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A dual-band, dual-mode button antenna is proposed for emerging fifth-generation (5G) networks and Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) communication systems, as it operates at 3.5 GHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively. At the lower band, a monopole-like omnidirectional radiation pattern is achieved by loading shorting pins on curved strips for on-body communication. At the higher band, broadside circularly polarized radiation is achieved by loading an asymmetric U-shaped slot in the central chamferd patch for off-body communication. By using Characteristic Modal Analysis (CMA), a clear physical insight into the formation of dual polarization is provided. The −10 dB impedance bandwidth ranges from 3.48 to 3.60 GHz and 5.65 to 6.03 GHz, respectively. The 3 dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth ranges from 5.71 to 5.85 GHz in the high band. Additionally, the antenna achieves a peak gain of 1.2 dBi in on-body mode and 6.9 dBi in off-body mode. The maximum specific absorption rate (SAR) calculated on the body tissues is below the US/EU standard thresholds of 1.6 W/kg and 2 W/kg. The measured results indicate that the antenna experiences only slight impact from human body loading and structural deformations. Given its notable features, the proposed design is well suited for Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aeromonas hydrophila can be a substantial concern, as it causes various diseases in aquaculture. An effective and green method for inhibiting A. hydrophila is urgently required. Emodin, a naturally occurring anthraquinone compound, was exploited as a photo-antimicrobial agent against A. hydrophila. At the minimum inhibitory concentration of emodin (256 mg/L) to inactivate A. hydrophilia in 30 min, an 11.32% survival rate was observed under 45 W white compact fluorescent light irradiation. In addition, the antibacterial activity under natural sunlight (0.78%) indicated its potential for practical application. Morphological observations demonstrated that the cell walls and membranes of A. hydrophila were susceptible to damage by emodin when exposed to light irradiation. More importantly, the photoinactivation of A. hydrophila was predominantly attributed to the hydroxyl radicals and superoxide radicals produced by emodin, according to the trapping experiment and electron spin resonance spectroscopy. Finally, a light-dependent reactive oxygen species punching mechanism of emodin to photoinactivate A. hydrophila was proposed. This study highlights the potential use of emodin in sunlight-mediated applications for bacterial control, thereby providing new possibilities for the use of Chinese herbal medicine in aquatic diseases prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calmodulin (Calm), a crucial Ca2+ sensor, plays an important role in calcium-dependent signal transduction cascades. However, the expression and the relevance of Calm in stress and immune response have not been characterized in Megalobrama amblycephala. In this study, we identified the full-length cDNA of Calm (termed MaCalm) in blunt snout bream M. amblycephala, and analyzed MaCalm expression patterns in response to cadmium and Aeromonas hydrophila challenges. MaCalm was 1603 bp long, including a 5′-terminal untranslated region (UTR) of 97 bp, a 3′-terminal UTR of 1056 bp and an open reading frame (ORF) of 450 bp encoding a polypeptide of 149 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight (MW) of 16.84 kDa and an isoelectric point (pI) of 4.09. Usually, MaCalm contains four conservative EF hand motifs. The phylogenetic tree analysis indicated that the nucleotide sequence of MaCalm specifically clustered with Ctenopharyngodon idella with high identity (98.33%). Tissue distribution analysis demonstrated that the ubiquitous expression of MaCalm mRNA was found in all tested tissues, with the highest expression in the brain and the lowest expression in muscle. MaCalm showed significant upregulation at 14 d and 28 d post exposure to varying concentrations of cadmium in the liver; HSP70 transcripts in the liver significantly upregulated at 14 d post exposure to different concentrations of cadmium. Moreover, in response to the A. hydrophila challenge in vivo, MaCalm transcripts in the liver first increased and then decreased, but MaCalm transcripts in the kidney declined gradually with prolonged infection. After the A. hydrophila challenge, the expression level of HSP70 was significantly downregulated at 24 h in the liver and its expression level was notably downregulated at 12 h and at 24 h in the kidney. Collectively, our results suggest that MaCalm possesses vital roles in stress and immune response in M. amblycephala. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Niclosamide (NIC) is a potent salicylanilide molluscicide/helminthicide commonly utilized for parasite and mollusc control in aquatic environments. Due to its persistent presence in water bodies, there is growing concern regarding its impact on aquatic organisms, yet this remains inadequately elucidated. Consequently, this study aims to assess the hepatotoxic effects and detoxification capacity of black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) in a semi-static system, employing various parameters for analysis. NIC was applied to juvenile black carp at three different concentrations (0, 10 and 50 μg/L) for 28 days in an environmentally realistic manner. Exposure to 50 μg/L NIC resulted in an increase in hepatic lysozyme (LYZ), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and complement 4 (C4) levels while simultaneously causing a decrease in peroxidase (POD) activity. Additionally, NIC exposure exhibited a dose-dependent effect on elevating serum levels of LYZ, ALP, complement 3 (C3), C4, and immunoglobulin T (IgT). Notably, the mRNA levels of immune-related genes tnfα, il8, and il6, as well as nramp and leap2, were upregulated in fish exposed to NIC. RNA-Seq analysis identified 219 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in M. piceus after NIC exposure, with 94 upregulated and 125 downregulated genes. KEGG and GO analyses showed enrichment in drug metabolism pathways and activities related to oxidoreductase, lip oprotein particles, and cholesterol transport at 50 μg/L NIC. Additionally, numerous genes associated with lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and innate immunity were upregulated in NIC-exposed M. piceus. Taken together, these findings indicate that NIC has the potential to cause hepatotoxicity and immunotoxicity in M. piceus. This research offers important insights for further understanding the impact of molluscicide/helminthicide aquatic toxicity in ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate whether Mandarin fish developed oxidative stress after being domesticated with artificial feed, we conducted a series of experiments. Oxidative stress is an important factor leading to diseases and aging in the body. The liver integrates functions such as digestion, metabolism, detoxification, coagulation, and immune regulation, while the gills are important respiratory organs that are sensitive to changes in the water environment. Therefore, we used the liver and gills of Mandarin fish as research materials. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of short-term artificial feed domestication on the expression of oxidative stress genes and the changes in oxidative-stress-related enzyme activity in the liver and gills of Mandarin fish. We divided the Mandarin fish into two groups for treatment. The control group was fed with live bait continuously for 14 days, while the experimental group was fed with half artificial feed and half live bait from 0 to 7 days (T-7 d), followed by solely artificial feed from 7 to 14 days (T-14 d). The experimental results showed that there was no difference in the body weight, length, and standard growth rate of the Mandarin fish between the two groups of treatments; after two treatments, there were differences in the expression of genes related to oxidative stress in the gills (keap1, kappa, gsta, gstt1, gstk1, SOD, and CAT) and in the liver (GPx, keap1, kappa, gsta, gstt1, gr, and SOD). In the liver, GPx activity and the content of MDA were significantly upregulated after 7 days of domestication, while in the gills, SOD activity was significantly upregulated after 7 days of domestication and GPx activity was significantly downregulated after 14 days of domestication. These results suggest that artificial feed domestication is associated with oxidative stress. Moreover, these results provide experimental basic data for increasing the production of aquaculture feed for Mandarin fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the challenge of simulating rainstorm waterlogging in urban-scale areas where reliable drainage pipe network data are often lacking. Although methods have been developed to tackle this issue, there remains a gap in their effectiveness. We present a novel approach, the modified equivalent infiltration (MEI) method, by building upon the foundation of the Equivalent Infiltration (EI) method. This study focuses on the outer ring area of Shanghai, utilizing data from the "In-Fa" typhoon period for simulation and comparison. Our findings reveal that the MEI method, requiring the same data inputs as the EI method, surpasses its predecessor in both principle and simulation results. Additionally, the MEI method demonstrates robustness in handling rainstorm waterlogging scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Niclosamide (NIC, 2′,5-dichloro-4′-nitrosalicylanilide) is a salicylanilide molluscicide, and the extensive utilization and environmental pollution associated with NIC engender a potential hazard to both human health and the wellbeing of aquatic organisms. However, the mechanism of the chronic toxicity of NIC at environmentally relevant concentrations in terms of oxidative stress, metabolic disorder, and barrier functions in black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) is unknown. Therefore, healthy juvenile black carp (M. piceus) (average weight: 38.2 ± 2.5 g) were exposed to NIC at an environmentally realistic concentration (0, 10, and 50 μg/L) for 28 days. The findings of this study indicate that exposure to NIC resulted in reductions in weight gain, decreased activity of antioxidant enzymes, and increased expression of the Nrf2 gene. Furthermore, the liver demonstrated a greater accumulation of NIC than that in the gut and gills, as determined with a chemical analysis. Additionally, NIC exposure led to a significant reduction in ATP content and the activity of Na+/K+-ATPase and Ca2+/Mg2+-ATPase in the gut. Meanwhile, exposure to NIC resulted in a decrease in the liver glucose (Glu) level, gut cholesterol (CHO), and glycogen (Gln) and triglyceride (TG) content in all examined tissues. Conversely, it led to an increase in tissue lactic acid (LA) and acetyl-CoA levels, as well as LDH activity. Furthermore, NIC exposure at environmentally relevant concentrations demonstrated an upregulation in the expression of genes associated with glycolysis, such as PK and GK, while concurrently downregulating the gluconeogenesis gene G6Pase. Additionally, NIC exhibited an upregulation in the expression of genes related to β-oxidation, such as CPT1 and ACOX, while downregulating genes involved in triglyceride synthesis, including SREBP1, GPAT, FAS, and ACC1. Moreover, NIC facilitated fatty acid transportation through the overexpression of FATP and Fat/cd36. These results suggest that chronic exposure to NIC is associated with oxidative stress, compromised barrier function, and metabolic disorder. Moreover, these results underscore the significance of assessing the potential consequences of NIC for black carp and aquatic environments for aquaculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Submarine sinkholes are unique and important geomorphological features with a typical cavity structure that are of great scientific value. Submarine sinkholes were discovered for the first time in the isolated Ganquan carbonate platform on the Xisha Islands, the northwestern South China Sea. Based on high-resolution multibeam bathymetric data and seismic profile data, we identified 37 submarine sinkholes at water depths ranging from 550 to 1267 m. They are subcircular to circular negative-relief features, and most of them are V- or compound V-shaped in the cross-section. Their average diameters range from 57 to 667 m, and the depth of the depression ranges from 2.5 to 241 m. By comparing submarine sinkholes in the Ganquan platform with those in other carbonate platforms worldwide, we can infer that the Ganquan platform submarine sinkholes are the largest sinkholes developed on an isolated carbonate platform. Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) "Haima 2" images revealed that the inner walls of submarine sinkholes are characterized by stalactite-like structures, possible dikes, flow marks, and corroded holes, which are typical karstic landscape features. The temperature within submarine sinkholes is 2 °C higher than that of the open ocean at the same water depth. Based on the results of the shallow formation profile and multichannel seismic profiles, we propose that the submarine sinkholes in the Ganquan platform probably formed via the dissolution of the carbonate platform via acidic hydrothermal fluids that originated from magmatic activity and migrated along faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyprinid herpesvirus II (CyHV-2), a highly contagious pathogen of gibel carp (Carassius auratus gibelio), causes herpesviral hematopoietic necrosis disease (HVHND) and enormous financial losses. However, there is limited information available regarding the changes in plasma biochemical and immunological parameters and the response characteristics of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) in gibel carp after CyHV-2 infection. To address this knowledge gap, a sub-lethal CyHV-2 infection was conducted in gibel carp, and the sample was collected daily from 1 to 7 days post infection. The plasma biochemical analyses showed significant decreases in the content of glucose, total cholesterol (TCHO), and total protein (TP), along with marked increases in the level of uric acid, urea, creatinine (CREA), Complement 3 (C3), immunoglobulin D (IgD), and immunoglobulin M (IgM) as well as in the activity of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the infected group. Compared with the control group, the concentration of cortisol, triglyceride (TG), and Complement 4 (C4) had no noticeable alterations in the infected group. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis showed significant upregulation of TLR2 and TLR9 mRNA expression in the spleen, kidney, brain, liver, intestine, and gill post CyHV-2 infection. Interestingly, a time- and tissue-dependent expression profile has been comparatively observed for TLR2 and TLR9 in the above tissues of gibel carp after CyHV-2 infection, suggesting distinct roles between TLR2 and TLR9 in antiviral response to CyHV-2 infection. Overall, our results demonstrated that CyHV-2 infection led to the disruption of the physiological metabolic process and damage to the liver and kidney, and induced different spatiotemporal expression patterns of TLR2 and TLR9, ultimately stimulating antiviral response via innate and adaptive immune system. These findings may provide a deeper understanding of the host immunity response to CyHV-2 infection and offer novel perspectives for the prevention and treatment and therapeutic drug development against CyHV-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current treatment strategies for parasitic infectious diseases in crucian carp primarily rely on chemotherapy. As a commonly used antiparasitic agent, deltamethrin (DEL) may have the potential adverse effects on external mucosa of fish such as gills. In this study, 180 healthy juvenile crucian carp (Carassius auratus) (average weight: 8.8 ± 1.0 g) were randomly divided into three groups for 28 days, which were immersed in 0 μg/L, 0.3 μg/L, and 0.6 μg/L of DEL, respectively. The results of histological analysis revealed that severe hyperplasia in the secondary lamellae of gills was observed, and the number of goblet (mucus-secreting) cells increased significantly after DEL immersion. TUNEL staining indicated that the number of apoptotic cells increased in crucian carp gill. At the molecular level, the mRNA expression analysis revealed significant upregulation of apoptosis (caspase 3, caspase 8, and bax), autophagy (atg5 and beclin-1), and immune response (lzm, muc5, il-6, il-8, il-10, tnfα, ifnγ, tgfβ, tlr4, myd88, and nf-kb), whereas tight junction-related genes (occludin and claudin12) were downregulated after DEL immersion, suggesting that DEL immersion altered innate immunity responses and promoted mucus secretion. Moreover, tandem mass tag (TMT)-based proteomics revealed that a total of 428 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) contained 341 upregulated DEPs and 87 downregulated DEPs with function annotation were identified between the control and DEL groups. Functional analyses revealed that the DEPs were enriched in apoptotic process, phagosome, and lysosome pathways. Additionally, DEL immersion also drove gill microbiota to dysbiosis and an increase in potentially harmful bacteria such as Flavobacterium. Overall, this study showed that DEL elicited shifts in the immune response and changes in the surface microbiota of fish. These results provide new perspectives on the conventional anthelmintic concentration of DEL immersion disorder of the gill immune microenvironment in crucian carp and theoretical support for future optimization of their practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This article is mainly about that molecular characterization and expression pattern of leptin in yellow cheek carp (Elopichthys bambusa) and its transcriptional changes in response to fasting and refeeding. In this study, the authors used PCR to clone the CDS of leptin in yellow cheek carp, and analyzed the sequence differences of the gene with other species, constructed the phylogenetic tree, used real-time PCR for analyzing the expression of leptin in different tissues, including the expression of leptin in the brain and liver after fasting–refeeding of yellow cheek carp. This paper found that the full-length cDNA sequence of Eblep was 1140 bp and the length of the open reading frame (ORF), which can encode a protein of 174 amino acids, was 525 bp. The Eblep mRNA transcript was detected in all tested tissues, with the highest expression in the liver and lowest expression in the spleen. It was found that the change in the mRNA expression of EbLep may be an adaptive strategy for different energy levels by studying the expression of EbLep mRNA in the brain and liver under fasting and refeeding. Leptin, a secretory protein encoded by obese genes, plays an important role in regulating feeding and energy metabolism in fish. To study the structure and function of the Leptin gene in yellow cheek carp (Elopichthys bambusa), the full-length cDNA sequence of leptin was cloned, named EbLep. The full-length cDNA of Eblep was 1140 bp, and the length of the open reading frame (ORF), which can encode a protein of 174 amino acids, was 525 bp. The signal peptide was predicted to contain 33 amino acids. Sequence alignment showed that the amino acid sequence of Leptin was conserved in cyprinid fish. Despite large differences between primary structures, the tertiary structure of the EbLep protein was similar to that of the human protein and had four α-helices. The EbLep mRNA transcript was detected in all tested tissues, with the highest expression in the liver and lowest expression in the spleen. In this study, short-term fasting significantly increased the mRNA expression of EbLep in the liver, which returned to a normal level after 6 days of refeeding and was significantly lower than the normal level after 28 days of refeeding. In the brain, the mRNA expression of EbLep significantly decreased during short-term fasting and significantly increased to a higher value than the control group after 1 h of refeeding. It then rapidly decreased to a lower value than the control group after 6 h of refeeding, returning to the normal level after 1 day of refeeding, and significantly decreasing to a lower value than the control group after 28 days of refeeding. To sum up, the change in the mRNA expression of EbLep in the brain and liver may be an adaptive strategy for different energy levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new constitutive model of high particles concentrated magnetorheological fluids (MRFs) that is based on the hexagonal close-packed structure, which can reflect the micro-structures of the particles under the magnetic field. Firstly, the particle dynamic simulations for the forces sustained by carbonyl iron powder (CIP) particles of MRFs are performed in order to investigate the particles chain-forming process at different time nodes. Subsequently, according to the force analyses, a hexagonal close-packed structure, which differs from the existing single-chain structure and body-cantered cubic structure, is adopted to formulate a constitutive model of MRFs with high concentration of the magnetic-responsive particles. Several experiments are performed while considering crucial factors that influence on the chain-forming mechanism and, hence, change the field-dependent shear yield stress in order to validate the proposed model. These factors include the magnetic induction intensity, volume fraction and radius of CIP particles, and surfactant coating thickness. It is shown that the proposed modeling approach can predict the field-dependent shear yield stress much better than the single-chain model. In addition, it is identified that the shear yield stress is increased as the particle volume fraction increases and surfactant coating thickness decreases. It is believed that the proposed constitutive model can be effectively used to estimate the field-dependent shear yield stress of MRFs with a high concentration of iron particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-healing flexible conductive films have been fabricated, evaluated, and applied. The film is composed of a fragile indium tin oxide (ITO) layer covered with sprayed liquid metal (LM) droplets. Self-healing of electrical conductivity is achieved via spontaneous capillary wicking of LM droplets into cracks/defects of the ITO film. The liquid metal adhering onto the ITO layer can also connect the ITO fragments during bending to keep the overall conductivity of the composite LM/ITO film stable. Stable and reversible electrowetting performance has been achieved with the composite LM/ITO as the conductive film, in either flat or curved states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, silver nanowire transparent conductive films (AgNWs-TCFs) still have problems such as high resistance of AgNWs network nodes, uneven distribution of resistance and poor electrical performance stability, which restrict their commercial application. Different from chemical modification, in this paper, a method of modifying AgNWs-TCFs with metal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs) is proposed, that is, ZnO, SnO2, Al2O3 and TiO2 etc., four transparent metal oxides are used as targets respectively in a magnetron sputtering process, modifying the silver nanowire network wire–wire junctions and silver nanowire in AgNWs-TCFs using active MONPs generated by magnetron sputtering. A series of AgNWs@MONPs for the AgNWs@ZnO-TCFs, AgNWs@SnO2-TCFs, AgNWs@Al2O3-TCFs and AgNWs@TiO2-TCFs were obtained. A significant decrease in the resistance of AgNWs-TCFs through the modification of MONPs was shown. Respectively, the reduction of resistance was 75.6%, 70.4%, 53.2% and 59.8% for AgNWs@ZnO-TCFs, AgNWs@SnO2-TCFs, AgNWs@Al2O3-TCFs and AgNWs@TiO2-TCFs. Correspondingly, its non-uniformity of resistance distribution was 12.5% (18.2% before), 10.0% (17.1% before), 10.1% (24.3% before) and 10.6% (13.4% before), respectively, which markedly improved the uniformity of electrical property. Respectively, their failure voltages reach 16, 16, 15 and 16 (V), so accordingly, the electrical stability is considerably enhanced. In addition, the uniformity of temperature distribution was also significantly optimized with its temperature non-uniformity of 10.4%, 8.7%, 10.3% and 9.6%, respectively. Contrast that with AgNWs@MONPs, and the failure voltages and temperature non-uniformity of AgNWs-TCFs are 12 V and 40.6%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In living bodies, pH values, which are precisely regulated and closely associated with diseased cells, can act as an efficient biologically intrinsic indicator for future intelligent biomedicine microsystems. In this work, we have developed flask-like carbonaceous nanomotors (FCNMs), via loading Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) into a cavity, which exhibit a self-adaptive feature to a specific physiological pH by virtue of the pH-dependent dual enzyme-like activities of Fe3O4 NPs. Specifically, the peroxidase-like activity of Fe3O4 NPs in an acidic pH range, and the catalase-like activity in a near neutral and alkaline pH range, determine the products in the motion system (•OH, ions and O2), whose diffusions from the inner to the outside of the flask result in fluid movement providing the driving force for the movement of the FCNMs. Correspondingly, changes of the product concentrations and species in the physiological pH range (4.4–7.4) result, firstly, in velocity decrease and, then, with increase in pH, increase of the FCNMs occurs. Thanks to the non-linear velocity responsiveness, the FCNMs show intriguing pH taxis towards 6.8 (generally corresponding to the physiological pH in tumor microenvironments), where a maximum velocity appears. Furthermore, the superparamagnetic feature of the Fe3O4 NPs simultaneously endows the FCNMs with the abilities to be magnetic-oriented and easily separated. This work could significantly increase the possibility of nanomotors for targeted therapy of tumors and next-generation biotechnological applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural regeneration is crucial for the development of sustainable forestry practices in light of the current global climate changes. In this paper, we compared the size distributions of Quercus acutissima seedlings in the understory of Q. acutissima forest plantations in Mount Tai in 2010 and 2017, studied the physiological and morphological responses of seedlings to the microenvironment, and explored the maintenance mechanisms of the seedling bank. The results showed that the density of understory seedlings in 2017 was only 61.63% of that in 2010, especially in the 20–40 cm height class. Between 2011 and 2016, the precipitation and soil water content were the highest in 2011, followed by 2013. The 2–4-year seedlings (height < 40 cm) were not significantly different in seedling biomass, biomass allocation, and root morphology (root total surface area, root volume, and root average diameter), and were significantly different in total root length, specific root length, specific root surface area, and nonstructural carbohydrate content of root, stem, and leaves. However, 5–6-year seedlings (height > 40 cm) showed the largest biomass. Principal component analysis indicated that altering root morphology, nonstructural carbohydrate, and biomass allocation played significant roles in the drought adaptation of seedlings in the understory. In conclusion, drought stress together with seedling adaptation influenced the dynamics of seedling bank in the understory of Q. acutissima plantations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]