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Copyright of Rare Metals is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

MADS-box genes play a vital role in the vegetative and reproductive growth of plants. In this study, a MiAGL1 gene was cloned and identified from mango (Mangifera indica L.). The DNA sequence of AGAMOUS-LIKE1 (MiAGL1) was 8741 bp in length, including a 723 bp open reading frame and encoding 241 amino acids. MiAGL1 belongs to the MADS-box family. This gene was expressed not only in vegetative tissues but also in floral organs, and the highest expression level was found in flowers. MiAGL1 was expressed in leaves at different floral developmental stages, but the peak appeared at the floral organ differentiation stage. MiAGL1 was present in the cell membrane and nucleus. Ectopic expression of MiAGL1 in Arabidopsis resulted in significant early flowering under long-day conditions. Overexpression of MiAGL1 resulted in abnormal flowering and silique morphology, such as a decrease or absence of petals, smaller petals, and shorter, bent or distorted capsules. The endogenous Arabidopsis thaliana flowering-related genes FT, AP1, and SEP were significantly upregulated, and AtSVP was downregulated in the transgenic lines. Therefore, our data showed that the MiAGL1 gene may play a crucial role in flowering time regulation and floral organ identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the effect of low concentration of Wenyang Tonglin Decoction (WTD) on the binding conditions of R45 plasmid conjugative transfer under liquid phase conjugation and its mechanism. Methods: Escherichia coli CP9 (R45) and Staphylococcus aureus RN450RF were cultured in medium containing WTD, and their minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were obtained. Using promoter fusion technology, E. coli CP9 (R45) containing a promoter fusion was obtained. β-Galactosidase activity of TrfAp and TrbBp was tested, and the mRNA expression of regulatory factors (TrbA, KorA, and KorB) was detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results: The MIC of E. coli CP9 (R45) was 400 g/L and that of S. aureus RN450RF was 200 g/L. When the drug concentration in the culture medium was 200 g/L, the highest number of conjugants was (3.47 ±0.20) × 107 CFU/mL At 90 h of conjugation, the maximum number of conjugants was (1.15 ±0.06) × 108 CFU/mL When the initial bacterial concentration was 108 CFU/mL, the maximum number of conjugants was (3.47 ± 0.20) × 107 CFU/mL. When the drug concentration was 200 g/L, the β-galactosidase activity of TrfAp and TrbBp significantly increased; the relative quantification of TrbA, KorA and KorB were significantly inhibited. Conclusion: Low concentration of WTD promoted the development of bacterial resistance by affecting promoters and inhibiting the expression of regulatory factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The accuracy of real-time sound source localization is an important issue in acoustics. The steered sample algorithm (SSA), an algorithm developed based on the reciprocity of wave propagation, has a higher spatial resolution than the steered response power – phase transform (SRP-PHAT) algorithm. The algorithm can also render an accurate sound source localization under limited array elements and low signal-to-noise ratio. However, the actual implementation of the algorithm is usually based on an expensive grid search process, which makes the computational cost a serious problem. Methods: An improved implementing algorithm based on beetle swarm optimization (BSO) is proposed for SSA, which can effectively reduce the computational cost. The modified algorithm has a good convergence speed as the SSA algorithm has fewer local extremums. Results: Experimental results demonstrate that compared with steered sample algorithm (SSA), the proposed algorithm has almost the same localization performance and robustness with lower computational cost. Conclusion: This paper proposes an improved algorithm about SSA algorithm. Compared with SRC algorithm, the amount of computation is reduced more than twice. Meanwhile, the proposed algorithm inherits the anti-noise performance of SSA. Under the condition of low SNR, the positioning success rate and RMSE performance are excellent. Under the condition of high reverberation, the improved algorithm needs more particles to ensure the positioning performance. When the number of particles is not less than 70, the localization success rate of the proposed algorithm is highly consistent with the conventional SSA, and the RMSE is slightly less than the conventional SSA. Compared with SRC algorithm, the proposed algorithm better inherits the robustness of original SSA and improves the positioning accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate whether the third-trimester soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) serum levels could be related to placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) disorders and the severity of postpartum blood loss. Methods: This was a nested case–control study which compared serum sFlt-1 level between gravid women with or without PAS disorders. Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between sFlt-1 level and the volume of postpartum blood loss. Confounding factors were adjusted to avoid the impact on the results. Results: Sixty gravid women were enrolled: 36 women in the PAS group and 24 women in the non-PAS group. Women in the PAS group had a median sFlt-1 level of 9407.1 [2745.9–21,691.5] pg/ml, whereas women in the non-PAS group had a median sFlt-1 level of 25,779.2 [14317.1–35,626.7] pg/ml, (p < 0.001). The sFlt-1 level was negatively related to the volume of postpartum blood loss (r = − 0.358, p = 0.041). After adjusting for maternal age and gestational age at blood taking, sFlt-1 level showed no significant relationship with PAS disorders (p = 0.245) and postpartum blood loss (p = 0.526). Conclusion: Third-trimester sFlt-1 serum level is not independently associated with PAS disorders or postpartum blood loss after adjusting for confounding factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid the escalating global climatic challenges, hydrological risks significantly influence human settlement patterns, underscoring the imperative for an in-depth comprehension of hydrological change's ramifications on human migration. However, predominant research has been circumscribed to the national level. The study delves into the nonlinear effects of hydrological risks on migration dynamics in 46,776 global subnational units. Meanwhile, leveraging remote sensing, we procured globally consistent metrics of hydrological intrusion exposure, offering a holistic risk assessment encompassing hazard, exposure, and vulnerability dimensions, thus complementing previous work. Here, we show that exposure is the primary migration driver, surpassing socioeconomic factors. Surrounding disparities further intensified exposure's impact. Vulnerable groups, especially the economically disadvantaged and elderly, tend to remain in high-risk areas, with the former predominantly migrating within proximate vicinities. The nonlinear analysis delineates an S-shaped trajectory for hydrological exposure, transitioning from resistance to migration and culminating in entrapment, revealing dependence on settlement resilience and adaptability. Hydrological risks drive migration more than socioeconomic factors. Vulnerable groups often stay in high-risk areas or migrate nearby. The study reveals an S-shaped migration pattern influenced by settlement resilience and adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new kinetic study of the uncatalyzed bromate oscillator using dark tea without pre-treatment was carried out. The difference of dark tea oscillating system with and without manganese ion as catalyst was compared. The reaction was studied with different starting concentrations of the reagents (sulfuric acid and potassium bromate) and the substrate of dark tea, and the results indicate that the concentration of dark tea has a wide range between 1 with 30 g/L in dark tea-KBrO3-H2SO4 system, the lowest concentration of potassium bromate and sulfuric acid are 0.028 mol/L and 0.24 mol/L. The effects of the temperature were also investigated and the activation energy of oscillation was calculated to 88.78 kJ/mol. In addition, the possible mechanism of the non-catalyzed oscillating reaction was also discussed briefly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Prediabetes is a state of subclinical glycemic impairment, bridging normal glucose tolerance and diabetes. Globally, over 30% of individuals exhibit prediabetic conditions, with a significant proportion progressing to diabetes. Prediabetes augments risks of various diseases including cardiovascular and kidney disease. While interventions like lifestyle changes have shown promise in diabetes prevention, their long-term sustainability is challenging. Alternative pharmacological treatments, such as acarbose and metformin, have demonstrated efficacy in certain populations. Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors, a novel class of glucose-lowering agents, have shown potential benefits for heart and kidney health in patients with diabetes. This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of dapagliflozin in individuals with prediabetes, elucidating its potential role in diabetes prevention strategies. Research Design and Methods: This prospective trial is being conducted at Peking University Third Hospital. A total of 240 participants with prediabetes will be enrolled and randomly divided into two groups: one receiving dapagliflozin (10 mg/day) with lifestyle education, and the other with lifestyle education alone over a 12-week duration (with male/female = 1:1 in each group). Anthropometric, clinical and laboratory tests, including body mass index, waist circumference, fasting blood glucose, oral glucose tolerance test, insulin, lipid profile, liver and kidney function, sperm quality, will be conducted at the onset and conclusion of the trial. For adherence monitoring, participants will receive phone follow-ups at week 4 and week 8. The primary outcome is the change in 2-h plasma glucose during an oral glucose tolerance test over the study duration. Secondary outcomes encompass changes in various health metrics, including body mass index, lipid profiles, and liver function. Planned Outcomes: The proposed study is set to refine diabetes prevention strategies on the basis of its potential benefits observed in patients with diabetes. Conclusions: This will be the first randomized controlled trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors compared with lifestyle education for individuals with prediabetes. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT05914857 (registered 24 July 2023). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely accepted that circadian rhythm disruption caused short- or long-term adverse effects on health. Although many previous studies have focused on exploration of the molecular mechanisms, there is no rapid, convenient, and non-invasive method to reveal the influence on health after circadian rhythm disruption. Here, we performed a high-resolution mass spectrometry-based data-independent acquisition (DIA) quantitative urinary proteomic approach in order to explore whether urine could reveal stress changes to those brought about by circadian rhythm disruption after sleep deprivation. After sleep deprivation, the subjects showed a significant increase in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure compared with routine sleep. More than 2000 proteins were quantified and they contained specific proteins for various organs throughout the body. And a total of 177 significantly up-regulated proteins and 68 significantly down-regulated proteins were obtained after sleep deprivation. These differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were associated with multiple organs and pathways, which reflected widespread influences of sleep deprivation. Besides, machine learning identified a panel of five DEPs (CD300A, SCAMP3, TXN2, EFEMP1, and MYH11) that can effectively discriminate circadian rhythm disruption. Taken together, our results validate the value of urinary proteome in predicting and diagnosing the changes by circadian rhythm disruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The diferential expression, biological function, and ceRNA regulatory mechanism of lncRNA XIST in bladder cancer (BC) were investigated, and its clinical values for the early diagnosis of bladder cancer patients were elucidated. Methods qRT-PCR was employed to detect the expression patterns of lncRNA XIST, miR-129-5p and TNFSF10. The biological functions were measured by CCK8 assay, wound healing assay and transwell assay. Bioinformatics analysis and DualLuciferase reporter assay were employed to evaluate the interactions between the lncRNA XIST, miR-129-5p and TNFSF10. Results LncRNA XIST and TNFSF10 were highly expressed and miR-129-5p was low expressed (P<0.05) in bladder cancer cell line. The depletion of lncRNA XIST inhibited BC proliferation, migration and invasion. Mechanistically, lncRNA XIST could sponge miR-129-5p to regulate TNFSF10 expression in bladder cancer. Furthermore, compared with adjacent tissues, lncRNA XIST and miR-129-5p were lowly expressed (P<0.01) in bladder cancer tissues, and TNFSF10 was highly expressed (P<0.001). miR-129-5p and TNFSF10 were associated with the risk of bladder cancer (P<0.05); the diference in AUC values for the diagnosis of bladder cancer by lncRNA XIST (AUC=0.739), miR-129-5p (AUC=0.850) and TNFSF10 (AUC=0.753) was statistically signifcant (P<0.01), and the three genes combined AUC was 0.900, 95%CI was 0.842–0.958 with a sensitivity of 83.3% and specifcity of 86.7%. Conclusion XIST, an elevated lncRNA in bladder cancer, inhibition of which could suppress the progression of BC. LncRNA XIST and miR-129-5p could form ceRNA to regulate the expression of TNFSF10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical equilibrium equations utilized in reactive transport modeling are complex and nonlinear, and are typically solved using the Newton-Raphson method. Although this algorithm is known for its quadratic convergence near the solution, it is less effective far from the solution, especially for ill-conditioned problems. In such cases, the algorithm may fail to converge or require excessive iterations. To address these limitations, a projected Newton method is introduced to incorporate the concept of projection. This method constrains the Newton step by utilizing a chemically allowed interval that generates feasible descending iterations. Moreover, we utilize the positive continuous fraction method as a preconditioning technique, providing reliable initial values for solving the algorithms. The numerical results are compared with those derived using the regular Newton-Raphson method, the Newton-Raphson method based on chemically allowed interval updating rules, and the bounded variable least squares method in six different test cases. The numerical results highlight the robustness and efficacy of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prostate cancer is the second most frequent cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men. Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) as a target has gained increasing attention. This research aims to investigate and understand how altering size of PEG impacts the in vitro and in vivo behavior and performance of PSMA inhibitors, with a specific focus on their pharmacokinetic characteristics and targeting properties. Results: Two 68Ga-labeled PSMA-targeted radiotracers were developed, namely [68Ga]Ga-PP4-WD and [68Ga]Ga-PP8-WD, with varying sizes of polyethylene glycol (PEG). [68Ga]Ga-PP4-WD and [68Ga]Ga-PP8-WD had excellent affinity for PSMA with IC50 being 8.06 ± 0.91, 6.13 ± 0.79 nM, respectively. Both tracers enabled clear visualization of LNCaP tumors in PET images with excellent tumor-to-background contrast. They also revealed highly efficient uptake and internalization into LNCaP cells, increasing over time. The biodistribution studies demonstrated that both radioligands exhibited significant and specific uptake into LNCaP tumors. Furthermore, they were rapidly cleared through the renal pathway, as evidenced by [68Ga]Ga-PP4-WD and [68Ga]Ga-PP8-WD showing a tenfold and a fivefold less in renal uptake, respectively, compared to [68Ga]Ga-Flu-1 in 30 min. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that PEG size significantly impacted tumor-targeting and pharmacokinetic properties. Conclusions: These radiotracers have demonstrated their effectiveness in significantly reducing kidney uptake while maintaining the absorbed dose in tumors. Both radiotracers exhibited strong binding and internalization characteristics in vitro, displayed high specificity and affinity for PSMA in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rare Metals is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The service discipline of weighted fair queueing (WFQ) has been practically used in many telecommunication systems. The development of analytically tractable models with WFQ discipline to determine their performances is vitally important. Motivated by a practical project on routers' optimization from the Huawei Company, this paper deals with a two-class single server MAP/PH/1 queue with a finite capacity under the WFQ discipline, which is little investigated in the literature. To capture the most generality of stochastic factors in traffic traces, we assume that the arrive process is a Markovian arrival process (MAP) and the service time obeys a phase-type (PH) distribution. This paper focuses on the performance analysis of our proposed queueing system and its application to traffic flow performances. We model this system as a five-dimensional Markov chain and use the matrix-geometric method to derive its stationary probabilities and performance measures, such as the average queue length and sojourn time of each class of customers. In order to validate our analysis results, we further develop a simulator to evaluate the system performance with a real data of Internet packet traces. Experiment comparison demonstrates the effectiveness and applicability of our theoretical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Investigate the impact of various halogens on pharmacokinetics, biodistribution, and micro positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging of Glu-urea-Lys-based prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) inhibitors. Procedures: Based on the modification of SC691, a small molecule inhibitor of PSMA previously developed by our group, we synthesized 68Ga-labeled compounds by modifying the lysine terminal amino with different halogenated phenyl substituents. After complete characterization, in vitro and in vivo properties were studied. Results: The [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-SC691-R possesses a high radiochemical yield (98–99%). The internalization values of [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-SC691-H, [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-SC691-Cl, and [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-SC691-Br in LNCaP cells all displayed time-dependent pattern enhanced with time. The results of in vitro competitive inhibition assay showed that the affinity of natGa-DOTA-SC691-R for PSMA had a trend of H < F < Cl < Br < I. The blocking imaging and dynamic imaging on micro-PET/CT of male non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency mice with LNCaP tumors showed the rapid tumor targeting properties of [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-SC691-R with specificity for PSMA. Static imaging of micro-PEC/CT of these compounds could rapidly localize LNCaP tumors with decent image quality (except for [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-SC691-H). Biodistribution data showed that [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-SC691-R were metabolized via the kidney and tumor accumulation followed the order of H ≈ F ≈ Cl < I < Br uptake values at 1 h. [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-SC691-Br showed the highest tumor accumulation and retention (15.21 ± 5.57%ID/g at 30 min, 20.39 ± 4.38%ID/g at 60 min, and 13.30 ± 4.39%ID/g at 120 min), which is consistent with the results of the competitive inhibition assay and cell binding assay. Conclusions: It was demonstrated that the halogen substituent on the lysine terminal amino group on the Glu-urea-Lys backbone did positively affect the binding of [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-SC691-R to PSMA. The bulkier and less electronegative Br (or I) elements are preferred for structural modifications here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oxygen-doped porous carbon nitride (O-PCN) was prepared via calcinating oxalic acid and urea to activate peroxydisulfate (PS) for abatement of 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) under visible light. The results indicated that O-PCN possessed relatively higher specific area (50.48 m2 g−1), larger pore volume (0.168 cm3 g−1), larger average size (14.33 nm) and thinner layer compared to g-C3N4. This structure feather can utilize light more efficiently because more light can penetrate the pore of O-PCN reflect in the pores and reflect. Most importantly, O-PCN has quasi-full-visible-light response (790 nm) compared to pure g-C3N4 (480 nm), which can broaden utilization efficiency of visible light range. In PS/O-PCN/Vis system, 6 mg/L EE2 can be completely removed only within 20 min, and degradation rate constant of EE2 is 6.81 and 2.00 times than those in PS/g-C3N4/Vis and O-PCN/Vis systems. The h+ and ∙O2− are main contributors for EE2 abatement in the PS/O-PCN/Vis system. The effect of anion (Cl−, HCO3−, NO3− and SO42−) and typical natural organic matters (HA and FA) present in water matrixes on EE2 abatement in this system is explored, and the estrogenic activities of treated process is also evaluated by MCF-7 cell viability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wavelength selection has become a critical step in the analysis for near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy with high co-linearity and large number of spectral variables. In this study, a novel wavelength interval selection method based on split regularized regression and partial least squares (SplitReg-PLS) is developed. SplitReg-PLS is a two-step approach, which combines the advantage of the SplitReg and PLS methods. SplitReg presents interesting properties, which can split the variables into groups and pool the regularized estimation of the regression coefficients together as groups. The PLS regression is one of the most popular methods for multivariate calibration, and is performed on the selected group variables by using the SplitReg. The SplitReg-PLS method can automatically select successive strongly correlated and interpretable spectral variables related to the response, which provides a flexible framework for variable selection. The performance of the proposed procedure is evaluated by three real NIR datasets. The results indicate that SplitReg-PLS is a good wavelength interval selection strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

68Ga-radiolabeled small molecules targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) have been extensively investigated as 68Ga-positron emission tomography (68Ga-PET) tracers. Nevertheless, current 68Ga-labeled radiotracers suffer from either fair detection rates for metastatic prostate cancer lesions or a high uptake by the kidneys. This study synthesizes new PSMA-targeted radiotracers, [68Ga]SC691-DOTA, [68Ga]SC691-NOTA, and [68Ga]SC691-HBEDCC, and explores the in vitro and in vivo properties. These three radiotracers enabled PSMA-positive LNCaP tumors to be visualized by micro-PET/CT as early as 5 min post-injection. Biodistribution studies revealed that all three compounds could accumulate in the tumor with high affinity. The kidney's uptake of [68Ga]SC691-DOTA and [68Ga]SC691-NOTA was comparable but lower than [68Ga]SC691-HBEDCC. [68Ga]SC691-HBEDCC demonstrated the most increased uptake and retention in the tumor over 2 h post-injection and a lower tumor-to-tissue ratio than [68Ga]SC691-DOTA, and [68Ga]SC691-NOTA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-quality spin-coated Bi1-xLaxFeO3 (x = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, and 0.05) films were successfully produced on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)/glass substrates using a sol-gel approach. The effects of La-doping on the structure, surface morphology, and ferroelectric properties of BFO films were thoroughly investigated. Doping causes structural alterations, which are detected using XRD and Raman spectrum analyses. SEM pictures demonstrate that Bi1-xLaxFeO3 thin films with x = 0.02 have homogeneous fine grains and a greater density, which facilitate the development of ferroelectric characteristics. The XPS study revealed that the incorporation of La3+ significantly reduced the content of Fe2+ and oxygen vacancies, resulting in a massive residual scheme value (2Pr = 280.4 µC/cm2) and an extremely low leakage current density (J = 1.1 × 10–6 A/cm2). Similarly, the dielectric constant and dielectric loss were significantly improved. Furthermore, UV-vis spectroscopy was used to detect the band gap of the BFO samples, which revealed that the La-doped sample had a smaller band gap than pure BFO. The fundamental principles based on oxygen radical concentration have been described, providing a unique platform to develop improved ferroelectric materials with broad applications. The Bi1-xLaxFeO3 (x = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05) films: (a) Relationship between the frequency-dielectric constant; (b) Relationship between the frequency-dielectric loss; (c) Leakage current density curves of the BLFO thin films.; (d) Log J–log E characteristics of the BLFO thin films. It can be seen from the figures that La doping effectively improved the dielectric properties and the leakage characteristics of the films. Highlights: La3+ ions were successfully incorporated into BiFeO3 films by sol-gel technology. In terms of leakage current, the doped films are all three orders of magnitude smaller than the undoped one. And the Bi0.98La0.02FeO3 films have significantly higher double remnant polarization (2Pr～280.4 μC/cm2 μC/cm2) values compared to pure BiFeO3 (168.76 μC/cm2). The dielectric properties of the La-doped BiFeO3 films are significantly improved, which corresponds to their increased remanent polarization values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Approximately 30% of stage II and 50–60% of stage III colorectal cancer (CRC) patients who have undergone surgery will develop recurrence within 5 years. Thus, more reliable prognostic biomarkers are urgently needed to identify the high-risk subset of patients who will benefit from postoperative adjuvant therapy. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 911 stage II/III CRC patients in multiple cohorts. Using a series of bioinformatic and statistical approaches, an individualized prognostic signature was established in the training cohort and validated in four other independent cohorts. An integrated decision tree was generated to improve risk stratification, and a nomogram was built to quantify risk assessment for individual patients. Results: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was identified as a dominant risk factor for recurrence-free survival (RFS) in stage II/III CRC patients. The EMT-related gene signature could discriminate high-risk subsets in a training cohort and four independent validation cohorts (with 473, 89, 130, 74 and 145 patients, respectively). Survival analyses demonstrated that the EMT-related gene signature served as an independent risk factor for RFS in different subgroups. The decision tree could optimize the risk stratification, and the nomogram could predict the 5-year RFS probability accurately. Conclusion: The proposed EMT-related prognostic signature is a useful biomarker to predict RFS and identify the high-risk subset in stage II/III CRC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in tissue stiffness by physiological or pathological factors in tissue structure are identified earlier than their clinical features. Pathological processes such as uterine fibrosis, adenomyosis, endometrial lesions, infertility, and premature birth can manifest as tissue elasticity changes. In clinical settings, elastography techniques based on ultrasonography, optical coherence tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging are widely used for noninvasive measurement of mechanical properties in patients, providing valuable tool and information for diagnosis and treatment. Ultrasound elastography (USE) plays a critical role in obstetrics and gynecology clinical work because of its simplicity, non-invasiveness, and repeatability. This article reviews the recent progress of USE in uterine tumor diagnosis (especially early diagnosis and treatment effect evaluation), prediction of preterm birth, and intrauterine insemination. We believe that USE, especially shear wave elastography, may serve as a potential means to assess tissue stiffness, thereby improving the diagnosis and treatment of adenomyosis, fibroids, endometrial lesions, cervical cancer, and precise management of preterm birth and intrauterine insemination monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The present study explored the association between preoperative macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer thickness (GCIPL) and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFL) measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and the recovery of visual field (VF) defect after surgery in pituitary adenoma patients. Methods: This case-control study included patients with pituitary adenoma in the Neurosurgery Department of Shanxi Provincial People's Hospital between October 2019 and June 2021. Cranial MRI examination, three-dimensional OCT, and VF testing (Humphrey Field Analyzer II750) were performed before and at 6months after the surgery. Results: Fifty-three pituitary adenoma patients (81 eyes) were enrolled; 15 patients (23 eyes) were in the visual field did not recover group (VFNR), and 38 patients (58 eyes) were in the visual field recovered group (VFR). The temporal RNFL (P = 0.002) and average RNFL (P = 0.009) in the VFNR group were significantly lower than in the VFR group. The superior nasal GCIPL (P = 0.001), inferior nasal GCIPL (P = 0.001) and average GCIPL (P = 0.01) were significantly lower in the VFNR group than in the VFR group (all P < 0.01).The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that nasal inferior GCIPL was an independent risk factor for VF recovery (odds ratio (OR) = 1.376,95% confidence interval (CI):1.089-1.739,P = 0.007). In the received operating characteristics (ROC) analysis, the area under the ROC curve (AUROCs) was the highest for nasal inferior GCIPL (AUROC = 0.739). Conclusions: In patients who underwent resection of pituitary adenoma, nasal inferior GCIPL was an independent risk factor of visual field defect recover after surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is a rapidly emerging modality in biomedical research with the advantages of noncontact operation, high optical resolution, and deep penetration. Great efforts and progress in the development of PAI agents with improved imaging resolution and sensitivity have been made over the past 2 decades. Among them, organic agents are the most promising candidates for preclinical/clinical applications due to their outstanding in vivo properties and facile biofunctionalities. Motivated by the unique properties of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens (AIEgens), various optical probes have been developed for bioanalyte detection, multimodal bioimaging, photodynamic/photothermal therapy, and imaging-guided therapeutics. In particular, AIE-active contrast agents have been demonstrated in PAI applications with excellent performance in imaging resolution and tissue permeability in vivo. This paper presents a brief overview of recent progress in AIE-based agents in the field of photoacoustic imaging. In particular, we focus on the basic concepts, data sorting and comparison, developing trends, and perspectives of photoacoustic imaging. Through numerous typical examples, the way each system realizes the desired photoacoustic performance in various biomedical applications is clearly illustrated. We believe that AIE-based PAI agents would be promising multifunctional theranostic platforms in clinical fields and will facilitate significant advancements in this research topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to large companies, the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in China are more likely to fail in developing green supply chain management (GSCM). Capturing its failure factors could be useful for managers and policymakers to decide how green supply chains can be successfully designed and developed. Meanwhile, these factors can include complex interrelationships. Properly dealing with them can help identify the critical factors which can assist decision-makers to efficiently manage green supply chains. This study thus proposes a comprehensive framework to explore and understand failure factors of GSCM in China's SMEs to improve the opportunities of GSCM in China. The fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) are combined and applied to identify critical failure factors through translating interrelationships in a hierarchical cause–effect model. The results indicate that collaboration and support are the most critical perspectives for GSCM, and these two perspectives also interrelated with each other and affect the perspectives of knowledge, technology and economy to varying degrees. Moreover, the critical failure factors include lack of top management support, poor guidance from authorities, difficulty in supplier selection and inadequate supplier commitment. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to check the robustness. Conceptual and managerial implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A"scheduled" arrival process is one in which the nth arrival is scheduled for time n, but instead occurs at n + ξ n , where the ξ j 's are i.i.d. We describe here the behavior of a single server queue fed by such traffic in which the processing times are deterministic. A particular focus is on perturbations with Pareto-like tails but with finite mean. We obtain tail approximations for the steady-state workload in both cases where the queue is critically loaded and under a heavy-traffic regime. A key to our approach is our analysis of the tail behavior of a sum of independent Bernoulli random variables with parameters of the form p n ∼ c n - α as n → ∞ , for c > 0 and α > 1 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pure BiFeO3 (BFO) and (Zn2+, Al3+, Ti4+) mono-doped BiFe0.98M0.02O3 (M = Zn, Al, Ti) polycrystalline multiferroic films has been successfully synthesized on FTO/glass substrates via sol–gel spin-coating method. Effects of mono-doping with three different valence metal ions (Zn2+, Al3+, Ti4+) on crystalline structure, surface morphology, and electrical properties of BFO films were systematically investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results show that BFO film samples mono-doped with Zn2+, Al3+, and Ti4+ all have rhombic distorted perovskite structure of R3m space group, and no heterophases are produced. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images reveal that microstructural density of BiFe0.98M0.02O3 (M = Zn, Al, Ti) films is significantly increased compared to pure BFO. Furthermore leakage current densities of BiFe0.98M0.02O3 (M = Zn, Al, Ti) films all reach up to the order of 10−5 A/cm2 under applied electric field of 150 kV/cm, that is about three orders of magnitude lower than pure BFO films. Greatly reduced leakage current density confers superior ferroelectric properties to BiFe0.98M0.02O3 (M = Zn, Al, Ti) films, as evidenced by beautiful P–E hysteresis loops at room temperature for (Zn2+, Al3+, Ti4+) mono-doped BiFe0.98M0.02O3 (M = Zn, Al, Ti) films and significantly higher double remnant polarization (2Pr ~ 164.75–168.66 μC/cm2) values compared to pure BFO (102.36 μC/cm2). The significantly improved ferroelectric properties provide a new reference for the practical application of BFO film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the platform of general chemical process simulation software (it was named Optimization Engineer, OPEN), a general optimization algorithm for chemical process simulation is developed using C + + code. The algorithm is based on sequential quadratic programming (SQP). We adopt the activity set algorithm and the rotation axis algorithm to generate the activity set to solve the quadratic programming sub-problem. The active set method can simplify the number of constraints and speed up the calculation. At the same time, we used limited memory BFGS algorithm (L-BFGS) to simplify the solution of second derivative matrix. The special matrix storage mode of L-BFGS algorithm can save the storage space and speed up the computing efficiency. We use exact penalty function and traditional step-size rule in the algorithm. These two methods can ensure the convergence of the algorithm, a more correct search direction and suitable search step. The example shows that the advanced optimization function can meet the requirements of General Chemical Process Calculation. The number of iterations can reduce by about 6.0%. The computation time can reduce by about 6.5%. We combined this algorithm with chemical simulation technology to develop the optimization function of chemical engineering simulation. This optimization function can play an important role in the process optimization calculation aiming at energy saving and green production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Event-based social networks (EBSNs) are platforms for users to publish, organize, or choose to participate in events through social networks. In recent years, the number of users and events on EBSNs has increased dramatically, and interactions among them have become more complicated. This makes it difficult to model EBSN networks for effective analysis and mining. Moreover, the requirement of real-time matching between users and impromptu events according to impromptu spatio-temporal constraints is becoming urgent because of the significant dynamics brought by the widespread use of mobile devices on EBSNs. Therefore, graph embedding based real-time social event matching technologies for EBSNs are studied in this paper. We first model an EBSN as a heterogeneous information network, and perform graph embedding to represent the nodes in it, which can more effectively reflect the hidden features of nodes and contribute to mining users and events preferences. Then heuristic social event matching methods are employed to effectively find overall optimal recommendations between users and events under spatio-temporal constraints in real-time. This forms a two-stage framework, i.e., the representation learning stage and the real-time matching stage. We conducted experiments on the Meetup dataset to verify the effectiveness of the framework by combining different graph embedding methods and heuristic matching algorithms. The results show that the proposed framework yields improvements in the matching success rate, user satisfaction, and user waiting time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potash-bearing deposit was located in the Vientiane Basin of Laos where exists one of eastern Tethys metallogenic belt. The water-insoluble of Thongmang mining area in this basin were selected as carrier, through leaching and analysis, showed the water-insoluble minerals mainly include anhydrite, boracite, hilgardite, carbonate, quartz and muscovite, in which anhydrite, boracite and muscovite were dominant minerals. Mineralogical and morphological analyses of the water-insoluble minerals from different borehole-derived potash mineral strata have elucidated the evolution process of brine salt formation and restore the paleo-potassium deposit environment. The water-insoluble minerals revealed that the sedimentary environment in the late stage of salinity belongs to the shallow water disturbing environment. Accompanied by the fluvial influx and the influence continued, under the strong influence of terrestrial water body in the late salt-forming period, the evolution process of salt-forming brine will inevitably be affected. And the displacement of sedimentary center occurred during the metallogenic stage. Thus, this studies show that the characteristics of the water-insoluble can be used to retrieve the evolution process of brine salt formation and refect environment changes of the paleo-potassium deposits. In a word, the characteristics of water-insoluble minerals can provide effective information indicating the changes of sedimentary environments at the late stage of brine evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently available Collaborative Filtering(CF) algorithms often utilize user behavior data to generate recommendations. The similarity calculation between users is mostly based on the scores, without considering the explicit attributes of the users with profiles, as these are difficult to generate, or their evolution of preferences over time. This paper proposes a collaborative filtering algorithm named T-LDA (Time-decay Dirichlet Allocation), which is based on the topic model. In this method, we generate a hybrid score for similarity calculation with topic model. However, most topic models ignore the attribute of time order. In order to further improve the prediction accuracy, a time-decay function is introduced in topic model. The experimental results show that this algorithm has better performance than currently available algorithms on the MovieLens dataset, Netflix dataset and la.fm dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Author Correction: SIRT2-mediated deacetylation and deubiquitination of C/EBP prevents ethanol-induced liver injury SIRT2f/fAlb -Cre - (LoxP) and SIRT2f/fAlb -Cre + (SIRT2 -KO) male mice were treated with pair (Pair) and ethanol diet (EtOH) according to NIAAA model (n = 8-10/group). a-h Liver injury, steatosis, lipid peroxidation, and cell apoptosis were assessed by images of the indicated livers (scale bar, 1 cm), mouse hepatic H&E staining (scale bar, 100 m), IHC detection of 4-HNE and TUNEL (scale bar, 100 m) (a), serum ALT (b) and AST (c), liver triglyceride (TG) (d), hepatic MDA content (e), and PTGS2 mRNA (f), quantitative analysis of TUNEL-positive hepatocytes (magnification, ×200) (g), Western blot analysis of cl. 2Liver-specific SIRT2KO sensitizes mice to alcoholic liver injury. [Extracted from the article]

Protein acetylation has emerged to play pivotal roles in alcoholic liver disease (ALD). Sirutin 2 (SIRT2) is a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent deacetylase involved in the regulation of aging, metabolism, and stress. However, the role of SIRT2 in ALD remains unclear. Here, we report that the SIRT2-mediated deacetylation–deubiquitination switch of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein beta (C/EBPβ) prevents ALD. Our results showed that hepatic SIRT2 protein expression was negatively correlated with the severity of alcoholic liver injury in ALD patients. Liver-specific SIRT2 deficiency sensitized mice to ALD, whereas transgenic SIRT2 overexpression in hepatocytes significantly prevented ethanol-induced liver injury via normalization of hepatic steatosis, lipid peroxidation, and hepatocyte apoptosis. Mechanistically, we identified C/EBPβ as a critical substrate of SIRT2 implicated in ALD. SIRT2-mediated deacetylation at lysines 102 and 211 decreased C/EBPβ ubiquitination, resulting in enhanced protein stability and subsequently increased transcription of C/EBPβ-target gene LCN2. Importantly, hepatic deacetylated C/EBPβ and LCN2 compensation reversed SIRT2 deletion-induced ALD aggravation in mice. Furthermore, C/EBPβ protein expression was positively correlated with SIRT2 and LCN2 expression in the livers of ALD patients and was inversely correlated with ALD development. Therefore, activating SIRT2-C/EBPβ-LCN2 signaling pathway is a potential therapy for ALD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a review over past experiments and theoretical requirements from low-energy flavour physics, we argue that the possibility of low-mass leptoquarks (LQ) cannot be fully excluded due to the assumptions made in the measurements. Therefore we propose to search for the pair production of low-mass leptoquarks in Pb-Pb ultra-peripheral collisions with the least model dependence (assuming a small coupling constant ≲ 0.1). There are a couple of advantages: 1) high photon flux provides high production rate for low mass LQs; 2) the background contamination is much lower than that in p-p collisions. The analysis strategy permits a leptoquark to decay to all possible lepton-plus-quark modes. Taking the scalar LQ, S3, with an electric charge q = 4 3 e , as example, the mass point of 100 GeV can be excluded at the 95% confidence level using a dataset of 4 pb−1 Pb-Pb ultra-peripheral collisions at s = 5.02 TeV and the performance of the ATLAS detector in Run 2. The proposed method also applies to searching for high-mass LQs in p-p collisions as long as the LQ pair production mechanism dominates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neritidae is one of the most diverse families of Neritimorpha and possesses euryhaline properties. Members of this family usually live on tropical and subtropical coasts and are mainly gregarious. The phylogenetic relationships between several subclasses of Gastropoda have been controversial for many years. With an increase in the number of described species of Neritidae, the knowledge of the evolutionary relationships in this family has improved. In the present study, we sequenced four complete mitochondrial genomes from two genera (Clithon and Nerita) and compared them with available complete mitochondrial genomes of Neritidae. Gene order exhibited a highly conserved pattern among three genera in the Neritidae family. Our results improved the phylogenetic resolution within Neritidae, and more comprehensive taxonomic sampling of subclass Neritimorpha was proposed. Furthermore, we reconstructed the divergence among the main lineages of 19 Neritimorpha taxa under an uncorrelated relaxed molecular clock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of the uncertainty quantification in ship maneuverability prediction is expounded. An efficient method for the uncertainty quantification problem, the Non-Intrusive Polynomial Chaos (NIPC) method, is introduced. A 3-DOF MMG model is adopted to carry out simulations of 35° turning circle tests and 10°/10° zig-zag tests for a KCS container ship model. The effects of the uncertainty of the hull-related hydrodynamic derivatives in the MMG model on the maneuverability parameters, i.e., the advance, the tactical diameter, the initial turning time and the overshoot angles are analyzed quantitatively, and the sensitivities of these parameters to the hydrodynamic derivatives are determined. The results are compared with those obtained by the Monte Carlo (MC) method. It is shown that the NIPC method is much better than the MC method in terms of the convergence with respect to the number of samples, and the computation accuracy of the NIPC method is higher than that of the MC method under the same number of samples; the considered maneuverability parameters are most sensitive to the uncertainty of the yaw moment related hydrodynamic derivatives, and least sensitive to that of the longitudinal force related ones. The feasibility of the NIPC method in the uncertainty quantification of ship maneuverability prediction is proved, which provides a novel approach to analyze the influence of the accuracy of the hydrodynamic derivatives on ship maneuverability prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For any simply-laced GIM Lie algebra L , we present the definition of quantum universal enveloping algebra U q (L) , and prove that there is a quantum universal enveloping algebra U q (A) of an associated Kac-Moody algebra A , together with an involution (ℚ -linear) σ, such that U q (L) is isomorphic to the ℚ (q) -extension S ~ q of the σ-involutory subalgebra Sq of U q (A) . This result gives a quantum version of Berman's work (Berman Comm. Algebra 17, 3165–3185, 1989) in the simply-laced cases. Finally, we describe an automorphism group of U q (L) consisting of Lusztig symmetries as a braid group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, rice cultivar 8272 (yellowing leaves) was compared with cultivar 9311 (normal leaf color) to clarify the mechanism underlying the chlorosis. The 8272 leaf color was sensitive to intense sunlight accompanied by high temperatures, which induced the yellowing of leaves, whereas the 9311 leaf color was normal under the same growing conditions. A shading experiment in the field and an artificial climate chamber test revealed that the chlorosis of 8272 leaves was due to high-intensity light, rather than high temperatures. Analyses of chlorophyll fluorescence parameters indicated that the photosystem II (PSII) reaction center activity of 8272N (grown under natural high light conditions) was significantly lower than that of 8272S (under shade), with the electron transfer significantly inhibited. The H2O2, O2.−, and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents increased sharply in 8272N, and the antioxidant enzymes were also activated. A comparison of the enriched KEGG pathways among the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between 8272 and 9311 indicated genes related to abiotic stress tolerance were highly expressed in 8272N. In contrast, the expression levels of the key genes in the carbon assimilation metabolic pathway were significantly lower in 8272N than in 9311N. A qRT-PCR analysis confirmed the results of the RNA-seq and antioxidant enzyme activity analyses. Thus, the chlorosis of 8272 leaves in response to intense light may be associated with the mechanisms contributing to the photosynthetic control of electron transport via carbon assimilation in leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argininosuccinate synthase (ASS1) is a ubiquitous enzyme in mammals that catalyzes the formation of argininosuccinate from citrulline and aspartate. ASS1 genetic deficiency in patients leads to an autosomal recessive urea cycle disorder citrullinemia, while its somatic silence or down-regulation is very common in various human cancers. Here, we show that ASS1 functions as a tumor suppressor in breast cancer, and the pesticide spinosyn A (SPA) and its derivative LM-2I suppress breast tumor cell proliferation and growth by binding to and activating ASS1. The C13-C14 double bond in SPA and LM-2I while the Cys97 (C97) site in ASS1 are critical for the interaction between ASS1 and SPA or LM-2I. SPA and LM-2I treatment results in significant enhancement of ASS1 enzymatic activity in breast cancer cells, particularly in those cancer cells with low ASS1 expression, leading to reduced pyrimidine synthesis and consequently the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation. Thus, our results establish spinosyn A and its derivative LM-2I as potent ASS1 enzymatic activator and tumor inhibitor, which provides a therapeutic avenue for tumors with low ASS1 expression and for those non-tumor diseases caused by down-regulation of ASS1. Arginine addiction induced by argininosuccinate synthase (ASSN1) deficiency has been exploited to treat ASS1-deficient cancers. Here, the authors show an alternative therapeutic approach where ASS1 activity is increased by the pesticide spinosyn A and is shown to inhibit breast cancer cell proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, BFO and BFAO thin films were prepared on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates via spin coating with two different acid solvents. One is nitric acid solution (solvent I), the other is a mixture of 2-methoxyethanol and glacial acetic acid (solvent II). The structure, morphology, elemental valence states, and ferroelectric properties of BiFeO3 (BFO) and BiFe0.96Al0.04O3 (BFAO) films were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results show that all the films are R3c structure and have no impurity phase. The SEM results show that the BFO thin film prepared by solvent II is more compact, uniform, and has low porosity. Raman spectra show that Al doping causes structural distortion. Al doping can solve the problem of porosity and increase the density of BFO thin film. Therefore, the density of BFAO-II sample is better. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) shows that the presence of Al reduces the oxygen vacancy content. This is beneficial to reduce the leakage current density and improve the ferroelectric properties. The leakage current density of BFAO-II sample is 10-3 A/cm2, and the double residual polarization value is 110.2 μC/cm2. Compared with BFO-II sample, it is significantly improved. In addition, Al doping can reduce the band gap of BFO films. This work will be a new idea for the further application of Al doped bismuth ferrite films. Highlights: High performance BFO, BFAO thin films were prepared by sol–gel method. The BFO thin films have excellent properties with the mixed solution of 2-methoxyethanol and glacial acetic acid as solvent. Al doping can effectively improve the ferroelectric properties and reduce the band gap width of BFO thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common pathogens in bacterial biofilm infections. Antibiotic treatment for infection caused by S. aureus biofilms is challenging, and few effective strategies have been developed to combat these infections. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect and possible mechanisms of artesunate on the biofilm formation of S. aureus. Bacterial growth curves were determined by a microtiter plate. Biofilm formation was determined by the crystal violet staining method and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Bacterial adhesion was assayed by the colony-counting method. The expression of virulence and adhesion genes was determined by real-time PCR. The hemolytic activity and expression of ɑ-hemolysin were analyzed using rabbit erythrocytes and Western blotting. The results showed that artesunate could significantly inhibit the biofilm formation of S. aureus in a dose-dependent manner. Artesunate could also inhibit bacterial adhesion and the expression of hla, RNAIII and agrA as well as ɑ-hemolysin production. The effect of artesunate on adhesion genes (clfA, clfB, fnbA, fnbB) had strain specificity, but it did not affect the expression of ica genes. The results indicated that artesunate might inhibit ɑ-hemolysin synthesis by the agr system, which inhibits biofilm formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]