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Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is the second most common primary hepatic malignancy after hepatocellular carcinoma, with poor prognosis and limited treatment options. The genomic features of ICC in Chinese patients remain largely unknown. In this study, we perform deep whole-exome sequencing of 204 Chinese primary ICCs and characterize genomic alterations and clonal evolution, and reveal their associations with patient outcomes. We identify six mutational signatures, including Signatures A and F, which are highly similar to previously described signatures linked to aristolochic acid and aflatoxin exposures, respectively. We also identify 13 significantly mutated genes in the ICC samples, including SAV1. We find that SAV1 was mutated in 2.9% (20/672) of 672 ICC samples. SAV1 mutation is associated with lower SAV1 protein levels, higher rates of tumor recurrence, and shorter overall patient survival. Biofunctional investigations reveal a tumor-suppressor role of SAV1: its inactivation suppresses Hippo signaling, leading to YAP activation, thereby promoting tumor growth and metastasis. Collectively, our results delineate the genomic landscape of Chinese ICCs and identify SAV1 as a potential driver of ICC. Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) remains poorly characterised in Chinese patients. Here, the authors profile 204 Chinese primary ICCs using deep whole-exome sequencing, and propose SAV1 as a driver of ICC due to its mutation frequency and potential tumour suppressor activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The controllable fabrication of patterned p-type and n-type channels with precise doping control presents a significant challenge, impeding the realization of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) logic using a single van der Waals material. However, such an achievement could offer substantial benefits by enabling continued transistor scaling and unprecedented interlayer interconnect technologies. In this study, we devise a precise method for two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor substitutional doping, which allows for the production of wafer-scale 2H-MoTe2 thin films with specific p-type or n-type doping. Notably, we extend this approach to the synthesis of spatially selective doped 2H-MoTe2 thin films via a one-step growth method, facilitating the monolithic integration of p-type and n-type semiconductor channels. Leveraging this advancement, we successfully fabricate a chip-sized 2D CMOS inverter array that demonstrates excellent device performance and yield. Collectively, these findings represent a significant stride towards the practical incorporation of 2D semiconductors in very large-scale integration technology. The fabrication of n- and p-type semiconducting channels based on the same layered material would simplify the implementation of 2D electronics. Here, the authors report a spatially selective doping method for the synthesis of wafer-scale p- and n-type 2H-MoTe2 thin films, and their application for the realization of complementary 2D transistor and inverter arrays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Radiotherapy is a critical treatment for early-stage extranodal nasal-type NK/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTL) and has yielded favorable survival outcomes. However, their postradiotherapy quality of life (QOL) has not been investigated. Here, we conducted a cross-sectional study to assess the QOL of ENKTL patients with disease-free survival after definitive radiotherapy and to identify factors associated with QOL and treatment optimization. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 310 patients with stage I–II ENKTL of the upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) who had received simultaneous integrated boost intensity-modulated radiotherapy (SIB-IMRT) with a consistent design and achieved disease-free survival. The median postradiotherapy time was 47.2 months (range, 3.1–115.7). The EORTC QLQ-H&N35 questionnaire was used to assess symptom-related QOL, and nine additional items were added to incorporate nasal, optical, and aural-related symptoms. The scores indicate the severity of the symptoms. Results: The most common postradiotherapy symptoms among patients with ENKTL were nose problems (49.7%), dry mouth (44.8%), tooth problems (41.3%), sensory problems (32.6%), and less sexuality (25.8%). Tooth problems had the highest average score of 18.6, which is still acceptable. The severity of these symptoms decreased over time and reached a plateau in the second year after radiotherapy. Multivariable regression analysis showed that whole-neck irradiation was an independent predictive factor for xerostomia (P = 0.013, OR = 1.114), while age > 60 years was a predictive factor for lower sexuality (P < 0.001, OR = 1.32). Conclusion: The QOL of patients with early-stage ENKTL after radiotherapy was favorable, and most symptoms improved over time. Radiotherapy was correlated with specific symptoms, which may suggest a direction for further improvement in SIB-IMRT. [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 planthopper Nilaparvata muiri is a sister species to N. lugens (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), a notorious insect pest in Asian rice fields. N. muiri and N. lugens have a different host preference despite the similarities in many biological features. To better understand the adaptive evolution of planthoppers, comprehensive genomic information on N. muiri and N. lugens are urgently needed. In this study, we used ultra-low input PacBio HiFi libraries and Hi-C sequencing technologies to assemble a reference genome of a single N. muiri at the chromosomal level. The genome size was determined to be 531.62 Mb with a contig N50 size of 2.47 Mb and scaffold N50 size of 38.37 Mb. Totally, 96.61% assembled sequences were anchored to the 15 pseudo-chromosomes. BUSCO analysis yielded an Insecta completeness score of 98.6%. A total of 22,057 protein-coding genes were annotated, and 168.16 Mb repetitive sequences occupying 31.63% of genome were pinpointed. The assembled genome is valuable for evolutionary and genetic studies of planthoppers, and may provide sights to pest control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Frequency of imaging markers (FIM) has been identified as an independent predictor of hematoma expansion in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), but its impact on clinical outcome of ICH is yet to be determined. The aim of the present study was to investigate this association. Methods: This study was a secondary analysis of our prior research. The data for this study were derived from six retrospective cohorts of ICH from January 2018 to August 2022. All consecutive study participants were examined within 6 h of stroke onset on neuroimaging. FIM was defined as the ratio of the number of imaging markers on noncontrast head tomography (i.e., hypodensities, blend sign, and island sign) to onset-to-neuroimaging time. The primary poor outcome was defined as a modified Rankin Scale score of 3–6 at 3 months. Results: A total of 1253 patients with ICH were included for final analysis. Among those with available follow-up results, 713 (56.90%) exhibited a poor neurologic outcome at 3 months. In a univariate analysis, FIM was associated with poor prognosis (odds ratio 4.36; 95% confidence interval 3.31–5.74; p < 0.001). After adjustment for age, Glasgow Coma Scale score, systolic blood pressure, hematoma volume, and intraventricular hemorrhage, FIM was still an independent predictor of worse prognosis (odds ratio 3.26; 95% confidence interval 2.37–4.48; p < 0.001). Based on receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, a cutoff value of 0.28 for FIM was associated with 0.69 sensitivity, 0.66 specificity, 0.73 positive predictive value, 0.62 negative predictive value, and 0.71 area under the curve for the diagnosis of poor outcome. Conclusions: The metric of FIM is associated with 3-month poor outcome after ICH. The novel indicator that helps identify patients who are likely within the 6-h time window at risk for worse outcome would be a valuable addition to the clinical management of ICH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid variation of influenza challenges vaccines and treatments, which makes an urgent task to develop the high-efficiency and low-toxicity new anti-influenza virus drugs. Selenium is one of the essential trace elements for the human body that possesses a good antiviral activity. In this study, we assessed anti-influenza A virus (H1N1) activity of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified gray selenium nanoparticles (PEG-SeNPs) on Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cells in vitro. CCK-8 assay showed that PEG-SeNPs had a protective effect on H1N1-infected MDCK cells. Moreover, PEG-SeNPs significantly reduced the mRNA level of H1N1. TUNEL-DAPI test showed that DNA damage reached a high level but effectively prevented after PEG-SeNPs treatment. Meanwhile, JC-1, Annexin V-FITC and cell cycle assay demonstrated the apoptosis induced by H1N1 was reduced greatly when treated with PEG-SeNPs. Furthermore, the downregulation of p-ATM, p-ATR and P53 protein, along with the upregualation of AKT protein indicated that PEG-SeNPs could inhibit H1N1-induced cell apoptosis through reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated related signaling pathways. Finally, Cytokine detection demonstrated PEG-SeNPs inhibited the production of pro-inflammatory factors after infection, including IL-1β, IL-5, IL-6, and TNF-α. To sum up, PEG-SeNPs might become a new potential anti-H1N1 influenza virus drug due to its antiviral and anti-inflammatory activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the challenges in global change research is the significant uncertainty in global historical land use and land cover (LUCC) datasets, which are widely used as foundational data. In addition to the regional cropland area reconstructions, improving the grid allocation method is another feasible way to raise the reliability of historical LUCC data. In this study, an integrated reconstruction of the national cropland areas over the past 200 years was developed for 36 European countries. After that, the allocation algorithm was built using physiogeographic variables and historical city sites for accounting for land suitability and cultivation preferences, respectively. Finally, cropland data in Europe with a spatial resolution of 5′×5′ at five time sections from AD 1800 to 2000 were generated using the optimal allocation algorithm in accordance with the stages of the regional history. The results were as follows: (1) The dominant factors governing the distribution of croplands in Europe vary at different agricultural stages, but the results can be merged together. Land suitability was more optimal for allocation during the modern agricultural stage (AD 1950 and 2000); the priority index combined with land suitability and cultivation preference was more reasonable for allocation during the traditional agricultural stage (AD 1800). The average of the allocations by priority index and the land suitability could be adopted as the allocation results during the transitional stage (AD 1850 and 1900) because the grids for absolute differences within ±10 and ±20 percentage points between the results obtained from the above two allocations were above 80% and 95%, respectively, which means the two allocation results could be merged. (2) Over the past 200 years, the total cropland area in Europe first increased to a peak in AD 1900 and then decreased. Spatially, the centre of the higher cropland fraction shifted from the western part of Europe in AD 1800 to the eastern part of the continent after AD 1950. (3) Both the cropland area and the spatial distribution in this study are more reasonable than the global dataset HYDE3.2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to assess the accuracy of three parameters (white-to-white distance [WTW], angle-to-angle [ATA], and sulcus-to-sulcus [STS]) in predicting postoperative vault and to formulate an optimized predictive model. Methods: In this retrospective study, a cohort of 465 patients (comprising 769 eyes) who underwent the implantation of the V4c implantable Collamer lens with a central port (ICL) for myopia correction was examined. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and classification models were used to predict postoperative vault. The influences of WTW, ATA, and STS on predicting the postoperative vault and ICL size were analyzed and compared. Results: The dataset was randomly divided into training (80%) and test (20%) sets, with no significant differences observed between them. The screened variables included only seven variables which conferred the largest signal in the model, namely, lens thickness (LT, estimated coefficients for logistic least absolute shrinkage of −0.20), STS (−0.04), size (0.08), flat K (−0.006), anterior chamber depth (0.15), spherical error (−0.006), and cylindrical error (−0.0008). The optimal prediction model depended on STS (R2=0.419, RMSE=0.139), whereas the least effective prediction model relied on WTW (R2=0.395, RMSE=0.142). In the classified prediction models of the vault, classification prediction of the vault based on STS exhibited superior accuracy compared to ATA or WTW. Conclusions: This study compared the capabilities of WTW, ATA, and STS in predicting postoperative vault, demonstrating that STS exhibits a stronger correlation than the other two parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel nonlinear Kaczmarz method is proposed for solving large-scale nonlinear problems, which adaptively uses residual to combine the Jacobian submatrix and projects onto the weighted hyperplane. The convergence theory of the new method is proved, and the upper bound of the convergence rate is well studied. Numerical experiments are given to demonstrate that the proposed method is efficient and better than the existing methods in terms of the number of iterations and CPU time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficiently converting solar energy into chemical energy remains a formidable challenge in artificial photosynthetic systems. To date, rarely has an artificial photosynthetic system operating in the open air surpassed the highest solar-to-biomass conversion efficiency (1%) observed in plants. In this study, we present a three-dimension polymeric photocatalyst achieving a solar-to-H2O2 conversion efficiency of 3.6% under ambient conditions, including real water, open air, and room temperature. The impressive performance is attributed to the efficient storage of electrons inside materials via expeditious intramolecular charge transfer, and the fast extraction of the stored electrons by O2 that can diffuse into the internal pores of the self-supporting three-dimensional material. This construction strategy suppresses the interlayer transfer of excitons, polarizers and carriers, effectively increases the utilization of internal excitons to 82%. This breakthrough provides a perspective to substantially enhance photocatalytic performance and bear substantial implications for sustainable energy generation and environmental remediation. Migration of internal excitons, polarons, and free charges often results in recombination. Here, the authors develop a photocatalyst in which excitons, polarons, and charges can be efficiently utilized without interlayer transport, achieving a solar-to-chemical conversion efficiency of 3.6% at ambient conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geotechnical engineering projects involving retaining walls require the calculation of lateral earth pressures behind these walls. This paper assesses several analytical solutions available in the literature for the calculation of at-rest, active, and passive lateral earth pressures behind rigid retaining walls. The calculated lateral earth pressures from these analytical solutions are compared with the measured values from small-scale tests, full-scale tests, and/or numerical simulations available in the literature. Small-scale tests showed similar normalized at-rest, active and passive lateral earth pressures as compared with full-scale tests/numerical simulations. The comparisons show that the calculated lateral thrust using the method by Jaky (J Soc Hung Archit Eng 78:355–358, 1944) and Janssen (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure, 39: 1045-1049, 1895) with a low wall-soil interface friction angle well matched the measured at-rest lateral thrust in the field tests and those by Coulomb (Essai sur une application des règles de maximis et minimis a quelques problèmes de statique, relatifs a l'architecture, Academie Royale Des Sciences, Paris, 1776) and Zhou et al. (Rock Soil Mech 35:245–250, 2014) agreed better with the measured passive lateral thrusts in the small-scale tests and full-scale numerical simulations than those by other methods. The calculated lateral thrusts using the methods by Coulomb (Essai sur une application des règles de maximis et minimis a quelques problèmes de statique, relatifs a l'architecture, Academie Royale Des Sciences, Paris, 1776), and Handy (J Geotech Eng 111:302–318, 1985) and Paik and Salgado (Geotechnique 53:643–653, 2003) with appropriate wall-soil interface friction angles matched the active thrusts in both small-scale and full-scale tests reasonably well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bethylidae are the most diverse of Hymenoptera chrysidoid families. As external parasitoids, the bethylids have been widely adopted as biocontrol agents to control insect pests worldwide. Thus far, the genomic information of the family Bethylidae has not been reported yet. In this study, we crystallized into a high-quality chromosome-level genome of ant-like bethylid wasps Sclerodermus sp. 'alternatusi' (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) using PacBio sequencing as well as Hi-C technology. The assembled S. alternatusi genome was 162.30 Mb in size with a contig N50 size of 3.83 Mb and scaffold N50 size of 11.10 Mb. Totally, 92.85% assembled sequences anchored to 15 pseudo-chromosomes. A total of 10,204 protein-coding genes were annotated, and 23.01 Mb repetitive sequences occupying 14.17% of genome were pinpointed. The BUSCO results showed that 97.9% of the complete core Insecta genes were identified in the genome, while 97.1% in the gene sets. The high-quality genome of S. alternatusi will not only provide valuable genomic information, but also show insights into parasitoid wasp evolution and bio-control application in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Displacement mode has a significant influence on the distribution and magnitude of lateral earth pressures and the failure mechanisms of retaining walls. This study performed five model tests to evaluate the responses of coarse sand-backfilled retaining walls under five displacement modes including uniform translation (UT), rotation around the base (RB), rotation around the top (RT), counter-clockwise rotation around the midpoint (RM-CC), and clockwise rotation around the midpoint (RM-C). The measured lateral earth pressures behind each wall were compared with the calculated values using the analytical solutions from the literature. The failure mechanisms of the retaining walls under different displacement modes were evaluated in terms of their backfill deformation and shear strain contours. Test results show that the measured lateral earth pressures at rest and limit equilibrium (LE) had nonlinear distributions, and the RM-C mode resulted in the largest LE earth pressures as compared with the other four modes. The comparisons show that the measured at-rest and LE earth pressures were in good agreement with those calculated by Jaky's method and Harrop-Williams' method, respectively. For the retaining walls under the UT, RB, and RT modes, the required wall movement to reach the LE state was approximately 0.4%H where H is the height of the retaining wall. For the retaining walls under the RM-CC and RM-C modes, the required wall movements above the rotation point and below the rotation point to reach the limit equilibrium were 0.4%H and 0.2%H, respectively. The backfill behind the wall under the RB or RM-C mode showed progressive failure, while the backfill under the UT, RT, or RM-CC mode showed quick failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional convolutional neural networks (CNN) are deficient in the rock type recognition due to large convolutional kernels and numerous network parameters necessitated for recognition of complex images. The advanced convolutional neural network, Visual Geometry Group-16 (VGG16) model, which is based on multiple small convolutional kernels and fully connected layers, attains higher classification accuracy, yet is limited by low computational efficiency. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that integrates the advanced VGG16 with the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), a dimensionality reduction technique. This integration, referred to as the PCA-VGG16 model, aims to enhance the computational efficiency of automatic rock type identification. A dataset comprising 3000 images of six rock types: limestone, shale, dolomite, quartzite, marble, and granite, is assembled for training and testing of the PCA-VGG16 model. The feasibility of the PCA-VGG16 model for classification prediction is demonstrated through evaluation metrics including accuracy, loss value, and F1-score. A comparative analysis with the CNN and VGG16 models reveals that the proposed PCA-VGG16 model exhibits superior classification accuracy and reduced training durations, making a very promising advancement in the field. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis is conducted to understand the impact of dataset size and key hyperparameters (such as epochs and batch size) on the classification accuracy of the PCA-VGG16 model. The findings indicate that a minimum dataset of 1500 sample images is necessary to achieve a classification accuracy above 90%. For optimal model performance, a division of training, validation, and test sets approximately at 6:2:2, along with two epochs and a batch size of 128, is recommended in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a Pareto front (PF)-based sampling algorithm, PF-Voronoi sampling method, is proposed to solve computationally intensive multi-objective problems of medium size. The Voronoi diagram is introduced to classify the region containing PF prediction points into Pareto front cells (PFCs). Valid PFCs are screened according to the maximum crowding criterion (MCC), Maximum leave-one-out error criterion (MLEC), and maximum mean mean-square-error (MSE) criterion (MMMSEC). Sampling points are selected among the valid PFCs based on the Euclidean distance. The PF-Voronoi sampling method is applied to the coupled Kriging and NSGA-II models, and its validity is verified on the ZDT mathematical cases. The results show that the MCC criterion helps to improve the distribution diversity of PF. The MLEC criterion and the MMMSEC criterion reduce the number of training samples by 38.9% and 21.7%, respectively. The computational cost of the algorithm is reduced by more than 44.2%, compared to EHVIMOPSO and SAO-MOEA algorithms. The algorithm can be applied to multidisciplinary, multi-objective, and computationally intensive complex systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data augmentation is a crucial strategy to tackle issues like inadequate model robustness and a significant generalization gap. It is proven to combat overfitting, elevate deep neural network performance, and enhance generalization, particularly when data are limited. In recent years, mixed sample data augmentation (MSDA), including variants like Mixup and CutMix, has gained significant attention. However, these methods sometimes confound the network with misleading signals, limiting their effectiveness. In this context, we propose LocMix, an MSDA that aims to generate new training samples by prioritizing local saliency feature information and employing statistical data mixing. We achieve this by concealing salient regions with random masks and efficiently combining images through the optimization of local saliency information using transportation methods. Prioritizing the local features within an image allows LocMix to capture image details with greater accuracy and comprehensiveness, thereby enhancing the model's capacity to understand the target image. We conduct extensive validation of this approach on various challenging datasets. When applied to the training of the PreAct-ResNet18 model, our method yields notable improvements in accuracy. Specifically, on the CIFAR-10 dataset, we observe an impressive 1.71% accuracy enhancement. Similarly, on CIFAR-100, Tiny-ImageNet, ImageNet, and SVHN, we attain substantial accuracy improvements of 80.12%, 64.60%, 77.62%, and 97.12%, corresponding to improvements of 4.88%, 8.75%, 1.93%, and 0.57%, respectively. These experimental results plainly illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) lacks effective clinical treatments. As the disease progresses, the cerebral glucose hypometabolism that appears in the preclinical phase of AD gradually worsens, leading to increasingly severe brain energy disorders. This review analyzes the brain energy deficit in AD and its etiology, brain energy rescue strategies based on ketone intervention, the effects and mechanisms of IF, the differences in efficacy between IF and ketogenic diet and the duality of IF. The evidence suggests that brain energy deficits lead to the development and progression of AD pathology. IF, which improves brain energy impairments by promoting ketone metabolism, thus has good therapeutic potential for AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reconstructed the river freeze-up date anomalies utilizing historical river ice records from the Korean Envoys Yanxing Book (韩使燕行录) for the 60 years spanning the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries in southern Northeast China. The main changing features of river freeze-up phenology are summarized as follows: (1) The river freeze-up date was 5 days earlier than the modern mean during the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries in southern Northeast China; (2) during the study period, four colder and earlier freeze-up periods are identified of 1533–1572, 1619–1690, 1712–1729, and 1822–1888, as well as two warmer and delayed freeze-up periods of 1610–1617 and 1755–1803; (3) this study gave more detailed reconstructions on the river freeze-up phenology and temperature change than the previous studies, specifically the warmer in 1610–1617 indicated by the delayed freeze-up dates, the colder period in the 1720s indicated by the earlier freeze-up dates, and the warm period during the mid-to-late eighteenth century lasting until the 1790s at least. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is devoted to the methodology for conducting experiments to study the process of cooling by a low-pressure gas–droplet flow under conditions of high energy loads on the receiving surface of a lithium divertor module (LDM) layout. The paper describes in detail the design of the LDM model, all the main systems, parameters, and layout of the test bench. The operating modes of water and gas cooling systems have been calculated under thermal action on the LDM layout with a power equal to 5 MW/m2. A description of the experiment on the development of a technique for cooling an LDM layout with a low-pressure gas–droplet flow has been given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major manifestations of global change is the alteration of natural vegetation landscapes by human reclamation. The land reclamation in Northeast China exhibited a unique pattern: during the period between the two land reclamations (eleventh and twelfth centuries; from the nineteenth century to present), there was a prolonged period of nomadism in this area. Reconstructing the spatial distributions and processes of cropland cover change in Northeast China during the Liao and Jin Dynasties can be used as a case study to demonstrate an ancient farming region in which agricultural development was discontinuous. In this study, we reconstructed the cropland area in the Dao/Lu units by using revised population data for AD 1000, AD 1100 and AD 1200 in Northeast China and then allocated them into 5' × 5' cropland cover adopting the settlement-density-based method for gridded cropland allocation. The main results are as follows: (1) The cropland area in Northeast China increased from 0.55 × 104 km2 in AD 1000 to 1.69 × 104 km2 in AD 1200 and the average cropland fraction increased from 0.37% to 1.13%; (2) from AD 1000 to AD 1200, cropland was distributed on the Liaohe Plain and the southern Songnen Plain, while it was scattered on the Sanjiang Plain and the northern Songnen Plain; (3) compared with our reconstruction, the HYDE dataset underestimated the cropland area on the Northeast Plain, especially on the Songnen Plain, and overestimated the cropland area in the Inner Mongolia Plateau and the Daxing' anling Mountains; (4) settlement data with accurate geographical location information can accurately indicate ancient farming regions and this data can be used for high-resolution gridded cropland allocation in regions such as Northeast China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene has aroused great attention due to the intriguing properties associated with its low-energy Dirac Hamiltonian. When graphene is coupled with a correlated insulating substrate, electronic states that cannot be revealed in either individual layer may emerge in a synergistic manner. Here, we theoretically study the correlated and topological states in Coulomb-coupled and gate-tunable graphene-insulator heterostructures. By electrostatically aligning the electronic bands, charge carriers transferred between graphene and the insulator can yield a long-wavelength electronic crystal at the interface, exerting a superlattice Coulomb potential on graphene and generating topologically nontrivial subbands. This coupling can further boost electron-electron interaction effects in graphene, leading to a spontaneous bandgap formation at the Dirac point and interaction-enhanced Fermi velocity. Reciprocally, the electronic crystal at the interface is substantially stabilized with the help of cooperative interlayer Coulomb coupling. We propose a number of substrate candidates for graphene to experimentally demonstrate these effects. Here, the authors theoretically predict the formation of synergistic correlated and topological states in Coulomb-coupled and gate-tunable graphene/insulator heterostructures, proposing a number of promising substrate candidates and a possible explanation for recent experimental observations in graphene/CrOCl heterostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of rapid and effective detection of pathogens is necessary to prevent bacterial infection. Herein, we constructed a novel polymerase chain reaction-dynamic light scattering (PCR-DLS) sensing assay for detecting Salmonella sensitively. First, the invA gene specific for Salmonella was designed with upstream and downstream primers containing oxyethylene glycol bridge blockers which could hybridize with DNA-functionalized gold nanoparticle probes (probes-AuNPs). And the probes were hybridized complementary to the trailing end of the primers, which resulted in the aggregation of AuNPs and the change of particle diameter that could be measured by DLS. The results show that the PCR-DLS assay could improve the detection sensitivity and the limit of detection (LOD) was as low as 4.0 CFU/mL in pure culture and 1.8 × 102 CFU/mL in the spiked skim milk samples, which the detection time was less than 2 h. In conclusion, this work provides a promising strategy for developing the DLS technique of detecting foodborne pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A promising approach to the next generation of low-power, functional, and energy-efficient electronics relies on novel materials with coupled magnetic and electric degrees of freedom. In particular, stripy antiferromagnets often exhibit broken crystal and magnetic symmetries, which may bring about the magnetoelectric (ME) effect and enable the manipulation of intriguing properties and functionalities by electrical means. The demand for expanding the boundaries of data storage and processing technologies has led to the development of spintronics toward two-dimensional (2D) platforms. This work reports the ME effect in the 2D stripy antiferromagnetic insulator CrOCl down to a single layer. By measuring the tunneling resistance of CrOCl on the parameter space of temperature, magnetic field, and applied voltage, we verified the ME coupling down to the 2D limit and probed its mechanism. Utilizing the multi-stable states and ME coupling at magnetic phase transitions, we realize multi-state data storage in the tunneling devices. Our work not only advances the fundamental understanding of spin-charge coupling, but also demonstrates the great potential of 2D antiferromagnetic materials to deliver devices and circuits beyond the traditional binary operations. In a magneto-electric material, the magnetic and electric properties are coupled. This coupling allows the magnetic order to be controlled by electric stimuli, making magnetoelectric materials promising candidates for new data storage technologies. Here Gu et al demonstrate a magnetoelectric effect in a van der Waals antiferromagnetic CrOCl which persists down to monolayer, and using this realize a multi-state data storage device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to fabricate high-quality microcavities simply and at low cost without causing damage to environmentally sensitive active layers such as perovskites are crucial for the studies of exciton-polaritons, however, it remains challenging in the field of microcavity fabrication. Usually, once the top mirror is deposited, the detuning of the microcavity is fixed and there is no easy way to tune it. Here, we have developed a method for deterministically transferring silver mirrors, which is relatively simple and guarantees the active layer from damaging of high temperature, particle bombardment, etc., during the deposition of the top mirror. Furthermore, with the help of a glass probe, we demonstrate a replaceable silver transfer method to tune the detuning of the microcavity, thereby changing the coupling of photons and excitons therein. The developed deterministic and replaceable silver mirror transfer methods will provide the capability to fabricate high-quality and tunable microcavities and play an active role in the development of the exciton-polariton field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, exciton-polaritons have attracted substantial research interest due to their half-light-half-matter bosonic nature. Coupling exciton-polaritons with magnetic orders grants access to rich many-body phenomena, but has been limited by the availability of material systems that exhibit simultaneous exciton resonances and magnetic ordering. Here we report magnetically-dressed microcavity exciton-polaritons in the van der Waals antiferromagnetic (AFM) semiconductor CrSBr coupled to a Tamm plasmon microcavity. Using angle-resolved spectroscopy, we reveal an exceptionally high exciton-photon coupling strength, up to 169 meV, demonstrating ultrastrong coupling that persists up to room temperature. By performing temperature-dependent spectroscopy, we show the magnetic nature of the exciton-polaritons in CrSBr microcavity as the magnetic order changes from AFM to paramagnetic. By applying an out-of-plane magnetic field, we achieve effective tuning of the polariton energy while maintaining the ultrastrong exciton-photon coupling strength. We attribute this to the spin canting process that modulates the interlayer exciton interaction.Exciton-polaritons are hybrid light matter quasi-particles, which can occur in systems exhibiting strong light-matter coupling. Here, Wang et al study exciton-polaritons in the van der Waals antiferromagnetic material, CrSBr, coupled to a Tamm plasmon microcavity and find the exciton-polaritons are sensitive to and can be tuned by the magnetic order of CrSBr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Hydrogeology Journal 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.)

Two-dimensional (2D) nonlayered materials have recently provoked a surge of interest due to their abundant species and attractive properties with promising applications in catalysis, nanoelectronics, and spintronics. However, their 2D anisotropic growth still faces considerable challenges and lacks systematic theoretical guidance. Here, we propose a general thermodynamics-triggered competitive growth (TTCG) model providing a multivariate quantitative criterion to predict and guide 2D nonlayered materials growth. Based on this model, we design a universal hydrate-assisted chemical vapor deposition strategy for the controllable synthesis of various 2D nonlayered transition metal oxides. Four unique phases of iron oxides with distinct topological structures have also been selectively grown. More importantly, ultra-thin oxides display high-temperature magnetic ordering and large coercivity. MnxFeyCo3-x-yO4 alloy is also demonstrated to be a promising room-temperature magnetic semiconductor. Our work sheds light on the synthesis of 2D nonlayered materials and promotes their application for room-temperature spintronic devices. 2D nonlayered materials exhibit interesting properties for catalysis, nanoelectronics and spintronics applications, but their growth is still challenging. Here, the authors report a theoretical model and an experimental strategy to synthesize various 2D nonlayered transition metal oxides with room-temperature magnetic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Oxygen-respirable sponge was constructed by carbon dots-assisted synthesis strategy. The hydrophilicity and aerophilicity of Co@C–O–Cs active sites boost oxygen diffusion and the bifunctional oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reaction activities. Co@C–O–Cs-based Zn-air battery (ZAB) displays excellent specific capacity and stability, and the all-solid-state Co@C–O–Cs-based ZAB exhibits excellent flexibility. Efficient bifunctional catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are vital for rechargeable Zn-air batteries (ZABs). Herein, an oxygen-respirable sponge-like Co@C–O–Cs catalyst with oxygen-rich active sites was designed and constructed for both ORR and OER by a facile carbon dot-assisted strategy. The aerophilic triphase interface of Co@C–O–Cs cathode efficiently boosts oxygen diffusion and transfer. The theoretical calculations and experimental studies revealed that the Co–C–COC active sites can redistribute the local charge density and lower the reaction energy barrier. The Co@C–O–Cs catalyst displays superior bifunctional catalytic activities with a half-wave potential of 0.82 V for ORR and an ultralow overpotential of 294 mV at 10 mA cm−2 for OER. Moreover, it can drive the liquid ZABs with high peak power density (106.4 mW cm−2), specific capacity (720.7 mAh g−1), outstanding long-term cycle stability (over 750 cycles at 10 mA cm−2), and exhibits excellent feasibility in flexible all-solid-state ZABs. These findings provide new insights into the rational design of efficient bifunctional oxygen catalysts in rechargeable metal-air batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These authors contributed equally: Zhuo-Qi Liu, Ping-Yang Zhu.Correction to: Scientific Datahttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03812-0, published online 28 August 2024In this article the author name Zhuo-Qi Liu was incorrectly written as Zhou-Qi Liu. The original article has been corrected.By Zhuo-Qi Liu; Ping-Yang Zhu; Ni-Tong Xu; Yi Wan; Jin-Li Zhang; Xun Zhou; Yu-Xuan Ye; Hong-Xing Xu and Hai-Jun XuReported by Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author [Extracted from the article]

Water in the deep Earth's interior has important and profound impacts on the geodynamical properties at high-temperature (T) and high-pressure (P) conditions. A series of dense hydrous Mg-silicate (DHMS) phases are generated from dehydration of serpentines in subduction slabs below the lithosphere, including phase A, chondrodite, clinohumite, phase E, superhydrous phase B and phase D. On the other hand, olivine and its high-P polymorphs of wadsleyite and ringwoodite are dominant nominally anhydrous minerals (NAMs) in the upper mantle and transition zone, which could contain significant amount of water in the forms of hydroxyl group (OH−) defects. The water solubilities in wadsleyite and ringwoodite are up to about 3 weight percent (wt.%), making the transition zone a most important layer for water storage in the mantle. Hydration can significantly affect the pressure-volume-temperature equations of state (P-V-T EOSs) for the DHMS and NAM phases, including the thermal expansivities and isothermal bulk moduli. In this work, we collected the reported datasets for the DHMS and NAM phases, and reconstruct internally consistent EOSs. Next, we further evaluated the thermodynamic Grüneisen parameters, which are fundamental for constraining the temperature distribution in an isentropic process, such as mantle convection. The adiabatic temperature profiles are computed for these minerals in the geological settings of normal mantle and subduction zone, and our calculation indicates that temperature is the dominant factor in determining the gradient of a geotherm, rather than the mineralogical composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The non-local symmetries for the generalised Broer–Kaup (BK) system are obtained with the truncated Painlevé expansion method. The non-local symmetries can be localised to the Lie point symmetries for the extended system by introducing auxiliary dependent variables. The finite symmetry transformations related to the non-local symmetries are computed. The consistent Riccati expansion and consistent tanh expansion integrability of the generalised BK system are proved, and the single soliton, two-resonant soliton and soliton–cnoidal wave interaction solutions are derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rock fissures constitute the main habitat type in the karst rocky desertification (KRD) area, but the effects of their network morphology on soil properties remain unknown. To address this, we investigated 46 rock vertical profile plots in Guizhou Province of China and classified their habitats using the morphological characteristics of their fissure networks. The response characteristics of soil nutrients and enzyme activities to the rock fissure morphologies in different rock habitats were discussed, and the main factors affecting soil nutrients and enzyme activities were comprehensively analyzed. Rock fissure networks were divided into three types: Type 1, a random type, with a low dip angle, long trace length, multiple turns, multiple connections, and high density; Type 2, a uniform type, with a moderate dip angle, moderate trace length, fewer turns, fewer connections, and moderate density; and Type 3, an aggregation type, with a high dip angle, short trace length, fewer turns, moderate connections, and low density. Soil nutrient levels and enzyme activities were the highest in Type 1, followed by Types 2 and 3. There were no significant differences between the total phosphorus and available phosphorus content in Types 1–3. The dip angle, fractal dimension, and average trace length were identified as the main factors affecting soil nutrients and enzyme activities, and Type 1 was the most conducive for soil nutrient and enzyme accumulation. The restoration of Type 2 and 3 areas should be emphasized in future research, as these results will help guide vegetation restoration in KRD areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce the Harish-Chandra homomorphism for the quantum superalgebra U q (g) associated with a simple basic Lie superalgebra g and give an explicit description of its image. We use it to prove that the center of U q (g) is isomorphic to a subring of the ring J (g) of exponential super-invariants in the sense of Sergeev and Veselov, establishing a Harish-Chandra type theorem for U q (g) . As a byproduct, we obtain a basis of the center of U q (g) with the aid of quasi-R-matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let A be a representation-finite self-injective algebra over an algebraically closed field k. We give a new characterization for an orthogonal system in the stable module category A- mod ̲ to be a simple-minded system. As a by-product, we show that every Nakayama-stable orthogonal system in A- mod ̲ extends to a simple-minded system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Zhejiang University: Science A 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.)

Highlights: The chemical process of local oxidation–partial reduction–deep coupling for stibnite reduction of carbon dots (CDs) is revealed by in-situ high-temperature X-ray diffraction. Sb2S3@xCDs anode delivers high initial coulombic efficiency in lithium ion batteries (85.2%) and sodium ion batteries (82.9%), respectively. C–S bond influenced by oxygen-rich carbon matrix can restrain the conversion of sulfur to sulfite, well confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterization of solid electrolyte interphase layers helped with density functional theory calculations. CDs-induced Sb–O–C bond is proved to effectively regulate the interfacial electronic structure. The application of Sb2S3 with marvelous theoretical capacity for alkali metal-ion batteries is seriously limited by its poor electrical conductivity and low initial coulombic efficiency (ICE). In this work, natural stibnite modified by carbon dots (Sb2S3@xCDs) is elaborately designed with high ICE. Greatly, chemical processes of local oxidation–partial reduction–deep coupling for stibnite reduction of CDs are clearly demonstrated, confirmed with in situ high-temperature X-ray diffraction. More impressively, the ICE for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is enhanced to 85%, through the effect of oxygen-rich carbon matrix on C–S bonds which inhibit the conversion of sulfur to sulfite, well supported by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterization of solid electrolyte interphase layers helped with density functional theory calculations. Not than less, it is found that Sb–O–C bonds existed in the interface effectively promote the electronic conductivity and expedite ion transmission by reducing the bandgap and restraining the slip of the dislocation. As a result, the optimal sample delivers a tremendous reversible capacity of 660 mAh g−1 in LIBs at a high current rate of 5 A g−1. This work provides a new methodology for enhancing the electrochemical energy storage performance of metal sulfides, especially for improving the ICE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soluble aggregates of the microtubule-associated protein tau have been challenging to assemble and characterize, despite their important role in the development of tauopathies. We found that sequential hyperphosphorylation by protein kinase A in conjugation with either glycogen synthase kinase 3β or stress activated protein kinase 4 enabled recombinant wild-type tau of isoform 0N4R to spontaneously polymerize into small amorphous aggregates in vitro. We employed tandem mass spectrometry to determine the phosphorylation sites, high-resolution native mass spectrometry to measure the degree of phosphorylation, and super-resolution microscopy and electron microscopy to characterize the morphology of aggregates formed. Functionally, compared with the unmodified aggregates, which require heparin induction to assemble, these self-assembled hyperphosphorylated tau aggregates more efficiently disrupt membrane bilayers and induce Toll-like receptor 4-dependent responses in human macrophages. Together, our results demonstrate that hyperphosphorylated tau aggregates are potentially damaging to cells, suggesting a mechanism for how hyperphosphorylation could drive neuroinflammation in tauopathies. In this work, the authors report that hyperphosphorylated recombinant tau spontaneously assembles into small, amorphous aggregates, which disrupt membranes and induce Toll-like receptor 4-dependent responses in human macrophages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although current computational biology software is available and has prompted the development of enzyme–substrates simulation, they are difficult to install and inconvenient to use. This makes the time-consuming and error-prone process. By far there is still a lack of a complete tool which can provide a one-stop service for the enzyme–substrates simulation process. Hence, in this study, several computational biology software was extended development and integrated as a website toolbox named Atomevo. The Atomevo is a free web server providing a user-friendly interface for enzyme–substrates simulation: (1) protein homologous modeling; (2) parallel docking module of Autodock Vina 1.2; (3) automatic modeling builder for Gromacs molecular dynamics simulation package; and (4) Molecular Mechanics/Poisson–Boltzmann Surface Area (MMPBSA) analysis module for receptor–ligand binding affinity analysis. We officially launched the web server and provided instructions through a case for the design and simulation of Candida antarctica lipase B (CalB) fusion protein called Maltose Binding Protein—Thioredoxin A—Candida antarctica lipase B (MBP-TrxA-CalB). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periodontitis is the leading cause of tooth loss, and patients with smoking habits are at an increased risk of developing periodontitis. A20 (the tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced protein 3, TNFAIP3) is one of the key regulators of inflammation and cell death in numerous tissues. Emerging researches indicated A20 as a fundamental molecule in the periodontal tissue. This study was to evaluate the role of A20 against cell death and inflammation in periodontitis and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. In our study, western blot, autophagy detection, and transmission electron microscopy showed that lipopolysaccharide from Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg.LPS) and nicotine (NI) could enhance the activation of autophagy. Pg.LPS and NI induce the pyroptosis of human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs), as evidenced by the decrease of membrane integrity and the increase of NLRP3, GSDMD, GSDMD-N, caspase-1 activity, and the pro-inflammatory cytokines of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α. Further researches were focused on that A20, an ubiquitin-editing enzyme, was linked to hPDLCs pyroptosis. Overexpression or silencing A20 could diminish or aggravate pyroptosis in hPDLCs by the modulation of autophagy. The above results demonstrated that A20 dictated the cross-talk between pyroptosis and autophagy. Overexpression of A20 enhanced autophagy to reduce pyroptosis, and thus alleviating inflammation, suggesting that A20 may be a potent target in the treatment of periodontitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout life, the human working capacity is variable. It is influenced by a wide range of factors, both external and internal, which are difficult to take into account in various studies. An approximation of the density function of the given distribution, based on the assumption of the random nature of the physical condition, depending on a number of different reasons, among competitors and the hypothesis of the asymmetric distribution of athletes' achievements at different ages, is formed. Optimum parameters of a log-normal distribution that describe the working capacity of a person according to age were determined by using the least-squares method. A comparative analysis of the obtained model and the previously known methods, created by Litvinov and Spiridonov was performed. The study showed the validity of the method for determining age coefficients and the possibility of its practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel facultatively anaerobic and Gram-stain-negative bacterial strain, designated 5E3T, was isolated from intertidal sediments of Xiaoshi Island of Weihai, People’s Republic of China. Cells of strain 5E3T were long rod-shaped with widths of 0.3–0.5 μm and lengths of 4.0–6.0 μm. Optimum growth of strain 5E3T occurred at 33 °C, pH 6.5–7.0 and with 3% (w/v) NaCl. Oxidase activity was negative but catalase activity was weakly positive. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain 5E3T was most closely related to ‘Maribellus comscasis’ WC007 (99.5%), followed by M. sediminis MCCC 1K04285T (95.9%) and M. luteus XSD2T (95.6%). Genome comparisons between strain 5E3T and strain ‘M. comscasis’ WC007, using average nucleotide identity (ANI) value (93.0%) and DNA–DNA hybridization (DDH) value (50.1%), confirmed low genome relatedness. The major cellular fatty acids (≥ 10%) were iso-C15:0 and iso-C17:0 3–OH. The sole respiratory quinone was MK-7. The polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), one unidentified aminolipid (AL) and three unidentified lipids (L1, L2, L3). The DNA G + C content was 37.9 mol%. According to the integrated results of phylogenetic, physiological, biochemical and chemotaxonomic characteristics, we propose that strain 5E3T represents a novel species of the genus Maribellus, for which the name Maribellus maritimus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 5E3T (= KCTC 82744T = MCCC 1H00473T). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interfacial moiré superlattices in van der Waals vertical assemblies effectively reconstruct the crystal symmetry, leading to opportunities for investigating exotic quantum states. Notably, a two-dimensional nanosheet has top and bottom open surfaces, allowing the specific case of doubly aligned super-moiré lattice to serve as a toy model for studying the tunable lattice symmetry and the complexity of related electronic structures. Here, we show that by doubly aligning a graphene monolayer to both top and bottom encapsulating hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), multiple conductivity minima are observed away from the main Dirac point, which are sensitively tunable with respect to the small twist angles. Moreover, our experimental evidences together with theoretical calculations suggest correlated insulating states at integer fillings of −5, −6, −7 electrons per moiré unit cell, possibly due to inter-valley coherence. Our results provide a way to construct intriguing correlations in 2D electronic systems in the weak interaction regime. The alignment of three 2D nanosheets leads to the formation of super-moiré atomic lattices, which can influence the electronic properties of van der Waals structures. Here, the authors report evidence of possible correlated insulating states in doubly-aligned hBN/graphene/hBN heterostructures, in a weak-interaction regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sigma-1 receptor (Sig-1R) is encoded by the SIGMAR1 gene and is a nonopioid transmembrane receptor located in the mitochondrial-associated endoplasmic reticulum membrane (MAM). It helps to locate endoplasmic reticulum calcium channels, regulates calcium homeostasis, and acts as a molecular chaperone to control cell fate and participate in signal transduction. It plays an important role in protecting neurons through a variety of signaling pathways and participates in the regulation of cognition and motor behavior closely related to neurodegenerative diseases. Based on its neuroprotective effects, Sig-1R has now become a breakthrough target for alleviating Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. This article reviews the most cutting-edge research on the function of Sig-1R under normal or pathologic conditions and target drugs of the sigma-1 receptor in neurodegenerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Although in recent years some randomized controlled trails (RCTs) have explored the analgesic effect of erector spinae plane block (ESPB) in spine surgery, their results are controversial. Our study aimed to examine the analgesic effect of preoperative ESPB in spine surgery by a meta-analysis of RCTs. Methods: The articles of RCTs that compared preoperative ESPB with no block in terms of the analgesic effect in adult patients following spine surgery were eligible for inclusion. The primary outcome was the pain scores reported by Visual Analog Scale or Numerical Rating Scale of pain at different time intervals in 48 h after surgery. The secondary outcomes included postoperative opioid consumption, rescue analgesia requirement, opioid-related side effects and complications associated with ESPB. Results: Twelve studies involving 828 patients were eligible for our study. Compared with no block, ESPB had a significant effect on reducing postoperative pain scores at rest and at movement at different time intervals except at movement at 48 h. ESPB significantly decreased opioid consumption in 24 h after surgery (SMD − 1.834; 95%CI − 2.752, − 0.915; p < 0.001; I2 = 89.0%), and reduced the incidence of rescue analgesia (RR 0.333; 95%CI 0.261, 0.425; p < 0.001; I2 = 0%) and postoperative nausea and vomiting (RR 0.380; 95%CI 0.272, 0.530; p < 0.001; I2 = 9.0%). Complications associated with ESPB were not reported in the included studies. Conclusion: Our meta-analysis demonstrates that ESPB is effective in decreasing postoperative pain intensity and postoperative opioid consumption in spine surgery. Therefore, for the management of postoperative pain following spine surgery, preoperative ESPB is a good choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrification is a pivotal step applied in water engineered systems for nitrogen removal. Temperature variation due to seasonal changes is a great challenge for maintaining nitrogen removal efficiency in water engineered ecosystems by affecting nitrifier activities. Research on the abundance, activity, and metabolic characteristics of nitrifiers can provide information for selecting suitable design parameters to ensure efficient nitrogen removal in different seasons. To date, the temperature-related niche separation of comammox, a newly discovered nitrifier with potential high-growth yield, has been rarely investigated. This study addressed the distribution of comammox and canonical nitrifying guilds in drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in different seasons. qPCR-based surveys showed that comammox ubiquitously distributed and greatly outnumbered other ammonia-oxidizing prokaryotes in both DWTPs and WWTPs, except in Aug samples from DWTPs, suggesting the potential competitive advantage of AOA in summer. The nitrificans-like comammox and nitrosa-like comammox comprised the majority of the comammox community in DWTPs and WWTPs, respectively, and COD and NH4+ concentrations significantly contributed to the distinct comammox phylotype distribution between DWTPs and WWTPs. The temperature-related distribution pattern of the comammox community was observed at each site. Moreover, the network complex of comammox communities was highest in Dec at all the sites, possibly contributing to the survival of comammox community in low temperature conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]