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Abstract Background A cross-sectional population-based survey in the Beichen district of Tianjin was conducted to estimate the prevalence of dry eye disease (DED) among the population over 50 years old with Dry Eye Workshop (DEWS) II and Chinese expert consensus (CEC) criteria. Methods A total of 5791 subjects over 50 years old were enrolled. Ocular surface disease index (OSDI) questionnaire, lipid layer thickness (LLT), partial blink ratio (PBR), fluorescein tear film breakup time (FBUT), Schirmer I test (SIT), fluorescein staining, meibomian gland dropout, meibomian gland expression scores (MES) and quantity scores (MQS) was assessed. Additionally, basic information, weight, disease history, living habits, anxiety, and depression condition were collected. Results According to the CEC, the prevalence of DED was 39.0%, whereas 44.0% based on DEWS II. The prevalence of DED increased with age and was substantially greater among women (41.1%, 95% CI, 39.5-42.6%) than males (35.1%, 95% CI, 33.1 -37.2%) (p

The separation of sensor, memory, and processor in a recognition system deteriorates the latency of decision-making and increases the overall computing power. Here, Zhang et al. develop a photoelectronic reservoir computing system, consisting of DUV photo-synapses and a memristor array, to detect and recognize the latent fingerprint with in-sensor and parallel in-memory computing.

In shallow lakes, floating-leaved plants can produce dense lakebeds that dramatically alter freshwater ecosystems and impact macrobenthic communities. Shorebirds are morphologically diverse and utilize different foraging strategies; they can partition food resources to achieve coexistence due to differences in food availability. In this study, we defined shorebird foraging guilds using a principal component analysis and explained differences in shorebird composition in terms of food availability by comparing macrobenthic and shorebird communities in Euryale ferox artificial planting areas, Trapa spp. natural growth areas, and control areas. The Mantel test and a Spearman analysis were used to correlate macrobenthic taxa with shorebird foraging guilds. We recorded four different macrobenthic taxa in the three study areas, including insects, gastropods, oligochaetes, and bivalves. Fifteen species belonging to three shorebird families were recorded across the three study areas. Our results suggest that floating-leaved plants are an important cause of differences in macrobenthic communities, and epifaunal macrobenthos (insects and gastropods) and infaunal macrobenthos (oligochaetes and bivalves) take on different patterns of diversity composition in different habitats. The macrobenthic and shorebird communities were potentially coherent. Different shorebird foraging guilds were limited by food availability and thus correlated differently with different macrobenthos. Therefore, differences in macrobenthic communities relative to floating-leaved plants can affect shorebird assemblages by affecting the availability of food resources.

Hooded Cranes (Grus monacha) rely on wetlands for the majority of their life cycle and respond to the environmental conditions during the wintering period. Future conservation planning should be driven by an understanding of how cranes respond to environmental factors at degraded wetland sites and the changes in their spatio-temporal distribution. In recent years, the spatial and temporal distribution of waterbirds and determinant factors have become a research focus. However, research on the specific factors influencing the relative abundance of Hooded Cranes from multiple perspectives in the different habitat patches at Shengjin and Caizi Lakes is lacking. Therefore, from 2021 to 2022, we investigated the quantity and distribution of Hooded Cranes in the upper part of Shengjin and Baitu Lake part of Caizi Lakes. We considered multiple habitat variables, including patch size, food biomass, food availability, and human disturbance, and analyzed the dynamic changes in the distribution of the population in different wintering periods. We used model selection and averaging to select the best model and identify key variables. During different wintering periods, the spatio-temporal distribution of the crane population differed in the upper part of Shengjin Lake, but the crane was mainly distributed in the northern part of the Baitu Lake part of Caizi Lake. The model that included food biomass and patch size was the best for predicting the relative abundance of Hooded Cranes. Cranes foraged in areas with large patches and abundant food resources. Therefore, we suggest reserving patch integrity and availability in the current habitats and protecting and restoring the main food resources to provide high-quality habitat patches and plentiful food resources for wintering populations of Hooded Cranes.

Abstract The growing demand for scalable solar‐blind image sensors with remarkable photosensitive properties has stimulated the research on more advanced solar‐blind photodetector (SBPD) arrays. In this work, the authors demonstrate ultrahigh‐performance metal‐semiconductor‐metal (MSM) SBPDs based on amorphous (a‐) Ga2O3 via a post‐annealing process. The post‐annealed MSM a‐Ga2O3 SBPDs exhibit superhigh sensitivity of 733 A/W and high response speed of 18 ms, giving a high gain‐bandwidth product over 104 at 5 V. The SBPDs also show ultrahigh photo‐to‐dark current ratio of 3.9 × 107. Additionally, the PDs demonstrate super‐high specific detectivity of 3.9 × 1016 Jones owing to the extremely low noise down to 3.5 fW Hz−1/2, suggesting high signal‐to‐noise ratio. Underlying mechanism for such superior photoelectric properties is revealed by Kelvin probe force microscopy and first principles calculation. Furthermore, for the first time, a large‐scale, high‐uniformity 32 × 32 image sensor array based on the post‐annealed a‐Ga2O3 SBPDs is fabricated. Clear image of target object with high contrast can be obtained thanks to the high sensitivity and uniformity of the array. These results demonstrate the feasibility and practicality of the Ga2O3 PDs for applications in solar‐blind imaging, environmental monitoring, artificial intelligence and machine vision.

Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain 1 (NOD1) is the most prominent of all NOD-like receptors, which in the mammalian innate immune system, serve as intracellular receptors for pathogens and endogenous molecules during tissue injury. From rabbit kidney cells, we cloned rabbit NOD1 (rNOD1) and identified an N-terminal caspase activation and recruitment domain, a central NACHT domain, and C-terminal leucine-rich repeat domains. rNOD1 was expressed in all tested tissues; infection with Escherichia coli induced significantly higher expression in the spleen, liver, and kidney compared to other tissues. The overexpression of rNOD1 induced the expression of proinflammatory cytokines Il1b, Il6, Il8, Ifn-γ, and Tnf and defensins, including Defb124, Defb125, Defb128, Defb135, and Np5 via activation of the nuclear factor (NF)-κB pathway. Overexpression of rNOD1 inhibited the growth of E. coli, whereas knockdown of rNOD1 or inhibition of the NF-κB pathway promoted the growth of E. coli. rNOD1 colocalized with LC3, upregulated autophagy pathway protein LC3-II, and increased autolysosome formation in RK-13 cells infected with E. coli. In summary, our results explain the primary signaling pathway and antibacterial ability of rNOD1, as well as the induction of autophagy that it mediates. Such findings suggest that NOD1 could contribute to therapeutic strategies such as targets of new vaccine adjuvants or drugs.

In order to determine the significance of HR-HPV (high risk HPV, HR-HPV) E6/E7 mRNA detection for screening the severity of cervical cancer in relation to age, a total of 308 patients were admitted to the Department of Gynecology at The Affiliated Changzhou No.2 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between July 2017 and July 2018 and underwent LBC (Liquid Based Cytology) detection and HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA detection. Data were then compared with the criteria laid down by the Pathology Department. The positive rate of HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA detection was significantly higher in a CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia) group than in a chronic cervicitis group. The sensitivity of LBC was higher than that for HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA detection, while the specificity of LBC detection was higher than that of HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA detection (p < 0.05). For women under 30 years old, the specificity of HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA detection was lower than that of LBC detection, while the sensitivity of HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA detection was higher than that of LBC detection. For women 30 years-of-age and above, the specificity of HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA detection was significantly lower than that for LBC. HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA detection has significant advantages for the screening of cervical cancer, especially in women under 30 years old. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study the Platanus orientalis bark biochar prepared by pyrolysis under different temperatures was used for adsorptive removal of a dye Methylene blue. Our results show that the biochar adsorption capacity decreases with increasing pyrolysis temperature. However, the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of the biochar shows little change with increasing pyrolytic temperature. The bark biochar pyrolyzed at 200°C (BC200) outperformed those biochar produced under other pyrolytic temperatures. For both the as-prepared and demineralized BC200 (D-BC200), Elovich kinetic model described the adsorption process better, indicating a chemisorption process in nature. Especially high mesopore content structure within D-BC200 was superior to other demineralized biochar samples. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that only the D-BC200 had comparable content of surface functional groups with the raw bark. Boehm titration and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis indicated the abundant existence of carboxyl acid/ester group. Surface functional groups play a key role in contaminant removal. By Langmuir isotherm model, the qmax on the as-prepared BC200 and D-BC200 achieved 199.5 and 237.8 mg/g, respectively. Thermodynamic analysis demonstrates that the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic. We measure a higher adsorption enthalpy for D-BC200 which indicates that the process was more sensitive to the change of reaction temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been recognized that protease-activated receptors (PARs), interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-6 are involved in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases, and that IL-12 plays a role in adaptive immune response. However, little is known of the effect of IL-12 on protease-induced cytokine release from mast cells. In the present study, we examined potential influence of IL-12 on mast cell PAR expression and IL-4 and IL-6 release. The results showed that IL-12 downregulated the expression of PAR-2 and upregulated expression of PAR-4 on P815 cells. It also downregulated expression of PAR-2 mRNA, and upregulated expression of PAR-1, PAR-3 and PAR-4 mRNAs. However, IL-12 enhanced trypsin- and tryptase-induced PAR-2 and PAR-2 mRNA expression. It was observed that IL-12 induced release of IL-4, but reduced trypsin- and tryptase-stimulated IL-4 secretion from P815 cells. PD98059, U0126 and LY294002 not only abolished IL-12-induced IL-4 release but also inhibited IL-12-induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase and Akt. In conclusion, IL-12 may serve as a regulator in keeping the balance of Th1 and Th2 cytokine production in allergic inflammation.Immunology and Cell Biology (2007) 85, 558–566; doi:10.1038/sj.icb.7100085; published online 26 June 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors (PDs) have drawn great attention in recent years due to their potential application in civil and military fields. Because of its ultrawide bandgap, low cost, strong radiation hardness, and high thermal and chemical stability with high visible-light transparency, Ga2O3 is regarded as the most promising candidate for UV detection. Furthermore, the bandgap of Ga2O3 is as high as 4.7–4.9 eV, directly corresponding to the solar-blind UV detection band with wavelength less than 280 nm. There is no need of doping in Ga2O3 to tune its bandgap, compared to AlGaN, MgZnO, etc, thereby avoiding alloy composition fluctuations and phase separation. At present, solar-blind Ga2O3 photodetectors based on single crystal or amorphous Ga2O3 are mainly focused on metal–semiconductor–metal and Schottky photodiodes. In this work, the recent achievements of Ga2O3 photodetectors are systematically reviewed. The characteristics and performances of different photodetector structures based on single crystal Ga2O3 and amorphous Ga2O3 thin film are analyzed and compared. Finally, the prospects of Ga2O3 UV photodetectors are forecast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]