influence Hg(0) releases from surface soils.

Nanopore is commonly used for high-resolution, label-free sensing, and analysis of single molecules. However, controlling the speed and trajectory of molecular translocation in nanopores remains challenging, hampering sensing accuracy. Here, the study proposes a nanopore-in-a-tube (NIAT) device that enables decoupling of the current signal detection from molecular translocation and provides precise angular inertia-kinetic translocation of single molecules through a nanopore, thus ensuring stable signal readout with high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Specifically, the funnel-shaped silicon nanopore, fabricated at a 10-nm resolution, is placed into a centrifugal tube. A light-induced photovoltaic effect is utilized to achieve a counter-balanced state of electrokinetic effects in the nanopore. By controlling the inertial angle and centrifugation speed, the angular inertial force is harnessed effectively for regulating the translocation process with high precision. Consequently, the speed and trajectory of the molecules are able to be adjusted in and around the nanopore, enabling controllable and high SNR current signals. Numerical simulation reveals the decisive role of inertial angle in achieving uniform translocation trajectories and enhancing analyte-nanopore interactions. The performance of the device is validated by discriminating rigid Au nanoparticles with a 1.6-nm size difference and differentiating a 1.3-nm size difference and subtle stiffness variations in flexible polyethylene glycol molecules., (© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Materials published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Temozolomide (TMZ) is a first-line therapeutic medication for melanoma. Nonetheless, it exhibits a relatively elevated toxicity profile, and falls short in terms of both effectiveness and median survival rate. Clinical research has demonstrated that the integration of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with chemotherapy in the treatment of melanoma can enhance efficacy and reduce toxicity. A TCM formula (SLE) containing Lonicera japonica Thunb. and Robinia pseudoacacia L. has shown anti-melanoma properties through the inhibition of STAT3 phosphorylation. In the genesis and advancement of melanoma, the STAT3 signaling pathway is essential., Aim of the Study: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of SLE combined with TMZ (SLE/TMZ) in inhibiting melanoma, and to explore the contribution of inhibiting the STAT3 signaling pathway in this effect., Materials and Methods: Both A375 cells and B16F10 tumor-bearing mice were used for in vitro and in vivo experiments, respectively. In vitro assays included CCK8, crystal violet staining, flow cytometry, qRT-PCR, and Western blotting. Animal experiment indicators included tumor volume, tumor weight, mouse weight, and the proportion of mouse immune cells., Results: SLE/TMZ inhibited the proliferation and growth of A375 cells, and also induced apoptosis. Additionally, SLE/TMZ synergistically inhibited tumor growth in the B16F10 melanoma mouse model and had immunomodulatory effects, increasing the proportion of Th, Tc, and NK cells and decreasing the proportion of MDSCs in the spleen of melanoma-bearing mice. qRT-PCR and Western blotting results confirmed that SLE/TMZ inhibited STAT3 phosphorylation and regulated its downstream factors, including Bcl2, Mcl1, CCND1, MYC, MMP2, MMP9, VEGFA, and FGF2. The inhibitory effect of SLE/TMZ on melanoma cell growth was considerably lessened when STAT3 was overexpressed at the cellular level., Conclusion: Synergistic anti-melanoma effects of SLE/TMZ have been observed in animal and cellular models. One of the mechanisms of SLE/TMZ that underlies its anti-melanoma actions is inhibition of the STAT3 pathway. This work offers pre-clinical pharmacological backing for the advancement of SLE as a therapeutic agent to be used in conjunction with TMZ for the treatment of melanoma., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Immune memory has been expanded to group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s), but the cellular and molecular bases remain incompletely understood. Based on house dust mite (HDM)-induced mice asthma models and human samples, we applied flow cytometry, parabiosis, in vivo imaging and adoptive transplantation to confirm the persistence, migration and function of CD45 + lineage - CD90.2 + NK1.1 - NKp46 - ST2 - KLRG1 + IL-17RB + memory-like ILC2s (ml-ILC2s). Regulated by CCR9/CCL25 and S1P signaling, ml-ILC2s reside in the lamina propria of small intestines (siLP) in asthma remission, and subsequently move to airway upon re-encountering antigens or alarmins. Furthermore, ml-ILC2s possess properties of longevity, potential of rapid proliferation and producing IL-13, and display transcriptional characteristics with up-regulation of Tox and Tcf-7. ml-ILC2s transplantation restore the asthmatic changes abrogated by Tox and Tcf7 knockdown. Our data identify siLP ml-ILC2s as a memory-like subset, which promotes asthma relapse. Targeting TCF-1 and TOX might be promising for preventing asthma recurrence., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved degradation pathway for maintaining cellular homeostasis and its dysregulation leads to numerous human diseases such as cancer. As a core protein for autophagy, ATG16L1 (autophagy related 16 like 1) is heavily regulated by post-translational modifications, including phosphorylation, ubiquitination, and methylation, which is critical for autophagy regulation. In this study, we identify HDAC1 (histone deacetylase 1) as a regulator of ATG16L1 acetylation and hence autophagy. Specifically, HDAC1 colocalizes and interacts with ATG16L1, and reduces its acetylation, which is highly dependent on its enzymatic activity. By promoting ATG16L1 deacetylation, HDAC1 enhances ATG16L1 interaction with the ATG12-ATG5 conjugate, resulting in the activation of autophagic pathway. Consistently, the induction of basal autophagy by HDAC1 in colorectal cancer cells largely relies on its deacetylase activity as well as ATG16L1. Moreover, HDAC1 enhances the survival, proliferation, and transformation of colorectal cancer cells in an ATG16L-dependent manner, indicating the fundamental roles of autophagy in colorectal cancer. Together, our findings uncover a novel regulatory mechanism of autophagy and suggest both HDAC1 and ATG16L1 as therapeutic targets for colorectal cancer., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest with the contents of this article., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Physical therapy has demonstrated efficacy in managing nonspecific low back pain (NLBP) among patients. Nevertheless, the prevalence of NLBP poses a challenge, as the existing medical infrastructure may be insufficient to care for the large patient population, particularly in geographically remote regions. Telerehabilitation emerges as a promising method to address this concern by offering a method to deliver superior medical care to a greater number of patients with NLBP., Objective: The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the physical and psychological effectiveness of a user-centered telerehabilitation program, consisting of a smartphone app and integrated sensors, for patients with NLBP., Methods: This was a single-center, prospective, randomized controlled trial for individuals with NLBP for a duration exceeding 3 months. All participants were assigned randomly to either the telerehabilitation-based exercise group (TBEG) or the outpatient-based exercise group (OBEG). All participants completed a 30-minute regimen of strength and stretching exercises 3 times per week, for a total of 8 weeks, and were required to complete assessment questionnaires at 0, 2, 4, and 8 weeks. The TBEG completed home-based exercises and questionnaires using a telerehabilitation program, while the OBEG completed them in outpatient rehabilitation. The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) served as the primary outcome measure, assessing physical disability. Secondary outcomes included the Numeric Pain Rating Scale, Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire, and 36-item Short-Form Health Survey., Results: In total, 54 of 129 eligible patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to the study. The completion of all the interventions and assessments in the TBEG and OBEG was 89% (24/27) and 81% (22/27). The findings indicate that no statistical significance was found in the difference of ODI scores between the TBEG and the OBEG at 2 weeks (mean difference -0.91; odds ratio [OR] 0.78, 95% CI -5.96 to 4.14; P=.72), 4 weeks (mean difference -3.80; OR 1.33, 95% CI -9.86 to -2.25; P=.21), and 8 weeks (mean difference -3.24; OR 0.92, 95% CI -8.65 to 2.17; P=.24). The improvement of the ODI in the TBEG (mean -16.42, SD 7.30) and OBEG (mean -13.18, SD 8.48) was higher than 10 after an 8-week intervention. No statistically significant differences were observed between the 2 groups at the 8-week mark regarding the Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (mean difference 8.88; OR 1.04, 95% CI -2.29 to 20.06; P=.12) and Numeric Pain Rating Scale (mean difference -0.39; OR 0.44, 95% CI -2.10 to 1.31; P=.64). In the subgroup analysis, there was no statistically significant difference in outcomes between the 2 groups., Conclusions: Telerehabilitation interventions demonstrate comparable therapeutic efficacy for individuals with NLBP when compared to conventional outpatient-based physical therapy, yielding comparable outcomes in pain reduction and improvement in functional limitations., (© Weihong Shi, Yuhang Zhang, Yanyan Bian, Lixia Chen, Wangshu Yuan, Houqiang Zhang, Qiyang Feng, Huiling Zhang, Diana Liu, Ye Lin. Originally published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth (https://mhealth.jmir.org).)

Due to elevated glucose levels, oxidative stress, weakened immune function, and delayed angiogenesis, diabetic wounds are difficult to heal. However, current dressings often do not successfully achieve the desired therapeutic outcome for diabetic wounds. Platelet rich plasma (PRP) is widely used in the treatment of diabetic wounds. Even so, the sudden release of growth factors or proteins in PRP frequently hampers the therapeutic efficacy. Therefore, it is of considerable clinical value to achieve long-term release of active molecules in PRP and to create more effective diabetic wound dressings. Here, PRP was combined with pullulan polysaccharide derivatives (OPD) and polylysine derivatives (EPL-BA) to form a multifunctional hydrogel backbone. Tea polyphenols (TP), gallic acid (GA), and metal ions (Cu 2+ ) were utilized to prepare metal-phenol network nanoparticles (TGMPN) which were encapsulated in the hydrogel system. The EPL-BA/OPD/PRP/TGMPN (EOPM) composite hydrogel showed injectable and self-healing properties. The hydrogel system could effectively remove reactive oxygen species (ROS) and showed excellent antibacterial properties against different bacteria. The results showed that EOPM hydrogel was effective in reducing the inflammatory response and promoting the regeneration of blood vessels and neoplastic tissues, thus greatly accelerating the repair of infected wounds., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

As a critical source of marine microplastics (MPs), estuarine MPs community varied in movement due to particle diversity, while tide and runoff further complicated their transport. In this study, a particle mass gradient that represents MPs in the surface layer of the Yangtze River estuary was established. This was done by calculating the masses of 16 particle types using the particle size probability density function (PDF), with typical shapes and polymers as classifiers. Further, Aschenbrenner shape factor and polymer density were embedded into drag coefficients to categorically trace MP movement footprints. Results revealed that the MPs in North Branch moved northward and the MPs in South Branch moved southeastward in a spiral oscillation until they left the model boundary under Changjiang Diluted Water front and the northward coastal currents. Low-density fibrous MPs are more likely to move into the open ocean and oscillate more than films, with a single PE fiber trajectory that reached a maximum oscillatory width of 16.7 km. Over 95 % of the PVC fiber particles settled in nearshore waters west of 122.5°E. Elucidating the aggregation and retention of different MPs types can provide more accurate environmental baseline reference for more precise MP exposure levels and risk dose of ingestion for marine organisms., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Histopathology image evaluation is indispensable for cancer diagnoses and subtype classification. Standard artificial intelligence methods for histopathology image analyses have focused on optimizing specialized models for each diagnostic task 1,2 . Although such methods have achieved some success, they often have limited generalizability to images generated by different digitization protocols or samples collected from different populations 3 . Here, to address this challenge, we devised the Clinical Histopathology Imaging Evaluation Foundation (CHIEF) model, a general-purpose weakly supervised machine learning framework to extract pathology imaging features for systematic cancer evaluation. CHIEF leverages two complementary pretraining methods to extract diverse pathology representations: unsupervised pretraining for tile-level feature identification and weakly supervised pretraining for whole-slide pattern recognition. We developed CHIEF using 60,530 whole-slide images spanning 19 anatomical sites. Through pretraining on 44 terabytes of high-resolution pathology imaging datasets, CHIEF extracted microscopic representations useful for cancer cell detection, tumour origin identification, molecular profile characterization and prognostic prediction. We successfully validated CHIEF using 19,491 whole-slide images from 32 independent slide sets collected from 24 hospitals and cohorts internationally. Overall, CHIEF outperformed the state-of-the-art deep learning methods by up to 36.1%, showing its ability to address domain shifts observed in samples from diverse populations and processed by different slide preparation methods. CHIEF provides a generalizable foundation for efficient digital pathology evaluation for patients with cancer., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

We aimed to investigate the preventive effect of vitamin D2 on COVID-19 and the improvement of symptoms after COVID-19 infection. The study recruited 228 health care workers who tested negative PCR or antigen for COVID-19. Subjects were randomly allocated to vitamin D2 or non-intervention at a ratio 1:1. Subjects recorded PCR or antigen tests and the symptoms of COVID-19 twice a week during the follow-up visit. The concentration of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), C-reaction protein (CRP), complement component C1q and inflammatory cytokines were measured. The rates of COVID-19 infection were 50.5% in the vitamin D2 group and 52.4% in the non-intervention group (P = 0.785). There was no difference in the COVID-19 symptoms between the two groups. The mean 25(OH)D level significantly increased from 14.1 to 31.1 ng/mL after administration (P < 0.001). The difference between the two groups was not significant for the concentrations of CRP, C1q and inflammatory cytokines on the thirtieth day of the trial. According to the second level of vitamin D, there was a 14.3% difference in positive infection rates between the vitamin D adequate (> 30 ng/mL) and deficient groups (< 20 ng/mL). Adequate vitamin D had a tendency to prevent COVID-19.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05673980, dated: 12/2022., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Intraluminal epithelial abnormalities, potential precursors to significant conditions like cancer, necessitate early detection for improved prognosis. We present a motor-free telerobotic optical coherence tomography (OCT) endoscope that offers high-resolution intraluminal imaging and overcomes the limitations of traditional systems in navigating curved lumens. This system incorporates a compact magnetic rotor with a rotatable diametrically magnetized cylinder permanent magnet (RDPM) and a reflector, effectively mitigating thermal and electrical risks by utilizing an external magnetic field to maintain temperature increases below 0.5 °C and generated voltage under 0.02 mV. Additionally, a learning-based method corrects imaging distortions resulting from nonuniform rotational speeds. Demonstrating superior maneuverability, the device achieves steerable angles up to 110° and operates effectively in vivo, providing distortion-free 3D programmable imaging in mouse colons. This advancement represents a significant step towards guidewire-independent endomicroscopy, enhancing both safety and potential patient outcomes., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

We have been trying to find a miRNA that can specifically regulate the function of mycobacterial host cells to achieve the purpose of eliminating Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The purpose of this study is to investigate the regulation of mmu-let-7a-5p on macrophages apoptosis and its effect on intracellular BCG clearance. After a series of in vitro experiments, we found that mmu-let-7a-5p could negatively regulate the apoptosis of macrophages by targeting Caspase-3. The extrinsic apoptosis signal axis TNFR1/FADD/Caspase-8/Caspase-3 was inhibited after BCG infection. Up-regulated the expression level of mmu-let-7a-5p increase the cell proliferation viability and inhibit apoptosis rate of macrophages, but down-regulated its level could apparently reduce the bacterial load of intracellular Mycobacteria and accelerate the clearance of residual Mycobacteria effectively. Mmu-let-7a-5p has great potential to be utilized as an optimal candidate exosomal loaded miRNA for anti-tuberculosis immunotherapy in our subsequent research., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Zhan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Electrochemical upcycling of end-of-life polyethylene terephthalate (PET) using renewable electricity offers a route to generate valuable chemicals while processing plastic wastes. However, it remains a huge challenge to design an electrocatalyst with reliable structure-property relationships for PET valorization. Herein, spinel Co 3 O 4 with rich oxygen vacancies for improved activity toward formic acid (FA) production from PET hydrolysate is reported. Experimental investigations combined with theoretical calculations reveal that incorporation of V O into Co 3 O 4 not only promotes the generation of reactive hydroxyl species (OH * ) species at adjacent tetrahedral Co 2+ (Co2+ Td), but also induces an electronic structure transition from octahedral Co 3+ (Co3+ Oh) to octahedral Co 2+ (Co2+ Oh), which typically functions as highly-active catalytic sites for ethylene glycol (EG) chemisorption. Moreover, the enlarged Co-O covalency induced by V O facilitates the electron transfer from EG * to OH * via Co2+ Oh-O-Co2+ Td interaction and the following C─C bond cleavage via direct oxidation with a glyoxal intermediate pathway. As a result, the V O -Co 3 O 4 catalyst exhibits a high half-cell activity for EG oxidation, with a Faradaic efficiency (91%) and productivity (1.02 mmol cm -2 h -1 ) of FA. Lastly, it is demonstrated that hundred gram-scale formate crystals can be produced from the real-world PET bottles via two-electrode electroreforming, with a yield of 82%., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Background: Worldwide, ulcerative colitis (UC) is becoming increasingly fast growing. Ginsenoside Rh2 has been reported to alleviate UC. However, the latent biological mechanism of Rh2 in the treatment of UC remains uncertain. In this study, the goal was to determine the therapeutic effect of Rh2 on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced UC., Methods: A DSS-induced UC mouse model was established and divided into 7 groups for Rh2 gavage and/or miR-125a-5p lentivirus injection (n = 10 per group). Colonic specimens were collected for phenotypic and pathological analysis. miR-125a-5p and specific protein 1 (SP1) expression, inflammation-related factors IL-6 and IL-10, and apoptosis were detected in mice. Human normal colon epithelial cell line NCM460 was treated with H 2 O 2 and ferric chloride hexahydrate to construct an in vitro cell model of colitis and induce ferroptosis. Independent sample t-test was used to compare cell proliferation, cell entry, apoptosis, and oxidative stress between the two groups. One way analysis of variance combined with the least significant difference t test was used for comparison between groups. Multiple time points were compared by repeated measurement analysis of variance., Results: DSS-induced UC mice had significantly decreased body weight, increased disease activity index, decreased colon length, and decreased miR-125a-5p expression (all P < 0.05). In the DSS-induced mouse model, the expression of miR-125a-5p rebounded and ferroptosis was inhibited after Rh2 treatment (all P < 0.05). Inhibition of miR-125a-5p or upregulation of SP1 expression counteracted the protective effects of Rh2 on UC mice and ferroptosis cell models (all P < 0.05)., Conclusions: Rh2 mitigated DSS-induced colitis in mice and restrained ferroptosis by targeting miR-125a-5p. Downregulating miR-125a-5p or elevating SP1 could counteract the protective impacts of Rh2 on ferroptotic cells. The findings convey that Rh2 has a latent application value in the treatment of UC., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Molecular characterization of organic aerosol (OA) is crucial for understanding its sources and atmospheric processes. However, the chemical components of OA remain not well constrained. This study used gas chromatography-Orbitrap mass spectrometry (GC-Orbitrap MS) and GC-Quadrupole MS (GC-qMS) to investigate the organic composition in PM 2.5 from Xi'an, Northwest China. GC-Orbitrap MS identified 335 organic tracers, including overlooked isomers and low-concentration molecules, approximately 1.6 times more than GC-qMS. The "molecular corridor" assessment shows the superior capability of GC-Orbitrap MS in identifying an expansive range of compounds with higher volatility and oxidation states, such as furanoses/pyranoses, di/hydroxy/ketonic acids, di/poly alcohols, aldehydes/ketones, and amines/amides. Seasonal variations in OA composition reflect diverse sources: increased di/poly alcohols in winter are derived from indoor emissions, furanoses/pyranoses and heterocyclics in spring and summer might be from biogenic emissions and secondary formation, and amides in autumn are probably from biomass burning. Integrating partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and potential source contribution function (PSCF) models, the source similarities and differences are further elucidated, highlighting the role of local emissions and transport from southern cities. This study offers new insights into the OA composition aided by the high mass resolution and sensitivity of GC-Orbitrap MS.

In light of growing concerns about indoor air quality and the transmission of pathogens, this study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of low temperature plasma (LTP) devices in inactivating bacterial aerosols in the air duct of HVAC systems, exploring methods to enhance air purification efficiency. This research employed experimental methods to explore the deactivation effects of LTP on common bacteria such as E. coli and Bacillus subtilis , focusing on the role of air parameters such as the airflow rate, relative humidity, and temperature in influencing the device's performance. Notably, the study determined that an operational voltage of 3000 V for the LTP device, combined with conditions of low airflow, low humidity, and high temperature, significantly enhances the inactivation of bacterial aerosols, achieving an 82% inactivation rate at a negative ion concentration of 2.4 × 10 11 ions per m 3 and a wind speed of 3 m s -1 . Despite the generation of ozone and ultraviolet light as by-products, their concentrations were found to be within safe limits for human exposure. In addition, this study identified an effective inactivation range, alongside an optimal arrangement for the airflow direction within ducts, to maximize the sterilization efficiency of the LTP device. Given these promising results, the study advocates for the integration of LTP technology into the air duct of HVAC systems of public buildings to improve air quality and reduce the risk of airborne disease transmission.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and all-cause mortality in individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD)., Patients and Methods: This prospective cohort study was carried out among 9303 participants with CKD from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey cycles spanning 1999 to 2018. The mortality data were ascertained by linking participant records to the National Death Index up to December 31, 2019. Complex sampling-weighted multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were employed to estimate the association between SII level and all-cause mortality, providing hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). A restricted cubic spline analysis was conducted to explore potential nonlinear correlation. Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses were also conducted., Results: During a median follow-up period of 86 months, 3400 (36.54%) all-cause deaths were documented. A distinctive "J"-shaped relationship between SII level and all-cause mortality was discerned among individuals with CKD, with the nadir observed at an SII level of 478.93 within the second quartile. After adjusting for potential covariates, the risk of all-cause mortality escalated by 13% per increment of one standard deviation of SII, once SII exceeded 478.93 (HR = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.08-1.18). An elevated SII was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality among patients with CKD (Q4 vs. Q2: HR = 1.23; 95% CI = 1.01-1.48). Subgroup analyses indicated that the correlation between SII and CKD mortality was particularly pronounced among participants over 60 years old and individuals with diabetes. Sensitivity analyses revealed a linear positive association between SII and all-cause mortality after removing the extreme 5% outliers of SII., Conclusions: A distinctive "J"-shaped relationship between SII level and all-cause mortality was identified among individuals with CKD. Further research is warranted to validate and expand upon these findings., (© 2024 The Authors. Immunity, Inflammation and Disease published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Short-beak and dwarf syndrome (SBDS) is caused by novel goose parvovirus (NGPV) infection, which leads to farm economic losses. Our research aimed to investigate the potential of administering isolated lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in alleviating SBDS in ducks. Eight wild LAB strains were isolated from duck feces and their biosecurity was investigated in both duck embryo fibroblast (DEF) and live ducks. Moreover, the LAB strains exhibited no detrimental effects on bone metabolism levels and facilitated the tight junction proteins (TJPs) mRNA expression, and contributing to the mitigation of inflammation in healthy ducks. Subsequently, we conducted in vitrol and in vivo experiments to assess the impact of LAB on NGPV infection. The LAB strains significantly reduced the viral load of NGPV and downregulated the mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory factors in DEF. Additionally, LAB treatment alleviated SBDS in NGPV-infected ducks. Furthermore, LAB treatment alleviated intestinal damage, and reduced the inflammatory response, while also mitigating bone resorption in NGPV-infected ducks. In conclusion, the LAB strains isolated from duck feces have favorable biosecurity and alleviate SBDS in ducks, and the mechanism related to LAB improves intestinal barrier integrity, alleviates inflammation, and reduces bone resorption. Our study presents a novel concept for the prevention and treatment of NGPV, thereby establishing a theoretical foundation for the future development of probiotics in the prevention and treatment of NGPV., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a prevalent adverse cardiovascular event at high-altitude environments. Prolonged exposure to high altitudes may result in myocardial injury, which is associated with poor clinical outcomes. This study aims to investigate the clinical characteristics of myocardial injury in patients with PH at high altitude. Methods: Consecutive patients admitted to a general tertiary hospital at the altitude of 3,650 m were selected into this retrospective study. Clinical and biochemical data were collected, as well as based on cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and echocardiography, patients were divided into myocardial injury group and non-myocardial injury group. Results: A total of 231 patients were enrolled, among whom 29 (12.6%) had myocardial injury. We found that body mass index, left ventricular end-diastolic dimension, and serum level of creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) in myocardial injury group were significantly higher than non-myocardial injury group. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that cTnI has a significant positive correlation with CK-MB and lactic dehydrogenase instead of aspartate aminotransferase. A receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn to demonstrate that CK-MB could significantly predict the occurrence of myocardial injury with an area under the curve of 0.749, and a level of 3.035 (sensitivity = 59.3%, specificity = 90.5%) was optimal cutoff value. Conclusion: The incidence of myocardial injury in highlanders with PH is significant. CK-MB, as a convenient and efficient marker, has been found to be closely associated with cTnI and plays a predictive role in the occurrence of myocardial injury with PH in individuals exposed to high altitude.

Purpose: The relationship between vitamin intake and cancer risk in the chronic kidney disease (CKD) population is unknown. For this reason, we investigated the relationship between dietary vitamin intake and cancer risk in CKD patients and looked for effective vitamin dietary patterns., Methods: This study included 3518 CKD patients from 2007 to 2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database. All participants were categorized into four groups based on vitamin intake by K-mean clustering. The data were collected and analyzed from June 2023 to December 2023., Results: A total of 3518 CKD patients with a mean age of (61.8 ± 16.3) years were included in the study. During a median follow-up of 7.3 years, 137 participants died of cancer. In the multivariate adjusted cox proportional hazards model for single vitamin intake, vitamin E Q4 intake (reference Q1) reduced cancer mortality (HR (95% CI) = 0.45 (0.24-0.87), P = 0.018). Further plotting of the restricted cubic spline curve revealed a linearly decreasing relationship between vitamin E intake and cancer mortality (Poverall = 0.010 Pnon-linear = 0.163). In the multivariate adjusted cox proportional hazards model for multivitamin co-intake, the vitamin C/K intake group reduced cancer mortality compared to the low vitamin intake group (HR (95% CI) = 0.42 (0.20-0.88), P = 0.022)., Conclusion: Increased vitamin C intake was independently associated with reduced cancer risk in CKD patients, and a vitamin dietary pattern with high vitamin C/K intake was also effective in reducing cancer risk., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare no competing interests.

Objective: This study explored the mediating effect of diabetes on the relationship between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD)., Methods: In this prospective community cohort study, 82 975 participants were enrolled, with the primary outcome being the incidence of new-onset ASCVD. Using the Cox proportional hazards model, the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for ASCVD occurrence were computed between NAFLD and non-NAFLD groups. The correlation between NAFLD and diabetes was assessed using a binary logistic regression model, and that between NAFLD, diabetes and ASCVD using a mediation model., Results: During follow-up, 9471 ASCVD cases were observed. Compared with individuals without NAFLD, those with NAFLD showed an increased ASCVD risk (HR: 1.424; 95% CI: 1.363-1.488; P < 0.001). Stratifying NAFLD based on metabolic subphenotypes revealed a higher ASCVD risk in the NAFLD combined with diabetes subgroup than in the non-NAFLD subgroup (HR: 1.960; 95% CI: 1.817-2.115; P < 0.001). NAFLD was positively associated with baseline diabetes (odds ratio: 2.983; 95% CI: 2.813-3.163; P < 0.001). Furthermore, NAFLD severity was positively correlated with diabetes risk. Mediation analysis indicated that diabetes partially mediated the effect of NAFLD on ASCVD incidence, accounting for 20.33% of the total effect., Conclusion: NAFLD is an independent predictor of increased ASCVD risk, which may be slightly mediated by diabetes in patients with NAFLD. Evaluating NAFLD and diabetes may be crucial in the early screening and prevention of ASCVD., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Thallium (Tl) is a highly toxic metal, and its contamination in soils entails high risks to human health via food chain. It remains largely unknown of the effects of applying biochar on Tl uptake in paddy systems despite that few studies have shown that biochar exhibits great potential for decreasing Tl bioavailability in soils. Herein, we examined the mitigating effects of the application of biochar (5 and 20 g/kg pristine biochar; 5 and 20 g/kg Fe/Mn-modified biochar) on Tl uptake in paddy soil and rice plant after an entire rice growth period. The results suggested that the application of Fe/Mn-modified biochar (FMBC) considerably mitigated the accumulation of Tl in different tissues of rice plants. Specifically, total Tl content in rice plants treated with FMBC-20 decreased by over 75% compared with control experiment. In addition, the amendment of FMBC in Tl-rich paddy soils can enhance the communities of microorganisms (Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria). Further analysis of the soil microbial symbiosis network revealed that FMBC promotes the living microorganisms to play modular synergistic interactions, which is crucial for FMBC-induced Tl stabilization in soils. All these findings indicated that FMBC is an efficient and environmentally friendly Tl-immobilization alternative material and can be potentially used in the remediation of Tl-contaminated paddy soils and/or cropland., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

TOPLESS/TOPLESS-RELATED (TPL/TPR) proteins belong to the Groucho (Gro)/Tup1 family co-repressors and act as broad co-repressors that modulate multiple phytohormone signalling pathways and various developmental processes in plant. However, TPL/TPR co-repressors so far are poorly understood in the rapeseed, one of the world-wide important oilseed crops. In this study, we comprehensively characterized eighteen TPL/TPR genes into five groups in the rapeseed genome. Members of TPL/TPR1/TPR4 and TPR2/TPR3 had close evolutionary relationship, respectively. All TPL/TPRs had similar expression patterns and encode conserved protein domain. In addition, we demonstrated that BnaA9.TPL interacted with all known plant repression domain (RD) sequences, which were distributed in non-redundant 24,238 (22.6 %) genes and significantly enriched in transcription factors in the rapeseed genome. These transcription factors were largely co-expressed with the TPL/TPR genes and involved in diverse pathway, including phytohormone signal transduction, protein kinases and circadian rhythm. Furthermore, BnaA9.TPL was revealed to regulate apical embryonic fate by interaction with Bna.IAA12 and suppression of PLETHORA1/2. BnaA9.TPL was also identified to regulate leaf morphology by interaction with Bna.AS1 (Asymmetric leaves 1) and suppression of KNOTTED-like homeobox genes and YABBY5. These data not only suggest the rapeseed TPL/TPRs play broad roles in different processes, but also provide useful information to uncover more TPL/TPR-mediated control of plant development in rapeseed., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Short beak and dwarfism syndrome (SBDS) is attributed to Novel Goose Parvovirus (NGPV), which has inflicted significant economic losses on farming in China. Despite its significant impact, limited research has been conducted on the pathogenesis of this disease. The SD strain, a parvovirus variant isolated from ducks in Shandong province, was identified and characterized in our study. Phylogenetic analysis and sequence comparisons confirmed the classification of the SD strain as a member of NGPV. Based on this information, we established an animal model of SBDS by inoculating Cherry Valley ducks with the SD strain. Our findings indicate that infection with the SD strain leads to a reduction in body weight, beak length, width, and tibia length. Notably, significant histopathological alterations were observed in the thymus, spleen, and intestine of the infected ducks. Furthermore, the SD strain induces bone disorders and inflammatory responses. To evaluate the impact of NGPV on intestinal homeostasis, we performed 16S rDNA sequencing and gas chromatography to analyze the composition of intestinal flora and levels of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the cecal contents. Our findings revealed that SD strain infection induces dysbiosis in cecal microbial and a decrease in SCFAs production. Subsequent analysis revealed a significant correlation between bacterial genera and the clinical symptoms in NGPV SD infected ducks. Our research providing novel insights into clinical pathology of NGPV in ducks and providing a foundation for the research of NGPV treatment targeting gut microbiota., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Objective: This study aimed to compare efficacy and safety of minimally invasive therapies such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA), microwave ablation (MWA), ethanol ablation (EA), and laser ablation (LA) for thyroid nodules through network meta-analysis (NMA)., Methods: This study searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and The Cochrane Library databases to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or cohort studies comparing efficacy and safety of different minimally invasive therapies for thyroid nodules. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was implemented to assess quality of included cohort studies, and Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool was utilized to evaluate quality of included RCTs. Eligible studies contained at least one of the following clinical outcome measures: volume reduction rate (VRR), symptom score, cosmetic score, nodule regrowth rate, and complication rate. STATA software was utilized for NMA., Results: Sixteen eligible studies (4 RCTs, 11 retrospective cohort studies, 1 prospective cohort study) involved 4094 patients. NMA results revealed that RFA group had the highest VRR at 1 months and 12 months. There were no significant differences in symptom scores and cosmetic scores among all treatment methods, with the lowest symptom scores and cosmetic scores in RFA group. LA group had a significantly higher nodule regrowth rate than RFA and MWA groups, with the lowest in RFA group. There were no significant differences in complication rate among all treatment methods., Conclusion: RFA had the highest VRR for thyroid nodules, and it excelled in symptom scores, cosmetic scores, and nodule regrowth rates., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

To address the problem of ignoring unpaved roads when planning off-road emergency rescue paths, an improved A* algorithm that incorporates road factors is developed to create an off-road emergency rescue path planning model in this study. To reduce the number of search nodes and improve the efficiency of path searches, the current node is classified according to the angle between the line connecting the node and the target point and the due east direction. Additionally, the search direction is determined in real time through an optimization method to improve the path search efficiency. To identify the path with the shortest travel time suitable for emergency rescue in wilderness scenarios, a heuristic function based on the fusion of road factors and a path planning model for off-road emergency rescue is developed, and the characteristics of existing roads are weighted in the process of path searching to bias the selection process toward unpaved roads with high accessibility. The experiments show that the improved A* algorithm significantly reduces the travel time of off-road vehicles and that path selection is enhanced compared to that with the traditional A* algorithm; moreover, the improved A* algorithm reduces the number of nodes by 16.784% and improves the search efficiency by 27.18% compared with the traditional 16-direction search method. The simulation results indicate that the improved algorithm reduces the travel time of off-road vehicles by 21.298% and improves the search efficiency by 93.901% compared to the traditional A* algorithm, thus greatly enhancing off-road path planning.

Polylactic acid (PLA) wood-plastic composites have a significant advantage over traditional petroleum-based plastics due to their biodegradability. However, PLA has several shortcomings, including high brittleness, low heat resistance, slow crystallization, and poor compatibility with biomass materials, which have limited its potential applications. In this paper, we investigated the effects of carboxy-terminated hyperbranched polyester (CHBP) on the mechanical, crystalline, and thermal properties of PLA/straw flour (SF) blends through extrusion injection molding. Additionally, we added the traditional plasticizer polyethylene glycol (PEG) to synergize with CHBP to enhance the toughness of PLA/SF composites. Our results showed that the appropriate addition of CHBP effectively improved the interfacial bonding between PLA and straw flour. The incorporation of CHBP also improved the tensile strength, bending strength, impact strength, elongation at break, thermal stability, and crystallization rate of the composites. Furthermore, the addition of both CHBP and PEG significantly improved the impact strength of the composites compared to using PEG alone. This method also improved the heat resistance of the material and reduced the migration of plasticizers. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of using hyperbranched polymers and plasticizers to enhance the toughness, thermal stability, and crystalline properties of PLA wood-plastic composites, providing a new approach to improving the properties of these composites., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: This study aimed to preliminarily investigate the association and possible mechanisms between Helicobacter. pylori (H. pylori) infection and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) through data collection, statistical analysis, and bioinformatics analysis., Methods: A retrospective cohort study, including a total of 4406 participants who attended annual health checkups at Xian GEM Flower Changqing Hospital, was conducted to explore the correlation between the incidence of T2DM and H. pylori infection. To uncover the potential mechanisms underlying the interaction between the two diseases, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) common to T2DM and H. pylori infection were identified using the GEO database and Venn diagrams. These DEGs were then analyzed through Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis., Results: In total, 2053 participants were classified into the H. pylori-positive group and 2353 into the H. pylori-negative group. H. pylori infection was associated with a higher risk of T2DM occurrence (adjusted HR 1.59; 95% CI 1.17-2.15, P = 0.003). The average disease-free survival time was 34.81 months (95% CI 34.60-35.03 months) in the H. pylori positive group and 35.42 months (95% CI 35.28-35.56 months) in the H. pylori negative group. Multivariate analysis and subgroup analyses also showed that H. pylori infection increased the risk of developing T2DM. A total of 21 DEGs between T2DM and H. pylori infection were identified and enriched in 7 signaling pathways, indicating specific protein interactions., Conclusions: The prevalence of T2DM was associated with H. pylori infection. T2DM and H. pylori infection may interact with each other through metabolic and immune pathways., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Acrylamide is pervasive, and its exposure poses numerous health risks. This study examines both the direct and transgenerational effects of acrylamide toxicity in Caenorhabditis elegans, focusing on physiological and behavioral parameters. Parental exposure to acrylamide compromised several aspects of nematode health, including lifespan, reproductive capacity, body dimensions, and motor and sensory functions. Notably, while exposure to low concentrations of acrylamide did not alter the physiological traits of the offspring-except for their learning and memory-these findings suggest a possible adaptive response to low-level exposure that could be inherited by subsequent generations. Furthermore, continued acrylamide exposure in the offspring intensified both physiological and perceptual toxicity. Detailed analysis revealed dose-dependent alterations in acrylamide's detoxification and metabolic pathways. In particular, it inhibits the gene gst-4, which encodes a crucial enzyme in detoxification, mitigates DNA damage induced by acrylamide, and highlights a potential therapeutic target to reduce its deleterious effects., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The complex anatomy of internal luminal organs, like bronchioles, poses challenges for endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT). These challenges include limited steerability for targeted imaging and nonuniform rotation distortion (NURD) with proximal scanning. Using rotary micromotors for distal scanning could address NURD but raises concerns about electrical safety and costs. We present pneumaOCT, the first pneumatic OCT endoscope, comprising a steerable catheter with a soft pneumatic actuator and an imaging probe with a miniature pneumatic turbine. With a diameter of 2.8 mm, pneumaOCT allows for a bending angle of up to 237°, facilitating navigation through narrow turns. The pneumatic turbine enables adjustable imaging speeds from 51 to 446 revolutions per second. We demonstrate the pneumaOCT in vivo imaging of mouse esophagus and colon, as well as targeted and distortion-free imaging of peripheral bronchioles in a bronchial phantom and a porcine lung. This advancement substantially improves endoscopic OCT for navigational imaging in curved and narrow lumens.

The terrestrial ecosystem in China mitigates 21%-45% of the national contemporary fossil fuel CO 2 emissions every year. Maintaining and strengthening the land carbon sink is essential for reaching China's target of carbon neutrality. However, this sink is subject to large uncertainties due to the joint impacts of climate change, air pollution, and human activities. Here, we explore the potential of strengthening land carbon sink in China through anthropogenic interventions, including forestation, ozone reduction, and litter removal, taking advantage of a well-validated dynamic vegetation model and meteorological forcings from 16 climate models. Without anthropogenic interventions, considering Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) scenarios, the land sink is projected to be 0.26-0.56 Pg C a -1 at 2060, to which climate change contributes 0.06-0.13 Pg C a -1 and CO 2 fertilization contributes 0.08-0.44 Pg C a -1 with the stronger effects for higher emission scenarios. With anthropogenic interventions, under a close-to-neutral emission scenario (SSP1-2.6), the land sink becomes 0.47-0.57 Pg C a -1 at 2060, including the contributions of 0.12 Pg C a -1 by conservative forestation, 0.07 Pg C a -1 by ozone pollution control, and 0.06-0.16 Pg C a -1 by 20% litter removal over planted forest. This sink can mitigate 90%-110% of the residue anthropogenic carbon emissions in 2060, providing a solid foundation for the carbon neutrality in China., (Copyright © 2024 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

We disclose herein an asymmetric synthesis of axially chiral oxazepine-containing bridged biaryls via CPA-catalyzed kinetic asymmetric alcoholysis. Control experiments showed that this CPA-catalyzed alcoholysis was reversible, and lowering the reaction temperature could almost suppress the reversible reaction, thus providing a series of axially chiral oxazepine-containing bridged biaryl compounds in good to excellent enantioselectivities. The gram-scale reactions and facile derivatizations of the enantioenriched products demonstrate the practical utility of this reaction.

Traditional PEO electrolyte has high crystallinity which hinders the transmission of Li + , resulting in poor ion conductivity and complicated processing technology. Herein, a polymer electrolyte (p-electrolyte) with a wide electrochemical window and high ionic conductivity is designed, which possesses an amorphous condensed structure. The amorphous structure provides fast transport channels for Li + , so the p-electrolyte possesses an electrochemical window of 4.2 V, and high ionic conductivity of 1.58 × 10 -5  S cm -1 at room temperature, which is 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than that of traditional PEO electrolyte. By using the designed polymer electrolyte as the foundation, an in situ curable composite polymer electrolyte (CPE-L) with multiple Li + transport channels is elaborately constructed. The Cu-BTC MOF stores abundant Li + , which is introduced into the p-electrolyte. The rich unsaturated Cu 2+ coordination sites of Cu-BTC can anchor TFSI - to release Li + , and the pore structure of Cu-BTC MOF cooperates with LLZTO nanoparticles to provide multiple fast transport channel for Li + , resulting in remarkable ionic conductivity (1.02 × 10 -3  S cm -1 ) and Li + transference number (0.58). The Li||CPE-L||Li symmetric battery cycles stably for more than 700 h at 0.1 mA cm -2 , while the specific capacity of full battery is ≈153 mAh g -1 (RT, 0.2 C)., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Biochar (BC) has emerged as a potential solution to phosphate removal from wastewater primarily resulting from global overuse of fertilizers. Further modification by embedment of iron (Fe)-manganese (Mn) oxides on BC can enhance phosphate removal; however, the modification method serves as a vital factor underlying distinctive removal performances and mechanisms, which have yet been systematically examined. Herein, two Fe-Mn modified BC, Fe/MnBC (comprised of Fe 3 O 4 and MnO 2 ) and Fe-MnBC (comprised of MnFe 2 O 4 ), were comprehensively investigated for gaining insights into the unsolved perspectives. The results indicated that Fe-MnBC exhibited a markedly greater maximum phosphate adsorption capacity of 135.88 mg g -1 than that of Fe/MnBC with 17.93 mg g -1 . The comparative results based on microstructure and spectroscopic analyses suggested that different Fe and Mn oxides were successfully loaded, which played a distinctive role in phosphate removal. Further characterizations unveiled that the key mechanisms for phosphate removal by Fe/MnBC are inner-sphere complexation and precipitation, while electrostatic interaction and outer-sphere complexation are the dominant mechanisms underlying the notable performance of Fe-MnBC. The delicately designed Fe-MnBC with special structure and property also enabled a superior regeneration capacity, which presented a promisingly high phosphate removal efficacy of over 81.34% after five cycles. These results enhance comprehension regarding the impact of biochar modification techniques on phosphate removal, offering positive indications for the remediation of excessive phosphate and other pollutant-containing water through feasible design and green chemicals., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The abuse of 17β-estradiol(E2) has aroused wide concern in environmental and biomedical fields, which severely affects the endocrine function of human and animals. Therefore, an ultrasensitive and accurate assay of E2 is critically important. Traditional chromatography or immunoassay techniques exhibited good sensitivity and selectivity, but expensive instruments and antibodies may pose cost and stability issues, as well as difficulties in meeting on-site detection requirements. Ultrasensitive, reliable, and on-site detection of E2 at trace level remains a challenge. Hence, developing a simple, ultrasensitive assay to simultaneously achieve accurate detection and rapid visual analysis of E2 is extremely crucial., Results: We developed a versatile dual-mode photoelectrochemical (PEC) and colorimetric biosensor based on isothermal nucleic acid amplification strategy for the ultrasensitive and accurate detection of E2. The method modified titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) with tungsten selenide (WSe 2 ) nanoflowers to synthesize WSe 2 /TiO 2 heterostructures as a substrate for signal amplification and nanoprobe modification. Isothermal nucleic acid amplification strategy has been proven to be a powerful tool for strong signal amplification. The presence of a target triggered the nucleic acid amplification reaction, and produced a large amount of tDNA that competed with G-quadruplex immobilized on the electrode surface. The remaining G-quadruplex/hemin catalyzed the 4-chloro-1-naphthol (4-CN) to form biocatalytic precipitation (BCP) and ABTS-H 2 O 2 chromogenic reaction, thus, the dual-mode platform was capable of achieving PEC-colorimetric ultrasensitive detection based on the catalytic activity of G-quadruplex/hemin DNAzyme. Within optimal conditions, the dual-mode biosensor exhibited a remarkable detection limit as low as 0.026 pM., Significance: Benefiting from the superior performance of WSe 2 /TiO 2 and the power signal amplification of isothermal nucleic acid amplification strategy, this aptasensor achieved the ultrasensitive detection of E2. The independent transmission paths of photoelectrochemical and colorimetric provide mutual support and flexible switching, significantly enhancing the overall sensitivity and accuracy of the detection strategy, which can meet the needs for E2 precise quantification and rapid on-site detection., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An unprecedented Pd-catalyzed CO-free double carbonylation using Mo(CO) 6 as a safe carbonyl source for the efficient synthesis of 1,4-ketoesters in an atom- and step-economic manner has been developed. The current method features operational safety, a wide substrate range, good functional group compatibility and easy scale-up. The application of carbonylation using a safe carbonyl source for the synthesis of biologically and synthetically useful carbonyl-containing molecules is underway in our lab.

Developing efficient electrocatalyst in sulfides for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) still poses challenges due to the lack of understanding the role of sulfide heterointerface. Here, we report a sulfide heterostructure RuSx/NbS2, which is composed of 3R-type NbS2 loaded by amorphous RuSx nanoparticles with S-S bonds formed at the interface. As HER electrocatalyst, the RuSx/NbS2 shows remarkable low overpotential of 38 mV to drive a current density of 10 mA cm-2 in acid, and also low Tafel slope of 51.05 mV dec-1. The intrinsic activity of RuSx/NbS2 is much higher than that of Ru/NbS2 reference as well as the commercial Pt/C. Both experiments and theoretical calculations unveil a reversed charge transfer at the interface from NbS2 to RuSx that driven by the formation of S-S bonds, resulting in electron-rich Ru configuration for strong hydrogen adsorption. Meanwhile, electronic redistribution induced by the sulfide heterostructure facilitates hydrogen spillover (HSo) effect in this system, leading to accelerated hydrogen desorption at the basal plane of NbS2. This study provides an effective S-S bond strategy in sulfide heterostructure to synergistically modulate the charge transfer and adsorption thermodynamics, which is very valuable for the development of efficient electrocatalysts in practical applications., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Introduction: Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) enrichment due to anthropogenic activities can significantly affect soil N transformations in forest ecosystems. However, the effects of N and P additions on nitrification and denitrification processes in Metasequoia glyptostroboides plantations, and economically important forest type in China, remain poorly understood., Methods: This study investigated the responses of soil nitrification and denitrification rates, as well as the abundances of nitrifiers and denitrifiers, to different levels of N and P additions in a 6-year nutrient addition experiment in a M. glyptostroboides plantation., Results: Stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to identify the main predictors of nitrification and denitrification rates. The results showed that moderate N addition (N2 treatment, 2.4 mol·m -2 ) stimulated nitrification rates and abundances of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB), while excessive N and P additions inhibited denitrification rates and reduced the abundance of nirS -type denitrifiers. AOB abundance was the main predictor of nitrification rates under N additions, whereas microbial biomass carbon and nirS gene abundance were the key factors controlling denitrification rates. Under P additions, tree growth parameters (diameter at breast height and crown base height) and AOB abundance were the primary predictors of nitrification and denitrification rates., Discussion: Our study reveals complex interactions among nutrient inputs, plant growth, soil properties, and microbial communities in regulating soil N transformations in plantation forests. This study also offers valuable insights for formulating effective nutrient management strategies to enhance the growth and health of M. glyptostroboides plantations under scenarios of increasing elevated nutrient deposition., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhang, Jiang, Guo, Wu, Shao, Xu, Wu, Yuan and Li.)

Human-computer interaction (HCI) with screens through gestures is a pivotal method amidst the digitalization trend. In this work, a gesture recognition method is proposed that combines multi-band spectral features with spatial characteristics of screen-reflected light. Based on the method, a red-green-blue (RGB) three-channel spectral gesture recognition system has been developed, composed of a display screen integrated with narrowband spectral receivers as the hardware setup. During system operation, emitted light from the screen is reflected by gestures and received by the narrowband spectral receivers. These receivers at various locations are tasked with capturing multiple narrowband spectra and converting them into light-intensity series. The availability of multi-narrowband spectral data integrates multidimensional features from frequency and spatial domains, enhancing classification capabilities. Based on the RGB three-channel spectral features, this work formulates an RGB multi-channel convolutional neural network long short-term memory (CNN-LSTM) gesture recognition model. It achieves accuracies of 99.93% in darkness and 99.89% in illuminated conditions. This indicates the system's capability for stable operation across different lighting conditions and accurate interaction. The intelligent gesture recognition method can be widely applied for interactive purposes on various screens such as computers and mobile phones, facilitating more convenient and precise HCI.

Background: Management strategies for stable angina include pharmacotherapy, revascularization, and exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR). The optimal treatment for stable angina patients with severe coronary artery stenosis remains unclear. This study aimed to compare interventional therapy with exercise rehabilitation in this population., Methods: Fifty stable angina patients with severe coronary stenosis who underwent stent implantation were included in the optimal medical therapy (OMT) plus percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) group, and 50 patients who did not undergo interventional treatment were included in OMT plus CR group receiving exercise rehabilitation guidance for one year. Cardiovascular composite endpoint events, cardiopulmonary fitness, and quality of life scale scores were assessed after one year., Results: No significant difference in incidence of cardiovascular composite endpoint events was observed between OMT plus PCI group with OMT plus CR group (20.0% vs 14.6%) after one year. Cardiopulmonary fitness represented as peak VO 2 (19.2±3.5 vs 17.6±3.2 mL/kg/min), peak load (120±19 vs 108±20 W), and AT (13.5±1.5 vs 12.1±1.3 mL/kg/min) were significantly higher in the rehabilitation group than the intervention group after one year. Both groups showed improvement in their quality of life, but the rehabilitation group improved in more scales., Conclusion: Interventional therapy did not reduce cardiovascular events compared to exercise-based rehabilitation in stable angina patients with severe coronary artery stenosis, but the rehabilitation can improve cardiovascular fitness and quality of life more., Competing Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© 2024 Wu et al.)

Spider silk is a high-performance biomaterial known for its outstanding combination of strength and flexibility. Among the six distinct types of spider silk, eggcase silk stands out as it is exclusively produced from the tubuliform gland, playing a specialized role in offspring protection. In the spider species Latrodectus hesperus, eggcase silk is spun from a large spidroin complex, including the major silk component tubuliform spidroin 1 (TuSp1) and at least six different minor silk components. One of these minor components is eggcase protein 3 (ECP3), a small silk protein of 11.8 kDa that lacks the typical spidroin architecture. ECP3 shows very limited homology to all known spidroins. In this study, we report nearly complete backbone and side-chain resonance assignments of ECP3 as a basis for studying the structural mechanisms involved in eggcase silk formation., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)