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BACKGROUND RESULT CONCLUSION Plant‐based beverages have recently seen a significant increase in market demand. However, many of these products suffer from poor emulsion stability and low protein content. Gums have commonly been used to enhance emulsion stability but they do not improve the amino acid profile. This study investigated the use of multiples plant proteins to enhance both the stability and nutritional value of plant‐based beverages.Pea and rice bran proteins both enhanced emulsion stability. Pea protein enhanced the viscosity of the continuous phase whereas rice bran protein lowered interfacial tension. When applied synergistically, competitive adhesion occurred. Rice bran protein gradually displaced pea protein from the oil droplet surface as its concentration increased, leading to emulsion destabilization due to the displaced pea protein. The use of high‐pressure homogenization further enhanced the stability of the emulsion by unfolding protein partially. However, increasing homogenization pressure (>500 Bar) and homogenization cycle (>2 cycles) led to protein aggregation due to excessive exposure of its hydrophobic core. The emulsion formed was resistant to coalescence at 4 °C for 28 days and was stable under high pH and low ionic conditions.The synergistic combination of plant proteins and the effective utilization of co‐processing (homogenization) can enhance the functionality of the individual proteins significantly, leading to the formation of a stable emulsion. The use of plant protein mixture as a stabilizer not only improved the emulsion stability but also ensured a plant‐based beverage with a complete amino acid profile for the vegan community. © 2024 The Author(s). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Plants typically activate distinct defense pathways against various pathogens. Heightened resistance to one pathogen often coincides with increased susceptibility to another pathogen. However, the underlying molecular basis of this antagonistic response remains unclear.Here, we demonstrate that mutants defective in the transcription factor ETHYLENE‐INSENSITIVE 3‐LIKE 2 (OsEIL2) exhibited enhanced resistance to the biotrophic bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae and to the hemibiotrophic fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae, but enhanced susceptibility to the necrotrophic fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia solani.Furthermore, necrotroph‐induced OsEIL2 binds to the promoter of OsWRKY67 with high affinity, leading to the upregulation of salicylic acid (SA)/jasmonic acid (JA) pathway genes and increased SA/JA levels, ultimately resulting in enhanced resistance.However, biotroph‐ and hemibiotroph‐induced OsEIL2 targets OsERF083, resulting in the inhibition of SA/JA pathway genes and decreased SA/JA levels, ultimately leading to reduced resistance. Our findings unveil a previously uncharacterized defense mechanism wherein two distinct transcriptional regulatory modules differentially mediate immunity against pathogens with different lifestyles through the transcriptional reprogramming of phytohormone pathway genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examines the use of publicly funded formal and informal care among community‐dwelling long‐term care insurance (LTCI) beneficiaries in China and how dementia differentiates the choice of care. Methods: Using administrative data from a LTCI pilot scheme in Guangzhou (n = 2043), we conducted a multinomial logistic regression to examine the association between dementia and the choice of family members (informal unpaid care), domestic helpers (informal paid care) and care workers (formal care), controlling for demographics, living environment and intensity of paid care hours. Results: Most LTCI beneficiaries chose a family member (65%), followed by a domestic helper (21%) and a care worker (14%). After controlling for covariates, LTCI beneficiaries with dementia were more likely than their counterparts without dementia to choose care provided by a care worker (RRR: 1.73) or a living‐in helper (RRR: 1.43) than a family member. Conclusions: A preference for informal care was observed among LTCI beneficiaries in China. Those with dementia were more likely than those without dementia to use care provided by non‐family caregivers. The pilot scheme findings provide further insight into care recipients' preferences for service utilisation and how dementia impacts these preferences, which should be considered in future policy and service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: As a by‐product of the palm oil industry, palm stearin is often overlooked despite having several beneficial properties, such as excellent stability, which is critically essential to meet the demand of the global food trend in producing safer processed food. Specifically, deep frying of food is often associated with the production of toxic compounds that could potentially migrate into the food system when oils are degraded under continuous heating. The incorporation of palm stearin is regarded as a cost‐effective and efficient method to modify the fatty acid composition of oils, enhance the frying qualities and lower the degradation rate. RESULTS: This study blended 5% and 10% palm stearin into palm oil to investigate the deep‐frying performance and impact on food quality. Increasing the palm stearin content improved the frying oil's oxidative and hydrolytic stability, evidenced by reduction of total polar material, free fatty acid and total oxidation value. Addition of palm stearin increased the slip melting point which improved the oil's oxidative stability but no significant increase in oil content of instant noodles was observed. Scanning electron microscopy and fluorescence microscopy showed the formation of larger pores in the noodle structure that facilitated oil retention. CONCLUSION: Blending palm stearin into frying oil enhanced the frying stability and minimally affected the oil uptake in instant noodles. This article presents the viability of blending palm stearin into frying oils to develop longer‐lasting frying oils. © 2024 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuromorphic computers promise to enhance computing efficiency by eliminating conventional von Neumann architecture bottlenecks. Bio‐inspired artificial neural networks, such as feedforward neural networks and reservoir computing (RC), face challenges due to the unique memristor requirements. In this study, a dual‐gate ferroelectric polymer P(VDF–TrFE)‐coupled thin film transistor (DG–TFT) with an IGZO channel is presented. It yields complementary short‐ and long‐term memory functionalities are derived from the charge‐trapping/detrapping process at the IGZO‐SiO2 dielectric interface and ferroelectric polarization. These memory functionalities can be switched using different gated modes to meet the requirements of the reservoir and readout layers in RC. The bottom‐gated mode (BG‐mode) exhibits short‐term memory effects and nonlinear dynamics, whereas the top‐gated mode (TG‐mode) displays improved long‐term memory characteristics. To evaluate the long‐term memory properties, Python is used for pattern recognition. For the nonlinear dynamics and short‐term memory response of the BG‐mode, the DG–TFT is employed as a reservoir layer to handle various temporal tasks. Notably, the polarization level of the ferroelectric layer is coupled to improve the richness of the reservoir states, providing a reconfigurable RC system with an expanded capacity to effectively process and accommodate diverse signals. This holds potential for next‐generation hybrid intelligent applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to introduce a novel radially pedicled in‐situ split‐thickness skin graft (STSG). The morbidity, esthetic, and functional outcomes of the radially pedicled in‐situ STSG were in comparison with those of the distal STSG. Study Design: Retrospective analysis. Setting: A single‐institution review. Methods: Seventy patients with oral cancer who underwent radical surgical resection and simultaneous radial forearm free flap (RFFF) reconstruction from July 2021 to March 2022 were included. De‐epithelialized RFFFs and traditional RFFFs were used to repair oral defects of 35 patients in Group A and Group B, respectively, while radially pedicled in‐situ STSGs and distal STSGs taken from abdomens were used to repair donor site defects in the above groups, respectively. Patient demographics, wound healing complications, and esthetic and functional outcomes of the forearms were compared between the 2 groups. Results: No significant difference between Group A and Group B was observed in terms of donor site and recipient site complications. The esthetic outcome was superior in Group A compared to Group B (P =.011). The extension range, sensation, and pinch strength of operated forearms were significantly reduced in both groups after surgery (P <.05), however, intergroup differences were not observed. Conclusion: Taken together, our results suggest that radially pedicled in‐situ STSG is an applicable technique for direct closure and better esthetic outcomes in the forearm donor site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By synergistically employing four key strategies: (I) introducing tetraphenylethylene groups as the central core unit with aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) properties, (II) optimizing the π‐conjugated length by extending the building block branches, (III) incorporating flexible groups containing ethylenic bonds, and (IV) applying crystal engineering to attain dense stacking mode and highly twisty conformation, we successfully synthesized a series of hydrogen‐bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) exhibiting exceptional one/two‐photon excited fluorescence. Notably, when utilizing the fluorescently superior building block L2, HOF‐LIFM‐7 and HOF‐LIFM‐8 exhibiting high quantum yields (QY) of 82.1 % and 77.1 %, and ultrahigh two‐photon absorption (TPA) cross‐sections of 148959.5 GM and 123901.1 GM were achieved. These materials were successfully employed in one and two‐photon excited lysosome‐targeting cellular imaging. It is believed that this strategy, combining building block optimization and crystal engineering, holds significant potential for guiding the development of outstanding fluorescent HOF materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crude palm oil (CPO) is highly abundant in carotenoids. Previous findings found that dry fractionation can concentrate carotenoids from CPO but resulted in a significant loss of carotenoids. Therefore, the present study aimed to utilize solvent fractionation, which offers a better separation efficiency, to concentrate carotenoids from CPO with improved recovery. Computational study revealed a high binding affinity of phytonutrient towards unsaturated triacylglycerols (TAGs) species in olein fraction due to similar polarity. This prediction was further verified with evidence showing strong, positive correlation between the iodine value and carotenoids concentrations of fractionated oil. The difference in binding affinity of saturated and unsaturated TAG towards different solvents can be used as a guide for screening and selection of solvent suitable for recovery of phytonutrient during solvent fractionation. Subsequently, a lab‐scale single‐ stage fractionation study disclosed that crystallization temperature of 15°C, oil to acetone ratio of 1:5 (w/v) for 4 h under agitation at 100 rpm produced olein with the highest carotenoid concentration (637 ppm) and recovery (94%). Subsequent double‐stage fractionation successfully concentrated the carotenoids up to 125% with a recovery of >93%. Conclusively, solvent fractionation provides an effective way to concentrate valuable carotenoids from CPO while minimizing the lost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of high‐performance (K,Na)NbO3 (KNN)‐based lead‐free piezoceramics for next‐generation electronic devices is crucial for achieving environmentally sustainable society. However, despite recent improvements in piezoelectric coefficients, correlating their properties to underlying multiscale structures remains a key issue for high‐performance KNN‐based ceramics with complex phase boundaries. Here, this study proposes a medium‐entropy strategy to design "local polymorphic distortion" in conjunction with the construction of uniformly oversize grains in the newly developed KNN solid‐solution, resulting in a novel large‐size hierarchical domain architecture (≈0.7 µm wide). Such a structure not only facilitates polarization rotation but also ensures a large residual polarization, which significantly improves the piezoelectricity (≈3.2 times) and obtains a giant energy harvesting performance (Wout = 2.44 mW, PD = 35.32 µW mm−3, outperforming most lead‐free piezoceramics). This study confirms the coexistence of multiphase through the atomic‐resolution polarization features and analyzes the domain/phase transition mechanisms using in situ electric field structural characterizations, revealing that the electric field induces highly effective multiscale polarization configuration transitions based on T–O–R sequential phase transitions. This study demonstrates a new strategy for designing high‐performance piezoceramics and facilitates the development of lead‐free piezoceramic materials in energy harvesting applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multiple metastable excited states provided by excited‐state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) molecules are beneficial to bring temperature‐dependent and color‐tunable long persistent luminescence (LPL). Meanwhile, ESIPT molecules are intrinsically suitable to be modulated as D‐π‐A structure to obtain both one/two‐photon excitation and LPL emission simultaneously. Herein, we report the rational design of a dynamic CdII coordination polymer (LIFM‐106) from ESIPT ligand to achieve the above goals. By comparing LIFM‐106 with the counterparts, we established a temperature‐regulated competitive relationship between singlet excimer and triplet LPL emission. The optimization of ligand aggregation mode effectively boost the competitiveness of the latter. In result, LIFM‐106 shows outstanding one/two‐photon excited LPL performance with wide temperature range (100–380 K) and tunable color (green to red). The multichannel radiation process was further elucidated by transient absorption and theoretical calculations, benefiting for the application in anti‐counterfeiting systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of photochromic devices has stimulated great enthusiasm for the design and preparation of luminescent materials. Introducing fluorescent powder ZnS:Cu into the cross‐linked polymer matrix is an efficient and simple method to obtain photochromic materials with excellent comprehensive performance. However, the traditional method is to directly introduce fluorescent powder into the polymer matrix by physical mixing. This not only increases the internal defects of the polymer and reduces the mechanical properties, but also hinders the fluorescent powder from absorbing external energy and reduces its luminescence efficiency. In addition, few studies have focused on recyclable photochromic luminescent materials. Inspired by dynamic covalent cross‐linking technology, this paper first modified fluorescent powder with 3‐mercaptopropionic acid and then introduced it into epoxy silicone rubber to prepare recyclable luminescent elastomer. Compared with traditional physical blending, the mechanical properties and luminescence performance of the covalently bonded luminescent elastomer were improved. Excellent mechanical properties and luminescence performance were maintained in multiple recycling processes. This paper provides a feasible and simple scheme for the preparation of recyclable luminescent elastomers, paving the way for the recycling and long‐term utilization of photochromic luminescent materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: More people with dementia live in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) than in high‐income countries, but best‐practice care recommendations are often based on studies from high‐income countries. We aimed to map the available evidence on dementia interventions in LMICs. Methods: We systematically mapped available evidence on interventions that aimed to improve the lives of people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and/or their carers in LMICs (registered on PROSPERO: CRD42018106206). We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published between 2008 and 2018. We searched 11 electronic academic and grey literature databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus, Global Health, World Health Organization Global Index Medicus, Virtual Health Library, Cochrane CENTRAL, Social Care Online, BASE, MODEM Toolkit) and examined the number and characteristics of RCTs according to intervention type. We used the Cochrane risk of bias 2.0 tool to assess the risk of bias. Results: We included 340 RCTs with 29,882 (median, 68) participants, published 2008–2018. Over two‐thirds of the studies were conducted in China (n = 237, 69.7%). Ten LMICs accounted for 95.9% of included RCTs. The largest category of interventions was Traditional Chinese Medicine (n = 149, 43.8%), followed by Western medicine pharmaceuticals (n = 109, 32.1%), supplements (n = 43, 12.6%), and structured therapeutic psychosocial interventions (n = 37, 10.9%). Overall risk of bias was judged to be high for 201 RCTs (59.1%), moderate for 136 (40.0%), and low for 3 (0.9%). Conclusions: Evidence‐generation on interventions for people with dementia or MCI and/or their carers in LMICs is concentrated in just a few countries, with no RCTs reported in the vast majority of LMICs. The body of evidence is skewed towards selected interventions and overall subject to high risk of bias. There is a need for a more coordinated approach to robust evidence‐generation for LMICs. Key points: While the majority of people with dementia reside in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs), it is not known what types of interventions have been studied in these settings and how effective they are.We conducted the first comprehensive mapping study of interventions for people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and/or their carers in LMICs.This high‐level overview of dementia intervention research in LMICs identified the following gaps: dementia intervention research is highly concentrated in just a few LMICs, and skewed towards Traditional Chinese Medicine, Western pharmaceuticals, and supplements, with comparatively little evidence generated on interventions for carers.Lack of robust and locally relevant evidence on effective interventions presents a substantial challenge to designing evidence‐based treatment and care systems that help people with dementia or MCI and their carers to live better lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under high ambient pressure (5 MPa) and different injection pressures (90, 120, and 150 MPa), a high‐speed imaging technique was carried out to comparatively investigate the macroscopic spray characteristics of diesel with three different types of blended fuel in a constant volume chamber. The oxygenated fuels were n‐butanol (B), pine oil (P), and 2,5‐dimethylfuran (DMF). All their blending ratio with diesel were 20%. Results showed that less viscosity could be improved the spray characteristics of the fuel in the range of experimental conditions. Then, the tested fuels had a longer penetration and a greater spray area with increasing the injection pressure from 90 to 150 MPa. On the other hand, the percentage increases in the mean spray cone angle of D100, B20, P20, and DMF20 were 3%, 4.4%, 2.4%, and 2.9%, respectively. At the same experimental condition, the spray penetrations of DMF20 and P20 were larger than that of D100, but the spray penetration of B20 was basically similar to D100. Besides, the performance of the spray cone angle and spray area were D100 < B20 < P20 < DMF20. In addition, the comprehensive influence was that blending oxygenated fuels would be a benefit for developing fuel atomization and the air–fuel mixture of conventional diesel fuel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the progress of artificial neural networks, the imitation of multiple biological functions is indispensable for processing more tasks in a complex working environment. Memristors, which possess these advantages such as uniformity, high switching speed, and smaller device scale, are the better candidates compared to conventional complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology in artificial neural networks. In this work, an Ag/ZrOx/Pt threshold switching memristor (TSM) is designed to overcome the drawback of the large variation in the non‐volatile filament type memristor. The cycle‐to‐cycle and device‐to‐device variations are 5.6% and 4.9%. This device has mimicked the "nociceptive threshold," "relaxation," "no adaptation," and "sensitization" features for the nociceptor which can prevent the artificial intelligence system from dangers in the external environment. Additionally, with the change in the strength of the external stimulus, the artificial neuron is also built by emulating "all‐or‐nothing," "threshold‐driven‐spiking," and "strength‐modulated" characteristics. The proposed threshold‐switching memristor allows the simultaneous emulation of the biological nociceptor and leaky integrate‐and‐fire neuron for the first time, which represents an advance in the bioinspired technology adopted in future artificial neural networks and humanoid robots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses microscopy images obtained from diverse anatomical regions of macaque brain for neuron semantic segmentation. The complex structure of brain, the large intra‐class staining intensity difference within neuron class, the small inter‐class staining intensity difference between neuron and tissue class, and the unbalanced dataset increase the difficulty of neuron semantic segmentation. To address this problem, we propose a multiscale segmentation‐ and error‐guided iterative convolutional neural network (MSEG‐iCNN) to improve the semantic segmentation performance in major anatomical regions of the macaque brain. After evaluating microscopic images from 17 anatomical regions, the semantic segmentation performance of neurons is improved by 10.6%, 4.0%, 1.5%, and 1.2% compared with Random Forest, FCN‐8s, U‐Net, and UNet++, respectively. Especially for neurons with brighter staining intensity in the anatomical regions such as lateral geniculate, globus pallidus and hypothalamus, the performance is improved by 66.1%, 23.9%, 11.2%, and 6.7%, respectively. Experiments show that our proposed method can efficiently segment neurons with a wide range of staining intensities. The semantic segmentation results are of great significance and can be further used for neuron instance segmentation, morphological analysis and disease diagnosis. Cell segmentation plays a critical role in extracting cerebral information, such as cell counting, cell morphometry and distribution analysis. Accurate automated neuron segmentation is challenging due to the complex structure of brain, the large intra‐class staining intensity difference within neuron class, the small inter‐class staining intensity difference between neuron and tissue class, and the unbalanced dataset. The proposed multiscale segmentation‐ and error‐guided iterative convolutional neural network (MSEG‐iCNN) improve the segmentation performance in 17 major anatomical regions of the macaque brain. Highlights: Cell segmentation plays a critical role in extracting cerebral information, such as cell counting, cell morphometry and distribution analysis.Accurate automated neuron segmentation is challenging due to the complex structure of brain, the large intra‐class staining intensity difference within neuron class, the small inter‐class staining intensity difference between neuron and tissue class, and the unbalanced dataset.The proposed multiscale segmentation‐ and error‐guided iterative convolutional neural network (MSEG‐iCNN) improve the segmentation performance in 17 major anatomical regions of the macaque brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domain orientation engineering regulates the polarization direction of thin film and facilitates the enhancement of piezoelectric properties. A change in polarization direction implies a structural change in the piezoelectric thin film. In this work, some unexpected results are obtained by preparing three orientations of Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3‐based lead‐free piezoelectric thin films to amplify this structural change. In distinction to the conventional perception, the piezoelectric properties decrease with increasing polarization direction. This anomaly is influenced by the concentration of structural defects, and rotation of the polarization direction may induce a change in the electronic structure of the material and hence in the concentration of structural defects. Ultimately, the suppression of the domain dynamics response by increasing structural defects leads to the worst piezoelectric properties for thin films with the traditionally perceived optimal (100) orientation. The revelation of this anomaly has implications for the design of the next generation of high‐performance piezoelectric thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By designing a tetraphenylethylene (TPE)‐based AIEgen‐ligand with reduced symmetry, we obtained two alkaline‐earth metal‐based MOFs (LIFM‐102 and LIFM‐103) with dense packing structures and low porosity as proved by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction and CO2 sorption data. Excitingly, the desolvated MOFs with rigid environment and reduced lattice free solvent exhibit high quantum yields (QY, 64.9 % and 79.4 %) and excellent two‐photon excited photoluminescence (TPA cross‐sections, 2946.6 GM and 2899.0 GM), while maintaining the external‐stimuli‐responsive properties suitable for anticounterfeit fields. The effect of ligand conformation was validated by comparing the structure and fluorescence properties of the samples before and after desolvation and further verified by theoretical calculations. This work expands the study on TPE‐cored materials to symmetry‐reduced ligand and might bring forward novel structures and excellent photoluminescent properties in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is a pentameric channel protein and also a target for neonicotinoids. There are few reported studies on the molecular interactions of Leptinotarsa decemlineata nAChRs with neonicotinoids. In this study, we analyzed the response of acetylcholine and neonicotinoids (thiamethoxam [TMX], imidacloprid [IMI], and clothianidin [CLO]) on hybrid receptors constructed by nAChR α1 and α8 subunits of L. decemlineata (Ldα1 and Ldα8) co‐expressed with rat β2 subunit (rβ2) at different capped RNA (cRNA) ratios in Xenopus oocytes. In addition, we evaluated the expression changes of Ldα1 and Ldα8 after median lethal dose of TMX treatment for 72 h by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The resulting functional nAChRs Ldα1/rβ2 and Ldα1/Ldα8/rβ2 showed different pharmacological characteristics. The neonicotinoids tested showed lower agonist affinity on Ldα1/Ldα8/rβ2 compared to Ldα1/rβ2 at same ratios of subunit cRNAs. The sensitivities of neonicotinoids tested for Ldα1/rβ2 and Ldα1/Ldα8/rβ2 at cRNA ratios of 5:1, 1:1 and 5:5:1, 1:1:1, respectively, were lower than those for nAChRs at ratios of 1:5 and 1:1:5, respectively, whereas the values of maximum response (Imax) varied. For Ldα1/Ldα8/rβ2, a reduction of Lda8 cRNA resulted in increased sensitivity to IMI and decreased sensitivity to TMX. The expression of Ldα1 and Ldα8 significantly decreased in adults by 82.12% and 47.02%, respectively, while Ldα8 was significantly upregulated by 2.44 times in 4th instar larvae after exposure to TMX. We infer that Ldα1 and Ldα8 together play an important role in the sensitivity of L. decemlineata to neonicotinoids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The green internet of things with heterogeneous communication technologies can provide data transmission and computing services for low‐carbon operation of smart buildings. However, latency‐sensitive task offloading in smart buildings for multi‐mode green internet of things still faces several challenges such as coupling between multi‐mode channel and multiple gateway selection, diversified quality of service requirement guarantee, and contradiction of long‐term performance guarantee and short‐term optimisation objectives. To address these challenges, a three‐dimensional quota matching‐based latency‐sensitive task offloading algorithm is proposed to minimise the weighted difference between energy consumption and throughput under the long‐term queuing delay constraints. Specifically, the minimisation problem is decoupled by Lyapunov optimisation. The three‐dimensional quota matching among devices, gateways, and channels is employed to solve the conflicts between gateway selection and channel selection. Finally, the three‐dimensional quota matching is converted to a two‐side quota matching to further reduce complexity and solved iteratively. Numerical results demonstrate that compared with H3CG and MMCS, the proposed algorithm improves the weighted difference between energy consumption and throughput by 21.85% and 27.91%, respectively, and reduces the sensor‐side average queuing delay by 30.82% and 16.83%, and gateway‐side average queuing delay by 16.57% and 26.71%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to determine whether regular recruitment maneuvers (RMs) are essential for obese patients (OPs) undergoing elective laparoscopic bariatric surgery (LBS) during intraoperative ventilation with individualized positive end‐expiratory pressure (PEEP). Patients were randomly assigned to two arms: the RM + PEEP−EIT arm consisted of individualized PEEP titrated by electrical impedance tomography (EIT) with two regular RMs and the PEEP−EIT arm consisted of individualized PEEP titrated by EIT without additional RMs. For these two arms together, EIT‐guided PEEP varied among individuals. The partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood to fractional inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) ratio in the RM + PEEP−EIT arm was higher than that in the PEEP−EIT arm at 1 h after pneumoperitoneum (p = 0.024) and at the end of surgery (p = 0.035). There was no great difference in the PaO2/FiO2 ratio between these two arms when measured 5 min prior to postanesthesia care unit (PACU) departure and on postoperative day 1. Compared with the PEEP−EIT arm, patients in the RM + PEEP−EIT arm had significantly higher intraoperative dynamic respiratory system compliance (p < 0.001) but consumed more vasopressors (p = 0.036). Postoperative pulmonary complications occurred in 1 of 29 patients in the RM + PEEP−EIT arm compared with 2 of 31 patients in the PEEP−EIT arm. Regular lung RMs can improve intraoperative oxygenation and respiratory system compliance among OPs undergoing LBS with EIT‐guided individual PEEP. However, the improvement might disappear before leaving the PACU, and regular RMs resulted in more vasopressor consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi‐mode green internet of things (IoT) network that integrates multiple communication media can well meet data transmission and processing demands of low‐carbon smart building. However, network resource management optimisation including joint optimisation of gateway and channel selection still faces technical challenges such as differentiated quality of service (QoS) demand guarantee, coupling between optimisation problems with different timescales, and adversary caused by multi‐device competition. To address these challenges, an adversarial learning‐based multi‐timescale network resource management algorithm for multi‐mode green IoT is proposed. Specifically, the minimisation problem of weighted difference between energy consumption and throughput under the long‐term queuing delay constraints is formulated to achieve differentiated QoS guarantee. Large‐timescale gateway selection is decoupled from small‐timescale channel selection by establishing matching preferences based on empirical performance, and optimised by using bilateral matching with quota. Finally, an exponential‐weight algorithm for exploration and exploitation (EXP3)‐based small‐timescale channel selection algorithm is proposed to achieve adversary awareness. Simulation results demonstrate that compared with asynchronous greedy matching algorithm and auction‐based many‐to‐many matching algorithm, the proposed algorithm performs superior in terms of energy consumption and throughput. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flue gas desulfurization ash (FGD) is a byproduct of flue gas desulfurization facilities. Its comprehensive utilization has attracted increasing interest. In this work, FGD is used as the reinforcing filler to improve the mechanical properties of carboxylated styrene‐butadiene rubber (XSBR). The effects of FGD on the curing characteristics, microtopography, and mechanical properties of the composites were studied. The results indicated that FGD can be uniformly dispersed in XSBR and effectively improve the mechanical properties of XSBR composites. The tensile strength of the XSBR/25FGD composite reaches 14.0 MPa, approximately 19.7% higher than that of pure XSBR. Even if the incorporation of FGD reaches 45 phr, the tensile strength is still higher than that of pure XSBR. The composites obtained a lower rate of thermal degradation than XSBR. The DMA properties of the composites may be improved by the appropriate amount of addition. This work provides a new method for making more effective use of FGD in the polymer field, which has significant economic and environmental benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic LPL (long‐persistent luminescence) materials have sparked extensive research interest due to the ultralong‐lived triplet states. Although numerous organic LPL materials have been reported, most of the triplet emission was static and monotonous. Therefore, LPL materials with dynamic triplet emission are urgently required. A triamino‐s‐triazine derivative 1 with dynamic LPL was fabricated. The single‐crystal structure shows that the abundant intermolecular interactions and small free volume restrict the molecular motion and avoid the quenchers. Spectral and theoretical calculations upheld the existence of multiple excited states in 1, and the migration of electrons between multiple excited states is very sensitive to external stimuli. By modulating the stimulus, the residence of electrons in different triplet states can be manipulated to achieve RGB LPL. Importantly, blue LPL was achieved by manipulating the anti‐Kasha emission. And the red LPL can still be observed at high temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crafting spatially controllable charge transfer channels at the nanoscale level remains an enduring challenge in solar‐to‐chemical conversion technology. Despite the advancements, it still suffers from sluggish interfacial charge transport kinetics and scarcity of strategies to finely modulate charge transport pathways. Herein, this article demonstrates the unexpected charge modulation property of non‐conjugated insulating polymer assisted by a universal layer‐by‐layer self‐assembly tactic. Oppositely charged poly(dimethyl diallyl ammonium chloride) (PDDA) and Ti3C2 MXene quantum dots (MQDs) are periodically attached to the wide bandgap metal oxides (WMOs) to design multilayered heterostructured photoanodes. The intermediate PDDA layer acts as an efficacious charge relay medium to access directional electron flow from WMOs to Ti3C2 MQDs, while Ti3C2 MQDs serve as the electron extractor. Charge transfer cascade is thus stimulated on account of the simultaneous electron‐trapping capabilities of interim PDDA layer and Ti3C2 MQDs, which synergistically favors the conspicuously boosted charge separation over WMOs, affording the WMOs/(PDDA/MQDs)n photoanodes with considerably enhanced photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation performances. Moreover, PEC performances of such photoanodes can be tuned by interface configuration via assembly number and sequence. This work will provide an insightful perspective to craft a directional charge transfer pathway through insulating polymer for solar energy conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expanded graphite (EG) particles were introduced into the polyimide (PI) and polyethersulfone (PES) blend to enhance the dynamic thermomechanical and tribological performances of this polymer composite at evaluated temperatures ranging from room temperature to 250°C. The influences of EG dosage, evaluated temperature and vertical loads on the high‐temperature tribological behaviors, worn surface morphologies and wear mechanisms of EG/PES/PI composites were analyzed. Experimental results suggest that tensile strength, dynamic storage modulus, glass transition temperature as well as thermal stability of EG/PES/PI composites are superior to those of the PES/PI blend and they are raised as the EG additions increase. Whether at room temperature or at the high temperature of 250°C, the EG/PES/PI composites display the better friction‐reducing and abrasion resistant performances than the PES/PI blend. Among all these composites, the 7.0 wt% EG/PES/PI composite demonstrates the best friction and wear properties (0.23, 5.68 × 10−16 m3/[N·m]) at evaluated temperatures. The noticeable improvement in abrasive property of EG/PES/PI composites at high‐evaluated temperatures stems from extraordinary porous microstructures and outstanding lubrication characteristics of EG particles as well as the formation of uniform self‐lubricating polymer tribofilms. This composite as antifriction and wear‐resistant materials possesses potential applications in high‐temperature engineering tribology, such as rolling bearing retainer, and so forth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel autocatalytic phthalonitrile monomer [4,4′‐(((((oxy‐bis [4,1‐phenylene]) bis (azanediyl)) bis (methylene)) bis (2‐methoxy‐4,1‐phenylene)) bis (oxy)) diphthalonitrile, OPD] is obtained by nucleophilic substitution of 4‐nitro‐phthalonitrile and bisphenol compound [4,4′‐(((oxy bis [4,1‐phenylene]) bis (azanylylidene)) bis (methanylylidene)) bis (2‐methoxyphenol)]. Bisphenol compound is a reductant with secondary amine groups of Schiff base derived from the reaction of vanillin and 4,4′‐diaminodiphenylether. The OPD monomer has a self‐catalytic polymerizing reaction. OPD monomer has good processability, and the processing window was 130°C. Moreover, OPD polymer [poly(OPD)] shows higher glass‐transition temperature (345°C). The 5% and 10% thermal decomposition temperatures of poly(OPD) and char yield at 800°C are 407, 451°C, and 69%, respectively. To further improve the properties of poly(OPD), the OPD monomer was modified by multi‐functional fluorene‐based benzoxazine monomers (MFFB) due to their excellent reaction activities. The results showed that OPD/MFFB systems had high reaction activities. The similar thermal stabilities between OPD and MFFB can give stable and excellent thermal stability to the poly(OPD/MFFB). Compared with poly(OPD), the Tg values of poly(OPD/MFFB) were significantly increased, and their stiffness values were reduced. The tensile, flexural, and impact properties for poly(OPD/MFFB) were improved significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of selenium‐enriched food is one of the most effective ways to acheive selenium supplementation. However, the selenium content in selenium‐enriched food is unstable, and the selenium in the food needs to be incorporated into glutathione peroxidase (GPx) by the human body before it can exert its antioxidant activity. Herein, a selenium‐enriched cassava starch (Se‐ca‐starch80) with immediate antioxidant activity is synthesized by the successive esterification and selenation of cassava starch. The characterizations such as proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) indicate that the reactions mainly occur on the surface of starch and do not destroy the starch skeleton significantly. Such Se‐ca‐starch80 with selenium content of 9.44 µg g–1 reveals a remarkable antioxidant activity (the initial rate of the catalytic reaction, v0 > 10 µmol L–1 min–1) due to the cooperation of catalytic centers, substrate recognition sites, and hydrophobic microenvironments. Similar to the natural GPx, the Se‐ca‐starch80 is non‐cytotoxic and shows a saturation kinetic catalytic behavior. This work may open the door to design modified starch for functional foods and antioxidant drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer foams with addition of 1.0, 2.5, and 5 wt% of carbon nanomaterials (graphene, graphene oxide, carbon nanotubes, and multiwalled carbon nanotubes) were fabricated. Properties of these foams were compared with reference sample (no additives) and samples containing carbon black. The following properties of these samples were examined: density, compressive stress (50% compression), impact behavior, thermal conductivity, and hydrophobicity. The morphology was studied using scanning electron microscopy. The samples were additionally characterized using thermal gravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. Increasing weight percentage of carbon‐based additives led to foam structure with lower porosity and higher density. Samples with a higher degree of cross‐linking were less dense (~10%) as compared to the reference sample and also displayed better mechanical and thermal properties. Increasing weight percentages of additives led to higher compressive strength and higher energy absorption. Samples with 5 wt% of additives and increased quantity of cross‐linking agent exhibited great mechanical properties. Despite their lower density, these samples had higher values of compressive stress, 10%–15% higher than those of the reference sample, and higher energy return properties. All samples follow the trend of increasing values of compressive strength with the increase in density, for some samples, this correlation has quasi linear character. The obtained results show that EVA foams with the addition of carbon black, graphene, carbon nanotubes, and multiwalled carbon nanotubes have properties desirable in high‐performance materials for sport footwear soles. Multiwalled carbon nanotube additives could be incorporated at low weight percentages and low degree of crosslinking into EVA matrix to achieve lower density and enhanced energy repulsion and cushioning effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploiting emerging artificial photosystems with regulated vectorial charge transfer pathways is retarded by the difficulties in precise interface modulation at the nanoscale level, deficiency of suitable assembly methodologies, and ultra‐short charge lifetime. Herein, it is first conceptually demonstrated the general design of transition metal chalcogenides quantum dots (TMCs QDs)‐insulating polymer‐metal oxides (MOs) electron‐tunneling photosystems, wherein TMCs QDs are controllably layer‐by‐layer self‐assembled on the MOs substrates assisted by an ultrathin insulating polymer interim layer. It is ascertained that electrons photoexcited over TMCs QDs in spatially highly ordered MOs/(TMCs QDs/polymer)n multilayered heterostructures can be unidirectionally extracted and tunneled to the MOs substrates across the intermediate insulating polymer layer by engendering the tandem charge transfer to accelerate the interfacial charge migration kinetics, thereby triggering the significantly boosted net efficiency of solar‐driven photoelectrochemical water oxidation. This study would spark new inspirations for designing novel electron‐tunneling photosystems for fine carrier modulation towards solar energy harvesting and conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many lacewing species (Insecta: Neuroptera) are important predators of pests with great potential in biological control. So far, there is no chromosome‐level published genome available for Neuroptera. Here we report a high‐quality chromosome‐level reference genome for a green lacewing species Chrysopa pallens (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), which is one of the most important insect natural enemies used in pest biocontrol. The genome was sequenced using a combination of PacBio and Hi‐C technologies and assembled into seven chromosomes with a total size of 517.21 Mb, occupying 96.07% of the genome sequence. A total of 12,840 protein‐coding genes were identified and approximately 206.21 Mb of repeated sequences were annotated. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that C. pallens diverged from its common ancestor with Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera) approximately 300 million years ago. The gene families involved in digestion, detoxification, chemoreception, carbohydrate metabolism, immunity, nerves and development were significantly expanded, revealing the potential genomic basis for the polyphagia of C. pallens and its role as an excellent biocontrol agent. This high‐quality genome of C. pallens will provide an important genomic resource for future population genetics, evolutionary and phylogenetic investigations of Chrysopidae as well as comparative genomic studies of Neuropterida and other insects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute transient swelling (ATS) of the thyroid is a rare complication following fine‐needle aspiration (FNA) of thyroid nodules. We present 31 cases with 35 nodules encountered at our institute and reported in the literature, to provide further information. The incidence rate in our institute was 0.46%. Of these nodules, 74.3% (26/35) were solid, 65.7% (23/35) exhibited hypervascularity, and 77.2% (27/35) were benign or follicular neoplasms. Although most cases (87.1%, 27/31) occurred within 2 h after FNA, four patients experienced delayed ATS after 7 h to 2 days. Therefore, awareness of this complication, especially its delayed occurrence, should be raised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The properties of polymer blends strongly depend on their microstructure. Thus, tuning the phase structure and improving the interfacial interaction of blends are relatively crucial. Inspired by the breaking and reformation of dynamic covalent bonds in vitrimers, these special bonds are introduced into the phase interface of polymer blends in this work. Through reactive blending of epoxidized natural rubber (ENR), polylactic acid (PLA) and additives, polymer blends with dynamic interfacial cross‐linking are fabricated. The prepared blends with intensive interfacial interactions display excellent recycling capacity. Strikingly, after etching the dissolvable substances with a solvent, the porous phase structure of original polymer blends changes to a fiber‐like phase structure of the third recycled blends, entirely distinct from most reported phase structures in polymer blends. In addition, the composites show great enhancements in mechanical properties during recycling. This work provides an effective method to tune the phase structure and improve the interfacial interaction of polymer blends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate cerebral neuron segmentation is required before neuron counting and neuron morphological analysis. Numerous algorithms for neuron segmentation have been published, but they are mainly evaluated using limited subsets from a specific anatomical region, targeting neurons of clear contrast and/or neurons with similar staining intensity. It is thus unclear how these algorithms perform on cerebral neurons in diverse anatomical regions. In this article, we introduce and reliably evaluate existing machine learning algorithms using a data set of microscopy images of macaque brain. This data set highlights various anatomical regions (e.g., cortex, caudate, thalamus, claustrum, putamen, hippocampus, subiculum, lateral geniculate, globus pallidus, etc.), poor contrast, and staining intensity differences of neurons. The evaluation was performed using 10 architectures of six classic machine learning algorithms in terms of typical Recall, Precision, F‐score, aggregated Jaccard index (AJI), as well as a performance ranking of algorithms. F‐score of most of the algorithms is superior to 0.7. Deep learning algorithms facilitate generally higher F‐scores. U‐net with suitable layer depth has been evaluated to be excellent classifiers with F‐score of 0.846 and 0.837 when performing cross validation. The evaluation and analysis indicate the performance gap among algorithms in various anatomical regions and the strengths and limitations of each algorithm. The comparative result highlights at the same time the importance and difficulty of neuron segmentation and provides clues for future improvement. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first comprehensive study for neuron segmentation in such large‐scale anatomical regions.Neuron segmentation plays a critical role in extracting cerebral information, such as neuron counting and neuron morphological analysis.Accurate automated cerebral neuron segmentation is a challenging task due to different kinds, poor contrast, staining intensity differences, and fuzzy boundaries of neurons.The comprehensive evaluation and analysis of performance among existing machine learning algorithms in diverse anatomical regions allows to make clear of the strengths and limitations of state‐of‐the‐art algorithm.The comprehensive study provides clues for future improvement and creation of automated methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes were hydroxylated (MWCNTs‐OH) by a strong acid mixture and then used as a reinforcement nanofiller in blends of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polyimide (PI) to fabricate MWCNTs‐OH/PTFE/PI nanocomposites. The influences of MWCNTs‐OH additions on the surface wettability, tensile mechanical property, and tribological behaviors of MWCNTs‐OH/PTFE/PI nanocomposites under different relative humidity were investigated. Test results indicate that the introduction of MWCNTs‐OH can dramatically decrease the static water contact angles and increase the tensile strengths and elastic moduli of the PTFE/PI polymer blends. This is largely due to the existence of numerous hydrophilic functional groups on the surfaces of MWCNTs‐OH and its ultrahigh mechanical characteristics. The relative humidity has a much weaker impact on the friction coefficients of the MWCNTs‐OH/PTFE/PI nanocomposites than on the wear rates. Of all composites, the 0.8 wt% MWCNTs‐OH/PTFE/PI nanocomposite possesses the lowest friction coefficient (0.11) and wear rate (2.97 × 10−15 m3/(Nm)) at a high relative humidity of 90%. The conspicuous increase in wear resistance is attributable to the enhancement effect of MWCNTs‐OH and the generation of homogeneous polymer self‐lubricating tribofilms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raman spectroscopy (RS) has attracted significant attention for the analysis of cementitious materials owing to its remarkable spatial and spectral resolution, which enable the precise investigation of chemical bonds, mineral phases, and microstructures. This review focuses on applications of RS for characterizing cement clinker compositions, monitoring hydration processes, and detecting durability issues, with a particular focus on advancements in quantitative analysis and imaging techniques in recent years. The featured Raman vibration bands are summarized, which are useful for the identification of calcium silicate‐related substances. The current technical limitations of RS for investigating cementitious materials are discussed, and potential approaches to overcome these limitations are proposed. The technological innovations in RS will further enhance its efficacy and applicability for investigations of cementitious materials, thus facilitating a comprehensive understanding of the life cycle of cement across various scales of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) with graphite anodes are approaching their theoretical limitations in energy density. Replacing the conventional graphite anodes with high‐capacity Si‐based anodes represents one of the most promising strategies to greatly boost the energy density of LIBs. However, the inherent huge volume expansion of Si‐based materials after lithiation and the resulting series of intractable problems, such as unstable solid electrolyte interphase layer, cracking of electrode, and especially the rapid capacity degradation of cells, severely restrict the practical application of Si‐based anodes. Over the past decade, numerous reports have demonstrated that polymer binders play a critical role in alleviating the volume expansion and maintaining the integrity and stable cycling of Si‐based anodes. In this review, the state‐of‐the‐art designing of polymer binders for Si‐based anodes have been systematically summarized based on their structures, including the linear, branched, crosslinked, and conjugated conductive polymer binders. Especially, the comprehensive designing of multifunctional polymer binders, by a combination of multiple structures, interactions, crosslinking chemistries, ionic or electronic conductivities, soft and hard segments, and so forth, would be promising to promote the practical application of Si‐based anodes. Finally, a perspective on the rational design of practical polymer binders for the large‐scale application of Si‐based anodes is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultra‐wideband (UWB) radar is widely used in static through‐wall imaging (TWI). There are still many imaging problems of motion through‐wall targets for complex system structure and unknown wall environment. Herein, a motion compensation method based on the reference channel and a modified Kirchhoff migration imaging algorithm are proposed for Ultra‐wideband (UWB) MIMO sparse array, which is used for high‐precision 3D TWI of moving targets. The channels of the MIMO radar are time‐division multiplexing based on microwave switch. Besides, a reference channel is added for motion compensation of moving targets. Performing motion compensation on the target before 3D imaging can effectively avoid the problems of defocus and position deviation caused by target motion. In the proposed imaging method, the backward Green function is used to replace the forward Green function to solve the problem of a large field of view with small arrays. The experiment with a static through‐wall target proves that the proposed imaging algorithm can suppress sidelobes well compared with the traditional back‐projection algorithm (BPA). Through‐wall experiments are carried out for targets with different speeds, and results show that the positioning accuracy and sidelobe level of the proposed compensation method is better than previously proposed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is critical to investigate the adaptive development and the physiological mechanism of fish in external stimulation. In this study, the response of Barbus capito to salinity–alkalinity exposure was explored by high‐throughput nontargeted and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry‐based metabolomics to investigate metabolic biomarker and pathway changes. Meanwhile, the biochemical indexes of Barbus capito were measured to discover the chronic impairment response to salinity–alkalinity exposures. A total of 29 tissue metabolites were determined to deciphering the endogenous metabolic changes of fishes during the different concentration salinity–alkalinity exposures environment, which were mainly involved in the key metabolism including the phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis, arachidonic acid metabolism, pyruvate metabolism, citrate cycle, and glycerophospholipid metabolism. Finally, we found the amino acid metabolism as key target was associated with the endogenous metabolites and metabolic pathways of Barbus capito to salinity–alkalinity exposures. In conclusion, metabolomics is a potentially powerful tool to reveal the mechanism information of fish in various exposure environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new compact triple‐band bandpass filter (BPF) with adjustable passbands based on only single substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) square resonant cavity is proposed in this letter. The first six resonant modes (the perturbed TE101′ mode and TE102′ mode, the perturbed TE201′ mode and TE202′ mode, the perturbed TE301′ mode and TE302′ mode) of the SIW cavity are controlled to constitute the three corresponding passbands by elaborately introducing metallic vias in the design. The three center frequencies and passband bandwidths can be effectively adjusted by only changing the location and sizes of these perturbations. For demonstration, a prototype SIW triple‐band BPF is designed, fabricated, and tested. Measured and simulated results are in good agreement, verifying the feasibility of the design concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of New Delhi metal beta‐lactamase (NDM‐1)‐producing bacteria and their worldwide spread pose great challenges for the treatment of drug‐resistant bacterial infections. These bacteria can hydrolyze most β‐lactam antibacterials. Unfortunately, there are no clinically useful NDM‐1 inhibitors. In the current work, we manually collected NDM‐1 inhibitors reported in the past decade and established the first NDM‐1 inhibitor database. Four machine‐learning models were constructed using the structural and property characteristics of the collected compounds as input training set to discover potential NDM‐1 inhibitors. In order to distinguish between high active inhibitors and putative positive drugs, a three‐classification strategy was introduced in our study. In detail, the commonly used positive and negative divisions are converted into strongly active, weakly active, and inactive. The accuracy of the best prediction model designed based on this strategy reached 90.5%, compared with 69.14% achieved by the traditional docking‐based virtual screening method. Consequently, the best model was used to virtually screen a natural product library. The safety of the selected compounds was analyzed by the ADMET prediction model based on machine learning. Seven novel NDM‐1 inhibitors were identified, which will provide valuable clues for the discovery of NDM‐1 inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The triazole inhibitor of 1‐(p‐tolylthio)‐1H‐1,2,3‐triazole‐4‐carboxylic acid (TTC) was synthesized via the Cu(I)‐catalyzed azide‐alkyne 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition reaction. The self‐assembling method was performed to fabricate the self‐assembled film of TTC on the copper surface. The electrochemical measurement results indicate that the TTC film can efficiently protect the copper from corrosion in high concentrated industrial cooling water. The protection efficiency of TTC film for copper is 92.2%. Surface characterizations imply that the copper with TTC film after corrosion is covered with multiple protective layers. It probably contains Cu(I) and Cu(II) complexes mixed with nitrogenous compound, Cl− and SO42−. The result of quantum chemical calculation shows that the superior performance of TTC film is related to the adsorption of TTC molecules on copper surface horizontally. This kind of adsorption is mainly achieved via the adsorption centers of triazole ring and O atoms in TTC molecule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ancestry informative markers play an important role in medical genetics and forensic analyses. Several ancestry informative SNP panels have been developed and validated that can differentiate global populations into continental or major regional groups. These global panels have served as good first‐tier genetic markers; however, their performance in discriminating populations within regions appears unsatisfactory. To boost ancestry inference for regional populations, second‐tier panels with more refined discrimination power among subpopulations within each of the regions need to be developed. In East Asia, Han Chinese, Japanese, and Korean show highly similar externally visible characteristics and are genetically closely related. Reliable ancestry informative genetic markers appear invaluable in discriminating these populations. In the present study, we compiled a genome‐wide SNP dataset composing of 317,439 clean SNPs for a total of 1101 unrelated individuals from Han Chinese (817), Koreans (184), and Japanese (100). From this starting dataset, we developed a set of four nested ancestry informative SNP panels including 36, 59, 98, and 142 SNPs, respectively. The results of cross‐validation tests indicate that these panels can discriminate the Chinese Han, Japanese, and Korean populations with overall average accuracies ranging from 90% to 99%. In the further performance assessments, these panels also manifested high sensitivity and specificity. In combination with the first‐tier global panels, these second‐tier panels would contribute to medical genetics and forensic research in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After more than 80 years of development, β‐lactam drugs have become the most widely used high‐efficiency, low‐toxic broad‐spectrum antibacterial drugs. However, with the widespread use and even abuse of those drugs, the resistance of major pathogens to β‐lactam drugs has increased over years, which has become a thorny problem to the public health. A common mechanism of the resistance to β‐lactams is the producing of β‐lactamases, which can hydrolyze the β‐lactam ring and inactivate these drugs. Metallo‐β‐lactamases (MBLs) are one kind of β‐lactamases that require metal ions for their catalytic activities. Although it is a well‐known strategy to recover the efficacy of β‐lactams by the combination of β‐lactamase inhibitors, there are still no MBL inhibitors that can be used in clinical practice. Therefore, it is urgent to develop MBL inhibitors. This review outlines the currently discovered MBL inhibitors with an emphasis on various strategies and approaches taken to discover MBL inhibitors, which may lead to diverse classes of inhibitors. Recent progress, particularly new screening methods, and the rational design of potent MBL inhibitors are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study measures the average per person and annual total costs of dementia in England in 2015.Methods/design: Up-to-date data for England were drawn from multiple sources to identify prevalence of dementia by severity, patterns of health and social care service utilisation and their unit costs, levels of unpaid care and its economic impacts, and other costs of dementia. These data were used in a refined macrosimulation model to estimate annual per-person and aggregate costs of dementia.Results: There are around 690 000 people with dementia in England, of whom 565 000 receive unpaid care or community care or live in a care home. Total annual cost of dementia in England is estimated to be £24.2 billion in 2015, of which 42% (£10.1 billion) is attributable to unpaid care. Social care costs (£10.2 billion) are three times larger than health care costs (£3.8 billion). £6.2 billion of the total social care costs are met by users themselves and their families, with £4.0 billion (39.4%) funded by government. Total annual costs of mild, moderate, and severe dementia are £3.2 billion, £6.9 billion, and £14.1 billion, respectively. Average costs of mild, moderate, and severe dementia are £24 400, £27 450, and £46 050, respectively, per person per year.Conclusions: Dementia has huge economic impacts on people living with the illness, their carers, and society as a whole. Better support for people with dementia and their carers, as well as fair and efficient financing of social care services, are essential to address the current and future challenges of dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon oxycarbides (SiOC) are regarded as potential anode materials for lithium‐ion batteries, although inferior cycling stability and rate performance greatly limit their practical applications. Herein, amorphous SiOC is synthesized from Chlorella by means of a biotemplate method based on supercritical fluid technology. On this basis, tin particles with sizes of several nanometers are introduced into the SiOC matrix through the biosorption feature of Chlorella. As lithium‐ion battery anodes, SiOC and Sn@SiOC can deliver reversible capacities of 440 and 502 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles at 100 mA g−1 with great cycling stability. Furthermore, as‐synthesized Sn@SiOC presents an excellent high‐rate cycling capability, which exhibits a reversible capacity of 209 mAh g−1 after 800 cycles at 5000 mA g−1; this is 1.6 times higher than that of SiOC. Such a novel approach has significance for the preparation of high‐performance SiOC‐based anodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]