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Previous tDCS studies in chronic stroke patients reported highly inconsistent effects on sensorimotor functions. Underlying reasons could be the selection of different kinematic parameters across studies and for different tDCS setups. We reasoned that tDCS may not simply induce global changes in a beneficial-adverse dichotomy, but rather that different sensorimotor kinematics are differentially affected. Furthermore, the often-postulated higher efficacy of bilateral-dual (bi-tDCS) over unilateral-anodal (ua-tDCS) could not yet be demonstrated consistently either. We investigated the effects of both setups on a wider range of kinematic parameters from standardized robotic tasks in patients with chronic stroke. Twenty-four patients with arm hemiparesis received tDCS (20min, 1 mA) concurrent to kinematic assessments in a sham-controlled, cross-over and double-blind clinical trial. Performance was measured on four sensorimotor tasks (reaching, proprioception, cooperative and independent bimanual coordination) from which 30 parameters were extracted. On the group-level, the patterns of changes relative to sham were assessed using paired-samples t -tests and classified as (1) performance increases, (2) decreases and (3) non-significant differences. Correlations between parametric change scores were calculated for each task to assess effects on the individual-level. Both setups induced complex effect patterns with varying proportions of performance increases and decreases. On the group-level, more increases were induced in the reaching and coordination tasks while proprioception and bimanual cooperation were overall negatively affected. Bi-tDCS induced more performance increases and less decreases compared to ua-tDCS. Changes across parameters occurred more homogeneously under bi-tDCS than ua-tDCS, which induced a larger proportion of performance trade-offs. Our data demonstrate profound tDCS effects on sensorimotor functions post-stroke, lending support for more pronounced and favorable effects of bi-tDCS compared to ua-tDCS. However, no uniformly beneficial pattern was identified. Instead, the modulations varied depending on the task and electrode setup, with increases in certain parameters occurring at the expense of decreases in others. • Robot-based kinematics sensitively capture tDCS-induced performance changes • tDCS induces profound, yet complex performance modulations • Modulations include simultaneous performance increases and non-canonical decreases • Overall, dual tDCS shows a more favorable response pattern compared to anodal tDCS [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiologic studies are inconsistent regarding the association of dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and/or fish intake with risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) incidence and progression. The objective was to determine these associations by conducting a meta-analysis of available studies. Three electronic databases were searched for studies that quantified dietary omega-3 PUFA and/or fish intake from inception to December 2020 without language restriction. Three investigators independently assessed for inclusion and extracted data. Study-specific risk estimates were combined using random-effects model. Potential dose–response associations were explored with the use of generalized least-squares trend estimation. 21 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Higher dietary intakes of omega-3 PUFA was significantly associated with 14% (relative risk [RR]: 0.86, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.77, 0.96) and 29% (RR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.55, 0.91) lower risk of early and late AMD, respectively. The dose–response analysis showed a 6% and 22% decrease in the risk of early and late AMD for each additional 1 g/d omega-3 PUFA intake. For individual omega-3 PUFA, the intake of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid was inversely associated with lower AMD risk, whereas no association was found for the alpha-linolenic acid. Consistent inverse associations were also found between fish intake and AMD. The pooled RRs comparing extreme categories of fish intake were 0.79 (95% CI: 0.70, 0.90) and 0.71 (95% CI: 0.60, 0.85) for early and late AMD risk, respectively. Every 15 g/d of fish consumption was associated with 13% and 14% lower early and late AMD. In addition, fish intake was associated with a significantly reduced risk of AMD progression (RR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.53, 1.00). A high intake of dietary omega-3 PUFA or fish was associated with a reduced risk of developing of AMD, which further supports that consumption of omega-3 PUFA-rich foods may be a new avenue nutritional approach to preventing AMD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• α-oscillations reflect performance maintenance during in-phase movements in older adults. • β-oscillations reflect sensorimotor demands during anti-phase movements in older adults. • Interlimb coordination is quadratically associated with interhemispheric connectivity. Bilateral in-phase (IP) and anti-phase (AP) movements represent two fundamental modes of bilateral coordination that are essential for daily living. Although previous studies have shown that aging is behaviorally associated with decline in bilateral coordination, especially in AP movements, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we use kinematic measurements and electroencephalography to compare motor performance of young and older adults executing bilateral IP and AP hand movements. On the behavioral level, inter-limb synchronization was reduced during AP movements compared to IP and this reduction was stronger in the older adults. On the neural level, we found interactions between group and condition for task-related power change in different frequency bands. The interaction was driven by smaller alpha power decreases over the non-dominant cortical motor area in young adults during IP movements and larger beta power decreases over the midline region in older adults during AP movements. In addition, the decrease in inter-limb synchronization during AP movements was predicted by stronger directional connectivity in the beta-band: an effect more pronounced in older adults. Our results therefore show that age-related differences in the two bilateral coordination modes are reflected on the neural level by differences in alpha and beta oscillatory power as well as interhemispheric directional connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The NH3-SCR has gained widespread usage due to its exceptional denitrification efficiency. It achieves high nitrogen oxides (NOx) reduction rates within the temperature range of 300⁰C to 400℃. Nonetheless, most of the catalyst have a limited temperature range for effective NOx removal applications. For sustainable utilization of common combustion units, it has become essential to develop a catalyst which can provide a broader spectrum of temperature range for NOx reduction. This study is thus aimed to enhance the structure of ZSM-5 zeolite molecular sieves using tetrapropylammonium bromide. Copper and iron ions (total 3% weight) were incorporated to boost the reaction at temperatures of 180⁰C, 250⁰C and 320⁰C. The overall efficiency of NOx removal was above 81%, highest being 97.6%. The carrier significantly impacts the NOx conversion rate with increased copper ion content in the samples at medium and low temperatures. The Particulate Matter removal efficiency ranged from 90.1% to 93.1%. • A composite zeolitic catalyst was synthesized and utilized for the reduction of NO x emissions and particulate matter. • Copper-iron composite was imbibed to broaden the range of operation temperatures of the catalyst. • Different ratios of copper-iron were tested to find the optimal composite ratio for highest NO x reduction efficiency at low, medium and high temperatures. • These composites were tested at different temperatures (180⁰C, 250⁰C and 320⁰C) to verify the best suitable temperature range for this composite catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Four new phenolic acid derivatives were isolated from the rhizome of Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. • Compounds 3a and 3b are enantiomers and possess unusual scaffolds. • Compounds 1 showed moderate hepatoprotective activity. Four new phenolic acid derivatives, namely, 2,3-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)cyclopent-2-enone (1), 4,5-di- O -caffeoyldaucic acid methyl ester (2), (+)-ligusticumtone (3a), and (‒)-ligusticumtone (3b), and two known compounds were isolated from the rhizome of Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. Among of them, compound 1 is an unusual norlignan. Additionally, compounds 3a and 3b are enantiomers that were obtained by chiral separation. Their structures were established using UV, IR, HRESIMS, NMR analysis. The absolute configurations of 3a and 3b were determined via quantum ECD calculations. All the isolates were evaluated for their hepatoprotective activity against N -acetyl- p -aminophenol-induced HepG2 cell injury. Compound 1 showed moderate hepatoprotective activity at a concentration of 10 μ M (p < 0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To construct the albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade and the Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) score based on nomograms, as well as to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) to compare the prognostic performance of the 2 scores for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that has undergone transarterial chemoembolization.Materials and Methods: This multicentric retrospective study included patients with HCC who underwent transarterial chemoembolization monotherapy as an initial treatment at 4 institutions between January 2008 and December 2016. In the training cohort, significant risk factors associated with overall survival (OS) were identified by univariate and multivariate analyses. The prognostic nomograms and ANN were established and then validated in 2 validation cohorts.Results: A total of 838 patients (548, 115, and 175 in the training cohort and validation cohorts 1 and 2, respectively) were included. The median OS was 10.4, 15.7, and 9.2 months in the training cohort and validation cohorts 1 and 2, respectively. In the training cohort, both ALBI grade and CTP score were identified as significant risk factors. The ALBI grade and CTP score based on nomograms were established separately and showed similar prognostic performance when assessed externally in validation cohorts (C-index in validation cohort 1: 0.823 vs 0.802, P = .417; in validation cohort 2: 0.716 vs 0.729, P = .793). ANN showed that ALBI grade had higher importance on survival prediction than CTP score.Conclusions: ALBI grade performs at least no worse than CTP score regarding survival prediction for HCC receiving transarterial chemoembolization. Considering the easy application, ALBI grade has the potential to be regarded as an alternative to CTP score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chip performance has been improving with the process technology in recent years following the Moore's law. Their applications and necessities are in various fields such as 5G communications, Internet of Things (IoT), mining cryptocurrency and Neural network computing (NNC) for artificial intelligence (AI). However, when the processing signals are emitted from processing units and finally transferred to memories, the transferring speed is decreasing. Therefore, among all the novel research of memories, it is anticipated to develop the technology with high storage capacity and enough processing performance. From previous literature of Intel published in 2020, the technology with those characteristics is determined as warm memory. During the following years, the most distinctive technology is MRAM which utilizes magnetic materials as core technology breaking the component frame of using electric materials and impacting the developing direction of memory. But among the development of MRAM in recent years, the significant difficulties are the competition between magnetic anisotropy energy and heat in micro-size range resulting in the transition from superparamagnetism to ferromagnetism confining the smallest size in component development for MRAM. So the novel solution is utilizing the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) in order to produce low dimensional applications of spintronic thin films. In this report, we utilize the TMD material, VSe 2 which is firstly published as a process recipe of self-assembled zero dimensional (0D) superparamagnetic clusters. In addition, a novel mechanism called expanding magnetic technology (ExM tech.) is demonstrated by superparamagnetic VSe 2 /ferromagnetic Co interfaces. The 0D superparamagnetic clusters are successfully synthesized on the surface of ferromagnetic thin films. The direction of magnetization for those superparamagnetic clusters will transform from random alignment to the specific alignment along with the magnetization direction of the ferromagnetic thin films which is attributed to the pinning from the ferromagnetic thin films. Therefore, the total magnetization of magnetic thin films can be significantly enhanced in size range of angstrom by ExM tech. After million cycles of reliability examinations, the magnetic properties remain stable. This technology will be beneficial for the applications on component process which can reach the expected total magnetizations with smaller size of magnetic thin films in MRAM. Those research results give MRAM as a nvRAM great potential on the commercial production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four new sesquiterpene compounds, (5 R ,7 R ,10 S )-3- O - β - d -glucopyranosylisopterocarpolone-11- O - β - d -apiofuranosyl-(1 → 6)- β - d -glucopyranoside ( 1 ), (5 R ,7 R ,10 S )-14-carboxylisopterocarpolone-11- O - β - d -glucopyranoside ( 2 ), (1 R ,7 R ,10 R )-1-hydroxylcarissone-11- O - β - d -glucopyranoside ( 3 ), and (1 R ,7 R ,10 S )-10,11-dihydroxy-4-guaien-3-one 11- O - β - d - glucopyranoside ( 4 ), were isolated from the Atractylodes lancea by high-performance liquid chromatography. The compounds’ structures were elucidated through detailed spectroscopic methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • MW-mediated DESs/DMSO system was developed for the production platform chemicals. • SB as an agro-waste material can be exploited as feedstock for platform chemicals. • The yields for 5-HMF, FF and LA reached 31.29%, 28.38% and 35.65%, respectively. • The Arrhenius diagram results indicated an activation energy (Ea) of 29.11 kJ/mol. • Favorable results were achieved at the reaction temperature of 140 °C for 40 min. The exploitation of lignocellulosic biomass (LB) such as sugar bagasse waste in biorefineries is the most cost-effective and favourable sustainable approach to producing essential platform chemicals, materials, and energy environmentally benignly. Herein, a microwave-mediated deep eutectic solvents (DESs)/dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) system for efficiently processing LB waste into platform chemicals was proposed thereof. Under optimized appropriate diverse parameters such as solvent varieties, catalyst dosage, DMSO addition, reaction time and temperature, the proposed catalytic system (i.e., microwave mediated DESs/DMSO system) has demonstrated significant yields of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), furfural (FF) and levulinic acid (LevA) of 31.29 %, 28.38 % and 35.65 %, respectively. These favourable results were obtained at the reaction temperature of 140 °C for 40 min. The anticipated catalytic system's activation energy (Ea) was found to be 29.11 kJ/mol. Hence, a practical, inexpensive and sustainable process with the potential of high-value platform chemicals, explicitly for a sustainable strategy in a circular bioeconomy was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]