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Cancer, a complex group of heterogeneous diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth and the capability to invade nearby tissues and organs, represents a severe threat to public health worldwide. Over 100 chemotherapeutics have been approved for clinical cancer therapy, but the goal of eradicating cancer remains elusive mainly due to the continuous emergency of drug resistance, necessitating the development of novel anticancer chemotherapeutics. Indoles and carbazoles, contain a benzo[b]pyrrole moiety, are ubiquitous in nature and possess remarkable structural, and anticancer mechanistic diversity, whereas sulfonamides demonstrated potent anticancer efficacy through multiple modes of action, inclusive of apoptosis induction, autophagy regulation, and cell cycle disruption. Accordingly, indole/carbazole and sulfonamide constitute valuable anticancer pharmacophores, and rational hybridization of sulfonamide and indole/carbazole holds a significant functionality in discovery of new anticancer agents. In this review, we summed up the recent advances of sulfonamide-indole/carbazole hybrids with anticancer potential and elucidated the structure-activity relationships as well as mechanisms of action, covering articles published from 2020 onwards, to pave the way for developing more effective anticancer candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The molecular mechanism of sterility in cattleyak is still unresolved. The related factors of infertility in cattleyak were studied by tissue section, SERPINA5 gene cloning and bioinformatics technology. Tissue sections of the epididymis showed poorly structured and disorganized epithelial cells in the corpus of the epididymis compared to the caput of the epididymis, while in the cauda part of the epididymis, the extra basal smooth muscle was thinner, the surface of the epithelial lumen was discontinuous and the epithelium was markedly degenerated. The results of gene cloning showed that the coding sequence (CDS) region of the SERPINA5 gene in cattleyak was 1215 bp in length, encoding a total of 404 amino acids, of which the isoleucine content was the highest, accounting for a total of 49 amino acids (12.1%). The results of real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qPCR) showed that the expression of the SERPINA5 gene in the epididymis caput in cattleyak was significantly higher than that in the corpus and cauda (P < 0.05), but there were no significant differences between the corpus and cauda. In the current study, histological and bioinformatics analysis, physicochemical properties, and the expression analysis of the SERPINA5 gene in different regions of the epididymis in cattleyak were carried out to explore the biological complications of cattleyak infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have demonstrated that incorporating lexical information into characters can effectively improve the performance of Chinese Named Entity Recognition (CNER). However, we argue that previous studies have not extensively explored the interactive relationship between characters and lexical information, and have only used the lexical information to enhance character-level representation. To address this limitation, we propose an interactive fusion approach that integrates characters and lexical information for CNER. Specifically, we first design graph attention networks to initially fuse character and lexical information within an interactive graph structure. Additionally, by introducing methods such as feedforward neural networks, residual connections, and layer normalization, the fusion effect of the graph attention network is further enhanced. Finally, concatenating and reducing dimensionality of character feature vectors and lexical feature vectors to achieve secondary fusion, thereby obtaining a more comprehensive feature representation. Experimental results on multiple datasets demonstrate that our proposed model outperforms other models that fuse lexical information. Particularly, on the CCKS2020 and Ontonotes datasets, our model achieves higher F1 scores than previous state-of-the-art models. The code is available via the link: https://github.com/wangye0523/The-interactive-fusion-of-characters-and-lexical-information-for-Chinese-named-entity-recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the dihydrate–hemihydrate recrystallization method was employed to produce β-hemihydrate gypsum. The effects of thermodynamic conditions such as temperature, sulfuric acid concentration, and phosphoric acid concentration on the removal of F and P impurities were investigated. Kinetic studies revealed that the throughflow impeller, when compared to the conventional impeller, demonstrates a higher removal rate for soluble phosphorus, while having little impact on soluble fluorine. This study contributes to the utilization of PG resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-tail distribution is a difficult challenge for knowledge graph embedding. We expect to solve the problem by complementing the information through the neighbor aggregation mechanism of GCN. However, the GCN method and its derivations are unable to learn the representation of edges. To address this problem, we propose RCGCN-TE, Relation Correlations-aware Graph Convolutional Network with Text-Enhanced for knowledge graph embedding, which is the first effort to enable GCN to learn the representation of relations directly. First, the pre-trained language model is used to extract semantic information. Then, the relation correlation graph is constructed by defining the relation relevance function based on the co-occurrence pattern and semantic similarity of relations. Finally, two GCNS are designed to learn entities and relations respectively. Experimental results on tasks such as triple classification and link prediction are better than the baseline. For example, Hits@10, Hits@3, and Hits@1 improved by 8.23 % , 37.49 % , and 46.94 % , respectively, on the entity prediction task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Realizing an efficient turnover frequency in the acidic oxygen evolution reaction by modifying the reaction configuration is crucial in designing high-performance single-atom catalysts. Here, we report a "single atom–double site" concept, which involves an activatable inert manganese atom redox chemistry in a single-atom Ru-Mn dual-site platform with tunnel Ni ions as the trigger. In contrast to conventional single-atom catalysts, the proposed configuration allows direct intramolecular oxygen coupling driven by the Ni ions intercalation effect, bypassing the secondary deprotonation step instead of the kinetically sluggish adsorbate evolution mechanism. The strong bonding of Ni ions activates the inert manganese terminal groups and inhibits the cross-site disproportionation process inherent in the Mn scaffolding, which is crucial to ensure the dual-site platform. As a result, the single-atom Ru-Ni-Mn octahedral molecular sieves catalyst delivers a low overpotential, adequate mass activity and good stability. Realizing an efficient turnover frequency by modifying the reaction configuration is crucial in designing single-atom catalysts. Here, authors report a "single atom–double site" concept, which involves activating inert atom redox chemistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fritillaria cirrhosa, an endangered medicinal plant in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is facing resource scarcity. Artificial cultivation has been employed to address this issue, but problems related to continuous cultivation hinder successful transplantation. Imbalanced microbial communities are considered a potential cause, yet the overall changes in the microbial community under continuous cropping systems remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effects of varying durations of continuous cropping on the bacterial and fungal communities, as well as enzymatic activities, in the rhizospheric soil of F. cirrhosa. Our findings revealed that continuous cropping of F. cirrhosa resulted in soil acidification, nutrient imbalances, and increased enzyme activity. Specifically, after 10 years of continuous cropping, there was a notable shift in the abundance and diversity (e.g., Chao1 index) of soil bacteria and fungi. Moreover, microbial composition analyses revealed a significant accumulation of harmful microorganisms associated with soil-borne diseases (e.g., Luteimonas, Parastagonospora, Pseudogymnoascus) in successively cropped soils, in contrast to the significant reduction of beneficial microorganisms (e.g., Sphingomonas, Lysobacter, Cladosporium) that promote plant growth and development and protect against diseases such as Fusarium sp.These changes led to decreased connectivity and stability within the soil microbial community. Structural equation modeling and redundancy analysis revealed that alkaline hydrolytic nitrogen and available phosphorus directly influenced soil pH, which was identified as the primary driver of soil microbial community changes and subsequently contributed to soil health deterioration. Overall, our results highlight that soil acidification and imbalanced rhizosphere microbial communities are the primary challenges associated with continuous cropping of F. cirrhosa. These findings establish a theoretical foundation for standardized cultivation practices of F. cirrhosa and the bioremediation of continuously cultivated soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crystallographic phase engineering plays an important part in the precise control of the physical and electronic properties of materials. In two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDs), phase engineering using chemical lithiation with the organometallization agent n-butyllithium (n-BuLi), to convert the semiconducting 2H (trigonal) to the metallic 1T (octahedral) phase, has been widely explored for applications in areas such as transistors, catalysis and batteries1–15. Although this chemical phase engineering can be performed at ambient temperatures and pressures, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood, and the use of n-BuLi raises notable safety concerns. Here we optically visualize the archetypical phase transition from the 2H to the 1T phase in mono- and bilayer 2D TMDs and discover that this reaction can be accelerated by up to six orders of magnitude using low-power illumination at 455 nm. We identify that the above-gap illumination improves the rate-limiting charge-transfer kinetics through a photoredox process. We use this method to achieve rapid and high-quality phase engineering of TMDs and demonstrate that this methodology can be harnessed to inscribe arbitrary phase patterns with diffraction-limited edge resolution into few-layer TMDs. Finally, we replace pyrophoric n-BuLi with safer polycyclic aromatic organolithiation agents and show that their performance exceeds that of n-BuLi as a phase transition agent. Our work opens opportunities for exploring the in situ characterization of electrochemical processes and paves the way for sustainably scaling up materials and devices by photoredox phase engineering.Chemical lithiation of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides can be accelerated by up to six orders of magnitude using low-power illumination and a variety of phase transition agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrosynthesis of adipic acid (a precursor for nylon-66) from KA oil (a mixture of cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol) represents a sustainable strategy to replace conventional method that requires harsh conditions. However, its industrial possibility is greatly restricted by the low current density and competitive oxygen evolution reaction. Herein, we modify nickel layered double hydroxide with vanadium to promote current density and maintain high faradaic efficiency (>80%) within a wide potential window (1.5 ~ 1.9 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode). Experimental and theoretical studies reveal two key roles of V modification, including accelerating catalyst reconstruction and strengthening cyclohexanone adsorption. As a proof-of-the-concept, we construct a membrane electrode assembly, producing adipic acid with high faradaic efficiency (82%) and productivity (1536 μmol cm−2 h−1) at industrially relevant current density (300 mA cm−2), while achieving >50 hours stability. This work demonstrates an efficient catalyst for adipic acid electrosynthesis with high productivity that shows industrial potential. Here, authors use a membrane electrode assembly is conducted to produce adipic acid with high faradaic efficiency and productivity at an industrially relevant current density, while achieving >50 hours stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In humans, ACTN2 mutations are identified as highly relevant to a range of cardiomyopathies such as DCM and HCM, while their association with sudden cardiac death has been observed in forensic cases. Although ACTN2 has been shown to regulate sarcomere Z-disc organization, a causal relationship between ACTN2 dysregulation and cardiomyopathies under chronic stress has not yet been investigated. Objective: In this work, we explored the relationship between Actn2 dysregulation and cardiomyopathies under dexamethasone treatment. Methods: Previous cases of ACTN2 mutations were collected and the conservative analysis was carried out by MEGA 11, the possible impact on the stability and function of ACTN2 affected by these mutations was predicted by Polyphen-2. ACTN2 was suppressed by siRNA in H9c2 cells under dexamethasone treatment to mimic the chronic stress in vitro. Then the cardiac hypertrophic molecular biomarkers were elevated, and the potential pathways were explored by transcriptome analysis. Results: Actn2 suppression impaired calcium uptake and increased hypertrophy in H9c2 cells under dexamethasone treatment. Concomitantly, hypertrophic molecular biomarkers were also elevated in Actn2-suppressed cells. Further transcriptome analysis and Western blotting data suggested that Actn2 suppression led to the excessive activation of the MAPK pathway and ERK cascade. In vitro pharmaceutical intervention with ERK inhibitors could partially reverse the morphological changes and inhibit the excessive cardiac hypertrophic molecular biomarkers in H9c2 cells. Conclusion: Our study revealed a functional role of ACTN2 under chronic stress, loss of ACTN2 function accelerated H9c2 hypertrophy through ERK signaling. A commercial drug, Ibudilast, was identified to reverse cell hypertrophy in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the safety and efficacy of LVIS Jr stent-assisted coiling (SAC) of intracranial aneurysms (IAs) in small-diameter parent arteries and determine the factors influencing incomplete aneurysm occlusion. Material and Methods: Clinical and imaging data of 130 patients with IAs in small-diameter parent arteries that were treated with LVIS Jr SAC were retrospectively analyzed. Stent apposition was evaluated by high-resolution flat detector CT, and aneurysm embolization density was evaluated using 2D-DSA. Perioperative complications were recorded. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to determine possible factors for incomplete aneurysm occlusion. Results: In this study, 130 patients (60 and 70 patients with ruptured and unruptured aneurysms, respectively) were successfully treated with LVIS Jr SAC. Immediate digital subtraction angiography (DSA) showed that the aneurysm occlusion was Raymond-Roy class I, II, IIIa, and IIIb in 93 (71.5%), 24 (18.5%), 8 (6.2%), and 5 (3.8%) cases, respectively. There were three cases of acute in-stent thrombosis and two cases of severe vasospasm observed during the perioperative period. The 6‑month follow-up angiograms indicated that complete aneurysm occlusion in 122 patients was 79.5% (97/122). Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that an aneurysm size > 10.0 mm, parent artery mean diameter < 2.0 mm, and incomplete stent apposition at the aneurysm neck were possible risk factors for incomplete aneurysm occlusion. Conclusion: The LVIS Jr SAC is effective for managing IAs in small-diameter parent arteries. An aneurysm size > 10.0 mm, parent artery mean diameter < 2.0 mm, and incomplete stent apposition at the aneurysm neck are possible risk factors for incomplete aneurysm occlusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA polymerase ζ (Pol ζ) plays an essential role in replicating damaged DNA templates but contributes to mutagenesis due to its low fidelity. Therefore, ensuring tight control of Pol ζ's activity is critical for continuous and accurate DNA replication, yet the specific mechanisms remain unclear. This study reveals a regulation mechanism of Pol ζ activity in human cells. Under normal conditions, an autoinhibition mechanism keeps the catalytic subunit, REV3L, inactive. Upon encountering replication stress, however, ATR-mediated phosphorylation of REV3L's S279 cluster activates REV3L and triggers its degradation via a caspase-mediated pathway. This regulation confines the activity of Pol ζ, balancing its essential role against its mutations causing potential during replication stress. Overall, our findings elucidate a control scheme that fine tunes the low-fidelity polymerase activity of Pol ζ under challenging replication scenarios. DNA polymerase ζ (Pol ζ) maintains continuity but impairs accuracy during DNA replication. Here, the authors report a mechanism by which human cells precisely control the essential, yet mutagenic, activity of Pol ζ to ensure both continuation and fidelity during DNA replication challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the association between LE8 scores and mortality risks among individuals diagnosed with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Utilizing data from the NHANES conducted between 2005 and 2018, survey-weighted multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were utilized. Life's Essential 8 (LE8) scores dose–response associations were assessed using restricted cubic spline regression. Sub-analyses were performed for different categories of CVD. The study consisted of 2164 participants diagnosed with CVD, ranging in age from 20 to 80 years (weighted mean [SE] age, 61.47 [0.34] years; The average total LE8 was 64.97 [0.54]. 499 participants experienced mortality, with 350 deaths attributed to CVD. After accounting for potential covariates, LE8 score was found to be associated with a decreased both all-cause mortality (OR 0.34, CI 0.22–0.51) and CVD mortality (OR 0.40, CI 0.23–0.68). A survey-weighted multivariable Cox model with restricted cubic splines identified the lowest all-cause mortality (P < 0.001) and CVD mortality (P < 0.001) risk when LE8 reach at 63.75 (P < 0.001). The results highlight the association between LE8 scores and reduced mortality in CVD patient population. The implementation of comprehensive initiatives that prioritize healthy dietary patterns, will play a crucial role in alleviating the impact of cardiovascular disease and improving cardiovascular health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The traditional Chinese herbal medicine Suaeda salsa (L.) Pall (S. salsa) with a digesting food effect was taken as the research object, and its chemical composition and action mechanism were explored. Methods: The chemical constituents of S. salsa were isolated and purified by column chromatography, and their structures were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance. The food accumulation model in mice was established, and the changes of the aqueous extract of S. salsa in gastric emptying and intestinal propulsion rate, colonic tissue lesions, serum brain-gut peptide hormone, colonic tissue protein expression, and gut microbiota structure were compared. Results: Ten compounds were isolated from S. salsa named as naringenin (1), hesperetin (2), baicalein (3), luteolin (4), isorhamnetin (5), taxifolin (6), isorhamnetin-3-O-β-d-glucoside (7), luteolin-3′-d-glucuronide (8), luteolin-7-O-β-d-glucuronide (9), and quercetin-3-O-β-d-glucuronide (10), respectively. The aqueous extract of S. salsa can improve the pathological changes of the mice colon and intestinal peristalsis by increasing the rate of gastric emptying and intestinal propulsion. By adjusting the levels of 5-HT, CCK, NT, SS, VIP, GT-17, CHE, MTL, and ghrelin, it can upregulate the levels of c-kit, SCF, and GHRL protein, and restore the imbalanced structure of gut microbiota, further achieve the purpose of treating the syndrome of indigestion. The effect is better with the increase of dose. Conclusion: S. salsa has a certain therapeutic effect on mice with the syndrome of indigestion. From the perspective of "brain-gut-gut microbiota", the mechanism of digestion and accumulation of S. salsa was discussed for the first time, which provided an experimental basis for further exploring the material basis of S. salsa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Pulmonary artery (PA) masses are rare. Distinguishing PA tumours from embolism is sometimes difficult, and surgical biopsy is expensive and risky. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of imaging-guided percutaneous endovascular biopsy (PEB) for obtaining tissues for histological diagnosis. Methods: We searched Cochrane, Medline, Embase, and Web of Science for PEB trials involving patients with PA masses, published from the inception of the database until August 2023. Results: We retrospectively reviewed 33 studies including 87 patients (median age 55 ± 69.3 years, 44 men) with PA masses who underwent a total of 110 PEBs. Of these patients, 34.5% (n = 38) underwent PEB-catheter aspiration (PEB-CA), 50.9% (n = 56) underwent PEB-forceps biopsy (PEB-FB) and 2.7% (n = 3) underwent PEB-directional atherectomy (PEB-DA). The most common histological aetiology of PA masses was mesenchymal tumours (n = 67, 75.9%). Tumour embolism (n = 6, 6.9%) and pulmonary embolism (n = 3, 3.4%) were the second and third most common types of PA masses, respectively. The technical success rates of PEB-CA, PEB-FB and PEB-DA were 92.1%, 94.6% and 100% (p = 0.796), respectively. Histopathological analysis provided clinical diagnostic success rates of 44.7%, 85.7% and 100% for PEB-CA, PEB-FB and PEB-DA (p < 0.001), respectively. In pairwise comparison, PEB-FB had a higher success rate in pathological diagnosis than PEB-CA (p = 0.000). Apart from one patient suffering from haemorrhagic cardiac tamponade, no other complications occurred. Conclusion: Imaging-guided PEB is a safe and effective technique for the early pathological diagnosis of PA masses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-shot knowledge graph completion (KGC) aims to infer unseen facts when only one support entity pair is available for a particular relationship. Prior studies learn reference representations from one support pair for matching query pairs. This strategy can be challenging, particularly when dealing with multiple relationships between identical support pairs, resulting in indistinguishable reference representations. To this end, we propose a disentangled representation learning framework for one-shot KGC. Specifically, to learn sufficient representations, we construct an entity encoder with a fine-grained attention mechanism to explicitly model the input and output neighbors. We adopt an orthogonal regularizer to promote the independence of learned factors in entity representation, enabling the matching processor with max pooling to adaptively identify the semantic roles associated with a particular relation. Subsequently, the one-shot KGC is accomplished by seamlessly integrating the aforementioned modules in an end-to-end learning manner. Extensive experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate the outperformance of the proposed framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In multimodal data processing of image captioning, data from different modalities usually exhibit distinct feature distributions. The gap in unimodal representation makes capturing cross-modal mappings in multimodal learning challenging. Current image captioning models transform images into captions directly. However, this approach results in large data requirements and limited performance on small quantities of multimodal data. In this paper, we introduce a novel self-supervised modal optimization transformer (SMOT) for image captioning. Specifically, we leverage self-supervised learning to propose a cross-modal feature optimizer. This optimizer aims to optimize the distribution of semantic information in images by leveraging raw images and their corresponding paired captions, ultimately approaching the semantic object of the caption. The optimized image features inherit information from both modalities, reducing the disparity in feature distribution between modalities and decreasing reliance on extensive training data. Furthermore, we fuse the features with image grid features and text features, using their complementary information to bridge the differences between features, providing more comprehensive semantic guidance for image captioning. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed SMOT outperforms state-of-the-art models when trained on limited data, showing efficient learning and good generalization capabilities on small training datasets. Additionally, it also exhibits competitive performance on the MSCOCO dataset, further highlighting its efficacy and potential in the field of image captioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Financial toxicity is used to describe the financial hardship experienced by cancer patients. Financial toxicity may cause negative consequences to patients, whereas little is known in Chinese context. This study aimed to explore the level of financial toxicity, coping strategies, and quality of life among Chinese patients with hematologic malignancies. Patients and methods: We conducted a prospective, observational study among 274 Chinese patients with hematologic malignancies from November 2021 to August 2022 in Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center. Clinical data were extracted from electronic clinical records. Data on financial toxicity, coping strategies, and quality of life were collected using PRO measures. Chi-square or independent t test and multivariate logistic regression were performed to explore the associated factors of financial toxicity and quality of life, respectively. Effects of financial toxicity on coping strategies were examined using Chi-square. Results: The mean age of the participants was 50.2 (± 14.6) years. Male participants accounted for 57.3%. About half of the participants reported high financial toxicity. An average median of ¥200,000 on total medical expenditures since the diagnosis was reported. The average median monthly out-of-pocket health expenditure relating to cancer treatment was ¥20,000 (range ¥632–¥172,500) after reimbursement. Reduce daily living expenses (64.9%), borrowing money (55.7%), and choosing cheaper regimens (19.6%) were the commonly used strategies to cope with financial burden. Financial toxicity was negatively associated with quality of life (β = 0.071, P = 0.001). Conclusions: Financial toxicity was not uncommon in patients with hematological malignancies. Reducing daily living expenses, abandoning treatment sessions, and borrowing money were the strategies commonly adopted by participants to defray cancer costs. Additionally, participants with high level of financial toxicity tended to have worse quality of life. Therefore, actions from healthcare providers, policy-makers, and other stakeholders should be taken to help cancer patients mitigate their financial toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liriope spicata is an important traditional Chinese medicine and is also used as an ornamental groundcover plant. A tissue culture method, such as somatic embryo regeneration, that can generate large numbers of genetically identical plants would help maintain the characteristics of specific varieties. This study aimed to screen and optimize plant growth regulators for all aspects of somatic embryo regeneration in L. spicata. The plant growth regulators 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), 6-benzylaminopurine (6-BA), naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), gibberellic acid (GA3), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and kinetin (KT) were screened in tissue culture media. We found that 2 mg/L 2,4-D + 2 mg/L 6-BA + 0.1 mg/L NAA had the best induction efficiency of 30.95%. During the screening of the somatic embryo proliferation media, we found that MS + 1 mg/L 6-BA + 0.1 mg/L NAA + 20 g/L glucose + 7 g/L agar, with a pH of 5.8, had the best proliferation efficiency of 86.67%. For the germination of somatic embryos, we found that MS + 0.1 mg/L 6-BA + 0.2 mg/L NAA + 1 mg/L GA3 had the best effect, with an efficiency of 29.03%. Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) had a significant effect on the induction of adventitious shoots, with the formula 1/2 MS + 0.1 mg/L IBA resulting in an efficiency of 100%. The establishment of the regeneration pathway for L. spicata somatic embryos not only ensures the industrial production of species but also provides reference for the application of plant growth regulators in plant tissue culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is the most common progressive vascular disease that causes vascular dementia. Aging and hypertension are major contributors to CSVD, but the pathophysiological mechanism remains unclear, mainly due to the lack of an ideal animal model. Our previous study revealed that vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC)-specific myosin phosphatase target subunit 1 (MYPT1) knockout (MYPT1SMKO) leads to constant hypertension, prompting us to explore whether hypertensive MYPT1SMKO mice can be considered a novel CSVD animal model. Here, we found that MYPT1SMKO mice displayed age-dependent CSVD-like neurobehaviors, including decreased motion speed, anxiety, and cognitive decline. MYPT1SMKO mice exhibited remarkable white matter injury compared with control mice, as shown by the more prominent loss of myelin at 12 months of age. Additionally, MYPT1SMKO mice were found to exhibit CSVD-like small vessel impairment, including intravascular hyalinization, perivascular space enlargement, and microbleed and blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption. Last, our results revealed that the brain of MYPT1SMKO mice was characterized by an exacerbated inflammatory microenvironment, which is similar to patients with CSVD. In light of the above structural and functional phenotypes that closely mimic the conditions of human CSVD, we suggest that MYPT1SMKO mice are a novel age- and hypertension-dependent animal model of CSVD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fritillaria cirrhosa is a remarkably representative endangered species on the plateau, and its phenotype has undergone dramatic alterations due to global climate change and habitat destruction. However, the mechanism behind the phenotypic change associated with color variation has not been characterized, and subsequent physiological responses are still unknown. We investigated different phenotypes of cultivated F. cirrhosa and conducted a comprehensive transcriptomic analysis. Their agronomic traits, photosynthetic parameters, and the content of pharmaceutical ingredients were also compared. In the transcriptomic profiling, the purple phenotype had 754 up-regulated and 980 down-regulated genes compared with the green F. cirrhosa, in which a total of 37 significant differential expression genes (DEGs) regulated the anthocyanin biosynthesis by coding 6 vital enzymes (C4H, F3′H, ANS, DFR, DFT, and BA1). These DEGs were key genes responsible for the form of the purple phenotype of F. cirrhosa. Moreover, 10 DEGs were observed to be related to biotic and abiotic stress responses, such as regulation of defense response to bacterium and UV regulation in the actual unshaded field environment. The results of agronomic traits indicated that the purple phenotype exhibited a multitude of merits in plant height and stem diameter (p < 0.05), and produced more high-quality fruit and seeds, which demonstrated that the purple phenotype has high regeneration ability and potential resistance to cultivation conditions. Importantly, the content of total alkaloids as bioactive ingredients in medicinal bulbs of purple F. cirrhosa was significantly higher than that in the green phenotype by 57.14%. Overall, the present study not only reveals the potential mechanisms of phenotypic variation in F. cirrhosa but also contributes to a better understand adaptation of highland species related to ecological changes, as well as paves the way for the further breeding and large-scale cultivation of F. cirrhosa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To compare prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET with multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) in the diagnosis of pretreatment prostate cancer (PCa). Methods: Pubmed, Embase, Medline, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were searched for eligible studies published before June 22, 2022. We assessed risk of bias and applicability by using QUADAS-2 tool. Data synthesis was performed with Stata 17.0 software, using the "midas" and "meqrlogit" packages. Results: We included 29 articles focusing on primary cancer detection, 18 articles about primary staging, and two articles containing them both. For PSMA PET versus mpMRI in primary PCa detection, sensitivities and specificities in the per-patient analysis were 0.90 and 0.84 (p<0.0001), and 0.66 and 0.60 (p <0.0001), and in the per-lesion analysis they were 0.79 and 0.78 (p <0.0001), and 0.84 and 0.82 (p <0.0001). For the per-patient analysis of PSMA PET versus mpMRI in primary staging, sensitivities and specificities in extracapsular extension detection were 0.59 and 0.66 (p =0.005), and 0.79 and 0.76 (p =0.0074), and in seminal vesicle infiltration (SVI) detection they were 0.51 and 0.60 (p =0.0008), and 0.93 and 0.96 (p =0.0092). For PSMA PET versus mpMRI in lymph node metastasis (LNM) detection, sensitivities and specificities in the per-patient analysis were 0.68 and 0.46 (p <0.0001), and 0.91 and 0.90 (p =0.81), and in the per-lesion analysis they were 0.67 and 0.36 (p <0.0001), and 0.99 and 0.99 (p =0.18). Conclusion: PSMA PET has higher diagnostic value than mpMRI in the detection of primary PCa. Regarding the primary staging, mpMRI has potential advantages in SVI detection, while PSMA PET has relative advantages in LNM detection. Clinical relevance statement: The integration of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET into the diagnostic pathway may be helpful for improving the accuracy of prostate cancer detection. However, further studies are needed to address the cost implications and evaluate its utility in specific patient populations or clinical scenarios. Moreover, we recommend the combination of PSMA PET and mpMRI for cancer staging. Key Points: • Prostate-specific membrane antigen PET has higher sensitivity and specificity for primary tumor detection in prostate cancer compared to multiparametric MRI. • Prostate-specific membrane antigen PET also has significantly better sensitivity and specificity for lymph node metastases of prostate cancer compared to multiparametric MRI. • Multiparametric MRI has better accuracy for extracapsular extension and seminal vesicle infiltration compared to ate-specific membrane antigen PET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photocatalytic coupling of methane to ethane and ethylene (C2 compounds) offers a promising approach to utilizing the abundant methane resource. However, the state-of-the-art photocatalysts usually suffer from very limited C2 formation rates. Here, we report our discovery that the anatase TiO2 nanocrystals mainly exposing {101} facets, which are generally considered less active in photocatalysis, demonstrate surprisingly better performances than those exposing the high-energy {001} facet. The palladium co-catalyst plays a pivotal role and the Pd2+ site on co-catalyst accounts for the selective C2 formation. We unveil that the anatase {101} facet favors the formation of hydroxyl radicals in aqueous phase near the surface, where they activate methane molecules into methyl radicals, and the Pd2+ site participates in facilitating the adsorption and coupling of methyl radicals. This work provides a strategy to design efficient nanocatalysts for selective photocatalytic methane coupling by reaction-space separation to optimize heterogeneous-homogeneous reactions at solid-liquid interfaces. Designing photocatalysts to enhance the efficiency of non-oxidative coupling of methane is a challenging task. Here, the authors report that the anatase TiO2 with exposed {101} facets and Pd co-catalyst enables efficient and selective methane coupling to ethane via a heterogeneous-homogeneous hybrid reaction pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Plant cell walls have evolved precise plasticity in response to environmental stimuli. The plant heterotrimeric G protein complexes could sense and transmit extracellular signals to intracellular signaling systems, and activate a series of downstream responses. dep1 (Dense and Erect Panicles 1), the gain-of-function mutation of DEP1 encoding a G protein γ subunit, confers rice multiple improved agronomic traits. However, the effects of DEP1 on cell wall biosynthesis and wall-related agronomic traits remain largely unknown. Results: In this study, we showed that the DEP1 mutation affects cell wall biosynthesis, leading to improved lodging resistance and biomass saccharification. The DEP1 is ubiquitously expressed with a relatively higher expression level in tissues rich in cell walls. The CRISPR/Cas9 editing mutants of DEP1 (dep1-cs) displayed a significant enhancement in stem mechanical properties relative to the wild-type, leading to a substantial improvement in lodging resistance. Cell wall analyses showed that the DEP1 mutation increased the contents of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and pectin, and reduced lignin content and cellulose crystallinity (CrI). Additionally, the dep1-cs seedlings exhibited higher sensitivity to cellulose biosynthesis inhibitors, 2,6-Dichlorobenzonitrile (DCB) and isoxaben, compared with the wild-type, confirming the role of DEP1 in cellulose deposition. Moreover, the DEP1 mutation-mediated alterations of cell walls lead to increased enzymatic saccharification of biomass after the alkali pretreatment. Furthermore, the comparative transcriptome analysis revealed that the DEP1 mutation substantially altered expression of genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism, and cell wall biosynthesis. Conclusions: Our findings revealed the roles of DEP1 in cell wall biosynthesis, lodging resistance, and biomass saccharification in rice and suggested genetic modification of DEP1 as a potential strategy to develop energy rice varieties with high lodging resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To investigate the clinical value and performance of [18F]AlF-NOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT in assessing early-stage liver fibrosis in liver transplantation (LT) recipients. Methods: A prospective study including 17 LT recipients and 12 chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) patients was conducted. All patients received liver biopsy, transient elastography (TE), and [18F]AlF-NOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT. On [18F]AlF-NOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT scans, the liver parenchyma's maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) were measured. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was applied to determine the diagnostic efficacy of [18F]AlF-NOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT in early-stage liver fibrosis (S1–S2) compared with the diagnostic performance of TE. Results: Among those 29 patients enrolled in this study, 15(51.7%) had fibrosis S0, 10(34.5%) had S1, and 4(13.8%) had S2, respectively. The SUVmax of patients with early-stage liver fibrosis was significantly higher than those without liver fibrosis in LT recipients and CHB patients (P = 0.004, P = 0.02). In LT recipients, a SUVmax cut-off value of 2.0 detected early-stage liver fibrosis with an AUROC of 0.92 (P = 0.006), and a liver stiffness measurements (LSM) score cut-off value of 8.2 kPa diagnosed early-stage liver fibrosis with an AUROC of 0.80 (P = 0.012). In CHB patients, a SUVmax cut-off value of 2.7 detected early-stage liver fibrosis with an AUROC of 0.94 (P < 0.001) and an LSM scores cut-off value of 8.4 kPa diagnosed early-stage liver fibrosis with an AUROC of 0.91 (P < 0.001). Conclusion: [18F]AlF-NOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT could be applied to evaluate early-stage liver fibrosis in LT recipients and CHB patients properly, with the potential additional advantages in monitoring and predicting complications after LT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salt hazard is one of the major environmental stresses that seriously threaten world food security. Although melatonin has been proven to improve stress tolerance in plants, the metabolic changes and gene transcription affected by melatonin (MT) under salt stress remain uncertain, especially in maize. In the present study, we investigated the differences in the diurnal metabolism and transcription of maize seedlings to reveal the MT-mediated changes in diurnal metabolism in response to salt stress. Transcriptome analysis identified melatonin crosstalk with other hormones affecting their signal transduction pathways. The transcriptome and metabolome co-analysis revealed that MT maintained osmotic potential and regulated energy supply by regulating sucrose and starch metabolism. In addition, the regulatory network showed that MT and its metabolites were significantly correlated with a series of stress and hormone-related transcription factor (TF) genes, such as JAZ3-1, JAZ9, WRKY28, and ERF020. Taken together, our results indicated that MT alleviated salt stress-induced damage, influenced diurnal metabolic changes in maize under salt stress, and crosstalk with other endogenous hormones to improve salt tolerance in maize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought resistance and post drought recovery strategy and ability are important parameters to measure adaptation of plants to heterogeneous water environments; in addition, they are very important to study costs and benefits of plasticity. We compared the differences in multiple traits of Ligustrum obtusifolium seedlings under four water conditions, well-watered, light drought, moderate drought, and severe drought, for 30 days, as well as under rewatering conditions for 7, 14, and 21 days in the greenhouse. We observed increased levels of malondialdehyde content, antioxidant activity, and osmotic adjustment substances and significantly decreased stem height, leaf area, specific leaf area, aboveground biomass, total biomass, and chlorophyll content in response to drought stress. The root biomass and root–shoot ratio reached maximum values under moderate drought conditions. The seedlings subjected to light and moderate drought recorded physiological parameters that were similar to control levels after 21 days of rewatering. However, the seedlings under severe drought treatment did not show such recovery and only carotenoids content returned to the control levels. In conclusion, the extent of plants recovery after rewatering depends on drought stress severity and rewatering time. The early drought experience may not be harmful immediately, but it can induce active biochemical responses, to support morphological, biomass, and photosynthetic physiological traits responses under subsequent rewatering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we prove that a proper subdomain Ω of R n equipped with the metric i Ω , recently introduced by Nikolov and Andreev, is Gromov hyperbolic. We also show that there is a natural quasisymmetric correspondence between the Euclidean boundary of Ω (with respect to R n ¯ ) and the Gromov boundary of (Ω , i Ω) . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is presented to the article "ultraspecific urinary tumor DNA detection using deep learning for prostate cancer diagnosis and Gleason grading" published in a previous issue of the periodical.

This cohort study was performed to explore the influence of intensive care unit (ICU) quality on in-hospital mortality of veno-venous (V-V) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)-supported patients in China. The study involved all V-V ECMO-supported patients in 318 of 1700 tertiary hospitals from 2017 to 2019, using data from the National Clinical Improvement System and China National Critical Care Quality Control Center. ICU quality was assessed by quality control indicators and capacity parameters. Among the 2563 V-V ECMO-supported patients in 318 hospitals, a significant correlation was found between ECMO-related complications and prognosis. The reintubation rate within 48 hours after extubation and the total ICU mortality rate were independent risk factors for higher in-hospital mortality of V-V ECMO-supported patients (cutoff: 1.5% and 7.0%; 95% confidence interval: 1.05–1.48 and 1.04–1.45; odds ratios: 1.25 and 1.23; P = 0.012 and P = 0.015, respectively). Meanwhile, the V-V ECMO center volume was a protective factor (cutoff of ≥ 50 cases within the 3-year study period; 95% confidence interval: 0.57–0.83, odds ratio: 0.69, P = 0.0001). The subgroup analysis of 864 patients in 11 high-volume centers further strengthened these findings. Thus, ICU quality may play an important role in improving the prognosis of V-V ECMO-supported patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A non-invasive, fast, and reliable method for sex identification of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) was developed by genotyping five SNPs located at the sex chromosome amelogenin (AMEL) paralogs. The giant panda's sex can be accurately distinguished by the homozygous or heterozygous SNP genotypes. Mass spectrometry assay and Sanger sequencing both successfully genotyped tissue and fresh fecal samples collected from known-sex giant pandas. Additionally, we simulated the conditions of wild fecal samples, which were naturally degraded for up to two weeks, and successfully genotyped these samples by mass spectrometry assay in parallel. These results suggest that this is a powerful method for sex determination in highly degraded and lower concentrated DNA samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Preoperative bone density assessment is necessary to predict screw loosening. The forearm BMD is a useful predictor of BMD-related complications after lumbar operation. Our results show that the forearm BMD is as effective a predictor of screw loosening as the lumbar average HU value. Measurement of the forearm BMD may be a useful adjunct in predicting screw loosening following lumbar fusion. Purpose: To determine the relationship between forearm bone mineral density (BMD) and the risk of pedicle screw loosening in patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 270 patients who underwent posterior lumbar interbody fusion for lumbar spondylolisthesis. The patients were divided into two groups on the basis of the with or without loose screws: the loosening group and the non-loosening group. The patient's gender, age, BMI, smoking and diabetes histories, and the operative segment were recorded as the basic information. The Hounsfield unit (HU) value for the BMD of the L1-4 lumbar was measured using computed tomography. The patient's distal one-third of the length of the radius and ulna of the non-dominant forearm was chosen as the site for dual-energy X-ray (DXA) bone density testing. Results: The rate of screw loosening was 13% at a minimum 12 months follow-up. Average forearm BMD (0.461 ± 0.1 vs 0.577 ± 0.1, p < 0.001) and mean HU value (L1-4) (121.1 ± 27.3 vs 155.6 ± 32.2, p < 0.001) were lower in the screw loosening group than those in the non-loosening group. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, the forearm BMD (OR 0.840; 95%CI 0.797–0.886) and HU value (L1-4) (OR 0.952; 95%CI 0.935–0.969) were independent risk factor for screw loosening. The area under the curve (AUC) for the forearm BMD and HU value for prediction of pedicle screw loosening was 0.802 and 0.811. The forearm BMD cut-off for predicting pedicle screw loosening was 0.543 (sensitivity, 0.800; specificity, 0.864). Conclusions: The forearm BMD was an independent risk factor for loosening of the lumbar pedicle screws. The forearm BMD was a valid predictor of pedicle screw loosening in patients undergoing lumbar fusion, as was the CT HU value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of gas diffusion electrode (GDE) based flow cell can realize industrial-scale CO2 reduction reactions (CO2RRs). Controlling local CO2 and CO intermediate diffusion plays a key role in CO2RR toward multi-carbon (C2+) products. In this work, local CO2 and CO intermediate diffusion through the catalyst layer (CL) was investigated for improving CO2RR toward C2+ products. The gas permeability tests and finite element simulation results indicated CL can balance the CO2 gas diffusion and residence time of the CO intermediate, leading to a sufficient CO concentration with a suitable CO2/H2O supply for high C2+ products. As a result, an excellent selectivity of C2+ products ~ 79% at a high current density of 400 mA·cm−2 could be obtained on the optimal 500 nm Cu CL (Cu500). This work provides a new insight into the optimization of CO2/H2O supply and local CO concentration by controlling CL for C2+ products in CO2RR flow cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For graphs H 1 , H 2 , ⋯ , H k , the k-color Turán number e x (n , H 1 , H 2 , ⋯ , H k) is the maximum number of edges in a k-colored graph of order n that does not contain monochromatic H i in color i as a subgraph, where 1 ≤ i ≤ k . In this note, we show that if H i is a bipartite graph with at least two edges for 1 ≤ i ≤ k , then e x (n , H 1 , H 2 , ⋯ , H k) = (1 + o (1)) ∑ i = 1 k e x (n , H i) as n → ∞ , in which the non-constructive proof for some cases can be derandomized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RNA modification C2-methyladenosine (m2A) exists in both rRNA and tRNA of Escherichia coli (E. coli), installed by the methyltransferase RlmN using a radical-S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) mechanism. However, the precise function of m2A in tRNA and its ubiquity in plants have remained unclear. Here we discover the presence of m2A in chloroplast rRNA and tRNA, as well as cytosolic tRNA, in multiple plant species. We identify six m2A-modified chloroplast tRNAs and two m2A-modified cytosolic tRNAs across different plants. Furthermore, we characterize three Arabidopsis m2A methyltransferases—RLMNL1, RLMNL2, and RLMNL3—which methylate chloroplast rRNA, chloroplast tRNA, and cytosolic tRNA, respectively. Our findings demonstrate that m2A37 promotes a relaxed conformation of tRNA, enhancing translation efficiency in chloroplast and cytosol by facilitating decoding of tandem m2A-tRNA-dependent codons. This study provides insights into the molecular function and biological significance of m2A, uncovering a layer of translation regulation in plants. Duan et al. demonstrate that the m2A modification is ubiquitous in plants and tRNA m2A37 promotes a relaxed conformation of tRNA, enhancing translation efficiency by facilitating decoding of tandem m2A-tRNA-dependent codons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effect of extrusion ratio on the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of the as-extruded short carbon fibers (SCFs) reinforced AZ31 alloy composite, and the microstructural development of the composite during extrusion was thoroughly investigated. The dominant dynamic recrystallization (DRX) mechanisms are particle simulated nucleation, continuous DRX, and discontinuous DRX. The addition of SCFs promotes the dynamic recrystallization during hot extrusion. As extrusion ratio increases, the interfacial bonding degree of the composite increases gradually, and the composite with an extrusion ratio of 25:1 exhibits the finest DRXed grains and the best mechanical performance with a yield strength of 171 MPa, an ultimate tensile strength of 258 MPa and an elongation of 6.0%. The enhanced strength is mainly attributed to grain refinement strengthening and dislocation strengthening, which are induced by the DRXed grains and the added SCFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A vortex-induced vibration (VIV) experiment of rough risers with coupling interference effect under a side-by-side arrangement was carried out in a wave-current combined flume. The roughness of the riser was characterized by arranging different specifications of surface attachments on the surface of the riser. Rough risers with three different roughnesses were arranged side by side with smooth risers to explore the VIV response of the riser under the combined action of roughness and interference effect, and to reveal the coupling mechanism between roughness and interference effect. The experimental results show that, compared with that of a smooth riser, the VIV of a rough riser under the coupling interference effect has a wider "lock-in" region, and the displacement decreases more significantly at a high reduced velocity, which is more likely to excite higher-order modes and frequency responses. In addition, the displacement response and frequency response of the smooth riser are not significantly affected by wake interference from the rough riser, which is caused by the decrease of the wake region due to the delay of the boundary layer separation point of the rough riser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The freshness of vegetable soybean (VS) is an important indicator for quality evaluation. Currently, deep learning-based image recognition technology provides a fast, efficient, and low-cost method for analyzing the freshness of food. The RGB (red, green, and blue) image recognition technology is widely used in the study of food appearance evaluation. In addition, the hyperspectral image has outstanding performance in predicting the nutrient content of samples. However, there are few reports on the research of classification models based on the fusion data of these two sources of images. We collected RGB and hyperspectral images at four different storage times of VS. The ENVI software was adopted to extract the hyperspectral information, and the RGB images were reconstructed based on the downsampling technology. Then, the one-dimensional hyperspectral data was transformed into a two-dimensional space, which allows it to be overlaid and concatenated with the RGB image data in the channel direction, thereby generating fused data. Compared with four commonly used machine learning models, the deep learning model ResNet18 has higher classification accuracy and computational efficiency. Based on the above results, a novel classification model named ResNet-R &H, which is based on the residual networks (ResNet) structure and incorporates the fusion data of RGB and hyperspectral images, was proposed. The ResNet-R &H can achieve a testing accuracy of 97.6%, which demonstrates a significant enhancement of 4.0% and 7.2% compared to the distinct utilization of hyperspectral data and RGB data, respectively. Overall, this research is significant in providing a unique, efficient, and more accurate classification approach in evaluating the freshness of vegetable soybean. The method proposed in this study can provide a theoretical reference for classifying the freshness of fruits and vegetables to improve classification accuracy and reduce human error and variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to promote the sustainable use of resources and reduce the waste of waste glass and tailings resources. The present study focuses on a fluorite mine as the research subject, utilizing coarse tailings, fine tailings, cement substitute-curing agent, and recycled waste glass as the primary raw materials. It investigates the changes in compressive strength of coarse tailing with varying sand- binder ratios and glass content at 3-day, 7-day, and 28-day intervals when the filling slurry concentration is set at 77% and the ratio of coarse tailings to fine tailings is maintained at 2:1. The findings indicate that there is minimal impact on the compressive strength of test blocks when using a sand binder ratio of 4:1 and a glass sand content below 10%. However, once the glass sand content exceeds 10%, a significant decline in compressive strength occurs. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images reveal ettringite crystal formation in test blocks with both 0% and 25% glass sand content due to high levels of Na2O in the glass sand. This leads to internal expansion within test blocks resulting in reduced strength. Notably, when using a sand-binder ratio of 8:1 along with a glass sand content of 25%, early strength characteristics are observed for test blocks. Furthermore, incorporating glass sand has little influence on late-stage strength for backfill when employing either an 8:1 or 12:1 sand-binder ratio. Based on this experiment conducted under conditions including mass concentration of 77%, the optimal waste-glass-to-mine-tailings-filling-sand-binder-ratio is determined as 8:1with a corresponding glass content of 25%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language is an advanced cognitive function of humans, and verbs play a crucial role in language. To understand how the human brain represents verbs, it is critical to analyze what knowledge humans have about verbs. Thus, several verb feature datasets have been developed in different languages such as English, Spanish, and German. However, there is still a lack of a dataset of Chinese verbs. In this study, we developed a semantic feature dataset of 1140 Chinese Mandarin verbs (CVFD) with 11 dimensions including verb familiarity, agentive subject, patient, action effector, perceptual modality, instrumentality, emotional valence, action imageability, action complexity, action intensity, and the usage scenario of action. We calculated the semantic features of each verb and the correlation between dimensions. We also compared the difference between action, mental, and other verbs and gave some examples about how to use CVFD to classify verbs according to different dimensions. Finally, we discussed the potential applications of CVFD in the fields of neuroscience, psycholinguistics, cultural differences, and artificial intelligence. All the data can be found at https://osf.io/pv29z/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For humans to trust in artificial intelligence (AI) systems, it is essential for machine learning (ML) models to be interpretable to users. For example, the judicial process requires that AI conclusions must be rigorous and absolutely interpretable. In this paper, we propose a novel approach, VAE-SLIME, for providing stable local interpretable model-agnostic explanations (SLIME) based on a variational autoencoder (VAE). LIME is a technique that explains the predictions of any classifier in an interpretable and faithful manner. Despite the great success of LIME, the most popular method in this category, it has several disadvantages due to its random perturbation-based sampling method. The VAE-SLIME proposed in this paper is specifically designed to address the lack of stability and local fidelity exhibited by LIME for tabular data. VAE-SLIME first employs fixed noise to replace the random Gaussian noise used by the reparameterization trick of the VAE. Then, it uses this new VAE model instead of random perturbation method to generate stable samples. By considering the sequential relationship and flipping of features, a novel explanation stability evaluation metric, the feature sequence stability index (FSSI), is introduced to accurately evaluate the stability of explanations. In a comparison with 6 state-of-the-art approaches on 7 commonly used tabular datasets, the experimental results show beyond doubt that the explanations produced by our approach are most stable, and its local fidelity is 65.17% higher than that of other approaches on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The methanation of CO2 using green hydrogen not only consumes CO2 as a carbon resource but also stores H2 with high density. However, the activation of CO2 molecules under mild conditions is challenging due to their inert nature. Herein, we report an efficient photothermal catalytic system using light irradiation which realizes the complete conversion of CO2 to methane without external heating. Over optimum bimetallic NiFe nanoparticles (NPs) with a Ni/Fe atomic ratio of 7, the CO2 conversion can reach up to 98% with a CH4 selectivity of 99%, and no catalyst deactivation was observed for more than 100 h, outperforming the reported catalysts. The catalytic performance is strongly dependent on the structure promoters, light absorption efficiency, NiFe particle sizes, and Ni/Fe ratio. The NiFe alloy NPs with an average size of ~21 nm dispersed on alumina nanosheets are evidenced to enhance the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect, thus efficiently triggering the CO2 methanation. This work emphasizes and clarifies the important role of LSPR in CO2 hydrogenation, which may benefit the rational utilization of CO2 using solar power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen plays a significant role in influencing various physiological processes in plants, thereby impacting their ability to withstand abiotic stresses. This study used hydroponics to compare the effects of three nitrogen supply levels (1N, 1/2N and 1/4N) on the antioxidant capacity of rice varieties JJ88 (nitrogen efficient) and XN999 (nitrogen inefficient) with different nitrogen use efficiencies. The results show that compared with the XN999 variety, the JJ88 variety has stronger adaptability to low-nitrogen conditions, which is mainly reflected in the relatively small decrease in dry weight and net photosynthetic rate (Pn); In the early stage of low-nitrogen treatment (0–7 d), the O 2 - production rate, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content of JJ88 variety increased relatively slightly, but the superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxide The activity of enzyme (POD) and catalase (CAT) increased significantly; After low-nitrogen treatment, the ASA–GSH cycle enzyme activity of JJ88 variety was relatively high, and the dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) activity after 14 days of low-nitrogen treatment was higher than that of 1N treatment; The content of reduced ascorbic acid (ASA) in non-enzymatic antioxidants was lower than that of 1N treatment after 14 days of low nitrogen treatment; The contents of oxidized dehydroascorbic acid (DHA) and carotenoids (Car) were higher than those of 1N treatment after 21d and 14d of low nitrogen treatment respectively; The contents of reduced glutathione (GSH), oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and proline (Pro) showed a larger upward trend during the entire low-nitrogen treatment period. In summary, the JJ88 rice variety has a strong ability to regulate oxidative stress and osmotic damage under low nitrogen conditions. It can slow down plant damage by regulating antioxidant enzyme activity and antioxidant content. This provides a basis for achieving nitrogen reduction and efficiency improvement in rice and the breeding of nitrogen-efficient varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper generalizes a class of controllability problems based on the scale structure population system model. Based on the comparison principle of linear systems, the solution of the nonlinear system model is obtained by referring to the fixed point theorem. The non-negative, boundedness, existence, and uniqueness of the solution of the system model are established. The optimality condition is described in detail by means of a normal cone and conjugate system under the condition of proving the continuous dependence of the state environment on the solution to control variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently end-to-end deep learning based open-domain dialogue systems remain black box models, making it easy to generate irrelevant contents with data-driven models. Specifically, latent variables are highly entangled with different semantics in the latent space due to the lack of priori knowledge to guide the training. To address this problem, this paper proposes to harness the generative model with a priori knowledge through a cognitive approach involving feature disentanglement. Particularly, the model integrates the guided-category knowledge and open-domain dialogue data for the training, leveraging the priori knowledge into the latent space, which enables the model to disentangle the latent variables. Besides, this paper proposes a new metric for open-domain dialogues, which can objectively evaluate the interpretability of the latent space distribution. Finally, this paper validates our model on different datasets and experimentally demonstrate that our model is able to generate higher quality and more interpretable dialogues than other models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global stress distribution and state parameter analysis of the building's main structure is an urgent problem to be solved in the online state assessment technology of building structure health. In this paper, a stress curve clustering algorithm of fiber Bragg grating stress sensor based on density clustering algorithm is proposed. To solve the problem of large dimension and sparse sample space of sensor stress curve, the distance between samples is measured based on improved cosine similarity. Aiming at the problem of low efficiency and poor effect of traditional clustering algorithm, density clustering algorithm based on mutual nearest neighbor is used to cluster. Finally, the classification of the daily stress load characteristics of the sensor is realized, which provides a basis for constructing the mathematical analysis model of building health. The experimental results show that the stress curve clustering method proposed in this paper is better than the latest clustering algorithms such as HDBSCAN, CBKM, K-mean++,FINCH and NPIR, and is suitable for the feature classification of stress curves of fiber Bragg grating sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]