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Traditional Chinese medicine polysaccharides is a biologically active ingredient that is not easy to be digested. It is fermented by intestinal microflora to promote qualitative and selective changes in the composition of the intestinal microbiome, which often result in beneficial effects on the health of the host. People call it "prebiotics". In this review, we systematically summarized the anti-diabetic effect of traditional Chinese medicine polysaccharides. These polysaccharides regulate the metabolism of sugar and lipids by inter-influence with the intestinal microflora, and maintain human health, while improving type 2 diabetes-like symptoms such as high blood glucose, and abnormal glucose and lipid metabolism.

Rutin, a flavonoid found in fruits and vegetables, is a potential anticancer compound with strong anticancer activity. Therefore, electrochemical sensor was developed for the detection of rutin. In this study, CoWO4 nanosheets were synthesized via a hydrothermal method, and porous carbon (PC) was prepared via high-temperature pyrolysis. Successful preparation of the materials was confirmed, and characterization was performed by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. A mixture of PC and CoWO4 nanosheets was used as an electrode modifier to fabricate the electrochemical sensor for the electrochemical determination of rutin. The 3D CoWO4 nanosheets exhibited high electrocatalytic activity and good stability. PC has a high surface-to-volume ratio and superior conductivity. Moreover, the hydrophobicity of PC allows large amounts of rutin to be adsorbed, there by increasing the concentration of rutin at the electrode surface. Owing to the synergistic effect of the 3D CoWO4 nanosheets and PC, the developed electrochemical sensor was employed to quantitively determine rutin with high stability and sensitivity. The sensor showed a good linear range (5–5000 ng/mL) with a detection limit of 0.45 ng/mL. The developed sensor was successfully applied to the determination of rutin in crushed tablets and human serum samples.

Though TCRs have been subject to limited engineering in the context of therapeutic design and optimization, they are used largely as found in nature. On the other hand, CARs are artificial, composed of different segments of proteins that function in the immune system. This characteristic raises the possibility of altered response to immune regulatory stimuli. Here we describe a large-scale, systematic comparison of CARs and TCRs across 5 different pMHC targets, with a total of 19 constructs examined in vitro. These functional measurements include CAR- and TCR-mediated activation, proliferation, and cytotoxicity in both acute and chronic settings. Surprisingly, we find no consistent difference between CARs and TCRs as receptor classes with respect to their relative sensitivity to major regulators of T cell activation: PD-L1, CD80/86 and IL-2. Though TCRs often emerge from human blood directly as potent, selective receptors, CARs must be heavily optimized to attain these properties for pMHC targets. Nonetheless, when iteratively improved and compared head to head in functional tests, CARs appear remarkably similar to TCRs with respect to immune modulation.

Purpose To report the anatomic and functional outcomes of autologous retinal transplantation (ART). Design Multicenter, retrospective, interventional, consecutive case series. Participants One hundred thirty eyes of 130 patients undergoing ART for the repair of primary and refractory macular holes (MHs), as well as combined MH-rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (MH-RRD), between January 2017 and December 2019. Methods All patients underwent pars plana vitrectomy and ART, with surgeon modification of intraoperative variables. A large array of preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative data was collected. Two masked reviewers graded OCT images. Multivariate statistical analysis and subgroup analysis were performed. Main Outcome Measures Macular hole closure rate, visual acuity (VA), external limiting membrane and ellipsoid zone (EZ) band integrity, and alignment of neurosensory layers (ANL) on OCT. Results One hundred thirty ART surgeries were performed by 33 vitreoretinal surgeons worldwide. Patient demographics were: mean age of 63 ± 6.3 years, 58% female, 41% White, 23% Black, 19% Asian, and 17% Latino. Preoperative VA was 1.37 ± 0.12 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR; Snellen equivalent, approximately 20/500), which improved significantly to 1.05 ± 0.09 logMAR (Snellen equivalent, approximately 20/225; P Conclusions In this global experience, patients undergoing ART for large primary and refractory MHs and MH-RRDs achieved good anatomic and functional outcomes, with low complication rates despite complex surgical pathologic features.

Heavy metal pollutants pose a serious threat to the environment and the health of organisms. This study explored the basic characteristics of poly (acrylic acid)/acrylamide (PAAAM) hydrogel, and evaluated its application in heavy metal ions removal from simulated and real electroplating wastewater. The results showed that PAAAM displayed the highest swelling ratio and adsorption capacity of 5% AM. The swelling ratio of 5%-AM-PAAAM reached 30000% in pH 4.0–7.0. The adsorption of Cu2+ and Ni2+ reached equilibrium in 60 min, with the maximum adsorption capacities of 159.45 and 107.68 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption kinetics fitted the pseudo-second-order model and the adsorption isotherm followed the Langmuir model, exhibiting an exothermic adsorption process. In competitive removal process, 5%-AM-PAAAM showed selective adsorption to Cu2+ than Ni2+ in aquatic solution. The adsorption mechanism was related to the O-H groups in acrylic acid based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) detection. In summary, 5%-AM-PAAAM was a specific adsorbent for Cu2+ in aquatic solution with high Cu2+ concentration.

In the era of big data, the movement of the same object or person can be recorded by different devices with different measurement accuracies and sampling rates. Matching and conflating these heterogeneous trajectories help to enhance trajectory semantics, describe user portraits, and discover specified groups from human mobility. In this paper, we proposed a high-performance approach for matching spatiotemporal trajectories across heterogeneous massive datasets. Two indicators, i.e., Time Weighted Similarity (TWS) and Space Weighted Similarity (SWS), are proposed to measure the similarity of spatiotemporal trajectories. The core idea is that trajectories are more similar if they stay close in a longer time and distance. A distributed computing framework based on Spark is built for efficient trajectory matching among massive datasets. In the framework, the trajectory segments are partitioned into 3-dimensional space–time cells for parallel processing, and a novel method of segment reference point is designed to avoid duplicated computation. We conducted extensive matching experiments on real-world and synthetic trajectory datasets. The experimental results illustrate that the proposed approach outperforms other similarity metrics in accuracy, and the Spark-based framework greatly improves the efficiency in spatiotemporal trajectory matching.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) regulate various cellular signaling pathways and play an important role in the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Excessive accumulation of ROS can promote HCC. Trace element boron has a wide range of biological effects, including anti-oxidation, anti-tumor, immune regulation and so on.In this study, we investigated the anticancer effects of Sodium tetraborate decahydrate (NaB) in improving oxidative stress and regulating apoptosis in mouse HCC. HCC was induced by intraperitoneal injection of diethylnitrosamine (DEN) 25 mg/kg once at the age of 2 weeks and 100 mg/kg again at the age of 6 weeks in healthy C3H/HeN male mice. At 8 weeks of age, different concentrations of NaB were given intragastric treatment once a day for 20 weeks. Oxidative stress markers, antioxidant status and liver enzyme analysis were detected to evaluate the effectiveness of NaB in inhibiting cancer induction. The anticancer properties of NaB were confirmed by observing the liver index and morphology, and analyzing the expression of apoptotic genes and proteins. Our results showed that boron significantly reduced the production of ROS, and down-regulated the expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl2 and up-regulated the expression of the pro-apoptotic proteins P53, Bax, and caspase 3.Boron has great potential to reduce the effects of oxidative stress, which may help it inhibit the progression of HCC.

In this paper, we show the existence and multiplicity of solutions for the following fourth-order Kirchhoff type elliptic equations Δ 2 u − M ( ‖ ∇ u ‖ 2 2 ) Δ u + V ( x ) u = f ( x , u ) , x ∈ R N , where M ( t ) : R → R is the Kirchhoff function, f ( x , u ) = λ k ( x , u ) + h ( x , u ) , λ ≥ 0 , k ( x , u ) is of sublinear growth and h ( x , u ) satisfies some general 3-superlinear growth conditions at infinity. We show the existence of at least one solution for above equations for λ = 0 . For λ > 0 small enough, we obtain at least two nontrivial solutions. Furthermore, if f ( x , u ) is odd in u , we show that above equations possess infinitely many solutions for all λ ≥ 0 . Our theorems generalize some known results in the literatures even for λ = 0 and our proof is based on the variational methods.

The association between gender and stroke outcome in patients with high-grade internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis remains unclear. We investigate gender differences in clinical characteristics and outcomes in ischemic stroke patients with high-grade ICA stenosis. Three-hundred and seventy-two acute ischemic stroke patients with high-grade ICA stenosis were enrolled and followed up for 5 years. Demographic features, vascular risk factors, co-morbidities, and outcomes were compared between male and female genders. Two-hundred and seventy-three (73.4%) patients were males and 99 (26.6%) patients were females. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus and atrial fibrillation was higher in females (P = 0.031 and P = 0.043), whereas the prevalence of smoking was higher in males (P 0.001). The 5-year mortality rate was not different between males and females (P = 0.437), whereas the 5-year recurrent stroke rate was significantly higher in males (OR, 2.14; 95% CI, 1.22-3.75; P = 0.004). After adjusting for the established clinical predictors of adverse outcomes, the multivariate Cox regression revealed that male gender is a significant predictor of recurrent ischemic stroke (HR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.19-3.20; P = 0.008). In conclusion, male gender is associated with increased risk of recurrent ischemic stroke in patients with high-grade ICA stenosis during 5-year follow-up. Further prospective trial to assess whether male gender may benefit from more aggressive vascular risk factors control and treatment strategies for stroke prevention is warranted.

Street-level imagery has covered the comprehensive landscape of urban areas. Compared to satellite imagery, this new source of image data has the advantage in fine-grained observations of not only physical environment but also social sensing. Prior studies using street-level imagery focus primarily on urban physical environment auditing. In this study, we demonstrate the potential usage of street-level imagery in uncovering spatio-temporal urban mobility patterns. Our method assumes that the streetscape depicted in street-level imagery reflects urban functions and that urban streets of similar functions exhibit similar temporal mobility patterns. We present how a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) can be trained to identify high-level scene features from street view images that can explain up to 66.5% of the hourly variation of taxi trips along with the urban road network. The study shows that street-level imagery, as the counterpart of remote sensing imagery, provides an opportunity to infer fine-scale human activity information of an urban region and bridge gaps between the physical space and human space. This approach can therefore facilitate urban environment observation and smart urban planning.

The feeding preference of pear psylla (Cacopsylla chinensis) varies among pear cultivars. To clarify whether leaf structural factors are related to C. chinensis resistance, eleven pear cultivars of three pear species and their hybrids in China were studied. The population size of C. chinensis in plots of different cultivars was investigated, and leaf paraffin sections of each pear cultivar were observed. Correlation analysis results showed that the thickness of palisade tissue (PT) and the thickness ratio (TR) of PT to leaf (L) were the main factors influencing resistance to C. chinensis. The leaves of cultivar Wujiuxiang and those species from France and the USA exhibited the thickest PT and the highest TR; these three cultivars demonstrated much higher resistance to C. chinensis than did the other cultivars. The cultivar Gold Nijisseiki, with a large C. chinensis population size, showed low PT and TR. The findings of this study may provide valuable information to pear growers, experts and scientists regarding plant protection, cultivation and breeding when selecting suitable varieties to culture from the perspective of pest control.

The lubricant oil can prevent the leakages and reduce the expander friction losses, but blend with the pure working fluid because of the absence of oil separator and affect eventually the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) operation characteristic. Based on a 3 kW ORC experimental prototype, the effect of lubricant oil ratio (1.2%, 3.1%, 5.0%, 6.7% and 9.0%) using R123 on the system behavior under three different degree of superheating (5, 10 and 15 °C) has been investigated. The heat source temperature is fixed at 130 °C, while the mass flow rate is controlled by adjusting the pump frequency. The heat input is first amended, and the detailed components’ behaviors are examined. The system overall performance, including thermal efficiency and system generating efficiency is explored. Results demonstrated that the deviation between the calculated heat input and modified heat input is no more than 5%. The lubricant oil enhances the pump behavior, whereas deteriorates the expander shaft power and electrical power. Meanwhile, the thermal efficiency is insensitive on the lubricant oil ratio for a degree of superheating higher than 10 °C. The system generating efficiencies for degree of superheating of 10 and 15 °C are in range of 5.44–5.61% (3.03%) and 5.34–5.69% (6.15%), respectively.

This work reports the synthesis of new and efficient composite photocatalysts (Bi12SiO20/g-C3N4) via the controlled hydrothermal method. The Bi12SiO20/g-C3N4 composites were characterized by XRD, SEM-EDS, HRTEM, FT-IR, XPS, DRS, BET, PL, and EPR. In comparison to pure Bi12SiO20 and g-C3N4, the Bi12SiO20/g-C3N4 materials showed significantly higher photocatalytic activity for degradation of crystal violet (CV) under visible-light irradiation (99% in 48 h). The 5 wt% Bi12SiO20/g-C3N4 composite revealed the highest rate constant of CV degradation (0.078 h−1); 15 and 2 times larger than the constants obtained with individual Bi12SiO20 and g-C3N4, respectively. Further investigation of the photocatalytic activity of the 5 wt% Bi12SiO20/g-C3N4 materials were performed on other organic pollutants. 98% degradation of 2-hydroxybenzoic acid (2-HBA) and 99.5% degradation of rhodamine-B (RhB) were achieved upon exposure to visible-light irradiation for 72 h with 5 wt% Bi12SiO20/g-C3N4. Bi12SiO20/GO (graphene oxide) composites were also synthesized to compare the photocatalytic activities of different Bi heterojunctions. It was found that Bi12SiO20/g-C3N4 photocatalysts had enhanced photocatalytic activity in degradation of CV and 2-HBA and were considerably more stable in recycling experiments in comparison to Bi12SiO20/GO photocatalysts. Lastly, the plausible photocatalytic mechanism for the Bi12SiO20/g-C3N4 composite material was proposed and the principal active species involved in the photodegradation of CV were investigated using scavenger and ESR experiments. The Bi12SiO20/g-C3N4 composite demonstrates good photocatalytic activity, stability and reusability, demonstrating its prospective use in photodegradation applications under visible-light irradiation.

In the paper, we are concerned with degenerate stochastic differential equations with jumps. We first establish two theorems about supports for the solution laws of the degenerate stochastic differential equations, under different (sufficient) conditions. We then apply one of our results to a class of degenerate stochastic evolution equations (that is, stochastic differential equations in infinite dimensions) with jumps to obtain a characterisation of path-independence for the densities of their Girsanov transformations.

Summary The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has resulted in millions of infections yet the role of host immune responses in early COVID-19 pathogenesis remains unclear. By investigating 17 acute and 24 convalescent patients, we found that acute SARS-CoV-2 infection resulted in broad immune cell reduction including T, NK, monocyte and dendritic cell (DC). DCs were significantly reduced with functional impairment, and cDC:pDC ratios were increased among acute severe patients. Besides lymphocytopenia, although neutralizing antibodies were rapidly and abundantly generated in patients, there were delayed receptor binding domain (RBD)- and nucleocapsid protein (NP)-specific T cell responses during the first 3 weeks post symptoms onset. Moreover, acute RBD- and NP-specific T cell responses included relatively more CD4 T cells than CD8 T cells. Our findings provided evidence that impaired DCs, together with timely inverted strong antibody but weak CD8 T cell responses, may contribute to acute COVID-19 pathogenesis and have implications for vaccine development., Graphical Abstract, Highlights 1. Acute SARS-CoV-2 infection results in broad immune cell reduction 2. Both dendritic cells and T cells are functionally impaired 3. Neutralizing antibodies are rapidly and abundantly generated 4. RBD- and NP-specific T cells are delayed at the acute stage, COVID-19 is an acute disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. We determine how immune system responds to SARS-CoV-2 at both acute and convalescent stages. Acute SARS-CoV-2 infection results in broad immune cell reduction and functional impairment. While neutralizing antibodies are rapidly generated, antigen-specific T cells are delayed at the acute stage.

Highlights • Performance of the LightMix® E-gene kit for SARS-CoV-2 detection was evaluated • The LightMix® kit had better analytical and diagnostic sensitivity than comparator in-house assays • Cycle threshold values of the three assays showed excellent correlation • The LightMix® kit performed well as a stand-alone test for SARS-CoV-2 detection, Background Rapid and sensitive diagnostic assays for SARS-CoV-2 detection are required for prompt patient management and infection control. The analytical and clinical performances of LightMix® Modular SARS and Wuhan CoV E-gene kit, a widely used commercial assay for SARS-CoV-2 detection, have not been well studied. Objective To evaluate the performance characteristics of the LightMix® E-gene kit in comparison with well-validated in-house developed tests. Study design Serial dilutions of SARS-CoV-2 culture isolate extracts were used for analytical sensitivity evaluation. A total of 289 clinical specimens from 186 patients with suspected COVID-19 and 8 proficiency testing (PT) samples were used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the LightMix® E-gene kit against in-house developed COVID-19-RdRp/Hel and COVID-19-N RT-PCR assays. Results The LightMix® E-gene kit had a limit-of-detection of 1.8 × 10-1 TCID50/mL, which was one log10 lower than those of the two in-house RT-PCR assays. The LightMix® E-gene kit (149/289 [51.6%]) had higher diagnostic sensitivity than the in-house assays (144/289 [49.8%] for RdRp/Hel and 146/289 [50.5%] for N). All three assays gave correct results for all the PT samples. Cycle threshold (Cp) values of the LightMix® E-gene kit and in-house assays showed excellent correlation. Reproducibility of the Cp values was satisfactory with intra- and inter-assay coefficient of variation values

Purpose To investigate the visual outcomes of patients with traumatic maculopathy and massive subretinal hemorrhage (SRH) after closed-globe injury. Design Retrospective, noncomparative, and interventional case series. Participants Twenty-four patients with traumatic maculopathy and massive SRH after closed-globe injury. Methods In this retrospective observational case series, we included 25 eyes of 24 patients who had experienced closed-globe injury with massive SRH. Main Outcome Measures The demographics, clinical characteristics, and final visual acuity (VA) of the patients. Results Twenty-five eyes with massive SRHs involving the macula were studied with initial VAs from light perception to 4/200. At initial presentation, vitreous hemorrhages were present in 22 eyes, hyphema in 13 eyes, lid lacerations in 11 eyes, glaucoma in 8 eyes, iridodialysis in 7 eyes, afferent pupillary defect in 6 eyes, lens dislocation or subluxation in 5 eyes, and cyclodialysis clefts and hypotony in 2 eyes. Retinal detachment developed in 7 eyes during the follow-up period. Pars plana vitrectomy usually was performed in patients with persistent vitreous hemorrhage, retinal detachment, lens dislocation, and cyclodialysis cleft with hypotony. In final visual outcomes, 7 eyes achieved favorable visual outcomes with VA of 20/200 or more. Thirteen eyes showed VA of 2/200 or less with dense macular scars or foveal atrophy. Foveal atrophy showed encompassed foveal thinning, retinal pigment epithelial clumping, and the loss of external limiting membrane (ELM), ellipsoidal zone (EZ), and interdigital zone (IZ) on spectral-domain OCT. Fundus autofluorescence demonstrated interposed, reduced, and increased autofluorescence in traumatic pigment epitheliopathy. Conclusions Traumatic maculopathy and massive SRH after closed-globe injury often cause poor visual outcomes, especially in eyes with dense macular scars or foveal atrophy. Spectral-domain OCT findings in patients with good visual outcomes revealed partial to complete preservation of the foveal ELM, EZ, and IZ.

The formation of N-(2'-(diphenylphosphoryl)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-2-yl)-2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzamide (3_eaaa) has been achieved through the palladium-catalyzed and Ag(I)-assisted C H functionalization of N-([1,1′-biphenyl]-2-yl)-2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzamide (1_eaa) via phosphination and in the presence of diphenylphosphine oxide (2_a). The reaction was accompanied with small amount of carbazole derivative, (9H-carbazol-9-yl)(perfluorophenyl)methanone (4_eaa). Crystal structures of 3_eaaa and 4_eaa were both determined by X-ray crystal diffraction methods. Indeed, phosphination took place at the ortho-position of inter-annular ring of 1_eaa. Substituents with various electron-withdrawing/donating capacities on the amido-fragment of 1 were found to greatly affect the ratio distribution of products 3 and 4. By contrast, substituents on various locations of the biphenyl in 1 do not influence much on the outcome of the products distribution. A reaction mechanism is proposed to account for these experimental observations. Computational studies employing Density Functional Theory methods (DFT) on this proposed mechanism found that the electron density property of the palladium metal center in the intermediate II is critical to the formation of either 3 or 4. A relatively electron-poor palladium metal center favors the pathway of forming 3. On the contrary, the pathway of producing 4 will be prevailed while the palladium metal center is having fair amount of electron-density in the proposed intermediate II.

Effects of Pd nanoclusters in PdxSn100-x/Ni electrodes with preferred diffraction planes of Sn(101) and Sn(200) plated on a nickel foam were studied on electrochemical reduction reaction of nitrate (NO3-). NO3- converted to NO2-, N2 and NH4+ by surface Hads was assessed at different Pd to Sn ratio through the electroanalysis and batch electrolysis at constant current mode. Pd loading obviously enhanced the current density of proton diffusion-controlled Sn0/Sn(II) transition. NO3- reduction was much more efficient on PdSn(200) than on PdSn(101); 53% of N2 yield on Sn(200)/Ni could increase up to 79% on Pd5Sn(200)95/Ni, while further increasing Pd loading would gradually increase NH4+ yield. The steady-state kinetics proposed a scheme of adsorption and deoxygenation of NO3- on Sn(200) and hydrogenation of NO2- to N2 on Pd NPs beside the Sn crystals.

Due to the intrinsic link with (kinetic) nonlinear Fokker–Planck equations and many diverse applications, distribution dependent stochastic differential equations have been investigated intensively in recent years. The appearance of the probability distributions (or laws) of the random variables of solutions in the coefficients is a distinct feature of distribution dependent stochastic differential equations. In this paper, under certain averaging conditions, we establish a stochastic averaging principle for distribution dependent stochastic differential equations.

In this article, we study 2D stochastic Burgers equations driven by linear multiplicative noise, and with non-periodic boundary conditions. We first apply Galerkin approximation method to show the local existence and uniqueness of strong solutions, we then establish the global well-posedness for strong solutions by utilizing the maximum principle.

Phytochemical investigation of the ethanol extract from wild Momordica charantia vines has resulted in isolation of seven cucurbitane-type triterpenoids, including six undescribed compounds, kuguaovins H‒M, and the known compound, momordicoside K. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analyses, including 1D and 2D NMR, and MS experiments. The chemical structure of momordicoside K was determined for the first time by X-ray crystallographic analysis and its absolute configuration assigned. The cytotoxicity against four human tumor cell lines and anti-inflammatory activities on LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages were evaluated. Of the isolates, kaguaovin L exhibited potential cytotoxicity against MCF-7, HEp-2, Hep-G2, and WiDr cancer cell lines and showed moderate anti-NO production activity. In addition, kuguaovins H and J also showed the stimulatory effect of GLP-1 secretion on the murine intestinal secretin tumor cell line (STC-1).

Datura metel L. has been used as an anesthetic in clinic for more than 1800 years in China, and the main efficacy of D. metel L. flower is relieving asthma and cough, relieving spasm and relieving pain. From 1978 to 1980, Datura metel L. was used as an anesthetic agent and occasionally cured psoriasis patients during anesthesia clinically, and our group confirmed that the effective portion is total withanolides (YWS). Moreover, the new drug "Datura metel L. capsule" composed of YWS has since been approved and used for the treatment of more than 3,000 psoriasis patients, with efficacy and cure rates greater than 90% and 65%. However, the immunological mechanism has not been elucidated.Nowadays, although total withanolides from Datura metel L. have a better clinical efficacy in the treatment of psoriasis, there is a lack of overall understanding of the mechanism of their treatment, especially about some immune cells and proteins closely related to psoriasis and their relationship in executive function and biological significance. This study focused on investigating the mechanism of psoriasis treatment by YWS and determined the biochemical processes in the treatment of psoriasis based on Treg/Th17 axis cell-mediated bidirectional immunoregulatory functions, which provides an important scientific basis for understanding the mechanism underlying the treatment of psoriasis by YWS.The effects of YWS on the lesion pathology of IMQ-induced psoriasis mice and the underlying molecular mechanism were assessed directly using HE staining, the PASI score and the animal body mass. We also investigated the effects of YWS on the Treg/Th17 axis and their critical functions in psoriasis pathogenesis via molecular biological methods. Finally, we performed differential proteomics analysis on skin in IMQ-induced psoriasis mice to clarify the effect of YWS by incorporates mass spectrometry-bioinformatics and annotated the functions and pathways associated with the differential proteins through GO enrichment, KEGG pathway analysis and PPI networks analysis, respectively.YWS regulated the imbalance of the Treg/Th17 axis. And proteomic analysis showed that YWS up-regulated 46 and down-regulated 37 proteins. According to the bioinformatics analysis, the improvement of Treg/Th17 imbalance may be the key immunological mechanism of YWS in the treatment of psoriasis by up-regulating the butyrate metabolism pathway, down-regulating leukocyte migration, inhibiting the phagocytic function of natural killer cells, suppressing osteoclast differentiation and interfering with chemokine activity, and the critical proteins involved are Lyn, HMGCS2, ABAT, ITGβ2, PRKCβ, MMP9, NCF1, JUNβ, and Hck.This research clarified that the improvement of the imbalance of the Treg/Th17 axis may be the key immunological mechanism of YWS in the treatment of psoriasis through metabolic pathways and influencing key proteins. The results not only expand the therapeutic targets and approaches for the treatment of psoriasis, which is a challenging and complex disease, but also deepens the understanding of the mechanism of YWS in the treatment of psoriasis and other important conditions to open up a new way of thinking for research on YWS in the treatment of psoriasis.

Cell therapy is an emerging therapeutic modality with the power to exploit new cancer targets and potentially achieve positive outcomes for patients with few other options. Like all synthetic treatments, cell therapy has the risk of toxicity via unpredicted off-target behavior. We describe an empirical method to model off-tumor, off-target reactivity of receptors used for investigational T cell therapies. This approach utilizes an optimal panel of diverse human cell-lines to capture the large majority of protein-coding gene expression in adult human tissues. We apply this cell-line set to test Jurkat and primary T cells engineered with a dual-signal integrator, called Tmod

Focused ion beams (FIB) have been employed to applications from physical to life sciences because of their capabilities of machining features with nanoscale precision, making them a promising candidate for patterning graphene. Nevertheless, there are limited applications of patterning graphene using FIB due to ion-induced damages. In this work, we performed molecular dynamics simulations and Raman spectra mapping experiments to study defect formation in Cu-supported graphene sheets during gallium ion FIB processes. Our simulation results indicate that ion bombardment induced constrained scattering of carbon atoms and sputtered copper atoms, creating more defects in graphene than patterning on free-standing graphene. We propose two approaches to mitigate FIB-induced damages: (1) lowering ion beam energy; and (2) tilting ion beam incidence angles. The first approach can effectively suppress damages with ion energy down to 1 keV; however, this is not feasible for experiments. In the second approach, we demonstrated that tilting ion incident angles result in asymmetric damage distribution, which can be leveraged to pattern graphene/2D materials by utilizing the lightly-damaged side for device fabrication while discarding the heavily damaged side. The present study reveals the formation of FIB-induced damage on supported graphene, and proposes an approach to pattern graphene/2D materials using FIB.

The syntheses, structures and thermal properties of six coordination polymers based on semi-rigid N,N′-bis(3-pyridinyl)terephthalamide (L1), flexible N,N′-di(3-pyridyl)adipoamide (L2) and N,N′-di(3-pyridyl)suberoamide (L3) and auxiliary dicarboxylate ligands, [M(L1)(AIPA)·2H2O]n, (M = Ni, 1; Co, 2; H2AIPA = 5-acetamido isophthalic acid), [Ni(L2)(AIPA)(H2O)2]n, 3, [Co(L2)0.5(AIPA)(H2O)]n, 4, [Co(L3)(2,4-PDC)(H2O)]n (2,4-H2PDC = 2,4-pyridinedicarboxylic acid), 5, and [Co(L3)(5-Br-IPA)(H2O)]n (5-Br H2IPA = 5-bromoisophthalic acid), 6, are reported, which have been structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. Complexes 1 and 2 are isomorphous, forming 3D nets with the new (4⋅6⋅8)(4⋅64⋅85) topology, which can be further simplified as self-catenated networks with the (424⋅64)-8T2 topology, while 3 is a 1D looped chain and 4 and 6 show 2D layers with the (42⋅63⋅8)(42⋅6)-3,4L83 and (44⋅62)-sql topologies, respectively. Moreover, complex 5 shows quadruple-strained helices formed by cobalt ions and L3 ligands, which are supported by 2,4-PDC2- anions to construct the rare single-walled metal-organic nanotubes that are supported by extensive N H --O and O H --O hydrogen bonds. The roles of ligand flexibility and the identity of the metal ion in the formation of 1–6 as well as their thermal properties are discussed.

Bacterial motion is strongly affected by the presence of a surface. One of the hallmarks of swimming near a surface is a defined curvature of bacterial trajectories, underlining the importance of counter rotations of the cell body and flagellum for locomotion of the microorganism. We find that there is another mode of bacterial motion on solid surfaces, i.e., self trapping due to fluid flows created by a rotating flagellum perpendicular to the surface. For a rod-like bacterium, such as Escherichia coli, this creates a peculiar situation in that the bacterium appears to swim along a minor axis of the cell body and is pressed against the surface. Although a full hydrodynamic theory is still lacking to explain the self-trapping phenomenon, the effect is intriguing and can be exploited to study a variety of biophysical phenomena of swimming bacteria. In particular, we showed that self-trapped E. coli cells display a chemotaxis response that is identical to the classical rotation assay in which antibodies are used to physically “glue” a flagellum to the surface.

In this paper, we consider the extended stochastic Navier–Stokes equations with Caputo derivative driven by fractional Brownian motion. We firstly derive the pathwise spatial and temporal regularity of the generalized Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process. Then we discuss the existence, uniqueness, and Holder regularity of mild solutions to the given problem under certain sufficient conditions, which depend on the fractional order α and Hurst parameter H. The results obtained in this study improve some results in existing literature.

In this study, the partially sulfidized Ni-Co/reduced graphene oxide (NCS/NC/RGO) hybrid was developed as a supercapacitor electrode material. Because Ni-Co sulfide (NCS) possessed good pseudocapacitor property and non-sulfidized Ni-Co (NC) alloy had high conductivity, we attempted to optimize the electrochemical performance of NCS/NC/RGO hybrid by controlling the sulfidation of NC/RGO hybrid. RGO was incorporated as a substrate to help the dispersion of NCS/NC nanoparticles and contribute some capacitance. It was demonstrated that an appropriate sulfidation of NC/RGO hybrid could lead to the highest capacitance effectively. Moreover, the optimal NCS/NC/RGO hybrid also exhibited good stability. The result revealed that the strategy to optimize the capacitor performance of NCS/NC/RGO hybrid via the controlled sulfidation of NC/RGO hybrid was indeed effective.

In this study, a classification model was established based on near-infrared spectroscopy and random forest method to accurately distinguish three samples of Schisandra chinensis from different habitats. At the same time, the feasibility of fast and effective prediction of polysaccharide contents in Schisandra chinensis by near-infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometrics was evaluated. In this paper, phenol sulfuric acid method was used to determine the content of total polysaccharides in samples, and partial least squares regression algorithm was used to link the spectral information with the reference value. Different spectral pretreatment methods were used to optimize the model to improve its predictability and stability. The results showed that random forest could distinguish these samples accurately, with an accuracy of 97.47%. In the established prediction model, the RMSEC of the optimal model calibration set is 0.0012, and the coefficient of determination R is 0.9976. The RMSEP of prediction set is 0.0024, the coefficient of determination R is 0.9922, and the RPD is 11.36. In general, the method has good stability and applicability, which provides a new analytical method for the identification of Schisandra chinensis origin and quality evaluation.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a significant role in tumorigenesis and tumor development. Exosomal microRNA-141 (miRNA-141, miR-141) has been reported to be overexpressed in prostate cancer (PCa) and has become a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of PCa. Herein, a novel fluorescent biosensor based on toehold-aided cyclic amplification combined with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme catalysis and magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) was designed for determination of the exosomes-derived microRNA-141 (miRNA-141, miR-141). The synergy of HRP enzyme catalysis and toehold mediated strand display reaction (TSDR) increase the sensitivity of the method, and the good separation ability of MNPs ensures the specificity of the method. Therefore, under the optimized experimental conditions, the highly sensitive and specific detection of miRNA-141 can be realized, and the detection limit is as low as 10 fM. More importantly, the biosensor successfully determinates the exosomal miR-141 in the plasma of patients with PCa.

Environmental protection of water resources is of critical importance to daily life of human beings. In recent years, monitoring the variation of water quality using remote sensing techniques has become prevalent. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing techniques have been applied to quantitative retrieval of concentrations of water quality parameters including phosphorus, nitrogen, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and chlorophyll a (Chl-a), successfully and efficiently. In this study, a novel method with deep factorization machine, spatial distribution pattern analysis, and probabilistic analysis engaged, named hybrid feedback deep factorization machine (HF-DFM), has been developed to quantitatively estimate concentrations of water quality parameters based on hyperspectral reflectance data on large scale effectively. Our proposed method is a unified model for quantifying concentrations of water quality parameters with an end to end structure, which integrates UAV based optical remote sensing techniques and deep learning to estimate concentrations of water quality parameters. Furthermore, our proposed model was applied to real-time quantitative monitoring the variation of water quality of Mazhou River, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. Finally, we evaluate the performance of proposed model on a real-world dataset in terms of root of mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute percent error (MAPE), and coefficient of determination (R2). The experimental results show that our proposed model outperforms other state-of-the-art models with respect to RMSE, MAPE, and R2, where resulting MAPEs for quantifying all water quality parameters range from 8.78% to 12.36%, and resulting R2s range from 0.81 to 0.93. It can serve as a useful tool for decision makers in effectively monitoring water quality of urban rivers.

Porous cobalt sulfide (CoSx)/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) hybrid films has been fabricated as a flexible freestanding supercapacitor electrode via the co-assembly and sulfidation of 2D metal organic framework (MOF) nanoflakes and graphene oxide (GO). Firstly, zeolitic imidazolate-67 (ZIF-67) nanocubes were added into the aqueous solution of GO to yield a mixed dispersion of ZIF-67 and GO (ZIF-GO). It was found that the morphology of ZIF-67 changed from nanocubes to 2D nanoflakes owing to the concentration change, which favored the formation of hybrid film. Secondly, the sandwich-like GO/ZIF-GO/GO hybrid film was fabricated by the successive vacuum membrane filtration of GO, ZIF-GO, and GO solutions. Finally, the hybrid film was sulfidized via a hydrothermal process using thioacetamide as the sulfur source. This process also led to the reduction of GO to rGO. The resulting rGO/CoSx-rGO/rGO hybrid film was shown to have good electrochemical performance because it combined the good pseudocapacitor property of cobalt sulfide as well as the good conductivity and electric double layer capacitor property of rGO. In addition, an all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor (aSC) was assembled using rGO/CoSx-rGO/rGO hybrid film and active carbon as the positive and negative electrodes, respectively. It exhibited an energy density of 10.56 Wh kg−1 and a power density of 2250 W kg−1. Also, it retained 92.8% of initial capacitance after 10,000 cycles. The good electrochemical performance revealed that the resulting aSC has great potential in the practical application of supercapacitors.

Solid-state light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) show several advantages over conventional organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) such as simple device structure compatible with solution processes, low operation voltage and capability of utilizing inert cathode metals. However, device performance of LECs must be improved, e.g. enhancing light extraction, to meet the requirements for practical applications. Among the optical modes trapped in LECs, light trapped in substrate mode is easier to be extracted, e.g. , by simply roughing the output surface. Therefore, increasing the percentage of substrate mode is beneficial in improving light extraction. In this work, the contributions of optical modes in LECs employing substrates with various refractive indices are analyzed. Higher-refractive-index substrates are shown to trap more light in the substrates. Smaller refractive index difference between higher-refractive-index substrate and indium tin oxide (ITO) layer also increases the cutoff spectral range of light waveguided in ITO layer. Furthermore, light intensity in surface plasmon mode significantly reduces as the refractive index of the substrate increases. Reducing the percentage of surface plasmon mode facilitates light extraction since it requires more complicated methods for outcoupling light in this mode. With commercially available unpolished sapphire substrates, light output of LECs is enhanced by 56%. When a scattering layer was inserted between ITO and sapphire substrate, more light in substrate mode can be extracted and 71% enhancement in light output is realized. High external quantum efficiency up to 5.5% is consequently obtained in LECs based on a ruthenium complex. Such device efficiency is among the highest reported values for red-emitting LECs and thus confirms that utilizing higher-refractive-index substrates would offer a simple and feasible approach to improve light output of LECs. In comparison to OLEDs, increased EL trapped in substrates of LECs mainly comes from surface plasmon mode rather than waveguide mode.

The development of the helical structure of diblock copolymers in solutions or melts is a challenging task although helices can be readily formed in a confined environment such as nanopore. In this study, dissipative particle dynamic simulations are performed to explore helical supramolecular structures self-assembled from diblock copolymers induced by nanocylinder. At low polymer concentrations, helical ellipsoids are formed on the nanocylinder and they remain stable after the nanocylinder is removed. As the concentration increases, three types of cylindrical morphologies appear: single-single helix, double-double helix, or segmented structures. The influences of block lengths and block-nanocylinder interaction on suprastructures are shown in the morphological phase diagram. When the nanocylinder is bounded by two planes, a helical funnel can emerge. In the presence of a ring-like nanoparticle, a helical toroid can arise. Our simulation results provide a new strategy for the fabrication of various helical assemblies of diblock copolymers in solutions.

Cimicifuga simplex is a medicinal herb which has a wide range of biological activities. We isolated seven 9,19-cycloartenol glycosides from the roots of C. simplex, and among the glycosides, G3 exhibited the strongest inhibitory effect on immune responses, including suppressing the differentiation of CD4+ T cells and directly suppressing the cytokine-induced JAK/STAT signaling pathways. In the IL-23-induced mouse ear model of skin disease, G3 repressed disease development by inhibiting the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators in murine ear skin. Moreover, G3 affected the maturation of DCs in vitro, thereby inducing T cell differentiation, resulting in an increased Treg phenotype and decreased Th17 phenotype. This study provides new evidence that G3 might ameliorate chronic inflammatory skin diseases by suppressing pathogenic CD4+ T cell differentiation and the IL-17+RORγt+/IL-10+FoxP3+ ratio. These findings suggest that G3 might mediate the therapeutic effects observed in psoriasis patients following treatment with C. simplex.

Quantitative research of urban geography has benefited greatly from the rapid development of big geo-data. Spatial assembly is an essential analytical step to summarize and perceive geographical environment from individual behaviours. Most research focuses on the methodology of how to utilize the big data, while the adopted spatial units for data aggregation remain areal in nature. This article conceptually proposes an idea of sensing cities from a street perspective, emphasizes the significance of street units in quantitative urban studies. Using a three-month taxi trajectory dataset and the major streets in Beijing, we explore the spatio-temporal patterns of urban mobility on streets, cluster streets into nine types based on their dynamic functions and capacities. Additionally, we discuss the differences and connections between the linear street unit and traditional areal units, investigate the possibility of uncovering urban communities using streets, and point out the complexity of streets. We conclude that street unit as a supplement to areal units, is able to effectively minify the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP), sense urban dynamics, depict urban functions, and understand urban structures.

In this article, we are concerned with averaging principle for stochastic hyperbolic–parabolic equations driven by Poisson random measures with slow and fast time-scales. We first establish the existence and uniqueness of weak solutions of the stochastic hyperbolic–parabolic equations. Then, under suitable conditions, we prove that there is a limit process in which the fast varying process is averaged out and the limit process which takes the form of the stochastic wave equation is an average with respect to the stationary measure of the fast varying process. Finally, we derive the rate of strong convergence for the slow component towards the solution of the averaged equation.

SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has resulted in over 4 million infections yet the role of host immune responses in early COVID-19 pathogenesis remains unclear. By evaluating 15 acute and 24 convalescent patients’ immune profile, we report herein acute SARS-CoV-2 infection resulted in broad immune cell reduction including T cells, NK cell, monocytes and dendritic cells (DCs). DCs were significantly reduced with functional impairment, and cDC/pDC ratios were increased among acute severe patients. Besides lymphocytopenia, although neutralizing antibodies were rapidly and abundantly generated, there were insufficient receptor binding domain (RBD)- and nucleocapsid protein (NP)-specific T cell responses during the first 3 weeks post symptoms onset. Moreover, acute RBD- and NP-specific T cell responses were mainly CD4 but not CD8 T cells with effector memory dominance. Our findings provided evidence that impaired DCs, together with timely inverted strong antibody but weak CD8 T cell responses might contribute to acute COVID-19 pathogenesis and have implications to vaccine development. Funding: This work was partly supported by Theme-Based Research Scheme (T11-706/18-N to ZC) of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, University Development Fund and Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine Matching Fund from HKU to AIDS Institute. Funding supports to KY include the donations of the Shaw Foundation Hong Kong, Richard Yu and Carol Yu, May Tam Mak Mei Yin, Michael Seak-Kan Tong, Respiratory Viral Research Foundation Limited, Hui Ming, Hui Hoy and Chow Sin Lan Charity Fund Limited, Chan Yin Chuen Memorial Charitable Foundation, Marina Man-Wai Lee, the Hong Kong Hainan Commercial Association South China Microbiology Research Fund, the Jessie & George Ho Charitable Foundation, Perfect Shape Medical Limited, and Kai Chong Tong; and funding from the Health and Medical Research Fund (grant no. COVID190121 and CPVOD1901123), the Food and Health Bureau, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; the National Program on Key Research Project of China (grant no. 2020YFA0707500 and 2020YFA0707504); the Consultancy Service for Enhancing Laboratory Surveillance of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Research Capability on Antimicrobial Resistance for Department of Health of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government; the Theme-Based Research Scheme (T11/707/15) of the Research Grants Council, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Sanming Project of Medicine in Shenzhen, China (No. SZSM201911014); and the High Level-Hospital Program, Health Commission of Guangdong Province, China. Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical Approval: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of University of Hong Kong/Hospital Authority Hong Kong West Cluster, Hong Kong East Cluster Research Ethics Committee, and Kowloon West Cluster Research Ethics Committee (UW 13-265, HKECREC-2018-068, KW/EX-20-038[144-26]).