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This study aimed to investigate whether analgesia nociception index (ANI) could be an indicator of perioperative pain during laparoscopic trocar insertion.

This study aimed to reveal the flavor quality changes of live oysters during different steps of circulation, and optimize the management of live oyster transportation in order to improve the survival quality of oysters. The changes in the types and contents of volatile flavor compounds in Crassostrea gigas sequentially subjected to depuration, induced dormancy and simulated waterless live transportation were investigated using solid phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS). Results showed that a total of 49 volatile flavor substances were identified in live C. gigas, including aldehydes, ketones, esters, hydrocarbons, alcohols, nitrogen-containing and sulfur-containing heterocyclic compounds. Post-harvest stress had a significant impact on the flavor quality. The content of pleasant flavor compounds was significantly enhanced while the content of irritating odor substances was evidently reduced, and lipid oxidation was significantly alleviated after 24 h of depuration. Lipid oxidation in oysters was increased with waterless live transportation time, and the total amount of volatile flavor substances was slowly accumulated. Odor activity values (OAVs) showed that heptanal, nonanal, (E)-2-nonenal, 4-ethylbenzaldehyde, hexanal, (E)-2-octenal, undecanal, (E)-2-decenal, decanal, (E,E)-2,4-nonadienal and 2-pentyl furan were the key flavor substances of live C. gigas, which could be used as a reference to reflect the physiological status of live oysters. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the cumulative contribution of the first three principal components to total variances was 85.6%, allowing a clear distinction between the different stages of circulation. In conclusion, the vitality and flavor substances of C. gigas reach a new level after post-harvest depuration for 24 h, which is more conducive to long-term low temperature and waterless live oyster preservation. Meanwhile, the analysis of volatile components can be used as a method to identify the vitality during the circulation of live shellfish.

Simple Summary: As a fish under second-class protection in China, the structure and characteristics of the mitochondrial genome Procypris mera (Lin, 1933) have not been reported. We reported three mitochondrial genomes of P. mera from three sites and conducted a detailed analysis of their characteristics, which were employed to infer phylogenetic relationships. These findings revealed that the mitochondrial genomes of P. mera from the different sites exhibited considerable similarity. Furthermore, the phylogenetic tree constructed from amino acid sequences supported the original phylogenetic relationships of the subfamily Cyprininae in China, suggesting that the genus Puntioplites is sister to all other genera of the subfamily Cyprinidae of China; the genus Procypris forms a monophyletic group; and the genera Carassioides, Carassius, and Cyprinus form a monophyletic group. Procypris mera (Lin, 1933), also known as the Chinese ink carp, currently has a second-class protection status in China. Understanding the structure and characteristics of mitochondrial genes provides essential information for resource conservation and phylogenetic studies of P. mera. Here, we sequenced the mitochondrial genomes of three P. mera (WYL1-3) from three sites and performed phylogenetic analysis. The generated three genomes were 16,587 bp in length, comprising 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNAs, two rRNAs, and two non-coding regions (control region (CR), D-loop, and light-stranded replication start OL), with a preference for codons ending in A or C. The mitochondrial genomes of WYL2 and WYL3 were identical, differing from that of WYL1 by only five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). All mitochondrial PCGs had Ka/Ks ratios of less than one, suggesting purifying selection. Phylogenetic tree analysis based on amino acid sequences suggested that the genus Puntioplites is sister to all other genera of the subfamily Cyprinidae of China; the genus Procypris forms a monophyletic group; and the genera Carassioides, Carassius, and Cyprinus form a monophyletic group. This study contributes to our understanding of the phylogenetic relationships in subfamily Cyprininae in China and lays the foundation for resource conservation and management of P. mera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the potential use of Yellow River sand (YRS) sourced from the lower reaches of the Yellow River in China as a sustainable and cost-effective substitute for quartz sand in Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC). With an annual accumulation of approximately 400 million tons in this region, YRS presents a substantial resource. ECC specimens with 100% YRS replacement with quartz sand were subjected to various curing methods: natural, steam, standard, and sprinkler. Extensive mechanical testing including flexural, compressive, uniaxial tensile, and four-point flexural tests was conducted. Additionally, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP) analyses investigated microscopic mechanisms influencing macroscopic mechanical properties. Finally, the mechanical properties of the YRS-ECC test block after 14 days of standard curing and the traditional sand ECC test block were compared and analyzed. The results indicate that ECC specimens with 100% YRS substitution under natural curing show an optimal ultimate tensile strain of more than 4%, providing the best resistance to the reduction in ultimate flexural load and deflection due to aging. Steam curing enhances flexural and compressive strength, achieving an ultimate flexural load of 5 kN and a maximum deflection of 4.42 mm at 90 days. SEM analysis revealed lower C-S-H gel density under natural curing and higher under steam curing, enhancing fiber pull-out in steam-cured specimens. The MIP tests demonstrated that natural curing had the highest porosity (32.86%) and average pore size (51.69 nm), whereas steam curing resulted in the smallest average pore size, with 44% of pores under 50 nm. Compared with traditional sand, it is found that the ultimate bending load and deflection of YRS-ECC are 5.7% and 9.4% higher than those of traditional sand ECC, respectively, and its ultimate tensile strength and strain are also improved. These findings highlight YRS as a sustainable alternative to natural sand in ECC, with natural curing proving the most effective for superior mechanical performance, including tensile strain, crack resistance, and durability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes an ultra-wideband radar cross section (RCS) reduction technique based on reflection phase interference cancellation and tunable absorption. The operational frequency band of the combined structure is enhanced by uniting two overlapped frequency ranges effectively. As proof of concept, a demonstration structure is designed with a stacked chessboard and an active frequency selective surface (AFSS) absorber. The upper chessboard constructed of a square loop and circular patch unit cells can realize destructive phase interference performance at higher frequencies, while the bottom AFSS absorber achieves tunable absorption at a lower frequency range. Three-dimensional scattering patterns at low and high frequencies are analyzed to verify these two different RCS reduction mechanisms. The combined fabrication structure can obtain an ultra-wideband RCS reduction of more than 10 dB from 4.4 to 36.5 GHz, compared to a metallic plate of the same size, indicating good agreement between full-wave simulation and measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Aiming to resolve the adverse effects of frequency selective surface (FSS) radomes on array antenna beam scanning, a method for optimizing FSS radomes is proposed.Methods First, an array antenna with 25 half-wave dipole elements is designed. At the same time, a wideband Jerusalem structure is designed as a frequency selection unit with the goal of bandwidth matching and stable filtering performance at high angle incidence. On this basis, HFSS software is used to optimize the distance between the FSS radome and array antenna with the lowest gain on the side lobes and back lobes. Finally, the size of the FSS radome is determined by the beam width and scanning angle of the array antenna, and the scanning angle error of a separate array antenna is compared with an FSS radome-array antenna system. In order to verify the accuracy of the theory, the array antenna pattern is tested with the FSS radome at different scanning angles. Results The results show that when the distance of FSS radome between array antenna is 0.5λ, the influence of FSS radome on the secondary and rear lobe gains of the array antenna is minima；when the scanning angle is up to 40°, the FSS radome produces an error of about 0.25° to the array antenna scanning angle.Conclusions The FSS radome designed by the appropriate method has little effect on the beam scanning direction of the array antenna. This method can also be used in the design of larger array antennas and FSS radomes.

Cavity quantum electrodynamics has been studied as a potential approach to modify free charge carrier generation in donor–acceptor heterojunctions because of the delocalization and controllable energy level properties of hybridized light–matter states known as polaritons. However, in many experimental systems, cavity coupling decreases charge separation. Here, we theoretically study the quantum dynamics of a coherent and dissipative donor–acceptor cavity system, to investigate the dynamical mechanism and further discover the conditions under which polaritons may enhance free charge carrier generation. We use open quantum system methods based on single-pulse pumping to find that polaritons have the potential to connect excitonic states and charge separated states, further enhancing free charge generation on an ultrafast timescale of several hundred femtoseconds. The mechanism involves polaritons with optimal energy levels that allow the exciton to overcome the high Coulomb barrier induced by electron–hole attraction. Moreover, we propose that a second-hybridization between a polariton state and dark states with similar energy enables the formation of the hybrid charge separated states that are optically active. These two mechanisms lead to a maximum of 50% enhancement of free charge carrier generation on a short timescale. However, our simulation reveals that on the longer timescale of picoseconds, internal conversion and cavity loss dominate and suppress free charge carrier generation, reproducing the experimental results. Thus, our work shows that polaritons can affect the charge separation mechanism and promote free charge carrier generation efficiency, but predominantly on a short timescale after photoexcitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objectives] This paper studies the development of a microstrip antenna with both traditional radiation characteristic and good out-of-band rejection characteristic.[Methods] Through the filter integrated design method,the microstrip antenna with filtering characteristic,composed of a microstrip antenna,a coupled line,and two resonators is designed. In addition to the capability of meeting the traditional antenna design requirements,the microstrip antenna shall have the external quality factor that is equal to the external quality factor of the last resonator of the band-pass filter,thus enabling it to still function as a filter after being used as a substitute of the last resonator of the filter;in the filter design,the coupled line acts as an admittance converter to realize the energy coupling between the filter resonator and the microstrip antenna.[Results] The simulation results show that as the impedance bandwidth is 2.37-2.53 GHz,the gain variation within the impedance bandwidth is gentle,the maximum in-band gain deviation is about 0.5 dB,the maximum gain is 7.5 dB,and the gain at 100 MHz outside the passband is rapidly reduced to -10 dBi, the microstrip antenna has good out-of-band rejection characteristic.[Conclusions] The microstrip antenna with filtering characteristic designed in the paper reduces the overall size of filter and antenna and the transmission loss between the filter and the antenna,and can be used in modern communication systems.

Background: Dysregulation of RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification is indispensable in tumorigenesis. However, in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), the key regulators and mechanisms involved in this process remain largely unknown. This study aimed to screen the key m6A regulators and explore its possible role in MIBC. Methods: Aberrantly expressed m6A regulator genes were screened in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) MIBC cohort (n = 408) and validated using fresh-frozen and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens collected during this study. Clinicopathological relevance and association with tumor immune infiltration was further assessed. Results: We identified that the expression of YT521-B homology-domain-containing protein 1 (YTHDC1), an m6A RNA-binding protein, was downregulated in tumor tissues compared with adjacent noncancerous tissues in the TCGA MIBC cohort and our clinical samples. Low YTHDC1 expression correlated with short patient survival, advanced pathologic stage, lymph node metastasis, basal-squamous molecular subtype, non-papillary histological type, and certain genetic mutations important to MIBC. Remarkably, YTHDC1 expression exhibited negative association with tumor-infiltrating M2 macrophage abundance in MIBC. Conclusion: Among m6A regulators, we identified that YTHDC1 was downregulated in MIBC and might play an important role in the pathological process in MIBC, especially tumor microenvironment regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifunctional nanoaggregates are widely used in cancer phototheranostics. However, it is challenging to construct their multifunctionality with a single component, and deliver them rapidly and efficiently without complex modifications. Herein, a NIR‐absorbing small molecule named TBT‐2(TP‐DPA) is designed and certify its theranostic potentials. Then, their nanoaggregates, which are simply encapsulated by DSPE‐PEG, demonstrate a photothermal efficiency of 51% while keeping a high photoluminescence quantum yield in the NIR region. Moreover, the nanoaggregates can be excited and delivered by an 808 nm pulse laser to solid tumors within only 40 min. The delivery efficiency and theranostic efficacy are better than that of the traditional enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect (generally longer than 24 hours). This platform is first termed as the photoinduced thermoacoustic (PTA) process, and confirm its application requires both NIR‐responsive materials and pulse laser irradiation. This study not only inspires the design of multifunctional nanoaggregates, but also offers a feasible approach to their fast delivery. The platform reported here provides a promising prospect to boost the development of multifunctional theranostic drugs and maximize the efficacy of used medicines for their clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the dual signal of double‐emitting carbon quantum dots (G‐CDs), a ratiometric fluorescence sensor is established to realize the analysis and detection of Fe3+ in real samples. When the excitation wavelength is 360 nm and 480 nm, the double emission fluorescence peaks are located at the wavelengths of 477 nm and 523 nm. The former is the fluorescence response signal, and the latter is the fluorescence background signal. The semi‐quantitative analysis of Fe3+ was achieved based on the linear relationship between the ratio F477/F523 of the two signals and the Fe3+ concentration. The linear range of this method is 0.015–120 μM, and the limit of detection (LOD, S/N=3) is 5 nM. Meanwhile, the naked‐eye visual detection of Fe3+ can be realized according to the fluorescence color of the probe. The probe exhibits excellent anti‐interference, selectivity and repeatability, and this method can be applied to the detection of Fe3+ in actual samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compared the effects of air and nitrogen on the freezing characteristics, color, and cell structures of chestnut kernels at different rates of heat transfer and adopted liquid nitrogen spray quick-freezing (NF−40 °C/−60 °C/−80 °C/−100 °C) and still air freezing (AF−20 °C/−40 °C) as the freezing methods. The ratio of heat transfer coefficients in N2 groups was two times as high as those in air groups, and NF−100 °C and NF−80 °C showed better freezing characteristics, good protection for cytoskeletons, and the color was similar to those of the fresh group. Taking both Multivariate Analysis of Variance (Principal Components Analysis and Cluster Analysis) and economic factors, NF−80 °C can be used as a suitable method for chestnut kernel freezing. When the ambient freezing temperature was lower than Tg, both NF and AF treatment groups presented poor quality. The rate and medium of heat transfer jointly influenced the freezing characteristics and quality. The former had a greater effect than the latter, however. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The common aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) alcohol flushing variant known as ALDH2*2 affects ∼8% of the world's population. Even in heterozygous carriers, this missense variant leads to a severe loss of ALDH2 enzymatic activity and has been linked to an increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). Endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction plays a determining role in all stages of CAD pathogenesis, including early-onset CAD. However, the contribution of ALDH2*2 to EC dysfunction and its relation to CAD are not fully understood. In a large genome-wide association study (GWAS) from Biobank Japan, ALDH2*2 was found to be one of the strongest single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with CAD. Clinical assessment of endothelial function showed that human participants carrying ALDH2*2 exhibited impaired vasodilation after light alcohol drinking. Using human induced pluripotent stem cell–derived ECs (iPSC-ECs) and CRISPR-Cas9–corrected ALDH2*2 iPSC-ECs, we modeled ALDH2*2-induced EC dysfunction in vitro, demonstrating an increase in oxidative stress and inflammatory markers and a decrease in nitric oxide (NO) production and tube formation capacity, which was further exacerbated by ethanol exposure. We subsequently found that sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) such as empagliflozin mitigated ALDH2*2-associated EC dysfunction. Studies in ALDH2*2 knock-in mice further demonstrated that empagliflozin attenuated ALDH2*2-mediated vascular dysfunction in vivo. Mechanistically, empagliflozin inhibited Na+/H+-exchanger 1 (NHE-1) and activated AKT kinase and endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) pathways to ameliorate ALDH2*2-induced EC dysfunction. Together, our results suggest that ALDH2*2 induces EC dysfunction and that SGLT2i may potentially be used as a preventative measure against CAD for ALDH2*2 carriers. Sobering up the endothelium: Endothelial dysfunction is a well-known contributor to coronary artery disease (CAD), the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Guo et al. now show that the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 genetic polymorphism ALDH2*2 contributes to impaired vascular function in humans by increasing oxidative stress and inflammation in the endothelium. They also report that alcohol consumption can exacerbate these effects. In contrast, the diabetes drug empagliflozin (a sodium-glucose transporter 2 inhibitor) improved endothelial function in ALDH2*2 human iPSC and mouse models of alcohol exposure and diabetes. These findings suggest that alcohol consumption should be considered with caution in ALDH2*2 carriers and that empagliflozin might potentially mitigate risk for CAD in this population.—AW [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temperature difference between day and night in a solar greenhouse is large. Heat in a greenhouse is typically in excess during the day while the temperature is low and the humidity is high at night. This study designs and tests an active heat storage and release air-source heat-pump system with a thermally insulated water tank as the energy storage body. By comparing air temperature and humidity in a test greenhouse with a control greenhouse in typical weather conditions, the power consumption and performance of the system are evaluated. The results show that compared with the control greenhouse, the average daytime temperature of the test greenhouse is lowered by about 3 °C during the operation of the system in typical weather conditions. At night, the average temperature is increased by about 4 °C, and the relative humidity is decreased by about 20%. When optimized, the maximum coefficient of performance (COP) of the system can reach 4.32 in heat storage mode. The nighttime heat release from the energy storage tank accounts for 26.9% to 51.2% of the nighttime energy consumption, and the energy utilization efficiency is 59.6% to 497.0%. This study provides a new way to control environmental parameters in solar greenhouses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high energy consumption CEA building brings challenges to the management of the energy system. An accurate energy consumption prediction model is necessary. Although there are various prediction methods, the prediction method for the particularity of CEA buildings is still a gap. This study proposes some derived features based on the CEA scenarios to improve the accuracy of the model. The study mainly extracts the time series and logical features from the agricultural calendar, the botanical physiological state, building characteristics, and production management. The time series and logical features have the highest increase of 2.8% and 3.6%, respectively. In addition, four automatic feature construction methods are also used to achieve varying degrees of influence from −9% to 8%. Therefore, the multiple feature extraction and feature construction methods proposed in this paper can effectively improve the model performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is devoted to the study of the existence of positive solutions and the hydrodynamic limit of the steady Boltzmann equation with in-flow boundary condition. The proof is based on a L 6 − L ∞ framework developed by Esposito et al. [Stationary solutions to the Boltzmann equation in the hydrodynamic limit. Ann PDE. 2018;4(1):1–119] and a refined positivity-preserving scheme in deriving positivity of solutions with in-flow boundary condition and external force. The incompressible Navier–Stokes–Fourier limit with a Dirichlet boundary condition is justified for in-flow boundary data as a small perturbation of a global Maxwellian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is to justify the incompressible Euler–Poisson limit of the Vlasov–Poisson–Boltzmann system in the incompressible hyperbolic regime. The proof is based on a new H x , v 1 − W x , v 1 , ∞ framework, which consists of the H x , v 1 energy estimate and the weighted W x , v 1 , ∞ estimate of the Vlasov–Poisson–Boltzmann system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The blockage or failure of the drainage holes will endanger the stability of the slopes and traffic safety of a highway tunnel. This paper studies an algorithm for the automatic classification of drainage hole blockage degree based on convolutional neural network transfer learning to explore the intelligent detection method of drainage hole blockage. The model transfer method is adopted to input drainage hole image samples to retrain the pretrained network to classify new images. Experiments are performed on the collected samples of drainage hole images, and the accuracy of different network models is compared, ResNet-18 being the best. The ResNet-18 performance is compared using different transfer strategies and parameters. The results show that when the SGDM gradient optimisation algorithm is used and the learning rate is 0.0001, the identification effect of these samples is the best. The validation accuracy can reach 91.7%, test accuracy is 90.0%, and the effective classification of drainage hole blockage to different degrees is realised under the transfer learning strategy of ResNet-18 model 1–34 frozen layers. Furthermore, with an expansion of the samples in the future, the identification accuracy will be further improved. The automatic classification system of the blockage degree of drainage hole greatly reduces the cost of manual detection, plays a guiding role in the maintenance of drainage pipes, and effectively improves the safety of highway tunnels and slopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of urban metro systems, shield tunnels that pass through existing bridge pile foundations have become an inevitable engineering problem. Therefore, ensuring the stability of the strata and existing bridge piles during tunnel construction is a common goal in engineering practice. Currently, research on the mechanical responses of strata and existing piles under different conditions of upper-soft and lower-hard composite strata during shield tunneling has not been conducted extensively. This paper presents a numerical simulation of a shield tunnel passing through an existing bridge pile foundation in upper-soft and lower-hard composite strata. Subsequently, the surface subsidence and mechanical responses of a single pile were analyzed and evaluated. Additional stresses generated in the soil by existing bridge piles and the selection of grouting pressure were considered to optimize the driving pressure of the slurry shield. Allowable values were proposed to evaluate the construction disturbances caused by the tunnel excavation. The results show that the disturbance to the soil and existing piles is significantly influenced by the hard-rock height ratio, and the surface subsidence increases when the hard-rock height ratio decreases. The displacement and internal force of a single pile are significantly influenced by the load applied to the pile. This study demonstrates the changes in the mechanical responses of a single pile during shield tunnel boring, and provides in-depth insights into the deformation control caused by shield underpassing structures in upper-soft and lower-hard composite strata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review aims to provide insight into the role of N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) modification in neoplastic immunity and subsequent tumorigenesis. m6A modification, which is catalyzed by methyltransferases, demethylases and reader proteins, has emerged as a widespread regulatory mechanism that controls immune‐related gene expression and immune reactions during tumorigenesis. Aberrant m6A modification changes the neoplastic immune response in multiple cancers by regulating immune cell infiltration, tumor‐promoting inflammation, immunosuppression, immune surveillance, and antitumor immune responses. m6A modification affects immune cell recruitment and cancer‐promoting inflammation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to alter the progression of HCC. m6A modification has been implicated in the infiltration of immune cells and the activation of immune pathways, changing the proliferation and metastasis of gastric cancer. Immune surveillance and the antitumor immune response in breast cancer were enhanced via m6A modification, which inhibited tumor proliferation. m6A modification participates in neoplastic immunoregulation to influence tumor progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]