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This study presents a bionic structure-based liquid cooling plate designed to address the heat generation characteristics of prismatic lithium-ion batteries. The size of the lithium-ion battery is 148 mm × 26 mm × 97 mm, the positive pole size is 20 mm × 20 mm × 3 mm, and the negative pole size is 22 mm × 20 mm × 3 mm. Experimental testing of the Li-ion battery’s heat generation model parameters, in conjunction with bionic structure and micro-channel features, has led to the development of this innovative cooling system. The traditional bionic liquid cooling plate’s structure is often singular; however, the flow path of the liquid cooling plate designed in this paper is based on the combination of the distribution of human blood vessel branches and the structure of insect wing veins. The external dimension of the liquid cooling plate is 152 mm × 100 mm × 6 mm (length × width × height). Utilizing numerical simulation and thermodynamic principles, we analyzed the heat transfer efficacy of the bionic liquid cooling module for power batteries. Specifically, we investigated the impact of varying coolant flow rates and the contact radius between flow channels on the thermal performance of the bionic battery modules. Our findings indicate that a liquid flow rate of 0.6 m/s achieves a stable maximum surface temperature and temperature differential across the bionic battery liquid cooling module, with a relatively low overall system power consumption, suggesting room for further enhancement of heat transfer performance. By augmenting the contact radius between flow channels, we observed an initial increase in the maximum surface temperature, temperature differential, and inlet–outlet pressure differential at a flow rate of 0.2 m/s. However, at flow rates equal to or exceeding 0.4 m/s, these parameters stabilized across different design Scenarios. Notably, the pump power consumption remained consistent across various scenarios and flow rates. This study’s outcomes offer valuable insights for the development of liquid-cooled battery thermal management systems that are energy-efficient and offer superior heat transfer capabilities.

The identification of drug–target interaction (DTI) is crucial for drug discovery. However, how to reduce the graph neural network’s false positives due to its bias and negative transfer in the original bipartite graph remains to be clarified. Considering that the impact of heterogeneous auxiliary information on DTI varies depending on the drug and target, we established an adaptive enhanced personalized meta-knowledge transfer network named Meta Graph Association-Aware Contrastive Learning (MGACL), which can transfer personalized heterogeneous auxiliary information from different nodes and reduce data bias. Meanwhile, we propose a novel DTI association-aware contrastive learning strategy that aligns high-frequency drug representations with learned auxiliary graph representations to prevent negative transfer. Our study improves the DTI prediction performance by about 3%, evaluated by analyzing the area under the curve (AUC) and area under the precision–recall curve (AUPRC) compared with existing methods, which is more conducive to accurately identifying drug targets for the development of new drugs.

The codon usage patterns of mitochondrial genomes offer insights into the evolutionary and phylogenetic studies of species. Codon usage analysis has been conducted in a few Chironomidae species, and the codon usage patterns in other species remain ambiguous. We aim to reveal the codon usage differences in the mitochondrial genomes across this family. We sequenced the first mitochondrial genome of the genus Conchapelopia and the third mitochondrial genome of the subfamily Tanypodinae. Then, we analyzed its relative synonymous codon usage and effective number of codons with registered mitochondrial genomes from 28 other genera. The results indicated that there was limited variation in codon usage across five subfamilies, Chironominae, Orthocladiinae, Diamesinae, Prodiamesinae and Tanypodinae. While Parochlus steinenii from Podonominae presented a weaker codon bias, P. steinenii possessed the most genes experiencing natural selection. Additionally, ND1, ND2 and ND3 were found to be the most frequently selected genes across all species. Our findings contribute to further understanding the evolutionary and phylogenetic relationships of Chironomidae.

Marine microbial secondary metabolites with diversified structures have been found as promising sources of anti-inflammatory lead compounds. This review summarizes the sources, chemical structures, and pharmacological properties of anti-inflammatory natural products reported from marine microorganisms in the past three years (2021–2023). Approximately 252 anti-inflammatory compounds, including 129 new ones, were predominantly obtained from marine fungi and they are structurally divided into polyketides (51.2%), terpenoids (21.0%), alkaloids (18.7%), amides or peptides (4.8%), and steroids (4.3%). This review will shed light on the development of marine microbial secondary metabolites as potential anti-inflammatory lead compounds with promising clinical applications in human health.

As the scale of power systems continue to expand and their structure becomes increasingly complex, it is likely that branch power flow exceedance may occur during the operation of power systems, posing threats to the safe and stable operation of entire systems. This paper addresses the issue of branch flow exceedance in power networks. To enhance the operational efficiency and optimize the adjustment effects, this paper proposes a method for eliminating branch power flow exceedance by improving the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm through the introduction of sensitivity and distribution factors. Firstly, it introduces the basic theory and calculation methods of sensitivity analysis, focusing on deriving the calculation principles of power flow sensitivity and voltage sensitivity, used to predict the responses of power flow at each branch in the power network to power or voltage changes. Subsequently, the paper provides a detailed derivation of the calculation principles for the line outage distribution factor (LODF), which effectively assesses the changes in branch power flow in the power network under specific conditions. Finally, a method for eliminating branch power flow exceedance based on a combination of sensitivity analysis and PSO algorithm is proposed. Through case analysis, it is demonstrated how to use the sensitivity and distribution factor to predict and control the power flow exceedance issues in power systems, verifying the efficiency and practicality of the proposed method for eliminating branch power flow exceedance. The study shows that this method can rapidly and accurately predict and address branch power flow exceedance in power system, thereby enhancing the operational safety of the power system.

To address the issue of seepage and soil plugging during the sinking of mono-column composite bucket foundations (MCCBFs), experiments were conducted on the installation of foundations under a variety of complex geological conditions. The effect of negative pressure sinking mode on the foundation’s seepage field was analyzed, the formation mechanism of soil plugging in sand was explained, and an efficient method for calculating the height of soil plugging was proposed in conjunction with these investigations. The findings demonstrate that the finite element method simulation of the soil’s seepage field is the most accurate, that the pumping volume of the foundation during sinking through is high, that the formation of the soil plug height is high, and that clear depressions can be seen on the foundation manifold’s exterior. The equation presented in this study makes it easier to forecast the height of a foundation plug and can offer direction for engineering design.

The classical bistable stochastic resonance algorithm has an inherent output saturation defect that restricts the amplitude of the output signal. This paper examines the causes of this phenomenon and its negative impact on the detection of weak signals. Proposing the Unsaturated Bistable Stochastic Resonance (UBSR) detection algorithm involves constructing a segmented potential function using a linear function to eliminate the effect of higher-order terms in the classical stochastic resonance algorithm. A new type of segmented potential function has been created by combining exponential and linear functions. This new function helps to eliminate the impact of higher-order terms in classical algorithms while also improving the noise immunity of the stochastic resonance system. This results in the development of the accelerated stochastic resonance (ASR) detection algorithm. In this paper, the Kramers escape rate and output signal-to-noise ratio of two improved stochastic resonance algorithms are theoretically derived and compared with the classical bistable stochastic resonance algorithms, and the proposed algorithms are able to effectively avoid the output saturation phenomenon and have more excellent detection performance under strong background noise.

Imaging maritime targets requires a high resolution and wide swath (HWRS) in a synthetic aperture radar (SAR). When operated with a variable pulse repetition interval (PRI), a staggered SAR can realize HRWS imaging, which needs to be reconstructed due to echo pulse loss and a nonuniformly sampled signal along the azimuth. The existing reconstruction algorithms are designed for stationary scenes in a staggered SAR mode, and thus, produce evident image defocusing caused by complex target motion for moving targets. Typically, the nonuniform sampling and complex motion of maritime targets aggravate the spectrum aliasing in a staggered SAR mode, causing inevitable ambiguity and degradation in its reconstruction performance. To this end, this study analyzed the spectrum of maritime targets in a staggered SAR system through theoretical derivation. After this, a reconstruction method named MBLCFD (Modified Best Linear Unbaised and Complex-Lag Time-Frequency Distribution) is proposed to refocus the blurred maritime target. First, the signal model of the maritime target with 3D rotation accompanying roll–pitch–yaw movement was established under the curved orbit of the satellite. The best linear unbiased (BLU) method was modified to alleviate the coupling of nonuniform sampling and target motion. A precise SAR algorithm was performed based on the method of inverse reversion to counteract the effect of a curved orbit and wide swath. Based on the hybrid SAR/ISAR technique, the complex-lag time-frequency distribution was exploited to refocus the maritime target images. Simulations and experiments were carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, providing precise refocusing performance in staggered mode.

RNA is an important information and functional molecule. It can respond to the regulation of life processes and is also a key molecule in gene expression and regulation. Therefore, RNA detection technology has been widely used in many fields, especially in disease diagnosis, medical research, genetic engineering and other fields. However, the current RT-qPCR for RNA detection is complex, costly and requires the support of professional technicians, resulting in it not having great potential for rapid application in the field. PCR-free techniques are the most attractive alternative. They are a low-cost, simple operation method and do not require the support of large instruments, providing a new concept for the development of new RNA detection methods. This article reviews current PCR-free methods, overviews reported RNA biosensors based on electrochemistry, SPR, microfluidics, nanomaterials and CRISPR, and discusses their challenges and future research prospects in RNA detection.

The genus Stictochironomus (Diptera: Chironomidae) has an almost worldwide distribution, with more than 30 species. However, species delimitation and identification based on the markings on the wings and legs are controversial and uncertain. In this study, we focused on color patterns to review the adults of the genus from China, and two new species (S. trifuscipes sp. nov. and S. quadrimaculatus sp. nov.) are described and figured. DNA barcodes can accurately separate the two new species with specific color patterns. However, heterospecific individuals form a monophyletic cluster in the phylogeny tree. For example, S. maculipennis (Meigen) and S. pictulus (Meigen), which have a lower interspecific genetic divergence, form a single clade. Sequences with the same species name but with high intraspecific distance form more than one phylogenetic clade, such as S. sticticus (Fabricius) of three clades, S. pictulus of four clades, S. akizukii (Tokunaga) and S. juncaii Qi, Shi, and Wang of two clades, might have potential cryptic species diversity. Species delimitation analysis using ASAP, PTP, and GMYC clearly delineated them as separate species. Consequently, color patterns are a good diagnostic characteristic for species delimitation in Stictochironomus. The distance-based analysis shows that a threshold of 4.5–7.7% is appropriate for species delimitation in Stictochironomus. Additionally, an updated key including color pattern variation for male adults of known Stictochironomus species from China is provided.

Thyroid cancer (TC) is the fastest growing cancer in China and has lots of influencing factors which can be intervened to reduce its incidence. In this article, we aimed to identify the risk factors of TC. The regional TC data in 2016 were obtained from the China Cancer Registry Annual Report published by the National Cancer Center (NCC). Univariate correlation analysis and generalized linear Poisson regression analysis were used to determine risk factors for morbidity of TC from the provincial and prefecture levels. High urbanization rate (UR) (RR = 1.109, 95%CI: 1.084, 1.135), high GDP per capita (PGDP) (RR = 1.013, 95%CI: 1.007, 1.018), high aquatic products (RR = 1.047, 95%CI: 1.020, 1.075) and dry and fresh fruit consumption (RR = 1.024, 95%CI: 1.007, 1.040) can increase TC incidence. Therefore, high PGDP, high UR, high aquatic products and dry and fresh fruit consumption were all risk factors for TC incidence. Our results may be helpful for providing analytical ideas and methodological references for the regionalized prevention and control of TC in a targeted manner.

Drug discovery plays a critical role in advancing human health by developing new medications and treatments to combat diseases. How to accelerate the pace and reduce the costs of new drug discovery has long been a key concern for the pharmaceutical industry. Fortunately, by leveraging advanced algorithms, computational power and biological big data, artificial intelligence (AI) technology, especially machine learning (ML), holds the promise of making the hunt for new drugs more efficient. Recently, the Transformer-based models that have achieved revolutionary breakthroughs in natural language processing have sparked a new era of their applications in drug discovery. Herein, we introduce the latest applications of ML in drug discovery, highlight the potential of advanced Transformer-based ML models, and discuss the future prospects and challenges in the field.

Acremonium fungi is one of the greatest and most complex genera in Hyphomycetes, comprising 130 species of marine and terrestrial sources. The past decades have witnessed substantial chemical and biological investigations on the diverse secondary metabolites from the Acremonium species. To date, over 600 compounds with abundant chemical types as well as a wide range of bioactivities have been obtained from this genus, attracting considerable attention from chemists and pharmacologists. This review mainly summarizes the sources, chemical structures, and biological activities of 115 recently reported new compounds from the genus Acremonium from December 2016 to September 2023. They are structurally classified into terpenoids (42%), peptides (29%), polyketides (20%), and others (9%), among which marine sources are predominant (68%). Notably, these compounds were primarily screened with cytotoxic, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory activities. This paper provides insights into the exploration and utilization of bioactive compounds in this genus, both within the scientific field and pharmaceutical industry.

The vegetation ecosystem in the southern hilly region of China (SHRC) plays a crucial role in the country’s carbon reservoir. Clarifying the dynamics of net primary productivity (NPP) in this area and its response to climate factors in the context of climate change is important for national forest ecology, management, and carbon neutrality efforts. This study, based on remote sensing and meteorological data spanning the period 2001 to 2021, aims to unveil the spatiotemporal patterns of vegetation productivity and climate factors in the southern hilly region, explore interannual variation characteristics of vegetation productivity with altitude, and investigate the response characteristics of NPP to various climate factors. The results indicate that from 2001 to 2021, the annual average NPP in the southern hilly region had a significant increasing trend of 2.13 ± 0.78 g m−2 a−1. The trend of NPP varies significantly with altitude. Despite a general substantial upward trend in vegetation NPP, regions at lower elevations exhibit a faster rate of increase, suggesting a diminishing difference in the NPP of different elevation ranges. The overall rise in average temperature has positive implications for the southern hilly region, while the impact of precipitation on vegetation NPP demonstrates noticeable spatial heterogeneity. Regions in which vegetation NPP is significantly negatively correlated with precipitation are mainly concentrated in the southern areas of Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi provinces. In contrast, other regions further away from the southeastern coast tend to exhibit a positive correlation. Over the past two decades, there has been an asymmetry in the diurnal temperature variation in the SHRC, with the nighttime warming rate being 1.8 times that of the daytime warming rate. The positive impact of daytime warming on NPP of vegetation is more pronounced than the impact of nighttime temperature changes. Understanding the spatiotemporal patterns of NPP in the SHRC and the characteristics of its response to climate factors contributes to enhancing our ability to protect and manage vegetation resources amidst the challenges of global climate change.

Aiming at the problem that online parameter identification, based on the Model Reference Adaptive System (MRAS), is easily affected by the high-frequency noise of the sensor, an improved MRAS, based on variable bandwidth linear Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) adaptive law, is proposed. The proposed ADRC adaptive law, including an extended state observer, exhibits good anti-disturbance ability while effectively tracking the error signal through adjusting the bandwidth of the controller according to the observation error. When the observation error is large, the bandwidth of the controller is increased to enhance the tracking accuracy; in the opposite situation, the bandwidth is reduced to improve the anti-disturbance performance. To illustrate feasibility, a stability analysis of the proposed ADRC adaptive law is carried out and some comparison and validation experiments are designed to identify the inductance and flux linkage of the permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM). The experimental results show that the proposed method has better anti-disturbance performance than the MRAS based on traditional Proportional Integral (PI) adaptive law or switched PI adaptive law.

Maternally inherited obligate endosymbionts codiverge with their invertebrate hosts and reflect their host’s evolutionary history. Whiteflies (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) harbor one obligate endosymbiont, Candidatus Portiera aleyrodidarum (hereafter Portiera). Portiera was anciently acquired by whitefly and has been coevolving with its host ever since. Uncovering the divergence of endosymbionts provides a fundamental basis for inspecting the coevolutionary processes between the bacteria and their hosts. To illustrate the divergence of Portiera lineages across different whitefly species, we sequenced the Portiera genome from Aleyrodes shizuokensis and conducted a comparative analysis on the basic features and gene evolution with bacterial genomes from five whitefly genera, namely Aleurodicus, Aleyrodes, Bemisia, Pealius, and Trialeurodes. The results indicated that Portiera from Bemisia possessed significantly larger genomes, fewer coding sequences (CDSs), and a lower coding density. Their gene arrangement differed notably from those of other genera. The phylogeny of the nine Portiera lineages resembled that of their hosts. Moreover, the lineages were classified into three distinct genetic groups based on the genetic distance, one from Aleurodicus (Aleurodicinae), one from Bemisia (Aleyrodinae), and another from Aleyrodes, Pealius, and Trialeurrodes (Aleyrodinae). Synonymous and nonsynonymous rate analyses, parity rule 2 plot analyses, neutrality plot analyses, and effective number of codons analyses supported the distinction of the three genetic groups. Our results indicated that Portiera from distant hosts exhibit distinct genomic contents, implying codivergence between hosts and their endosymbionts. This work will enhance our understanding of coevolution between hosts and their endosymbionts.

Maritime moving target imaging using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) demands high resolution and wide swath (HRWS). Using the variable pulse repetition interval (PRI), staggered SAR can achieve seamless HRWS imaging. The reconstruction should be performed since the variable PRI causes echo pulse loss and nonuniformly sampled signals in azimuth, both of which result in spectrum aliasing. The existing reconstruction methods are designed for stationary scenes and have achieved impressive results. However, for moving targets, these methods inevitably introduce reconstruction errors. The target motion coupled with non-uniform sampling aggravates the spectral aliasing and degrades the reconstruction performance. This phenomenon becomes more severe, particularly in scenes involving multiple moving targets, since the distinct motion parameter has its unique effect on spectrum aliasing, resulting in the overlapping of various aliasing effects. Consequently, it becomes difficult to reconstruct and separate the echoes of the multiple moving targets with high precision in staggered mode. To this end, motivated by deep learning, this paper proposes a novel Transformer-based algorithm to image multiple moving targets in a staggered SAR system. The reconstruction and the separation of the multiple moving targets are achieved through a proposed network named MosReFormer (Multiple moving target separation and reconstruction Transformer). Adopting a gated single-head Transformer network with convolution-augmented joint self-attention, the proposed MosReFormer network can mitigate the reconstruction errors and separate the signals of multiple moving targets simultaneously. Simulations and experiments on raw data show that the reconstructed and separated results are close to ideal imaging results which are sampled uniformly in azimuth with constant PRI, verifying the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

The spatiotemporal characteristics of ozone pollution and increased human health risks in Central China were investigated using a long time series of ozone concentrations from 2014 to 2020. We found a gradual increase in ozone pollution, with the highest concentrations observed in the northeastern region. The spatial distribution of population density showed distinct patterns, with the northeastern and east-central regions coinciding with areas of high ozone concentrations. The study found an overall increasing trend in MDA8 ozone concentrations, with a regional average increase of 3.5 (μg m−3) per year, corresponding to a 4.4% annual increase. We observed a significant clustering of areas at a higher risk of premature mortality associated with long-term ozone exposure, particularly in the northeastern region. Estimated premature mortality due to ozone pollution in Central China between 2014 and 2020 shows an increasing trend from 2014 to 2019 and a decreasing trend in 2020 due to the occurrence of extreme ozone pollution and the subsequent recovery of ozone concentrations after the closures due to COVID-19. Premature mortality due to ozone exposure is affected by both ozone levels and the exposed population, with high correlation coefficients exceeding 0.95. The high total population (more than 220 million per year) and increasing ozone levels exacerbate the problem of premature mortality due to ozone pollution. This study improves our understanding of the impact of ozone pollution on human health and emphasizes the dynamic nature of ozone pollution and its impacts on human health over time. It underscores the need for further study and comprehensive action to mitigate these health risks.

Southeast Asia plays a crucial role in global food production and trade, yet it grapples with challenges related to food security, regional stability, and security. Cultivated land is the material foundation for ensuring food production. With the development of society and the economy, people’s food consumption has undergone significant changes. This paper employs a comprehensive approach to analyze trends in food consumption, the cultivated land footprint, and associated land pressures in Southeast Asia over the period 1961–2019. The main findings are as follows: (1) Between 1961 and 2019, the total food consumption in Southeast Asia surged by 3.1 times. Notably, the proportion of livestock-based foods increased steadily from 6.62% in 1961 to 16.82% in 2019. (2) Due to advancements in agricultural productivity across Southeast Asia, the cultivated land footprint for food consumption only increased by 0.7 times, showcasing a diminishing demand for grain-cultivated land. (3) On the whole, the pressure of food consumption on cultivated land in Southeast Asia is on the decline, albeit with considerable variations among different countries. The Philippines is facing a relative undersupply, whereas Thailand has experienced the lowest cultivated land pressure. (4) Encouraging a shift towards a Mediterranean-style diet, aligned with existing dietary patterns, holds promise for reducing future pressures on cultivated land and promoting better health outcomes for the populace in Southeast Asia.

Motor Neuron Diseases (MND) are neurological disorders characterized by a loss of varying motor neurons resulting in decreased physical capabilities. Current research is focused on hindering disease progression by determining causes of motor neuron death. Metabolic malfunction has been proposed as a promising topic when targeting motor neuron loss. Alterations in metabolism have also been noted at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) and skeletal muscle tissue, emphasizing the importance of a cohesive system. Finding metabolism changes consistent throughout both neurons and skeletal muscle tissue could pose as a target for therapeutic intervention. This review will focus on metabolic deficits reported in MNDs and propose potential therapeutic targets for future intervention.

During the evolutionary phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers’ eating habits and spending behaviours have progressively shifted to the pursuit of the safer and healthier food products, such as organic food. Therefore, this study investigated the factors affecting Chinese buyers’ organic food continuous purchase intentions (CPI) during the post-pandemic era. To better adapt to the current consumption context in China, this study proposed a modified TPB framework (M-TPB), by replacing subjective norms with Chinese cultural variables, such as face consciousness and group conformity, and adding constructs of perceived value of organic food (PVOF), health consciousness, and the impact of COVID-19 (IOC). Convincingly, experimental results from a structural equation model analysis of 460 usable responses indicate that M-TPB has superior explanatory power (R2 = 65%) compared with the TPB model (R2 = 40%) for explaining organic food CPI during the post-pandemic period. The path analysis demonstrated that perceived behavioural control, attitude, face consciousness, group conformity, health consciousness, IOC, and PVOF had substantial positive effects on CPI, while subjective norms were not significantly related. Moreover, IOC exhibited a positive and significant relationship with health consciousness and PVOF. These findings can be useful for stakeholders in the Chinese organic food industry to generate timely promoting strategies during the post-pandemic period.

Mesona chinensis polysaccharide (MCP), a common thickener, stabilizer and gelling agent in food and pharmaceuticals, also has antioxidant, immunomodulatory and hypoglycemic properties. Whey protein isolate (WPI)-MCP conjugate was prepared and used as a stabilizer for O/W emulsion in this study. FT-IR and surface hydrophobicity results showed there could exist interactions between -COO- in MCP and -NH3+ in WPI, and hydrogen bonding may be involved in the covalent binding process. The red-shifted peaks in the FT-IR spectra suggested the formation of WPI-MCP conjugate, and MCP may be bound to the hydrophobic area of WPI with decreasing surface hydrophobicity. According to chemical bond measurement, hydrophobic interaction, hydrogen bond and disulfide bond played the main role in the formation process of WPI-MCP conjugate. According to morphological analysis, the O/W emulsion formed by WPI-MCP had a larger size than the emulsion formed by WPI. The conjugation of MCP with WPI improved the apparent viscosity and gel structure of emulsions, which was concentration-dependent. The oxidative stability of the WPI-MCP emulsion was higher than that of the WPI emulsion. However, the protection effect of WPI-MCP emulsion on β-carotene still needs to be further improved.

The genus Microtendipes Kieffer (Diptera: Chironomidae) has a nearly worldwide distribution, comprising more than 60 species, which are further divided into two species groups based on larval stage. However, species delimitation and identification among the adults of this genus are controversial and uncertain. For instance, previous studies have provided many synonymies based on conspecific color pattern variations in Microtendipes species. Here, we used DNA barcode data to address Microtendipes species delimitation as well as to test whether color pattern variations can be diagnostic characters for interspecific identification. The 151 DNA barcodes used, 51 of which were contributed by our laboratory, represent 21 morphospecies. Species with specific color patterns could be accurately separated based on DNA barcodes. Consequently, the color patterns of adult males could be important diagnostic characters. The average intraspecific and interspecific sequence divergences were 2.8% and 12.5%, respectively, and several species exhibited deep intraspecific divergences higher than 5%. Molecular operational taxonomic units (OTUs) ranged from 21 to 73, based on methods including phylogenetic trees, the assemble species by automatic partitioning method, the Poisson tree process (PTP), and the general mixed Yule-coalescent (GMYC) method. As a result of these analyses, five new species were recognized (M. baishanzuensis sp. nov., M. bimaculatus sp. nov., M. nigrithorax sp. nov., M. robustus sp. nov., and M. wuyiensis sp. nov.).

To build the equivalent relationship of the mechanical behavior of ring nets under static punching and dynamic impact conditions, a series of tests with different parameters were conducted. The equivalent coefficients of breaking force, breaking displacement, and net energy dissipation were defined to describe the potential relationship. Besides, sensitivity analyses were made. The results showed that, with the increase of impact velocity, the equivalent coefficients of breaking force decreased as a power function, and the equivalent coefficients of breaking displacement and net energy dissipation both decreased linearly. As the ring diameter increased, the equivalent coefficients of breaking force increased linearly, but the equivalent coefficients of breaking displacement and net energy dissipation both decreased linearly. With the increase of the aspect ratio of ring net, the equivalent coefficients of breaking force and breaking displacement decreased linearly and exponentially, respectively, and the equivalent coefficients of net energy dissipation decreased as a power function. With the increase of the ratio of loading head area to ring net area, the equivalent coefficients of breaking force increased as a power function, and the equivalent coefficients of breaking displacement and net energy dissipation decreased and increased linearly, respectively. The influence degrees of these parameters are as follows: impact velocity > ring diameter > aspect ratio of ring net > ratio of loading area to ring net area. Based on these four parameters, the equivalent coefficient formulas of static punching and dynamic impact were established.

As food components, polysaccharides, starch, protein, pectin, and fibre are often used in the food industry due to their particular functional properties, as well as their efficient, safe, and green characteristics [...]

Urban ground collapse is a common geological disaster characterized by its invisible nature, particularly in China, and results in significant socioeconomic losses and even loss of life. Underground pipeline breakage is the most common factor leading to urban ground collapses. Hence, it is essential to study how different types of pipeline breakages initiate the collapse mechanism. In this study, an indoor model test was conducted to directly observe the process of collapse due to broken pipe leakage. A broken pipe was put into a model box and tested by an experimental device. The results showed that among the different pipeline breakage types, vertical damage had the greatest influence on the degree of cavity development and ground collapse. Similarities were observed in the patterns of cavity evolution development and the extent of ground collapse as well, further revealing the significance of the cavity evolution process in predicting ground collapses.

Currently, modularization, low complexity, and high performance are the three directions that high-power power supplies are gradually moving toward. Under the premise of determining the objective conditions such as operating environment and material technology, a significant task in power supply reliability design is to optimize the power supply’s structure, topology, and mode of operation. In this paper, we analyze the reliability design of parallel module redundancy in detail and design the overall structure of the power supply. To further improve the reliability of the power supply, methods for power reliability design at the leg level and component level are proposed. This paper verifies the correctness of the design through simulation and develops a N + 1 modular redundant power supply according to the design scheme. The simulation experiment verifies the consistency of the design scheme and parameters.

Chitin is a natural renewable and useful biopolymer limited by its insolubility; chemical derivatization can enhance the solubility and bioactivity of chitin. The purpose of this study was to synthesize novel water-soluble chitin derivatives, sulfo-chitin (SCT) and sulfopropyl-chitin (SPCT), as antioxidant and antifungal agents. The target derivatives were characterized by means of elemental analysis, FTIR, 13C NMR, TGA and XRD. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity of the chitin derivatives was estimated by free radical scavenging ability (against DPPH-radical, hydroxyl-radical and superoxide-radical) and ferric reducing power. In addition, inhibitory effects against four fungi were also tested. The findings show that antioxidant abilities and antifungal properties were in order of SPCT > SCT > CT. On the basis of the results obtained, we confirmed that the introduction of sulfonated groups on the CT backbone would help improve the antioxidant and antifungal activity of CT. Moreover, its efficacy as an antioxidant and antifungal agent increased as the chain length of the substituents increased. This derivatization strategy might provide a feasible way to broaden the utilization of chitin. It is of great significance to minimize waste and realize the high-value utilization of aquatic product wastes.

Vibrio alginolyticus is a common opportunistic pathogen of fish, shrimp, and shellfish, and many diseases it causes can result in severe economic losses in the aquaculture industry. Causing host disease was confirmed by several virulence factors of V. alginolyticus. To date, there have been no reports on the effect of the pstS gene on its virulence regulation of V. alginolyticus. The virulence mechanism of target genes regulating V. alginolyticus is worthy of further study. Previous studies found that Fructus schisandrae (30 mg/mL) inhibited the growth of V. alginolyticus ND-01 (OD600 = 0.5) for 4 h, while the expressions of pstS and pstB were significantly affected by F. schisandrae stress. So, we speculated that pstS and pstB might be the virulence genes of V. alginolyticus, which were stably silenced by RNAi to construct the silencing strains pstS-RNAi and pstB-RNAi, respectively. After the expression of pstS or pstB gene was inhibited, the adhesion capacity and biofilm formation of V. alginolyticus were significantly down-regulated. The chemotaxis and biofilm formation ability of pstS-RNAi was reduced by 33.33% and 68.13% compared with the wild-type strain, respectively. Sequence alignment and homology analysis showed that pstS was highly conserved, which suggested that pstS played a vital role in the secretion system of V. alginolyticus. The pstS-RNAi with the highest silencing efficiency was selected for transcriptome sequencing. The Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs) and GO terms were mapped to the reference genome of V. alginolyticus, including 1055 up-regulated genes and 1134 down-regulated genes. The functions of the DEGs were analyzed by GO and categorized into different enriched functional groups, such as ribosome synthesis, organelles, biosynthesis, pathogenesis, and secretion. These DEGs were then mapped to the reference KEGG pathways of V. alginolyticus and enriched in commonalities in the metabolic, ribosomal, and bacterial secretion pathways. Therefore, pstS and pstB could regulate the bacterial virulence of V. alginolyticus by affecting its adhesion, biofilm formation ability, and motility. Understanding the relationship between the expressions of pstS and pstB with bacterial virulence could provide new perspectives to prevent bacterial diseases.

Non-keyhole friction stir welding (N-KFSW) is a technique that can fabricate a welding joint without a keyhole through a one-time welding process. The Al–Mg–Si alloy was chosen as a research object, and the N-KFSW technique was investigated by numerical and experimental methods. Firstly, the sleeve bottoms of the N-KFSW welding tool system were innovatively optimized in this study. The optimal sleeve bottom with an 80° angle between the spiral groove and the sleeve inner side wall allowed avoiding the incomplete root penetration defect at the bottom of the stir zone (SZ), which was verified by numerical results and the C-shaped line height. Then, using a 3 mm-thick aluminum alloy as the experimental material, the material flow and joint formation characteristics and mechanical properties at 110, 150 and 190 mm/min welding speeds were studied and compared. The results showed that the SZ presented a drum shape due to the action of the clamping ring and the threads on the side wall of the sleeve. The SZ width decreased from 7.17 to 6.91 mm due to the decreased heat input. From 70 to 210 mm/min welding speed, the maximum tensile strength of the joint was 250 MPa at 190 mm/min, and the joint with relatively higher strength fractured at the heat-affected zone.

The ability of different germplasm to adapt to a saline–alkali environment is critical to learning about the tolerance mechanism of saline–alkali stress in plants. Flax is an important oil and fiber crop in many countries. However, its molecular tolerance mechanism under saline stress is still not clear. In this study, we studied morphological, physiological characteristics, and gene expression variation in the root and leaf in oil and fiber flax types under saline stress, respectively. Abundant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) induced by saline stress, tissue/organ specificity, and different genotypes involved in plant hormones synthesis and metabolism and transcription factors and epigenetic modifications were detected. The present report provides useful information about the mechanism of flax response to saline stress and could lead to the future elucidation of the specific functions of these genes and help to breed suitable flax varieties for saline/alkaline soil conditions.

In recent years, people have become increasingly interested in bioactive molecules in plants that are beneficial to human health, and melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) has attracted research attention due to its excellent performance. In this study, the content of melatonin in oilseeds was investigated. From the results, it was found that sesame is an important natural food source of melatonin intake. Furthermore, the variation in melatonin content was explored in a natural sesame population, and its contents varied from 0.04 to 298.62 ng g−1. Through a genome-wide association study (GWAS), a candidate gene SiWRKY67 was screened that regulates melatonin content in sesame. The sesame hairy root transformation system was developed and used to verify this gene, and it was found that the overexpression of SiWRKY67 could positively promote the melatonin content in the hairy roots. Our results provide not only a foundation for understanding the genetic structure of melatonin content in sesame seeds but also a reference for the marker-assisted breeding of sesame varieties with high melatonin content.

High-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSC), the most common and aggressive histological type of ovarian cancer, remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among females. It is important to develop novel drugs to improve the therapeutic outcomes of HGSC patients, thereby reducing their mortality. Symmetry is one of the most important properties of the biological network, which determines the stability of a biological system. As aberrant gene expression is a critical symmetry-breaking event that perturbs the stability of biological networks and triggers tumor progression, we aim in this study to discover new candidate drugs and predict their targets for HGSC therapy based on differentially expressed genes involved in HGSC pathogenesis. Firstly, 98 up-regulated genes and 108 down-regulated genes were identified from three independent transcriptome datasets. Then, the small-molecule compounds PHA-793887, pidorubicine and lestaurtinib, which target cell-cycle-related processes, were identified as novel candidate drugs for HGSC treatment by adopting the connectivity map (CMap)-based drug repositioning approach. Furthermore, through a topological analysis of the protein–protein interaction network, cell cycle regulators CDK1, TOP2A and AURKA were identified as bottleneck nodes, and their expression patterns were validated at the mRNA and protein expression levels. Moreover, the results of molecular docking analysis showed that PHA-793887, pidorubicine and lestaurtinib had a strong binding affinity for CDK1, TOP2A and AURKA, respectively. Therefore, our study repositioned PHA-793887, pidorubicine and lestaurtinib, which can inhibit cell cycle regulators, as novel agents for HGSC treatment, thereby helping to optimize the therapeutic strategy for HGSC.

The Rheotanytarsus muscicola species group is generally considered to be a taxonomically difficult group of non-biting midges (Diptera: Chironomidae). In this study, we review the R. muscicola species group based on the adult males from China using morphology and DNA barcodes. Rheotanytarsus ferringtoni Lin & Yao sp. n. is described and figured, and four species (Rheotanytarsus falcipedius Kyerematen, Andersen & Sæther, 2000; Rheotanytarsus fluminis Kawai & Sasa, 1985; Rheotanytarsus illiesi Siebert, 1979; and Rheotanytarsus photophilus Goetghebuer, 1921) new to China are redescribed, figured and discussed. An updated key to known adult males of the R. muscicola species group is presented. Our study shows concordance between morphological species concepts and DNA barcodes.

The transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1) plays a key role in cellular iron uptake through its interaction with iron-bound Tf. TfR1 is often reported to be overexpressed in malignant cells, and this increase may be associated with poor prognosis in different types of cancer, which makes it an attractive target for antitumor therapy. The marine natural product Muriceidine A is a potent anticancer agent reported in our previous work. In this study, we designed and synthesized a series of Muriceidine A derivatives and described the systematic investigation into their cytotoxic activities against four tumor cells. Most of the derivatives showed stronger antitumor activity and we found that the introduction of electron-donating groups at position C-2 of unsaturated piperidine was beneficial to anticancer activity and unsaturated piperidine was responsible for the antiproliferative activity. Among these compounds, 12b (methyl at position C-2 of unsaturated piperidine) exhibited the strongest cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-231 cells. Further pharmacological research showed that 12b bound to Transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1) directly caused iron deprivation and ROS imbalance along with the degradations of several oncoproteins, especially FGFR1, through the proteasome pathway; thus, inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Our findings indicate that 12b is a promising lead compound targeting TfR1 for triple negative breast cancer.

Alkaline stress is harmful to plant growth and development, it would induce endogenic ionic concentration and osmotic pressure, trigger relevant genes expression with transcription factor binding, signal transduction and hormone synthesis. In this study, we selected “Dongdao-4”, a salt-alkali stress tolerance rice cultivar, which was subjected to extreme high pH (pH = 11.5) alkaline stress at the trefoil stage for 7 days. Using the RNA-seq technology, we analyzed variations in genes expressed between the fourth and the seventh day of treatment. The number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was 3804, 2534, 207 and 3276 for fourth day-stress vs. fourth day-control, seventh day-stress vs. seventh day-control, seventh day-control vs. fourth day-control and seventh day-stress vs. fourth day-stress, respectively. Gene ontology (GO) results revealed that DEGs were mainly enriched in apoptotic process, electron carrier activity, receptor activity, molecular transducer activity. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) results implied that DEGs were mainly enriched in metabolic pathways, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. In particular, DEGs were distributed in genes related to the transcription factor, leucine rich repeats (LRRs) and hormones. We also report here for the first-time identification of 125 genes specifically expressed during the alkaline stress. Our results provided important information assisting with the exploration of the molecular mechanisms of rice plants subjected to high pH condition and can facilitate rice abiotic tolerance breeding.

Dimethoate (DT) is an environmental pollutant widely used in agricultural fields and home gardens. Studies have shown that exposure to DT causes reproductive defects in both male and female animals. However, the effects of DT exposure on oocyte maturation and the approach to counteract it are not yet known. Here, we investigated the toxicity of DT on porcine oocyte maturation and the protective effects of melatonin (MT) on DT-exposed oocytes. DT exposure with 1.5 mM partially inhibited cumulus cell expansion and significantly reduced the rate of first polar body extrusion (pb1) during oocyte maturation. Parthenogenetically activated embryos derived from DT-exposed oocytes could not develop to the 2-cell and blastocyst stage. Furthermore, DT exposure led to a significant increase in the rates of misaligned chromosomes, disorganized spindles, and abnormal actin assembly. DT exposure severely disrupted the distribution patterns of mitochondria in oocytes but did not change the subcellular localizations of cortical granules. Importantly, MT supplementation rescued the meiotic and developmental defects of DT-exposed oocytes through repressing the generation of excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) and autophagy, and DNA damage accumulation. These results demonstrate that melatonin protects against meiotic defects induced by DT during porcine oocyte maturation.

To study the accumulation characteristics of rice seeds with different moisture content, an accurate model of rice seeds was established by 3D scanning technology. The accumulation state of rice seeds by the “point source” accumulation method was analyzed by proportioning and measuring the simulation parameters with different moisture content. The accumulation process was simulated at 10.23%, 14.09%, 17.85%, 21.77%, 26.41% and 29.22% moisture content, respectively. The velocity and force state of the seeds were visually analyzed by using the accumulation process with a moisture content of 29.22%. The accumulation process was divided into four stages according to the velocity characteristics of the seeds. The average force and kinetic energy of the rice seeds outside the cylinder were obtained, and the average force of the rice seeds outside the cylinder was proved to be the direct cause of the velocity change during the accumulation process. The mechanical characteristics of rice seeds in the quasi-static accumulation stage were partitioned and systematically analyzed. The force distribution of the “central depression” structure of rice seeds with a moisture content of 10.23%, 14.09% and 17.85% on the horizontal surface appeared. The higher the moisture content of rice seeds, the more likely the typical “circular” force structure appeared, and the more uniformly the force on the horizontal surface was distributed in the circumference direction.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has significantly increased consumers’ demands for online groceries, as well as healthy, safe, and better-quality food products. In China, certified food products are commonly perceived as safe and good-quality products. Therefore, this study investigated potential factors that influenced Chinese consumers’ online shopping intentions toward certified food during the COVID-19 crisis. An integrated model was proposed by combining the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) with the impact of COVID-19 (IOC). The empirical results of structural equation modelling analysis with 491 usable responses revealed that the proposed model showed a good model fit and satisfactory explanatory power (R2 = 53%) regarding consumers’ certified online food shopping intentions during the pandemic. The path analysis demonstrated that attitude, perceived behavioural control, perceived usefulness (PU), and IOC significantly affected consumers’ online purchase intentions of certified food. PU and perceived ease of use (PEOU) were important drivers of attitudes, and PEOU significantly influenced PU. Moreover, the IOC was significantly related to most factors, except subjective norms. These findings can be useful for detecting changes in consumer behaviour, and providing suitable strategic implications for stakeholders in the Chinese certified food sector during the current and post-pandemic eras.

Hydrogenated Nitrile Rubber (HNBR) is widely used in aerospace, petroleum exploration and other fields because of its excellent performances. However, there remains a challenge of balancing the oil resistance and the low temperature resistance for HNBR. In this work, a series of grafted carboxyl nitrile rubber (XNBR) was prepared by the esterification reaction between active functional groups (–COOH) of XNBR and alkanols of different molecular chain lengths (C8H17OH, C12H25OH, C16H33OH, C18H37OH) or Methoxypolyethylene glycols (MPEG) of different molecular weights (Mn = 350, 750, 1000). The structure and low temperature resistance of as-obtained grafted polymers were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), 1H-NMR and Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It was found that the glass transition temperatures (Tg) of grafted XNBR were significantly decreased. MPEG grafted polymers with better low temperature resistance were then selected for hydrogenation. As-prepared hydrogenated XNBR grafted with MPEG-1000 (HXNBR-g-1000) showed the lowest Tg of −29.8 °C and the best low temperature resistance. This work provides a novel and simple preparation method for low temperature resistant HNBR, which might be used potentially in extremely cold environments.

The fluctuation effect of corn grain often occurs during the unloading stage. To accurately explore the periodic pulsation characteristics of corn grain during the unloading stage, a discrete model of corn grain was established, and the effectiveness of the discrete element method in simulating the corn grain unloading stage was verified by a 3D laser scanner and the “spherical particle filling method”. The grain cylinder was divided into six areas, and the periodic pulsation characteristics at different heights were explored through simulation tests. The results showed that the faster the average speed of corn grain changes in unit time, the more significant the periodic pulsation characteristics were as the height of grain unloading increased. The corn grain pulsateon in the grain cylinder exhibited gradual upward transmission and gradual amplification in the process of transmission. The average velocity decreased with increasing height. The direct cause of pulsation was the variation in the average stress between grain layers. Simulation analysis of grain unloading for different half cone angles of the grain cylinder was carried out. The change in corn grain average velocity over time in the area below 20 mm of the upper free surface was extracted. The results showed that the speed of the top corn grain increased with increasing the half cone angle, and the periodic pulsation phenomenon became more obvious with increasing the half cone angle at half cone angles of 30–65°. A half cone angle of 65–70° marked the critical state of corn grain flow changing from funnel flow to overall flow in the grain cylinder. This study provides a method for studying the periodic pulsation characteristics of different crops during the grain unloading stage and provides a technical reference for the safe design of grain unloading equipment.

In this study, the hydrothermal method was used to synthesize MIL-101(Cr), and activated carbon (AC) with different content was incorporated in to MIL-101(Cr), thereby obtaining AC-MIL-101(Cr) composite material with a huge specific surface area. The physical properties of MIL-101(Cr) and AC-MIL-101(Cr) were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), nitrogen adsorption and desorption and specific surface area testing, and ethanol vapor adsorption performance testing. The results show that with the increase of activated carbon content, the thermal stability of AC-MIL-101(Cr) is improved. Compared with the pure sample, the BET specific surface area and pore volume of AC-MIL-101(Cr) have increased. In the relative pressure range of 0–0.4, the saturated adsorption capacity of AC-MIL-101(Cr) to ethanol vapor decreases slightly. It is lower than MIL-101(Cr), but its adsorption rate is improved. Therefore, AC-MIL-101(Cr)/ethanol vapor has a good application prospect in adsorption refrigeration systems. The exploration of AC-MIL-101(Cr) composite materials in this paper provides a reference for the future application of carbon-based/MOFS composite adsorbent/ethanol vapor working fluid in adsorption refrigeration.

It is difficult to determine the coefficient of restitution accurately due to the small size, light weight, and complex influencing factors of rice grain. In the study, the experimental principle of restitution coefficient was described by the impact method, and the restitution coefficients of four typical rice varieties in Northeast China were measured. According to the orthogonal experiment, the primary and secondary factors affecting the restitution coefficient of rice grain were collision material, spring compression (initial collision velocity), moisture content, and rice variety. A single factor test was carried out for the significant factors, and the results showed that: The restitution coefficient of rice grain to a Q235 steel plate, plexiglass plate, seed plate, and rubber plate decreased in turn, and the restitution coefficient gradually decreased with the increase of spring compression (initial collision velocity), and with the increase of water content. The restitution coefficient was obtained by a bench test and simulation test, and the results were 0.429 and 0.423, respectively. The reason for the error was discussed and analyzed, which effectively verified the validity of the measurement of the restitution coefficient of small grain size. This study provides a method for the determination of the restitution coefficient of small grain, and provides a reference for the optimization design of threshing and a cleaning device of the combine harvester and high-speed precision seeder.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has strongly influenced consumers’ habits and behaviours, creating a more sustainable and healthier era of consumption. Hence, there is a potential for further expanding the green food sector in China. The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) is one widely used framework to explain consumers’ food choices. Considering consumers’ internal norms, their perceptions of green food attributes, and the shifting consumer behaviour, our study has extended the TPB framework (E-TPB) by adding constructs of moral attitude, health consciousness, and the impact of COVID-19 (IOC). The results of structural equation modelling among 360 functional samples revealed that the E-TPB model has a superior explanatory and predictive power, compared with the original TPB model regarding Chinese consumers’ green food buying intentions in the current and post-pandemic periods. The path analysis demonstrated that attitude, perceived behavioural control, moral attitude, health consciousness, and IOC have significant positive effects on green food purchase intentions. However, the association between subjective norm and purchase intention varies within the TPB and E-TPB models, which showed a non-significant impact in E-TPB. These findings can generate more suitable managerial implications to promote green food consumption in China during the current and post-pandemic periods.

To obtain a stabilizer for an underactuated surface vessel with disturbances, an L2-gain design is proposed. Surge, sway, and yaw motions are considered in the dynamics of a surface ship. To ob-tain a robust adaptive controller, a diffeomorphism transformation and the Lyapunov function are employed in controller design. Two auxiliary controllers are introduced for an equivalent sys-tem after the diffeomorphism transformation. Different from the commonly used disturbance ob-server-based approach, the L2-gain design is used to suppress random uncertain disturbances in ship dynamics. To evaluate the controller performance in suppressing disturbances, two error sig-nals are defined in which the variables to be stabilized are incorporated. Both time-invariant dis-continuous and continuous feedback laws are proposed to obtain the control system. Stability analysis and simulation results demonstrate the validity of the controllers proposed. A comparison with a sliding mode controller is performed, and the results prove the advantage of the proposed controller in terms of faster convergence rate and chattering avoidance.

The longitudinal axial flow threshing cylinder of the full feeding rice combine harvester is widely used in China and works with violent vibration. To explore the source of the excitation affecting the vibration and to reduce the vibration, a finite element modal analysis and multipoint input and multipoint output (MIMO) modal test were performed to solve the natural vibration characteristics. By analyzing the excitation frequency, we concluded that the main reason for the resonance was the coupling between the rotation frequency of the threshing cylinder and the first natural frequency. To avoid the influence of resonance and realize a lightweight design, we proposed a combination of size optimization and topology optimization. The second rotation orthogonal combination test was designed to analyze the first natural frequency, maximum stress, and maximum deformation of the threshing cylinder, and the threshing cylinder was reconstructed as a central symmetrical structure to balance the rotational inertia force. The field experiment results showed that the amplitudes of the optimized threshing cylinder were significantly lower than those of the original threshing cylinder. This study provides ideas for solving the vibration characteristics of rotating parts and provides an important reference for the design of vibration reduction and weight reduction of key parts in the field of agricultural machinery.

Metastasis accounts for the vast majority of deaths in breast cancer, and novel and effective treatments to inhibit cancer metastasis remain urgently developed. The expression level of heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) in invasive breast cancer tissue is higher than in adjacent non-cancerous tissue. In the present study, we investigated the inhibitory effect of penisuloxazin A (PNSA), a novel C- terminal inhibitor of HSP90, on metastasis of breast cancer cells and related mechanism in vitro. We found that PNSA obviously affected adhesion, migration, and invasion of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) MDA-MB-231 cells and Trastuzumab-resistant JIMT-1 cells. Furthermore, PNSA was capable of reversing epithelial–mesenchymal transformation (EMT) of MDA-MB-231 cells with change of cell morphology. PNSA increases E-cadherin expression followed by decreasing amounts of N-cadherin, vimentin, and matrix metalloproteinases9 (MMP9) and proteolytic activity of matrix metalloproteinases2 (MMP2) and MMP9. Comparatively, the N-terminal inhibitor of HSP90 17-allyl-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) had no effect on EMT of MDA-MB-231 cells. PNSA was uncovered to reduce the stability of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) proteins and thereby inhibiting their downstream signaling transductions by inhibition of HSP90. In addition, PNSA reduced the expression of programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) to promote natural killer (NK) cells to kill breast cancer cells with a dose far less than that of cytotoxicity to NK cell itself, implying the potential of PNSA to enhance immune surveillance against metastasis in vivo. All these results indicate that PNSA is a promising anti-metastasis agent worthy of being studied in the future.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a known food contaminant that affects a wide range of food and agricultural products. The presence of this fungal metabolite in foods poses a threat to human health. Therefore, various detection and quantification methods have been developed to determine its presence in foods. Herein, we describe a rapid and ultrasensitive tracer-based fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) for the detection of OTA in rice samples. Four fluorescent tracers OTA-fluorescein thiocarbamoyl ethylenediamine (EDF), OTA-fluorescein thiocarbamoyl butane diamine (BDF), OTA-amino-methyl fluorescein (AMF), and OTA-fluorescein thiocarbamoyl hexame (HDF) with fluorescence polarization values (δFP = FPbind-FPfree) of 5, 100, 207, and 80 mP, respectively, were synthesized. The tracer with the highest δFP value (OTA-AMF) was selected and further optimized for the development of an ultrasensitive FPIA with a detection range of 0.03–0.78 ng/mL. A mean recovery of 70.0% to 110.0% was obtained from spiked rice samples with a relative standard deviation of equal to or less than 20%. Good correlations (r2 = 0.9966) were observed between OTA levels in contaminated rice samples obtained by the FPIA method and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as a reference method. The rapidity of the method was confirmed by analyzing ten rice samples that were analyzed within 25 min, on average. The sensitivity, accuracy, and rapidity of the method show that it is suitable for screening and quantification of OTA in food samples without the cumbersome pre-analytical steps required in other mycotoxin detection methods.

An MIL-101(Cr) powder material was successfully prepared using the hydrothermal synthesis method, and then the original MIL-101(Cr) was combined with different mass fractions of CaCl2 using the immersion method to obtain a MIL-101(Cr)/CaCl2 composite material. The physical properties of the adsorbent were determined by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), an N2 adsorption desorption isotherm test, and thermogravimetric analysis (TG). The water vapor adsorption performance of the metal-organic frameworks MOFs was tested with a gravimetric water vapor adsorption instrument to analyze its water vapor adsorption mechanism. Based on the SIMULINK platform in the MATLAB software, a simulation model of the coefficient of performance (COP) and cooling capacity of the adsorption refrigeration system was established, and the variation trends of the COP and cooling capacity of the adsorption refrigeration system under different evaporation/condensation/adsorption/desorption temperatures was theoretically studied. MIL101-(Cr)/CaCl2-20% was selected as the adsorption material in the adsorption refrigeration system through the physical characterization of composite materials with different CaCl2 concentrations by means of adsorption water vapor test experiments. A closed adsorption system performance test device was built based on the liquid level method. The cooling power per unit and adsorbent mass (COP and SCP) of the system were tested at different evaporation temperatures (288 K/293 K/298 K); the adsorption temperature was 298 K, the condensation temperature was 308 K, and the desorption temperature was 353 K. The experimental results showed that COP and SCP increased with the increase in the evaporation temperature. When the evaporation temperature was 298 K, the level of COP was 0.172, and the level of SCP was 136.9 W/kg. The COP and SCP of the system were tested at different adsorption temperatures (293 K/298 K/303 K); the evaporation temperature was 288 K, the condensation temperature was 308 K, and the desorption temperature was 353 K. The experimental results showed that the levels of COP and SCP decreased with the increase in the adsorption temperature. When the adsorption temperature was 293 K, the level of COP was 0.18, and the level of SCP was 142.4 W/kg.

Air source heat pumps (ASHPs) are widely recognized as energy-saving and environmentally friendly heating and air-conditioning equipment with broad applications. However, when conventional ASHPs are operated at a low ambient temperature, they suffer from problems such as high discharge temperature and low heating efficiency. To address these problems, this study designed a new type of dual evaporator combined with a compressor casing thermal storage heat pump system (DE-CCTS) on the basis of a low-temperature air source heat pump water heater with enhanced vapor injection (EVI). The proposed DE-CCTS used thermal storage phase change material (PCM), which was filled in the secondary evaporator (the thermal storage heat exchanger), to recover the waste heat of the compressor casing. Unlike that in the original system under different ambient temperatures, the suction temperature increased by 0.1–1 °C, the discharge temperature decreased by 0.1–0.5 °C, and the coefficient of performance (COP) of DE-CCTS increased by 0.85–4.72% under the proposed system. These effects were especially evident at low temperatures.