Search

Fracture interactions are an important factor that affects rock effective elastic properties. We study the fracture interaction effects by combinations of theoretical modelling, numerical simulations and experiments in this work. First, we propose a simplified differential effective medium scheme and self‐consistent approximation for effective elastic properties of rocks with aligned fractures, and we compare their results to those of non‐interaction approximation. The results show that the predictions by differential effective medium scheme and self‐consistent approximation are lower than those by non‐interaction approximation. This indicates that the differential effective medium scheme and self‐consistent approximation quantify the stress amplification effects but not stress shielding effects. To validate this, we carry out numerical simulations for cases with coplanar cracks and stacked cracks, respectively. We find that the stress shielding effect (stacked cracks) causes a significant increment of effective elastic stiffnesses of fractured rocks. However, the stress amplification (coplanar cracks) has the opposite effect, which induces a slight reduction in rock effective elastic stiffnesses. The differential effective medium scheme quantifies the lower bound for this effect well. Besides numerical simulations, applying theoretical models in experimental measurements also shows a pronounced effect of stress shielding but a small influence of stress amplification on fractured rock elastic properties. This work indicates that the stress shielding is an important effect that affects fractured rock elastic properties. Without considering this effect, the fracture density may be largely underestimated by the seismic or sonic logging inversion. Hence, the models accounting for stress shielding effects need to be developed in the future, which can combine with the above models for the seismic or sonic logging inversion of fracture properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) significantly influence food flavor and garner considerable attention in flavor research due to their low sensory thresholds, diverse odor attributes, and high reactivity. Extensive research studies have explored VSC formation through thermal processes such as the Maillard reaction, thermal pyrolysis, oxidation, and enzymatic reactions. However, understanding of the specific reaction mechanisms and processes remains limited. This is due to the dispersed nature of existing studies, the undefined intermediates involved, and the complexity of the matrices and processing conditions. Given these limitations, the authors have shifted their focus from foods to sulfides. The structure, source, and chemical characteristics of common precursors (sulfur‐containing amino acids and derivatives, thiamine, thioglucoside, and lentinic acid) and their corresponding reactive intermediates (hydrogen sulfide, thiol, alkyl sulfide, alkyl sulfenic acid, and thial) are provided, and the degradation mechanisms, reaction rules, and matrix conditions are summarized based on their chemical characteristics. Additionally, the VSC formation processes in several typical foods during processing are elucidated, adhering to these identified rules. This article provides a comprehensive overview of VSCs, from precursors and intermediates to end products, and is crucial for understanding the mechanisms behind VSC formation and managing the flavor qualities of processed foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading disorders (RD) are human‐specific neuropsychological conditions associated with decoding printed words and/or reading comprehension. So far only a handful of candidate genes segregated in families and 42 loci from genome‐wide association study (GWAS) have been identified that jointly provided little clues of pathophysiology. Leveraging human‐specific genomic information, we critically assessed the RD candidates for the first time and found substantial human‐specific features within. The GWAS candidates (i.e., population signals) were distinct from the familial counterparts and were more likely pleiotropic in neuropsychiatric traits and to harbor human‐specific regulatory elements (HSREs). Candidate genes associated with human cortical morphology indeed showed human‐specific expression in adult brain cortices, particularly in neuroglia likely regulated by HSREs. Expression levels of candidate genes across human brain developmental stages showed a clear pattern of uplifted expression in early brain development crucial to RD development. Following the new insights and loci pleiotropic in cognitive traits, we identified four novel genes from the GWAS sub‐significant associations (i.e., FOXO3, MAPT, KMT2E and HTT) and the Semaphorin gene family with functional priors (i.e., SEMA3A, SEMA3E and SEMA5B). These novel genes were related to neuronal plasticity and disorders, mostly conserved the pattern of uplifted expression in early brain development and had evident expression in cortical neuroglial cells. Our findings jointly illuminated the association of RD with neuroglia regulation—an emerging hotspot in studying neurodevelopmental disorders, and highlighted the need of improving RD phenotyping to avoid jeopardizing future genetic studies of RD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we selected representative electric buses (EBs) and diesel buses as research cases, aiming to explore a localized method suitable for various vehicle types that can be implemented in any region to measure the carbon emissions of urban buses throughout the lifecycle. We take into account the influence of seasonal factors over the lifecycle. We fully consider the production, assembly, and recycling stages of vehicle systems. We construct a model for estimating CO2 emissions during the fuel cycle. We analyze and compare the impacts of the optimized power grid structure on the lifecycle CO2 emissions of the two types of buses. The results indicate that seasonal factors affect both bus types' energy consumption, with EBs being more sensitive. Carbon emissions primarily stem from manufacturing the body, chassis, and notably, the lithium‐ion batteries, with the latter having a pronounced impact on EBs. A decrease in coal power generation from 71% to 21% in the grid reduced EB fuel‐cycle emissions by 70.7%. Although EBs are sensitive to seasonal factors, they still have the greatest potential for carbon reduction, depending on the proportion of clean energy in the power grid and the production processes of vehicle components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human midbrain dopaminergic progenitors (mDAPs) are one of the most representative cell types in both basic research and clinical applications. However, there are still many challenges for the preparation and quality control of mDAPs, such as the lack of standards. Therefore, the establishment of critical quality attributes and technical specifications for mDAPs is largely needed. "Human midbrain dopaminergic progenitor" jointly drafted and agreed upon by experts from the Chinese Society for Stem Cell Research, is the first guideline for human mDAPs in China. This standard specifies the technical requirements, test methods, inspection rules, instructions for usage, labelling requirements, packaging requirements, storage requirements, transportation requirements and waste disposal requirements for human mDAPs, which is applicable to the quality control for human mDAPs. It was originally released by the China Society for Cell Biology on 30 August 2022. We hope that the publication of this guideline will facilitate the institutional establishment, acceptance and execution of proper protocols, and accelerate the international standardization of human mDAPs for clinical development and therapeutic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RuO2 is one of the benchmark electrocatalysts used as the anode material in proton exchange membrane water electrolyser. However, its long‐term stability is compromised due to the participation of lattice oxygen and metal dissolution during oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this work, weakened covalency of Ru−O bond was tailored by introducing tensile strain to RuO6 octahedrons in a binary Ru−Sn oxide matrix, prohibiting the participation of lattice oxygen and the dissolution of Ru, thereby significantly improving the long‐term stability. Moreover, the tensile strain also optimized the adsorption energy of intermediates and boosted the OER activity. Remarkably, the RuSnOx electrocatalyst exhibited excellent OER activity in 0.1 M HClO4 and required merely 184 mV overpotential at a current density of 10 mA cm−2. Moreover, it delivered a current density of 10 mA cm−2 for at least 150 h with negligible potential increase. This work exemplifies an effective strategy for engineering Ru‐based catalysts with extraordinary performance toward water splitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skin is the largest organ of the human body and participates in the functional activities of the human body all the time. Therefore, human beings have a large risk of getting skin diseases. The diseased skin lesion image shows visually different characteristics from the normal skin image, and sometimes unusual skin color may indicate human viscera or autoimmune issues. However, the current recognition and classification of dermatological conditions still rely on expert visual diagnosis rather than a visual algorithm. This is because there are many kinds of lesion features of skin diseases, and the lesion accounts for a small proportion of the skin image, so it is difficult to learn the required lesion features; meanwhile, some dermatology images have too few samples to deal with the problem of small samples. In view of the above limitations, we propose a model named Lesion Area Aware Shifted windows Transformer for dermatological conditions classification rely on the powerful performance and excellent result of Swin transformer recently proposed. For brief notation, we use its abbreviation later. Our main contributions are as follows. First, we modify the Swin transformer and use it in the automatic classification of dermatological conditions. Using the self‐attention mechanism of the transformer, our method can mine more long‐distance correlations between diseased tissue image features. Using its shifting windows, we can fuse local features and global features, so it is possible to get better classification results with a flexible receptive field. Second, we use a skip connection to grasp and reinforce global features from the previous block and use Swin transformer to extract detailed local features, which will excavate and merge global features and local features further. Third, considering Swin transformer is a lightweight model compared with traditional transformers, our model is compact for deployment and more favorable to resource‐strict medical devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater image enhancement for image processing and underwater robotic vision have recently attracted much academic attention. However, in most existing methods, underwater image enhancement is completed with a simple assumption: the attenuation coefficients are unified across the color channels. This assumption leads to unstable and visually unpleasing enhancement results. Moreover, these methods cannot be successfully applied to explore relatively independent transmissions from multiple color channels with complimentary feature information. To address these challenges, a novel channel‐wise transmission estimation network (CTEN) is proposed, which aims to pioneer the exploration of the transmission difference across the color channels in an underwater scene. Specifically, a color‐specific correction module is proposed to automatically quantify the transmission ability of multiple color channels in the underwater environment. Furthermore, a channel‐wise transmission estimation module is designed to simultaneously explore the relative independence of multi‐color channels and estimate the medium transmissions for each color channel, which represents the attenuation degree of different color radiances after reflecting in the water. Then, a novel residual strategy is introduced to integrate these two modules to complete the underwater enhancement. Using the model, the authors are able to provide an answer as to why channel‐wise transmission estimation are better than single transmission estimation and establish a generalization theory to show the effect of the independent transmission estimation model for each color channel. Experiments on several underwater image datasets verify the superiority of the proposed CTEN model. We propose a novel channel‐wise transmission estimation network (CTEN), which aims to pioneer the exploration of the transmission difference across the color channels in an underwater scene. Specifically, a color‐specific correction module is proposed to automatically quantify the transmission ability of multiple color channels in the underwater environment. Furthermore, a channel‐wise transmission estimation module is designed to simultaneously explore the relative independence of multi‐color channels and estimate the medium transmissions for each color channel, which represents the attenuation degree of different color radiances after reflecting in the water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no antiviral study on hemodialysis patients infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19), especially on the application of 2′‐deoxy‐2′‐β ‐fluoro‐4′‐azidocytidine (Azvudine, FNC) antiviral therapy. We conducted a multicenter observational study involving 1008 hemodialysis patients. After matching for age, sex, and other factors, 182 patients in the basic treatment group and 182 in the FNC group were included. The negative nucleic acid conversion rate of the FNC group was significantly higher than that of the basic treatment group, and viral loads, interleukin‐6, and C‐reactive protein were significantly lower than those of the basic treatment group (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in liver function, renal function, or the number of adverse events between the two groups (p > 0.05). In conclusion, our study has provided novel evidence suggesting that the FNC scheme may be safe and effective compared to the basic treatment of hemodialysis patients with common COVID‐19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterostructure materials have attracted increasing attention in optics, medicine, optoelectronics, and electromagnetics, owing to the combination of remarkable properties of various materials. In particular, they have demonstrated the potential to achieve superior performances in ultrafast photonics. In recent years, a variety of ultrafast lasers based on heterostructure materials have been reported, which indicates a promising future in this field. In this review, the main fabrication methods and ultrafast applications of heterostructure materials are summarized. The fabrication methods are divided into mechanical transfer methods and chemical growth methods according to their mechanisms, and the methods and their characteristics are presented in detail. Next, the ultrafast lasers enabled by heterostructure materials in different wavebands as well as their key parameters are systematically introduced. Finally, the opportunities and challenges of heterostructure materials in broadband ultrafast photonics are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acetogens are anaerobes using Wood–Ljungdahl pathway (WLP) as the terminal electron acceptor for both assimilation and dissimilation of CO2 and widely distributed in diverse habitats. However, their habitat adaptation is often unclear. Given that bacterial genome evolution is often the result of environmental selective pressure, hereby we analysed gene copy number, phylogeny and selective pressure of genes involved in WLP within known genomes of 43 species to study the habitat adaption of gastrointestinal acetogens. The gene copy number of formate dehydrogenase (FDH) in gastrointestinal acetogens was much lower than that of non‐gastrointestinal acetogens, and in five cases, no FDH genes were found in the genomes of five gastrointestinal acetogens, but that of the other WLP genes showed no difference. The evolutionary pattern of FDH genes was significantly different from that of the other enzymes. Additionally, seven positively selected sites were only identified in the fdhF genes, which means fdhF mutations favoured their adaptation. Collectively, reduction or loss of FDH genes and their evolutionary pattern as well as positive selection in gastrointestinal acetogens indicated their adaptation to formate‐rich habitats, implying that FDH genes catalysing CO2 reduction to formate as the first step of methyl branch of WLP may have evolved independently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tactile sensors capable of quantifying mechanical stimuli through physical contact play a pivotal role in healthcare, prosthetics, and humanoid robotics. To enable conformal contact with objects of different surface morphologies, tactile sensors with high mechanical flexibility are extensively explored. Despite recent advances, most of the currently available flexible tactile sensors are based on electrical properties of functional materials, which often suffer from intrinsic limitations such as hysteresis, parasitic effects and electromagnetic interference. Herein, a flexible optical tactile sensor is presented by harnessing the unique optical properties of a soft and plasmonic optical fiber, made from composites of gold nanoparticles and elastomers. The tactile sensor is constructed by assembling the nanocomposite fiber in a sandwich structure, where sensitive and instantaneous sensing of contact force with high precision, low hysteresis, and tunable sensitivity is achieved by transducing mechanical stimuli into interpretable light signals. As demonstrations of its potential, the tactile sensor is utilized for real‐time monitoring of blood pressure, respiration, as well as providing tactile mapping of diverse hand motions. To further verify the feasibility of mimicking tactile perception of human skin, the proposed sensors integrated onto a robotic hand are demonstrated to perceive hardness, roughness, and shape of objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HLA‐A*24:630 differs from HLA‐A*24:20:01:01 by one nucleotide substitution in codon 131 in exon 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanomaterials with remarkable optical, mechanical, and electrical properties have shed new light on various fields including optoelectronics, sensors, biomedicine, and ultrafast photonics. Particularly, owing to their nonlinear optical properties, fast recovery time, and broadband operation, nanomaterials are well qualified as saturable absorbers in ultrafast pulsed lasers. Over the development of the past decades, various nanomaterials have been developed as saturable absorbers, which contribute to a diversity of lasers with excellent performance. Therefore, it is important for researchers to provide a landmark of the applications of nanomaterials in ultrafast photonics concerning cutting‐edge development. Herein, the integration and applications of nanomaterials in ultrafast photonics are reviewed. First, end‐face, lateral, as well as photonic crystal fibers padding integration methods are introduced along with their process and characteristics. Then the ultrafast applications of nanomaterials including carbon‐based (carbon nanotubes and graphene), typical 2D (topological insulators, transition metal dichalcogenides, black phosphorus, and MXenes), and metal‐based nanomaterials (gold, silver, copper, and metal oxides) are summarized. Major parameters of ultrafast lasers and features of each nanomaterial are presented simultaneously. Finally, the perspectives of nanomaterials for further development in ultrafast photonics are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classical third‐order thermoelastic constants are generally derived from the theory of small‐amplitude acoustic waves in isotropic materials during heat treatments. Investigating higher‐order thermoelastic constants for higher temperatures is challenging owing to the involvement of the number of unknown parameters. These Taylor‐type thermoelastic constants from the classical thermoelasticity theory are formulated based on the Taylor series of the Helmholtz free energy density for preheated crystals. However, these Taylor‐type thermoelastic models are limited even at low temperatures in characterizing the temperature‐dependent velocities of elastic waves in solid rocks as a polycrystal compound of different mineral lithologies. Thus, we propose using the Padé rational function to the total thermal strain energy function. The resulting Padé thermoelastic model gives a reasonable theoretical prediction for acoustic velocities of solid rocks at a higher temperature. We formulate the relationship between the third‐order Padé thermoelastic constants and the corresponding higher‐order Taylor thermoelastic constants with the same accuracy. Two additional Padé coefficients α1 ${\mathit{\alpha }}_{1}$ and α2 ${\mathit{\alpha }}_{2}$ can be calculated using the second‐, third‐, and fourth‐order Taylor thermoelastic constants associated with the Brugger's constants, which are consistent with those obtained by fitting the experimental data of polycrystalline material. The third‐order Padé thermoelastic model (with four constants) is validated by the fourth‐order Taylor thermoelastic prediction (with six constants) with ultrasonic measurements for polycrystals (olivine samples) and solid rocks (sandstone, granite, and shale). The results demonstrate that the third‐order Padé thermoelastic model can characterize thermally induced velocity changes more accurately than the conventional third‐order Taylor thermoelastic prediction (with four constants), especially for solid rocks at high temperatures. The Padé approximation could be considered a more accurate and universal model in describing thermally induced velocity changes for polycrystals and solid rocks. Plain Language Summary: Using the Taylor series for thermoelastic constants at higher temperatures is challenging owing to the involvement of the number of unknown parameters. Thus, we propose the third‐order Padé approximation to replace the Taylor series. Applications to laboratory measurements show that, with much less complexity, the Padé approximation presents a tendency of higher accuracy than the third‐order Taylor series and has similar precision with the higher‐order Taylor series at higher temperatures (up to 1500 K for polycrystals and 1000°C for solid rocks). Then we use such a model to predict the temperature‐dependent velocities of elastic waves. Finally, we analyze the physics of two additional Padé coefficients by associating them with the thermal expansion mismatch due to rock heterogeneities in lithology and with the thermally induced deformation of microcracks. Key Points: We apply the Padé rational function to the total thermal strain energy functionWe correlate the Padé and higher‐order Taylor thermoelastic constants through the equivalency of approximation accuraciesThe physics of the Padé coefficients is relevant to the thermal expansion mismatch and thermally induced deformation of microcracks [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanomaterials with outstanding optical properties are widely used in ultrafast photonics. Especially, metal nanomaterials have attracted increasing attention in recent years owing to the surface plasmon resonance that further enhances their nonlinear optical response, making them suitable for generating ultrafast pulses in a wide range of wavebands. Herein, the fabrication and integration processes of typical metal nanomaterials such as gold, silver, and copper, as well as their applications in ultrafast lasers are reviewed. The synthesis methods of metal nanomaterials, which can be divided into dry and wet methods, are first introduced with their characteristics and advantages summarized. Moreover, the integration approaches that are used to incorporate metal nanomaterials into laser cavities are discussed, where sandwich structure based on polymer film and deposition method, as well as evanescent‐wave structure based on D‐shaped and tapered fiber are demonstrated. Besides, the state of the art of typical ultrafast lasers enabled by metal nanoparticles is systematically reviewed. Finally, current challenges and perspectives on the development of ultrafast photonics enabled by metal nanomaterials are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key to successful in vitro embryo production (IVEP) is to mimic the natural in vivo oviductal microenvironment. Although the chemically defined media in extensive use for the in vitro culture of mammalian embryos is based on the composition of oviductal fluid, the IVEP systems in current use must still bypass the oviduct to produce embryos in vitro. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the oviduct are versatile intercellular delivery vehicles for maternal–embryo communication, and a lack of them can be associated with failed early embryonic development under in vitro culture conditions. Herein, we isolated EVs from porcine oviduct fluid and confirmed that oviductal EV supplementation improves the embryonic development of parthenogenetically activated (PA) embryos in terms of blastocyst formation rates and total cell numbers. Our experiments also revealed that a beneficial effect of oviductal EVs on PA embryos was achievable, at least in part, by relieving endoplasmic reticulum stress. These results suggest that the maternal–embryo communication mediated by oviductal EVs benefits early embryonic development. Given the contribution of oviductal EVs to early embryonic development, these findings offer novel insights for the optimization of current IVEP systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, many effective medical image restoration methods based on deep learning have been proposed. Most of the methods are used to solve single image processing tasks, such as image noise removal, image deblurring, and image super‐resolution. However, real medical images often suffer from multiple degradation factors, such as signal interference in the process of shooting or the relative movement of patients during the process of image acquisition. The image restoration methods only considering a single image degradation factor often fail to yield satisfactory results for the restoration purpose of practical medical images. It is difficult to obtain paired medical images to incorporate real image processing tasks into the framework of supervised learning. For the restoration of real medical images with multiple degradation factors, an unsupervised learning method based on domain transfer to resolve the MRI restoration problem is proposed. Specifically, learning invariant representations from a degraded image and a transferred image via adversarial domain adaption and then extra self‐supervised modules to further improve the robustness of representations are used. In addition, the Laplacian operator is embedded in the encoder to extract additional edges, which can form additional constraints on edge recovery. Experimental results show that the proposed method is effective in both image restoration and edge preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the influence of compression, Poisson effect and turbulence on the fluid flow process and the inversion for fracture surface geometries, we simulate two sets of fractures: one with a defined fracture height standard deviation σ constant and a varying autocorrelation length λ and another with a fixed λ and a changing σ. Under compression, the normal stress closes fractures with a large aperture and thus reduces the effective permeability. However, the Poisson effect, which is induced by the compression, has little influence on the fluid flow properties and does not affect the inversion for fracture height standard deviation or the autocorrelation length. When introducing turbulence, we observe a significant difference between the performance of the Navier–Stokes equation and the local cubic law; compared with the Navier–Stokes equation, the local cubic law overestimates the peak value of the breakthrough time curve and effective permeability, thereby underestimating the mean fracture aperture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We previously described the Phase I‐II evaluation of SARS‐CoV‐2 recombinant protein candidate vaccine, CoV2‐PreS‐dTM, with AF03‐ or AS03‐adjuvant systems (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04537208). Here, we further characterise the cellular immunogenicity profile of this vaccine candidate using a whole‐blood secretion assay in parallel to intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) of cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Methods: A randomly allocated subset of 90 healthy, SARS‐CoV‐2‐seronegative adults aged ≥ 18 years who had received (random allocation) one or two separate injections (on study day [D]1 and D22) of saline placebo or CoV2‐PreS‐dTM formulated with AS03 or AF03 were included. Cytokine secretion was assessed using a TruCulture® whole‐blood stimulation system in combination with multiplex bead array, and intracellular cytokine profiles were evaluated on thawed PBMCs following ex vivo stimulation with recombinant S protein at pre‐vaccination (D1), post‐dose 1 (D22) and post‐dose 2 (D36). Results: Both methods detected similar vaccine‐induced responses after the first and second doses. We observed a Th1 bias (Th1/Th2 ratio > 1.0) for most treatment groups when analysed in whole blood, mainly characterised by increased IFN‐γ, IL‐2 and TNF‐α secretion. Among participants aged ≥ 50 years, the Th1/Th2 ratio was higher for those who received vaccine candidate with AS03 versus AF03 adjuvant. ICS revealed that this higher Th1/Th2 ratio resulted from higher levels of IFN‐γ expression and that the vaccine induced polyfunctional CD4+ T cells. Conclusions: The whole‐blood cytokine secretion assay is a high‐throughput alternative for assessing the quantity and character of vaccine‐induced cellular responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanomaterials have demonstrated excellent mechanical, thermal, optical, and electrical properties in various fields, including 1D carbon nanotubes, as well as 2D materials starting from graphene. Metal‐based nanomaterials, mainly divided into metal and metal oxide nanoparticles, also gradually come into the sight of ultrafast photonics applications due to the outstanding optical properties. The optical properties of metal nanoparticles can be enhanced by the interaction between conduction electrons with electric fields that is called surface plasmon resonance. As for metal oxide nanoparticles, optical properties are closely related to bandgap structures. When it comes to transition metal oxides, other phenomena also play important roles in optical absorption such as spin inversion and excitons of iron. Moreover, preparation methods of materials are also crucial for their properties and further applications. Therefore, in this review, commonly used physical and chemical fabrication methods for metal‐based nanomaterials are first introduced. Then the optical properties of typical metal and metal oxide nanoparticles are discussed specifically. In addition, the applications of metal‐based nanomaterials in ultrafast lasers based on mode‐locked and Q‐switched techniques are also summarized. Finally, a summary and outlook toward the synthesis, optical properties, and applications in ultrafast photonics of metal‐based nanomaterials are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We aimed to investigate the underlying mechanism of endothelial cells (ECs) proliferation in anti‐Thy‐1 nephritis. Materials and methods: We established anti‐Thy‐1 nephritis and co‐culture system to explore the underlying mechanism of ECs proliferation in vivo and in vitro. EdU assay kit was used for measuring cell proliferation. Immunohistochemical staining and immunofluorescence staining were used to detect protein expression. ELISA was used to measure the concentration of protein in serum and medium. RT‐qPCR and Western blot were used to qualify the mRNA and protein expression. siRNA was used to knock down specific protein expression. Results: In anti‐Thy‐1 nephritis, ECs proliferation was associated with mesangial cells (MCs)‐derived vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and ECs‐derived angiopoietin2 (Angpt2). In vitro co‐culture system activated MCs‐expressed VEGFA to promote vascular endothelial growth factor receptor2 (VEGFR2) activation, Angpt2 expression and ECs proliferation, but inhibit TEK tyrosine kinase (Tie2) phosphorylation. MCs‐derived VEGFA stimulated Angpt2 expression in ECs, which inhibited Tie2 phosphorylation and promoted ECs proliferation. And decline of Tie2 phosphorylation induced ECs proliferation. In anti‐Thy‐1 nephritis, promoting Tie2 phosphorylation could alleviate ECs proliferation. Conclusions: Our study showed that activated MCs promoted ECs proliferation through VEGFA/VEGFR2 and Angpt2/Tie2 pathway in experimental mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) and in vitro co‐culture system. And enhancing Tie2 phosphorylation could alleviate ECs proliferation, which will provide a new idea for MPGN treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over last decade, the use of Ni(II) complexes, derived from of glycine Schiff bases with chiral tridentate ligands, has emerge as a leading methodology for preparation of structurally diverse Tailor‐Made Amino Acids, the key structural units in modern medicinal chemistry, and drug design. Here, we report asymmetric synthesis of derivatives of (S)‐α‐(octyl)glycine ((S)‐2‐aminodecanoic acid) and its N‐Fmoc derivative via alkylation of chiral nucleophilic glycine equivalent with n‐octyl bromide. Under the optimized conditions, the alkylation proceeds with excellent yield (98.1%) and diastereoselectivity (98.8% de). The observed stereochemical outcome and convenient reaction conditions bode well for application of this method for large‐scale asymmetric synthesis of (S)‐2‐aminodecanoic acid and its derivatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a context‐wise attention‐guided network for single image deraining. Unlike most existing deraining methods, our network exploits underlying complementary information not only across multiple scales but also between levels. Specifically, our network architecture is designed to transmit the inter‐level and inter‐scale features. To extract guiding information and improve the discriminating ability of context‐wise attention‐guided network, we propose a net‐context‐wise attention module to generate attention maps. Following residual learning, the clean image is created by removing the predicted rain streak layer from the rainy input. Experimental results show our method has better performance on public datasets than some state‐of‐the‐art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three epoxy resins castor oil glycidyl ether (COGE), epoxidized castor oil glycidyl ether (ECOGE) and hydrogenated castor oil glycidyl ether (HCOGE) have been synthesized based on castor oil through a mild epoxidation reaction. The research on curing performance shows that the modified products could improve the toughness of traditional epoxy resins remarkably. Moreover, when adding a small amount of products into traditional epoxy resin E‐51, the mechanical properties of the cured products were also significantly improved. Specifically, by blending ECOGE into E‐51 at a ratio of 5%, the tensile strength, elongation at break, and impact resistance of the cured product were improved by 27.5%, 33.9%, and 39.7%, respectively, from 64.03 MPa, 3.15% and 11.37 MPa to 81.61 MPa, 4.4%, and 15.22 MPa. DMA illustrated that after incorporating, the crosslinking density of the cured product increase, but the glass transition temperatures were reduced by more than 20°C compared with E‐51. SEM showed that COGE and ECOGE caused the cured products to exhibit tough fracture. TGA explained that the initial decomposition temperatures of the mixed systems reduced, but the high temperature resistance of the cured products improved. The design strategy based on castor oil highlights a sustainable avenue for preparing cost‐effective and high‐efficiency epoxy resins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneous neuron stimulation and biophysiological sensing in multi‐encephalic regions can lead to profound understanding of neural pathways, neurotransmitter transportation, and nutrient metabolism. Here, a flexible electronic device with tentacle‐like channels radiating from a central wireless circuit is presented. The device is constructed by different organic and inorganic materials that have been made into thin‐film or nanoparticle formats. All channels have been equipped with flexible components for distributed and synchronized opto‐electrical stimulation, biopotential sensing, and ion concentration monitoring. They can be implanted into different brain regions through adaptive bending and individually addressed to follow programmable working sequences. Experimental results conducted in vitro and in vivo have demonstrated the capability in generating optical or electrical stimulation, while sensing 16‐channels biopotential and concentration of Ca2+, Na+, and K+ ions in distributed regions. Behavior and immunohistochemistry studies suggest potential applications in regulating brain functions for freely moving animals. In combination with various functional materials, the device can serve as a comprehensive research platform that can be modularized to accommodate different needs for brain studies, offering numerous possibilities and combinations to yield sophisticated neuromodulation and behavior regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The HLA‐B*15:504:02 allele differs from HLA‐B*15:504:01 by one nucleotide substitution at position 165 within exon 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coherent nature of radar illumination causes the speckle effect, which gives the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image its noisy appearance. The probability distribution of speckle noise is multiplicative rather than additive, which makes the interpretation and processing of SAR imagery more difficult. A novel SAR image denoising method is proposed. First the multiplicative noise is transformed into additive-like noise by logarithmic transformation. After that, a novel object function is proposed which combines a pre-trained dictionary model to deal with the image. Finally, exponential transform is employed to recover the image. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively remove the noise of SAR images, and indicate good performance compared with other state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the genotype–phenotype for familial medullary thyroid carcinoma (FMTC) is well studied, only few low susceptibility risk loci were identified for familial non‐medullary thyroid carcinoma (FNMTC). The aim of this study is to screen and identify high‐penetrate genes for FNMTC. A total of 34 families with more than two first‐degree relatives diagnosed as papillary thyroid cancer without other familial syndrome were recruited. Whole exome and target gene sequencing were performed for candidate variants. These variants were screened and analyzed with ESP6500, ExAC, 1000 genomes project, and the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) with SIFT score and Polyphen2 prediction. Finally, we identified recurrent genetic mutation of MAP2K5 variants c.G961A and c.T1100C (p. A321T and p.M367 T) as susceptibility loci for FNMTC. The frequencies of MAP2K5 c.G961A and c.T1100C were found, 0.0385 and 0.0259 in FNMTC and 0 and 0.00022523 in healthy Chinese controls (n = 2200, P < 0.001), respectively. Both variants were located in the protein kinase domain. The functional study showed that MAP2K5 A321T or M367 T could consistently phosphorylate downstream protein ERK5 on site Ser731 + Thr733 or Ser496, promoting nuclear translocation and subsequently altering target gene expressions. Our data revealed that MAP2K5 variants A321T or M367 T can activate MAP2K5–ERK5 pathway, alter downstream gene expression, and subsequently induce thyroid epithelial cell malignant transformation. While classic MAP2K1/2(MEK1/2)–ERK1/2 signaling is well known for driving sporadic NMTC, our research indicated that MAP2K5 (MEK5) is a susceptibility gene for FNMTC. These findings highlight the potential application of MAP2K5 for molecular diagnosis as well as early prevention. What's new? Although the genotype–phenotype for familial medullary thyroid carcinoma (FMTC) is well studied, only a few low susceptibility risk loci have been identified for familial non‐medullary thyroid carcinoma (FNMTC). Here, the authors screened and identified a novel susceptibility gene, MAP2K5, as a contributor to FNMTC. The data revealed that MAP2K5 variants A321T or M367 T can activate the MAP2K5–ERK5 pathway, alter downstream gene expression, and subsequently induce thyroid epithelial cell malignant transformation. The study thus highlights the potential application of MAP2K5 for molecular diagnosis as well as better clinical management for deleterious MAP2K5 mutation carriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assembly of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with metal ions and organic ligands is currently attracting considerable attention in crystal engineering and materials science due to their intriguing architectures and potential applications. A new three‐dimensional MOF, namely poly[[diaqua(μ8‐para‐terphenyl‐3,3′,5,5′‐tetracarboxylato)dizinc(II)] dimethylformamide disolvate monohydrate], {[Zn2(C22H10O8)(H2O)2]·2C3H7NO·H2O}n, was synthesized by the self‐assembly of Zn(NO3)2·6H2O and para‐terphenyl‐3,3′,5,5′‐tetracarboxylic acid (H4TPTC) under solvothermal conditions. The compound was structurally characterized by FT–IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis. Each ZnII ion is located in a square‐pyramidal geometry and is coordinated by four carboxylate O atoms from four different TPTC4− ligands. Pairs of adjacent equivalent ZnII ions are bridged by four carboxylate groups, forming [Zn2(O2CR)4] (R = terphenyl) paddle‐wheel units. One aqua ligand binds to each ZnII centre along the paddle‐wheel axis. Each [Zn2(O2CR)4] paddle wheel is further linked to four terphenyl connectors to give a three‐dimensional framework with NBO‐type topology. The thermal stability and solid‐state photoluminescence properties of the title compound have also been investigated. A three‐dimensional NBO‐type topological metal–organic framework (MOF) formed from zinc(II) and para‐terphenyl‐3,3′,5,5′‐tetracarboxylate was synthesized by solvothermal reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We estimate the seismic attenuation and velocity dispersion induced by fluid pressure diffusion in a saturated porous medium containing a sparse distribution of aligned slit fractures. This is done by solving the scattering problem for a single crack and using Waterman‐Truell scattering approximation for a distribution of cracks. This approach gives a numerical solution for the entire frequency range and analytical solutions for the low‐ and high‐frequency limits. Analysis of the results shows that the characteristics of the seismic dispersion and attenuation for the slit cracks are similar to known results for penny‐shaped crack. At high frequencies, the attenuation and dispersion are controlled by the crack density regardless of the crack geometry. At low frequencies, due to the different geometries of the slit and penny‐shaped cracks, the characteristics of seismic dispersion and attenuation are different. For both the slit and penny‐shaped crack case, the slope of the frequency dependence attenuation of factor (inverse quality factor) Q−1 tends to be 1. Yet the low‐frequency asymptotic solutions for these two cases are somewhat different. For penny‐shaped cracks, the Q−1(ω) on the bilogarithmic scale has a straight line asymptote with slope 1, so that the attenuation factor at low frequencies is proportional to the frequency ω. However, for slit cracks, the asymptotic low‐frequency solution contains a logarithmic function of ω, and no such asymptote exists. At the same time, similarly to the penny‐shaped crack case, the solution for compressional velocity in the low‐frequency limit is consistent with the anisotropic Gassmann theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: As a left‐handed helical structure, Z‐DNA is biologically active and it may be correlated with transcription and genome stability. Until recently, it remained a significant challenge to control the B/Z‐DNA transition under physiological conditions. The current study represents the first to reversibly control B/Z‐DNA transition using cucurbit[7]uril‐based supramolecular approach. It is demonstrated that cucurbit[7]uril can encapsulate the central butanediamine moiety [HN(CH2)4NH] and reverses Z‐DNA caused by spermine back to B‐DNA. The subsequent treatment with 1‐adamantanamine disassembles the cucurbit[7]uril/spermine complex and readily induces reconversion of B‐ into Z‐DNA. The DNA conformational change is unequivocally demonstrated using different independent methods. Direct evidence for supramolecular interactions involved in DNA conformational changes is further provided. These findings can therefore open a new route to control DNA helical structure in a reversible way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Gcn5 is a core histone acetyltransferase that catalyzes histone H3 acetylation on N‐terminal lysine residues in yeasts and was reported to catalyze H3K9/K14 acetylation required for activating asexual development in Aspergillus. Here, we report a localization of Gcn5 ortholog in the nucleus and cytoplasm of Beauveria bassiana, a fungal insect pathogen. Deletion of gcn5 led to hypoacetylated H3 at K9/14/18/27 and 97% reduction in conidiation capacity as well as severe defects in colony growth and conidial thermotolerance. Two master conidiation genes, namely brlA and abaA, were transcriptionally repressed to undetectable level in Δgcn5, but sharply upregulated in wild‐type, at the beginning time of conidiation. Based on chromatin immunoprecipitation, both DNA and acetylation levels of the distal and proximal fragments of the brlA promoter bound by acetylated H3K14 alone were upregulated in wild‐type, but not in Δgcn5, at the mentioned time. In Δgcn5, normal cuticle infection was abolished while virulence through cuticle‐bypassing infection was greatly attenuated, accompanied by drastically reduced activities of putative cuticle‐degrading enzymes, retarded dimorphic transition and transcriptional repression of associated genes. These findings unveil a novel mechanism by which Gcn5 activates asexual development pathway by acetylating H3K14 and regulates the virulence‐related cellular events in B. bassiana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Methotrexate (MTX) was used as an anti‐cancer drug, but its excessive use can cause serious side effects, it was necessary to monitor MTX in vivo. In this report, DNA was immobilized on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with graphene oxide (GO) to develop an electrochemical sensor for sensitive determination of MTX for the first time. The adsorptive voltammetric behaviors of MTX on DNA sensor were investigated using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The peak current response of guanine in DNA was used as a determination signal of MTX in acetate buffer solution pH 4.6. Voltammetric investigations revealed that the proposed method could determine MTX in the concentration range from 5.5×10−8 to 2.2×10−6 mol L−1 with a lower detection limit of 7.6×10−9 mol L−1 (S/N=3). The method was applied to detect MTX in human blood serum and diluted urine samples with excellent recoveries of 97.4–102.5 %. Compared with the previous studies, the DNA/GO/GCE electrode constructed by us based on the change rate of guanine current (R%) in DNA, proportionally reflecting the MTX concentration, is simple and sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method is implemented in the present study to estimate the microstructures of low‐alloy cold‐rolled TRIP steels. This method includes simulations of intercritical annealing (IA) process and calculations of isothermal bainitic transformation (IBT) process. The evolutions of volume fractions and elements concentration profiles with temperatures and holding times for ferrite phase and austenite phase could be acquired assisted by Thermo‐Calc and DICTRA during IA process. Bainitic transformation from austenite, with chemical compositions determined at the end of IA, takes place during the subsequent IBT process. By taking into account the martensitic transformation during cooling from IA to IBT and/or from IBT to room temperature (RT) and avoiding the complex discussions of bainitic transformation kinetics, the volume fractions of bainite, martensite and retained austenite could be approximately determined after IBT and subsequent water quench. At the same time, the experimental validation of this method is conducted with well agreements. This implemented method is expected to relate chemical compositions and heat treatment parameters to the final microstructures of low‐alloy cold‐rolled TRIP steels and be beneficial for optimizing TRIP microstructures without amounts of experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background HOX antisense transcript RNA (HOTAIR) is a 2148 nt long, intergenic, non-coding RNA molecule, which is reported to be highly expressed in many types of cancers. This meta-analysis summarizes its expression in cancer. Methods We searched all eligible papers on the prognostic impact of HOTAIR in cancer from inception to 30 September 2015 in Pub Med, CBMdisc, and the CNKI database. Only full texts were included. Revman 5.3 was used for meta-analysis. Results A total of 11 studies of 1010 cases were included in the meta-analysis. HOTAIR expression was higher in: cancer tissues in than adjacent or normal tissues (odds ratio [ OR] 37.52, 95% confidence interval [ CI] 18.94-74.31; P < 0.00001); in cancer tissues with lymph node metastasis than in those without lymph node metastasis ( OR 3.37, 95% CI 2.36-4.82; P < 0.00001); and in histological grades II-III than in histological grade I( OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.29-0.75; P = 0.002). Conclusion This study shows that HOTAIR may play an important role in cancer occurrence and development, but whether it is a marker of cancer diagnosis and reliable prognosis remains to be confirmed. More rigorous design and meticulous quality epidemiological studies are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest restoration policies are often implemented without the assessment of their full environmental impact. In this study, we investigated the challenges of vegetation greening resulted from forest restoration on water resource sustainability, using a model-based simulation in northwestern China. Four different vegetation scenarios and 25 future climate scenarios were employed using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool model. Results suggest that (a) the mean annual evapotranspiration changes from only 7.2% in the barren case to 100% in the forest case; however, it produced a 35.2% reduction in average annual streamflow and a 157% increase in soil water storage. The upstream vegetation greening caused the enhancement of water retention, while also creating great challenges for future downstream water resource sustainability; (b) seasonal effect was significant in that 100% forest case increased evapotranspiration (+40%) but it also reduced the streamflow (−73%) compared to the barren case in growing season, which may exacerbate spring and summer drought; (c) changes of evapotranspiration and streamflow were only 0.3% and −0.9% at T + 3.9 °C when compared to the historic scenario in barren cases, while for all forest cases, variations were 3% and −21.8%, respectively; (d) vegetation greening induced more remarkable changes in hydrological components than those resulting from climate change. Our 'what if' research provides new insights for promoting sustainable management of water resources and ecosystems in mountainous water source areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a risk prediction model using semi-varying coefficient multinomial logistic regression. We use a penalized local likelihood method to do the model selection and estimate both functional and constant coefficients in the selected model. The model can be used to improve predictive modelling when non-linear interactions between predictors are present. We conduct a simulation study to assess our method's performance, and the results show that the model selection procedure works well with small average numbers of wrong-selection or missing-selection. We illustrate the use of our method by applying it to classify the patients with early rheumatoid arthritis at baseline into different risk groups in future disease progression. We use a leave-one-out cross-validation method to assess its correct prediction rate and propose a recalibration framework to evaluate how reliable are the predicted risks. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]