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Despite the great potential of cuproptosis in tumor therapy, the current cuproptosis‐based therapy still suffers from compromised efficiency of immune activation. Pyroptosis, a proinflammatory cell death modality, provides a good opportunity to induce immunogenic cell death (ICD) and promote systemic immune response. However, the synergistic cuproptosis and pyroptosis therapy has not been fully explored. Herein, it is discovered that Cu(II)‐based metal–organic framework (MOF) nanoparticles (NPs) can synergistically induce cuproptosis and pyroptosis to evoke ICD for high‐efficiency tumor‐targeted immunotherapy. Although MOF‐199 has been widely used in tumor therapy, the immunogenicity is still unclear. Pluronic F127‐modified MOF‐199 NPs (F127MOF‐199 NPs) show dual‐responsiveness to glutathione (GSH) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Once entering cancer cells, F127MOF‐199 NPs dissociate in GSH‐enriched tumor microenvironment (TME) to release copper ion and induce copper‐overload‐mediated cuproptosis. Meanwhile, F127MOF‐199 NPs transform to Cu2−xS NPs by in situ sulfidation under H2S‐enriched colorectal cancer (CRC) TME. Under photothermal and chemodynamic therapy (PTT/CDT) of Cu2−xS NPs, caspase‐3 is activated and gasdermin E (GSDME)‐related pyroptosis is triggered. The synergistic cuproptosis and pyroptosis have proved the superior antitumor immunity effect in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. This work provides a new strategy to achieve tumor‐targeted immunotherapy with high efficiency by simple F127MOF‐199 NPs.

Abstract Surface electromyography (sEMG) can provide multiplexed information about muscle performance. If current sEMG electrodes are stretchable, arrayed, and able to be used multiple times, they would offer adequate high-quality data for continuous monitoring. The lack of these properties delays the widespread use of sEMG in clinics and in everyday life. Here, we address these constraints by design of an adhesive dry electrode using tannic acid, polyvinyl alcohol, and PEDOT:PSS (TPP). The TPP electrode offers superior stretchability (~200%) and adhesiveness (0.58 N/cm) compared to current electrodes, ensuring stable and long-term contact with the skin for recording (>20 dB; >5 days). In addition, we developed a metal-polymer electrode array patch (MEAP) comprising liquid metal (LM) circuits and TPP electrodes. The MEAP demonstrated better conformability than commercial arrays, resulting in higher signal-to-noise ratio and more stable recordings during muscle movements. Manufactured using scalable screen-printing, these MEAPs feature a completely stretchable material and array architecture, enabling real-time monitoring of muscle stress, fatigue, and tendon displacement. Their potential to reduce muscle and tendon injuries and enhance performance in daily exercise and professional sports holds great promise.

Abstract Objectives This study aimed to analyze the possible causes of changes in cardiac function and investigate the feasibility of clinical assessment of gastrointestinal cancer in patients with or without acute kidney injury (AKI) assessed using a non-invasive impedance cardiography (ICG, Bioz. Cardio Dynamics, USA) to identify independent risk factors. Methods Patients admitted to the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, China, between May 1, 2019, and February 15, 2022, were included in this study. A total of 51 patients with gastrointestinal cancer (31 men and 20 women, mean age 61.1 ± 10.9 years) with or without AKI were evaluated for ICG. A total of 19 patients underwent ultrasound cardiography (UCG) and ICG evaluations. Result There was a significant positive correlation between cardiac output (CO), cardiac index (CI), stroke volume (SV), left cardiac work index (LCWI), and ejection fraction (EF) measured using UCG and ICG. The relationship was observed between COICG and COUCG (r = 0.707, P = 0.001), CIICG and CIUCG (r = 0.718, P = 0.001), SVICG and SVUCG (r = 0.837, P

Abstract Purpose To compare the genomic testing based on specimens obtained from percutaneous core-needle biopsy (CNB) before and immediately after coaxial microwave ablation (MWA) in solid non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and to investigate the diagnostic performance of CNB immediately after coaxial MWA in solid NSCLC. Methods Coaxial MWA and CNB were performed for NSCLC patients, with a power of 30 or 40 watts (W) in MWA between the pre- and post-ablation CNB, followed by continuous ablation after the second CNB on demand. The paired specimens derived from the same patient were compared for pathological diagnosis and genomic testing. DNA/RNA extracted from the paired specimens were also compared. Results A total of 33 NSCLC patients with solid lesions were included. There were two patients (6.1%) without atypical cells and three patients (9.1%) who had the technical failure of genomic testing in post-ablation CNB. The concordance rate of pathological diagnosis between the twice CNB was 93.9% (kappa = 0.852), while that of genomic testing was 90.9% (kappa = 0.891). For the comparisons of DNA/RNA extracted from pre- and post-ablation CNB in 30 patients, no significant difference was found when the MWA between twice CNB has a power of 30 or 40 W and ablation time within five minutes (P = 0.174). Conclusions If the pre-ablation CNB presented with a high risk of pneumothorax or hemorrhage, the post-ablation CNB could be performed to achieve accurate pathological diagnosis and genomic testing and the maximum effect of ablation, which might allow for the diagnosis of genomic testing in 90.9% of solid NSCLC.

Objective: To analyze the computed tomography (CT) imaging features and evolution of different stages of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the CT images of 113 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 at Hebei Provincial People's Hospital between December 2022 and January 2023 to observe the trends of imaging changes. Results: All 113 patients were clinically diagnosed with COVID-19. Among these, 32, 41, 20, 15, and five patients underwent CT examination once, twice, three times, four times, and five times, respectively. A total of 259 CT examinations were performed in this group of 113 patients. Among them, 32 were early-stage (within 7 days of COVID-19 infection) examinations, 87 were progression-stage CT examinations, and 140 were recovery-stage CT examinations. Analysis of the imaging features of each CT examination of the patients was performed to identify the imaging features and evolution rules of COVID-19. Among the 32 examinations performed in 32patients with early-stage disease (within 7 days of COVID-19 infection), 26 cases showed ground-glass density shadows and six cases additionally showed solid nodules. In the progression stage (8 ~ 30 days after COVID-19 infection), among the 87 CT examinations in 74 patients, 62, 11, and one patient underwent examinations one, two, and three times, respectively. The 87 examinations revealed there 32 cases with ground-glass density shadows and 55 cases with additional solid nodules. In the recovery stage (12 ~ 57 days after COVID-19 infection), 89 patients underwent 140 CT examinations. Among these, 48, 32, eight, and one patient underwent CT examinations once, twice, three times, and four times, respectively. Among the 140 CT examinations, 48 cases showed ground-glass density shadows, while 90 cases additionally showed solid nodules. Moreover, 112 patients had multiple lesions in multiple lobes, with only one case having multiple lesions in a single lobe. Regarding the distributions, in the early stage, 13 cases had subpleural distributions and 19 cases had peribronchovascular and subpleural distributions. In the progression stage, 24 cases had subpleural distribution, and 63 cases had peribronchovascular and subpleural distributions. In the recovery stage, 48 cases had subpleural distribution, two cases showed complete absorption and improvement, and 90 cases had peribronchovascular and subpleural distribution, with 48 cases accompanied by reticular shadows. Regarding thickening of the interlobular septa and vessels within the lesions, in the early stage, 32 cases showed thickening of the interlobular septa and vessels within the lesions. In the progression stage, 85 cases showed thickening of the interlobular septa and 87 cases showed thickening of vessels within the lesions. In the recovery stage, five cases showed thickening of the interlobular septa, one case showed thickening of vessels within the lesions, and 48 cases were accompanied by linear shadows. Finally, in the early stage, one case showed bronchial gas inflation. In the progression stage, six cases showed pleural effusion, six cases showed bronchial inflation, and three cases showed pulmonary emphysema. In the recovery stage, two cases showed bronchial inflation and one case showed pleural effusion. Conclusion: The characteristics of CT images differed in patients with new coronary pneumonia at different times. Understanding this evolution is important to guide clinical treatment.

To overcome the dependency of strategies utilizing cell‐free DNA (cfDNA) on tissue sampling, the emergence of sequencing panels for non‐invasive mutation screening was promoted. However, cfDNA sequencing with panels still suffers from either inaccuracy or omission, and novel approaches for accurately screening tumor mutations solely based on plasma without gene panel restriction are urgently needed. We performed unique molecular identifier (UMI) target sequencing on plasma samples and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 85 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients receiving surgical resection, which were divided into an exploration dataset (20 patients) or an evaluation dataset (65 patients). Plasma mutations were identified in pre‐operative plasma, and the mutation variant frequency change (MVFC) between post‐ and pre‐operative plasma was then calculated. In the exploration dataset, we observed that plasma mutations with MVFC

Aiming at solving the problems of the high cost of manual pulling, the low reliability of existing pulling devices, and the high breaking rates and high leakage rates in the process of cotton stalk reuse after removal from the field in the Xinjiang cotton area, a soil-loosening and root-cutting cotton stalk pulling and gathering machine was researched and designed; a root-cutting force model was established; the key parameters of the V-shaped root-cutting knife were calculated and optimized; and the ranges of the slide cutting angle, the cutting-edge angle, and the soil entry angle were determined. A shoveling process simulation of the V-shaped root-cutting knife and the root–soil complex was constructed, and the working mechanism of the V-shaped root-cutting knife was clarified. In order to verify the reliability and operation performance of the V-shaped root-cutting knife, the slide cutting angle, the cutting-edge angle, and the soil entry angle were used as the test factors, and a response surface test with three factors and three levels was carried out with the root-breaking force and the mean value of the cutting resistance as the test indices. The test results were analyzed by variance analysis, and the significant factors influencing the root-breaking force in descending order were the slide cutting angle, cutting-edge angle, and soil entry angle. The degrees of influence on the mean value of the cutting resistance were ordered as follows: slide cutting angle, soil entry angle, and cutting-edge angle. In order to make the V-shaped root-cutting knife achieve the optimal working state, the parameters of the test indices were optimized, and the optimal design parameters of the V-shaped root-cutting knife were set as follows: the slide cutting angle was 48.3°, the cutting-edge angle was 43.4°, and the soil entry angle was 26.2°. The field uprooting test showed that the average pass rate of root breakage was 94.8% and the average pull-out rate of cotton stalks was 93.2%. This study provides theoretical guidance for the development of a root-breaking mechanism for cotton straw harvesters.

The rise of knowledge graphs has been instrumental in advancing artificial intelligence (AI) research. Extracting entity and relation triples from unstructured text is crucial for the construction of knowledge graphs. However, Chinese text has a complex grammatical structure, which may lead to the problem of overlapping entities. Previous pipeline models have struggled to address such overlap problems effectively, while joint models require entity annotations for each predefined relation in the set, which results in redundant relations. In addition, the traditional models often lead to task imbalance by overlooking the differences between tasks. To tackle these challenges, this research proposes a global pointer network based on relation prediction and loss function improvement (GPRL) for joint extraction of entities and relations. Experimental evaluations on the publicly available Chinese datasets DuIE2.0 and CMeIE demonstrate that the GPRL model achieves a 1.2–26.1% improvement in F1 score compared with baseline models. Further, experiments of overlapping classification conducted on CMeIE have also verified the effectiveness of overlapping triad extraction and ablation experiments. The model is helpful in identifying entities and relations accurately and can reduce redundancy by leveraging relation filtering and the global pointer network. In addition, the incorporation of a multi-task learning framework balances the loss functions of multiple tasks and enhances task interactions.

Revealing the response of vegetation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) to climate change and human activities is crucial for ensuring East Asian ecological security and regulating the global climate. However, the current research rarely explores the time-lag effects of climate on vegetation growth, leading to considerable uncertainty in analyzing the driving mechanisms of vegetation changes. This study identified the main driving factors of vegetation greenness (vegetation index, EVI) changes after investigating the lag effects of climate. By analyzing the trends of interannual variation in vegetation and climate, the study explored the driving mechanisms behind vegetation changes on the QTP from 2000 to 2020. The results indicate that temperature and precipitation have significant time-lag effects on vegetation growth. When considering the lag effects, the explanatory power of climate on vegetation changes is significantly enhanced for 29% of the vegetated areas. About 31% of the vegetation on the QTP exhibited significant “greening”, primarily in the northern plateau. This greening was attributed not only to improvements in climate-induced hydrothermal conditions but also to the effective implementation of ecological projects, which account for roughly half of the significant greening. Only 2% of the vegetation on the QTP showed significant “browning”, sporadically distributed in the southern plateau and the Sanjiangyuan region. In these areas, besides climate-induced drought intensification, approximately 78% of the significant browning was due to unreasonable grassland utilization and intense human activities. The area where precipitation dominates vegetation improvement was larger than the area dominated by temperature, whereas the area where precipitation dominates vegetation degradation is smaller than that where temperature dominates degradation. The implementation of a series of ecological projects has resulted in a much larger area where human activities positively promoted vegetation compared to the area where they negatively inhibited it.

Using long short-term memory (LSTM) networks to build a named entity recognition model is important for the task of named entity recognition. However, traditional memory networks lack a direct connection between input information and hidden states, leading to key feature information not being fully learned during training and causing information loss. This paper designs a bidirectional variant of the long short-term memory (BiLSTM) network called Mogrifier-BiGRU, which combines the BERT pre-trained model and the conditional random field (CRF) network model. The Mogrifier gating interaction unit is set with more hyperparameters to achieve deep interaction of gating information, changing the relationship between input and hidden states so that they are no longer independent. By introducing more nonlinear transformations, the model can learn more complex input–output mapping relationships. Then, by combining Bayesian optimization with the improved Mogrifier-BiGRU network, the optimal hyperparameters of the model are automatically calculated. Experimental results show that the model method based on the gating interaction mechanism can effectively combine feature information, improving the accuracy of Chinese-named entity recognition. On the dataset, an F1-score of 85.42% was achieved, which is 7% higher than traditional methods and 10% higher for the accuracy of some entity recognition.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a prevalent clinical condition, is often attributed to aberrant esophageal motility, leading to gastric content reflux and associated symptoms or complications. The rising incidence of GERD presents an escalating healthcare challenge. Endoscopic and esophageal reflux monitoring can provide a basis for the diagnosis of patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease, but when the diagnostic basis is at an inconclusive value, some additional supportive evidence will be needed. Advanced technology is the key to improving patient diagnosis, accurate assessment, and the development of effective treatment strategies. High-resolution esophageal manometry (HREM) and endoscopic functional lumen imaging probe (EndoFLIP) represent the forefront of esophageal motility assessment. HREM, an evolution of traditional esophageal manometry, is considered the benchmark for identifying esophageal motility disorders. Its widespread application in esophageal dynamics research highlights its diagnostic significance. Concurrently, EndoFLIP’s emerging clinical relevance is evident in diagnosing and guiding the treatment of coexisting esophageal motility issues. This review integrates contemporary research to delineate the contributions of HREM, EndoFLIP, and novel technologies in GERD. It examines their efficacy in facilitating an accurate diagnosis, differentiating similar gastrointestinal disorders, quantifying the extent of reflux, assessing the severity of the disease, forecasting patient responsiveness to proton pump inhibitor therapy, and guiding decisions for surgical interventions. The overarching aim is to deepen the understanding of GERD’s underlying mechanisms and advance the formulation of holistic, efficacious treatment approaches.

Aircraft airfoils are classified into two main categories: symmetrical and asymmetrical. Both types of airfoils have a significant impact on the flight performance and safety of the aircraft. The fast prediction of the aerodynamic coefficients and pressure distributions of airfoils is crucial for the design of aircraft. The traditional wind tunnel test and CFD methods have the disadvantages of high test cost and high time consumption. To solve these problems, a combined autoencoder (CAE) network is proposed in this paper, which can achieve the fast prediction of airfoil aerodynamic coefficients and pressure distributions. The network consists of an airfoil shape autoencoder (AE) network and a multilayer perceptron (MLP) network. Firstly, an autoencoder network reflecting the characteristics of the airfoil shape is established, and the effects of different latent variables on the performance of the autoencoder network are investigated. Then, the latent variables obtained from the autoencoder are concatenated with the inflow conditions such as the Reynolds number and the angle of attack to be used as inputs to the MLP network, and the aerodynamic coefficients of different airfoils in different inflow conditions are predicted. The effects of various latent variable inputs, as well as the direct input of the airfoil shape into the MLP network, on the prediction performance of aerodynamic coefficients are compared and analyzed. The optimal aerodynamic coefficient prediction network is then obtained. Finally, the CAE network is also applied to predict the pressure distributions of different airfoils in different inflow conditions and the effects of different latent variables and input conditions on the prediction performance of the pressure distributions are analyzed and compared with the advantages and disadvantages of the CAE network and the conditional variational autoencoder (CVAE) network. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is capable of accurately predicting aerodynamic characteristics in a shorter time, offering a valuable reference for the fast and efficient design of aircraft airfoils.

Carnivore protoparvovirus-1, feline parvovirus (FPV), and canine parvovirus (CPV) continue to spread in companion animals all over the world. As a result, FPV and CPV underwent host-to-host transfer in carnivorous wild-animal hosts. Here, a total of 82 fecal samples of suspected cat FPV infections were collected from Henan Province from 2020 to 2022. The previously published full-length sequence primers of VP2 and NS1 genes were used to amplify the targeted genes of these samples, and the complete gene sequences of 11 VP2 and 21 NS1 samples were obtained and analyzed. Analysis showed that the amino acid homology of the VP2 and NS1 genes of these isolates was 96.1–100% and 97.6–100%, respectively. The phylogenetic results showed that the VP2 and NS1 genes of the local isolates were mainly concentrated in the G1 subgroup, while the vaccine strains were distributed in the G3 subgroup. Finally, F81 cells were inoculated with the local endemic isolate Luoyang-01 (FPV-LY strain for short) for virus amplification, purification, and titer determination, and the pathogenesis of FPV-LY was detected. After five generations of blind transmission in F81 cells, cells infected with FPV-LY displayed characteristic morphological changes, including a round, threadlike, and wrinkled appearance, indicative of viral infection. The virus titer associated with this cytopathic effect (CPE) was measured at 1.5 × 106 TCID50/mL. Subsequent animal regression tests confirmed that the virus titer of the PFV-LY isolate remained at 1.5 × 106 TCID50/mL, indicating its highly pathogenic nature. Cats exposed to the virus exhibited typical clinical symptoms and pathological changes, ultimately succumbing to the infection. These results suggest that the gene mutation rate of FPV is increasing, resulting in a complex pattern of gene evolution in terms of host preference, geographical selection, and novel genetic variants. The data also indicate that continuous molecular epidemiological surveillance is required to understand the genetic diversity of FPV isolates.

Rural areas are facing increasing challenges including declining populations, advanced aging, and a lack of successors. This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of rural areas among Chinese and Japanese university students living in urban areas and analyze the determinants influencing their rural attachment and willingness to reside there. A total of 259 students (126 Japanese students in Chiba and 133 Chinese students in Zhengzhou) were surveyed using the place attachment scale, and asked to describe their past experiences in rural areas. Semantic analysis was employed to further explore issues related to their previous rural visit experiences. The results revealed that students’ place of birth, visiting experience, satisfaction with rural areas, interaction with local people, and convenience of accessing rural areas all influenced their attachment and willingness to move to rural areas. Chinese students expressed greater concerns regarding hygiene issues, while Japanese students were more concerned about safety. This study offers some recommendations: promoting educational resources in rural areas and addressing hygiene issues, such as unclean restrooms, in China. In Japan, the focus should be on continued promotion of rural tourism, providing more education on safe driving and environmental safety for university students, and enhancing more access to rural areas through student transportation discounts.

Bi2Te3, as a topological insulator, is able to support plasmonic emission in the visible spectral range. Thin Bi2Te3 flakes can be exfoliated directly from a Bi2Te3 crystal, and the shape of Bi2Te3 flakes can be further modified by focused ion beam milling. Therefore, we have designed a Bi2Te3 triangular antenna with distinct tip angles for the application of plasmonic resonance. The plasmonic emission of the Bi2Te3 triangular antenna is excited and investigated by cathodoluminescence in the scanning electron microscope. Enhanced tip plasmons have been observed from distinct tips with angles of 20º, 36º, 54º, 70º, and 90º, respectively. Due to the confinement of geometric boundaries for oscillating charges, the resonant peak position of tip plasmon with a smaller angle has a blue shift. Moreover, the dependence of plasmonic behavior on the excitation position has been discovered as well. This research provides a unique approach to fabricate Bi2Te3 nanostructures and manipulate the corresponding plasmonic properties.

ABSTRACT The superoxide anion radical (O2•−), the primary reactive oxygen species (ROS), is detrimental to cellular functions. Marine group II (MGII) archaea predominantly inhabit surface ocean environments that are rich in ROS; however, their defense mechanisms against ROS damage remain unknown. In this study, we integrated the analyses of archaeal 16S rRNA gene amplicons and metagenome-assemblage genomes of MGII archaea from the northern South China Sea and 250 other previously published MGII genomes to investigate their antioxidant mechanisms. The results show that the proportion of oxygen-promoted MGII operational taxonomic units in the iron/manganese superoxide dismutase (Fe/MnSOD) gene-containing group was significantly higher than that in the nickel SOD (NiSOD) group, suggesting that MGII members with Fe/MnSOD may have superior antioxidant capacity relative to members possessing NiSOD. Molecular clock analysis of MGII genomes revealed frequent species divergence correlating to the differentiation of Fe/MnSOD or NiSOD genes. The acquisition/loss of these genes in the MGII genomes was synchronized with the historical changes in atmospheric oxygen and oceanic metal element concentrations over the last 2.4 billion years, suggesting that variations in the antioxidant capacity of MGII archaea in response to changing oxygen levels may have driven their divergences over time. IMPORTANCE Reactive oxygen species (ROS), including superoxide anion, is a series of substances that cause oxidative stress for all organisms. Marine group II (MGII) archaea are mainly live in the surface seawater and exposed to considerable ROS. Therefore, it is important to understand the antioxidant capacity of MGII. Our research found that Fe/Mn- superoxide dismutase (Fe/MnSOD) may be more suitable for MGII to resist oxidative damage, and the changes in oxygen concentrations and SOD metallic cofactors play an important role in the selection of SOD by the 17 clades of MGII, which in turn affects the species differentiation of MGII. Overall, this study provides insight into the co-evolutionary history of these uncultivated marine archaea with the earth system.

Baijiu is one of the six primary distilled spirits in the world. It is produced through the solid-state fermentation of grains in the open environment, so high-quality Baijiu brewing largely depends on terrior. Environmental microbes are one of the most important factors affecting the quality, quantity, and flavors of Baijiu. As atmosphere is a pool and transport pathway for microbes from the ambient environment to Baijiu brewing ecosystems, we explored the functional microbes of Baijiu brewing in five important regions. The regions fell into two topographical types, namely, plain and river-valley. In total, 41 functional microbes were identified rich (relative abundance >0.1%) in at least one of the regions, such as the fungi of Aspergillus, Candida, Cladosporium, Debaryomyces, Penicillium, Pichia, Rhizopus, Saccharomyces, and Wickerhamomyces and the bacteria of Acetobacter, Bacillus, Clostridium, Enterobacter, Lactobacillus, Methanosarcina, Methanobacterium, Methanobrevibacter, and Pseudomonas. However, some functional bacteria (e.g., Clostridia, Gluconacetobacter, and Weissella) and fungi (e.g., Dekkera, Eurotium, Issatchenkia, Mucor, and Phoma) were not rich or were not detected in the atmosphere. Airborne microbiomes and the Phylogenetic Diversity (PD) index were significantly different between the main brewing season (winter) and the summer break in each region, except for the fungi in one region. In winter, airborne microbiomes were significantly different among almost all the regions. The relative abundance of bacterial fermentation function in each region increased from summer to winter. The relative abundances of fungal yeast function were higher in winter for the plain regions but were higher in summer for the river-valley regions. In sum, our results suggested that: (1) atmosphere was one but not the sole important source of functional microbes for Baijiu brewing and (2) microbiomes in different regions might be quite different but they could share some major functions related to Baijiu brewing.

Microplastics are detrimental to the environment. However, the combined effects of microplastics and arsenic (As) remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the combined effects of polystyrene (PS) microplastics and As on HepG2 cells. The results showed that PS microplastics 20, 50, 200, and 500 nm in size were taken up by HepG2 cells, causing a decrease in cellular mitochondrial membrane potential. The results of lactate dehydrogenase release and flow cytometry showed that PS microplastics, especially those of 50 nm, enhanced As-induced apoptosis. In addition, transcriptome analysis revealed that TP53, AKT1, CASP3, ACTB, BCL2L1, CASP8, XIAP, MCL1, NFKBIA, and CASP7 were the top 10 hub genes for PS that enhanced the role of As in HepG2 cell apoptosis. Our results suggest that nano-PS enhances As-induced apoptosis. Furthermore, this study is important for a better understanding of the role of microplastics in As-induced hepatotoxicity.

IntroductionThe etiology and pathophysiology of major depressive disorders (MDDs) remain unclear. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that essential trace elements (ETEs), such as iodine (I), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), selenium (Se), cobalt (Co), and molybdenum (Mo), play vital roles in MDDs.MethodsIn total, 72 patients with MDD and 75 healthy controls (HCs) in the Zhumadian Second People's Hospital, Henan Province, China were recruited in our study. The levels of different ETEs were examined in both serum and urine, using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS), for both the MDD patients and HCs.ResultsThe serum levels of I, Se, Cu, and Mo were significantly lower in the MDD patients compared to the HCs (p < 0.05), and the urinary levels of I and Zn were significantly higher in the MDD patients compared to the HCs (p < 0.05). The serum concentration of I (Q3: OR = 0.210, Q4: OR = 0.272) was negatively associated with MDD after adjusting for potential confounders, including age, gender, and BMI, and the urinary concentration of I (Q4: OR = 2.952) was positively associated.ConclusionsThe higher levels of I, Se, Cu, and Mo in serum might be protective against the development of MDD, and the excess I and Zn in urine may be associated with MDD pathogenesis. Future research needs to gain a deeper understanding of the metabolic pathways of ETEs, especially I, Se, Zn, Cu, and Mo, in MDD, and their role in the pathogenesis of depression.

Diabetic foot infections are a common complication of diabetes. Staphylococcus aureus is frequently isolated from diabetic foot infections and commonly colonizes human nares. According to the study, the nasal microbiome analysis revealed that diabetic patients had a significantly altered nasal microbial composition and diversity. Typically, the fasting blood glucose (FBG) level had an impact on the abundance and sequence type (ST) of S. aureus in diabetic patients. We observed that highly virulent S. aureus ST7 strains were more frequently colonized in diabetic patients, especially those with poorly controlled FBG, while ST59 was dominant in healthy individuals. S. aureus ST7 strains were more resistant to human antimicrobial peptides and formed stronger biofilms than ST59 strains. Critically, S. aureus ST7 strains displayed higher virulence compared to ST59 strains in vivo. The dominance of S. aureus ST7 strains in hyperglycemic environment is due to the higher activity of the SaeRS two-component system (TCS). S. aureus ST7 strains outcompeted ST59 both in vitro, and in nasal colonization model in diabetic mice, which was abolished by the deletion of the SaeRS TCS. Our data indicated that highly virulent S. aureus strains preferentially colonize diabetic patients with poorly controlled FBG through SaeRS TCS. Detection of S. aureus colonization and elimination of colonizing S. aureus are critical in the care of diabetic patients with high FBG.

Abstract Quorum cheating, a socio-microbiological process that is based on mutations in cell density-sensing (quorum-sensing) systems, has emerged as an important contributor to biofilm-associated infection in the leading human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. This is because inactivation of the staphylococcal Agr quorum-sensing system leads to pronounced biofilm formation, increasing resistance to antibiotics and immune defense mechanisms. Since biofilm infections in the clinic usually progress under antibiotic treatment, we here investigated whether such treatment promotes biofilm infection via the promotion of quorum cheating. Quorum cheater development was stimulated by several antibiotics used in the treatment of staphylococcal biofilm infections more strongly in biofilm than in the planktonic mode of growth. Sub-inhibitory concentrations of levofloxacin and vancomycin were investigated for their impact on biofilm-associated (subcutaneous catheter-associated and prosthetic joint-associated infection), where in contrast to a non-biofilm-associated subcutaneous skin infection model, a significant increase of the bacterial load and development of agr mutants was observed. Our results directly demonstrate the development of Agr dysfunctionality in animal biofilm-associated infection models and reveal that inappropriate antibiotic treatment can be counterproductive for such infections as it promotes quorum cheating and the associated development of biofilms.

Although some researchers have explored spatiotemporal characteristics of the land surface temperature (LST) and analyzed how the influencing factors impact the LST, the comprehensive influencing factors and specific spatial relationships that explore the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect from long time scale have rarely received widespread attention. Taking Nanchang as an example, this paper first uses Landsat data to retrieve the LST in years 2000, 2010, and 2019. Then, the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model is utilized to investigate the various influencing factors. The results showed as follows: (1) The UHI effect was intensified in the past 20 years in Nanchang City. From 2000 to 2019, the “heat island” increased from 63.06% to 64.07%, while the “green island” decreased from 36.94% to 35.93%. (2) The spatiotemporal anisotropy of the UHI effect was significant. (3) The GWR model could better reveal the spatial heterogeneity of the factors affecting the UHI effects. The relationship between Soil Brightness Index (NDSI), Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), and Night-lighting (NL) and the relative UHI effect intensity had significant spatial non-stationarity. This study can provide some references from reasonable urban planning to alleviate the urban heat island.

This paper concerns with optimal designs for a wide class of nonlinear models with information driven by the linear predictor. The aim of this study is to generate an R-optimal design which minimizes the product of the main diagonal entries of the inverse of the Fisher information matrix at certain values of the parameters. An equivalence theorem for the locally R-optimal designs is provided in terms of the intensity function. Analytic solutions for the locally saturated R-optimal designs are derived for the models having linear predictors with and without intercept, respectively. The particle swarm optimization method has been employed to generate locally non-saturated R-optimal designs. Numerical examples are presented for illustration of the locally R-optimal designs for Poisson regression models and proportional hazards regression models.

ABSTRACT: Fatty liver (i.e., hepatic lipidosis) is a prevalent metabolic disorder in dairy cows during the transition period, characterized by excess hepatic accumulation of triglyceride (TG), tissue dysfunction, and cell death. Detailed pathological changes, particularly hepatic fibrosis, during fatty liver remain to be determined. Liver fibrosis occurs as a consequence of liver damage, resulting from the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix, which distorts the architecture of the normal liver, compromising its normal synthetic and metabolic functions. Thus, we aimed to investigate liver fibrosis status and its potential causal factors including oxidative stress, hepatocyte apoptosis, and production of inflammatory cytokines in the liver of cows with fatty liver. Forty-five dairy cows (parity, 3–5) were selected, and liver biopsy and blood were collected on the second week postpartum (days in milk, 10–14 d). On the basis of the degree of lipid accumulation in liver, selected cows were categorized into normal (n = 25; TG

Abstract Aims Recovery of blood flow is a therapeutic approach for myocardial infarction but paradoxically induces injury to the myocardium. Exosomes (exos) are pivotal mediators for intercellular communication that can be released by different cells and are involved in cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to explore the possible effects and mechanisms of miR‐155‐5p loaded by serum‐derived exos in myocardial infarction reperfusion injury (MIRI). Methods and results Exos were isolated from mouse serum after induction of ischaemia reperfusion (I/R) and injected into I/R‐treated mice to assess cardiac function, infarction size, and cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Primary cardiomyocytes were transfected with miR‐155‐5p inhibitor before treatment with oxygen–glucose deprivation and re‐oxygenation (OGD/R) and exos derived from the serum of I/R‐treated mice (I/R‐Exos), in which Bcl‐2, Bax, and cleaved‐caspase‐3 levels were detected. The interactions among miR‐155‐5p, NEDD4, and CypD were evaluated. miR‐155‐5p level was evidently increased in I/R‐Exos than in exos from the serum of sham‐operated mice (P

Two experiments were conducted in this research. Experiment 1 investigated the spatial expression characteristics of calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) transporters in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum of 21-day-old broilers provided with adequate nutrient feed. Experiment 2 evaluated the effects of dietary vitamin D3 (VD3) concentration (0, 125, 250, 500, 1,000, and 2,000 IU/kg) on growth performance, bone development, and gene expression levels of intestinal Ca and P transporters in 1–21-day-old broilers provided with the negative control diet without supplemental VD3. Results in experiment 1 showed that the mRNA levels of calcium-binding protein 28-kDa (CaBP-D28k), sodium-calcium exchanger 1 (NCX1), plasma membrane calcium ATPase 1b (PMCA1b), and IIb sodium-phosphate cotransporter (NaPi-IIb) were the highest in the broiler duodenum. By contrast, the mRNA levels of inorganic phosphate transporter 1 (PiT-1) and 2 (PiT-2) were the highest in the ileum. Results in experiment 2 showed that adding 125 IU/kg VD3 increased body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), bone weight, and percentage and weight of Ca and P in the tibia and femur of 1–21-day-old broilers compared with the negative control diet (p < 0.05). The rise in dietary VD3 levels from 125 to 1,000 IU/kg further increased the BWG, FI, and weights of the bone, ash, Ca, and P (p < 0.05). No difference in growth rate and leg bone quality was noted in the broilers provided with 1,000 and 2,000 IU/kg VD3 (p > 0.05). Supplementation with 125–2,000 IU/kg VD3 increased the mRNA abundances of intestinal Ca and P transporters to varying degrees. The mRNA level of CaBP-D28k increased by 536, 1,161, and 28 folds in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, respectively, after adding 1,000 IU/kg VD3. The mRNA levels of other Ca and P transporters (PMCA1b, NCX1, NaPi-IIb, PiT-1, and PiT-2) increased by 0.57–1.74 folds by adding 1,000–2,000 IU/kg VD3. These data suggest that intestinal Ca and P transporters are mainly expressed in the duodenum of broilers. Moreover, the addition of VD3 stimulates the two mineral transporter transcription in broiler intestines.

Abstract Antimony (Sb), is thought to induce testicular toxicity, although this remains controversial. This study investigated the effects of Sb exposure during spermatogenesis in the Drosophila testis and the underlying transcriptional regulatory mechanism at single-cell resolution. Firstly, we found that flies exposed to Sb for 10 days led to dose-dependent reproductive toxicity during spermatogenesis. Protein expression and RNA levels were measured by immunofluorescence and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was performed to characterize testicular cell composition and identify the transcriptional regulatory network after Sb exposure in Drosophila testes. scRNA-seq analysis revealed that Sb exposure influenced various testicular cell populations, especially in GSCs_to_Early_Spermatogonia and Spermatids clusters. Importantly, carbon metabolism was involved in GSCs/early spermatogonia maintenance and positively related with SCP-Containing Proteins, S-LAPs, and Mst84D signatures. Moreover, Seminal Fluid Proteins, Mst57D, and Serpin signatures were highly positively correlated with spermatid maturation. Pseudotime trajectory analysis revealed three novel states for the complexity of germ cell differentiation, and many novel genes (e.g., Dup98B) were found to be expressed in state-biased manners during spermatogenesis. Collectively, this study indicates that Sb exposure negatively impacts GSC maintenance and spermatid elongation, damaging spermatogenesis homeostasis via multiple signatures in Drosophila testes and therefore supporting Sb-mediated testicular toxicity.

Fatigue limit assessment methodologies based on the thermography technique are comprehensively studied in this work. Three fundamental indicators pertaining to temperature increase, intrinsic energy dissipation, and thermodynamic entropy are discussed in sequence. The main train of thought of thermo-based research is outlined. The main objective of this paper is, on the one hand, to describe some works that have been accomplished in this field and, on the other hand, to present further potential for future studies involving fatigue behaviors and thermography approaches.

In this study, a phenol–formaldehyde resin–montmorillonite intercalation composite solution was used as a modifier to treat Chinese fir via impregnation and compression. The basic characteristics and wettability of the PF (phenol–formaldehyde)–montmorillonite impregnation solution were analyzed. The effects of the solid content of PF, the quantity of montmorillonite, and the impregnation time on the impregnation weight gain of Chinese fir were studied through orthogonal experiments. The results showed that when the amount of montmorillonite was 1%, the wettability of the PF–montmorillonite impregnation solution performed the best, the curing time was short, and the curing strength was high. The optimal impregnation process consists of a PF solid content of 25%, an impregnation time of 120 min, and a montmorillonite ratio of 1%. Under these conditions, the modified Chinese fir was prepared via hot pressing. The effects of the addition of montmorillonite and different levels of compressibility on the physical and mechanical properties of modified wood were studied. The physical and mechanical properties were found to be better when the compression ratio was 33%: the density increased from 0.33 g/cm3 to 0.58 g/cm3; the surface hardness increased from 33.6 HD to 70.9 HD; the static bending strength increased from 60.4 MPa to 98.7 MPa; and the elastic modulus increased from 6 390 MPa to 11 498 MPa. After 30 days of release, the compression rebound rate was 3.97%. Meanwhile, the micromorphology and heat resistance of the impregnated compressed Chinese fir showed that the PF–montmorillonite impregnation solution entered into the cell cavity and intercellular space of the Chinese fir and formed a good composite, thus improving the water resistance, heat resistance, and physical and mechanical properties.

Resistive random access memory (RRAM) holds great promise for in-memory computing, which is considered the most promising strategy for solving the von Neumann bottleneck. However, there are still significant problems in its application due to the non-uniform performance of RRAM devices. In this work, a bilayer dielectric layer memristor was designed based on the difference in the Gibbs free energy of the oxide. We fabricated Au/Ta2O5/HfO2/Ta/Pt (S3) devices with excellent uniformity. Compared with Au/HfO2/Pt (S1) and Au/Ta2O5/Pt (S2) devices, the S3 device has a low reset voltage fluctuation of 2.44%, and the resistive coefficients of variation are 13.12% and 3.84% in HRS and LRS, respectively, over 200 cycles. Otherwise, the bilayer device has better linearity and more conductance states in multi-state regulation. At the same time, we analyze the physical mechanism of the bilayer device and provide a physical model of ion migration. This work provides a new idea for designing and fabricating resistive devices with stable performance.

As a highly urbanized country, Japan is facing the phenomenon of a continuous migration of young people from rural areas to cities, leading to an aging and decreasing population in rural communities. Influenced by the pandemic, people began to reconsider the issue of population concentration in large cities, causing urban residents to become interested in returning to rural areas. The focus of this study is on the perceptions and relocation intentions of Japanese youth towards rural areas, particularly in Hanyu-shi, Saitama Prefecture. Through semi-structured interviews with 26 urban university students who live in urban areas, this study explores the factors that attract or hinder them from having rural lives. The survey results show that childhood experiences and current lifestyle preferences have influenced their views on rural areas. The main hindering factors include backwards infrastructure, communication difficulties, and limited job prospects. This study reveals a significant cognitive gap in urban youth’s attitudes towards rural life in Japan. The study emphasizes the need to eliminate these hindrances and enhance the attractiveness of rural areas to promote reverse urban migration. This study provides important insights for policymakers and urban planners, highlighting the necessity of formulating development strategies that meet the needs of urban youth residents, which is crucial for the sustainable revitalization of rural Japan.

Abstract Flexible and stretchable conductors have invaluable applications in multiple domains, such as sensors, displays, and electronic skins. The stable conductance exhibited by conductors when subjected to diverse forms of deformation, such as tensile stress, curvature, or torsion, represents a fundamental characteristic. Attaining high conductivity and stretchability simultaneously in conductive materials is a formidable challenge, owing to inherent constraints in materials found in nature. To overcome this problem, an innovative approach of structurally designing conductors using existing materials to achieve high deformability and stretchability, i.e. stretchable conductors inspired by a compliant mechanism is proposed in this paper. Thus, a novel stretchable conductor inspired by flexible mechanisms is introduced. Unlike stretchable conductors based on Kirigami structures, the stretchable conductor based on flexible mechanisms can achieve large in‐plane deformation within the material's strength limit. The concept and design process of the highly deformable stretchable conductor inspired by flexible mechanisms are presented in this paper. Experimental results show that the resistance change ratio of the conductor remains within 0.05% during the 0–200% strain process. The consistency and durability of the conductor during stretching deformation are also confirmed through 500 repetitions of the test. Additionally, the experiments with the electric motor and light‐emitting diode (LED) light confirm the conductor's ability to maintain a stable current.

In the mobile era, place attachment among rural migrants and returnees has become dynamic and diversified. However, research on place attachment to native place among rural migrants and returnees is limited. The focus of previous research has primarily been on the destination place attachment of rural migrants, which makes it difficult to gain a comprehensive understanding of the place attachment among both rural migrants and returnees. This study aims to investigate the state of place attachment to both native and destination places among rural migrants and returnees originating from the same birthplace. It explores their place attachment after migrating from rural areas to cities. A quantitative research approach was adopted, garnering questionnaire responses from 274 rural migrants and returnees, all born in Shuangfeng County, Hunan Province. The questionnaire encompassed a Likert scale for measuring place attachment, as well as sociodemographic statistical information. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to ascertain the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. Based on the factor scores of place attachment to both places from migrants and returnees, a two-step cluster analysis identified three types of migrants and two types of returnees. Chi-square tests revealed significant differences among migrants in terms of property ownership, educational level, marital status, presence of children, age at departure, and time away from hometown. The study discovered that, regardless of being a migrant or returnee, the overall attachment to hometown was stronger than that to the current or previously inhabited city. In the context of existing literature primarily concerned with the integration of rural migrants into urban areas, this paper offers a fresh research perspective, highlighting the significance of emotional ties to one’s hometown for rural migrants. The findings of this paper provide direction and a theoretical basis for rural areas to attract return migration and for urban regions to facilitate the integration of migrants.

Glioma is the most common tumor of the nervous system. The diffuse growth and proliferation of glioma poses great challenges for its treatment. Here, Transcriptomic analysis revealed that Rac GTPase activating protein 1 (RACGAP1) is highly expressed in glioma. RACGAP1 has been shown to play an important role in the malignant biological progression of a variety of tumors. However, the underlying role and mechanism in glioma remain poorly understood. By using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), western blot, immunohistochemistry and Orthotopic mouse xenografts, we confirmed that knockdown of RACGAP1 impeded cell proliferation in glioma and prolonged the survival of orthotopic mice. Interestingly, we also found that inhibiting the expression of RACGAP1 reduced the expression of minichromosome maintenance 3 (MCM3) through RNA-seq and rescue assay, while Yin Yang 1 (YY1) transcriptionally regulated RACGAP1 expression. Furthermore, T7 peptide-decorated exosome (T7-exo) is regard as a promising delivery modality for targeted therapy of glioma, and the T7-siRACGAP1-exo significantly improved the survival time of glioma bearing mice. These results suggested that targeting RACGAP1 may be a potential strategy for glioma therapy.

ABSTRACT Avipoxviruses are considered as significant viral pathogen infecting a wide range of domestic and wild bird species globally, yet the majority of avipoxviruses that infect the wild bird species remain uncharacterized and their genetic diversities remain unclear. In this study, we present a novel pathogenic avipoxvirus isolated from the cutaneous pox lesions of a wild oriental turtle dove (Streptopelia orientalis), tentatively named as turtle dovepox virus (TDPV). The avipoxvirus was isolated by using the chorioallantoic membranes of specific pathogen-free chicken embryos which showed characteristic focal pock lesions, followed by cytopathic effects in host cells infected with oriental turtle dovepox virus. An effort in sequencing the whole genome of the poxvirus using next-generation sequencing was given, and the first whole genome sequence of TDPV was obtained. The TDPV genome was 281,386 bp in length and contained 380 predicted open reading frames (ORFs). While 336 of the predicted ORFs showed homology to other characterized avipoxviruses, the other 44 ORFs were unique. Subsequent phylogenetic analyses showed that the novel TDPV shared the closest genetic evolutionary linkage with the avipoxviruses isolated from pigeon in South Africa and India, of which the TDPV genome had the highest sequence similarity (92.5%) with South African pigeonpox virus (FeP2). In conclusion, the sequenced TDPV is significantly different from any other avipoxviruses isolated from avian or other natural host species considering genomic architecture and observed sequence similarity index. Thus, it likely should be considered a separate species. IMPORTANCE Over the past few decades, avipoxviruses have been found in a number of wild bird species including the oriental turtle dove. However, there is no whole genome sequence information on avipoxviruses isolated from oriental turtle dove, leaving us unclear about the evolutionary linkage of avipoxviruses in oriental turtle dove and other wild bird species. Thus, we believe that our study makes a significant contribution because it is the first report of the whole genome sequence of TDPV isolated from a wild oriental turtle dove, which enriches the genomic information of the genus Avipoxvirus, furthermore, contributes to tracking the genetic evolution of avipoxviruses-infected oriental turtle dove species.

Objective Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease associated with excessive mechanical loading. The aim here was to elucidate whether different subpopulations of chondrocytes exhibit distinct phenotypes in response to variations in loading conditions. Furthermore, we seek to investigate the transcriptional switches and cell crosstalk among these chondrocytes subsets.Methods Proteomic analysis was performed on cartilage tissues isolated from weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing regions. Additionally, single-cell RNA sequencing was employed to identify different subsets of chondrocytes. For disease-specific cells, in vitro differentiation induction was performed, and their presence was confirmed in human cartilage tissue sections using immunofluorescence. The molecular mechanisms underlying transcriptional changes in these cells were analysed through whole-transcriptome sequencing.Results In the weight-bearing regions of OA cartilage tissue, a subpopulation of chondrocytes called OA hypertrophic chondrocytes (OAHCs) expressing the marker genes SLC39A14 and COL10A1 are present. These cells exhibit unique characteristics of active cellular interactions mediated by the TGFβ signalling pathway and express OA phenotypes, distinct from hypertrophic chondrocytes in healthy cartilage. OAHCs are mainly distributed in the superficial region of damaged cartilage in human OA tissue, and on TGFβ stimulation, exhibit activation of transcriptional expression of iron metabolism-related genes, along with enrichment of associated pathways.Conclusion This study identified and validated the existence of a subset of OAHCs in the weight-bearing area of OA cartilage tissue. Our findings provide a theoretical basis for targeting OAHCs to slow down the progression of OA and facilitate the repair of cartilage injuries.

BackgroundFace masks have become a common sight during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in many countries. However, the impact of prolonged face mask wearing on nasal microbiota of healthy people is not fully understood.MethodsIn this study, we compared the nasal microbiota of 82 young adults who wore face masks for an extended period of time to 172 mask-free peers from the same school recruited before the COVID-19 pandemic via 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. Diversity, composition, and function of nasal microbiota between the two groups were analyzed. Prevalence of commensal bacteria colonized in the nasal cavity was determined by culture-based analysis.ResultsWe observed that prolonged face mask wearers had significantly different nasal microbial characterization and metabolic function compared to mask-free controls from 2018. Specifically, the nasal microbiota of the prolonged mask wearers displayed increased abundance of Staphylococcus, Pseudoalteromonas, Corynebacterium, etc. Meanwhile, the abundance of several genera including Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium, and Agathobacter was decreased. Moreover, we observed that COVID-19 infection history did not affect the composition of nasal microbiota significantly. Additionally, the culture-based analysis revealed that Staphylococcus aureus and Corynebacterium accolens increased, and Staphylococcus epidermidis decreased in the nasal cavity of prolonged mask wearers.ConclusionsOverall, our study suggests that prolonged face mask wearing can significantly alter the nasal microbiota.

Abstract Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have garnered significant attention due to their high efficiency and low emissions. However, PEMFC always suffers mass transfer and water management in performance improvement. Herein, an integrated gas diffusion layer (GDL) with wavy channel and micro‐tunneled rib is designed and prepared to achieve faster and gentler mass transfer and excellent water management capability by laser engraving. Outstandingly, the new integrated GDL can use the back pressure of air as low as 0 and 50 kPa to respectively achieve 80% and 90% of fuel cell performance realized under pure oxygen. Such high performance is mainly due to the turbulent flow caused by wavy channel and express removing pathway of liquid water provided by micro‐tunneled rib. Moreover, the new integrated GDL also shows wide humidity tolerance from 40% to 100% and a very high specific volume power density of 16,300 W L−1 due to the thin thickness of new integrated GDL. This new integrated GDL is expected to be widely used in PEMFC and other energy conversion devices.

Warming and precipitation variations have significant impacts on carbon uptake in the Tibetan Plateau. However, which climatic variable or process primarily drives the inter-annual variations of carbon uptake is not clear. Using multiple gross primary productivity (GPP) estimates, we study the controlling factors of the previous-year lagged effect and evaluate the effects of climate variables on GPP in the Tibetan Plateau. Results show that the lagged ecosystems in which productivity is significantly associated with previous-year precipitation are more sensitive to biotic and environmental factors than unlagged ones. In addition, previous-year precipitation as a whole has a positive impact on GPP over the Tibetan Plateau. Furthermore, precipitation regimes including precipitation intensity and dry-days fraction, and current-year precipitation amount primarily drive the GPP variabilities instead of temperature, vapor pressure deficit (VPD), and radiation at the grid scale. Future projections suggest that precipitation amount and intensity will increase, and dry-days fraction will decrease, which indicates that precipitation might have a more complicated impact on carbon uptake via variations in intra-distribution. Our study reveals the primary climatic factors that influence the variations of carbon uptake in the Tibetan Plateau, offering valuable insights for accurate carbon cycle modeling.

Exploring the relationship between human activity, vegetation leaf area index (LAI), and land surface evapotranspiration (ET) on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi is crucial for maintaining regional ecosystem functions and optimally allocating water resources. This study investigated the driving mechanism of LAI on ET under the intervention of the human activity intensity (HAIS) by analyzing seasonal and interannual variability characteristics and processes using remote sensing data of land use, LAI, and ET in typical natural landscapes (forest, grassland, and desert) in northern Shaanxi from 2000 to 2020. The primary findings were: (1) In the previous two decades, grassland HAIS was the largest, mainly distributed in central districts and counties, and gradually decreasing. The LAI and ET were ranked as follows: forest > grassland > desert, with an interannually increasing tendency, and the yearly mean LAI and ET of forest reached 2.18 and 16.47 mm, respectively. (2) The LAI and ET of the three typical natural landscapes changed substantially during the growing season (April-October) of vegetation, which increased and then decreased, reaching a maximum in June-August. The LAI and ET displayed noticeable numerical clustering among the months, with higher and concentrated values in June-August and lower values in April, May, and October. (3) Forest and grassland HAIS negatively affected LAI, and detrimentally regulated ET by primarily influencing LAI4-LAI7 (LAI from April to July). Desert HAIS had a significant positive link with the LAI and primarily regulated ET by positively influencing LAI6-LAI10. Compared to forest and grassland, the coregulatory effect of LAI on ET in the desert lagged relatively in the month. Our study recommends accelerating the conversion of the desert to forest and grassland on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi for stabilizing landscape ecosystem function and the reciprocal feedback between vegetation and water resources faster.

Autonomous driving technology faces significant safety challenges due to the lack of a global perspective and the limitations of long-range perception capabilities. It is widely recognized that vehicle-infrastructure cooperation is essential to achieve Level 5 autonomy. Therefore, it is imperative to develop vehicle-road collaboration to enable accurate 3D target detection over a wide range and multiple targets infrastructure. In this paper, we propose using ResNet50+FPN as the backbone network and adding CoTNet and CBAM dual attention mechanisms to extract and encode four levels of image features. In point cloud feature extraction, We divide a point cloud into equally spaced 3D voxels and transforms a group of points within each voxel into a unified feature representation through the newly introduced voxel feature encoding (VFE) layer. In multi-mode fusion, we propose a simple and effective multi-mode fusion method based on regional point fusion and regional voxel fusion for multi-mode fusion. Additionally, the VoxelNet architecture is utilized to combine image features and point cloud features. The proposed algorithm is evaluated on the DAIR-V2X dataset in 3D and BEV perspectives, and results show a significant improvement in the average precision (AP) of vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists in 3D object detection on the infrastructure side, in a wide area with multiple objects, compared to existing 3D object detection algorithms.

The rapid development of new energy in the distribution network increases its flexibility while making it more complicated to operate and manage the network. For this reason, a novel flexible switch, which is composed of integrated gate- commutated thyristors (IGCT) and parallel voltage converters, is proposed in this paper. Applying virtual synchronous generator (VSG) control on the parallel voltage converterensures smoothness and steadiness while switching from one feeder to another. Firstly, the proposed flexible switch is compared with the flexible multi-state switch and the mechanical switch on their main characteristics. Then, the operating features of the flexible switch before, during, and after feeder fault are analyzed, as well as its switching logic. Finally, the switching process between different feeders is simulated on a control in-the-loop experiment based on RT-Lab. The voltage and current waveforms are obtained under different operating modes and during flexible switching. The experiment resultsshow that the flexible switch has short-term voltage support capability and does not generate voltage and current impulses during the switching process.

Abstract Background and objectives Frozen shoulder (FS) is characterized by pain and significant loss of active and passive shoulder motion. Strengthening exercises are among the standard exercises used for FS. Neuromuscular exercise (NME) effectively improved pain and the range of motion in shoulder. However, no prior research has looked into the effects of NME compared to strengthening exercises in FS rehabilitation. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of NME compared to strengthening exercises on pain and active range of motion (AROM) in individuals with idiopathic frozen shoulder. Methods Forty individuals with idiopathic frozen shoulder were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (NME with regular physical therapy, n = 20) or the control group (strengthening exercises with regular physical therapy, n = 20). In both groups, the interventions were performed once a day, 5 days a week for 8 weeks. Pain scores on the visual analogue scale (VAS) and AROM of the shoulder were assessed at baseline and after the 8-week treatment. The primary analysis was the group × time interaction. Results Two-by-two mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant group × time interaction for VAS (F = 29.67; p

Introduction: Atherosclerotic complications represent the leading cause of cardiovascular mortality globally. Dysfunction of endothelial cells (ECs) often initiates the pathological events in atherosclerosis. Objectives: In this study, we sought to investigate the transcriptional profile of atherosclerotic aortae, identify novel regulator in dysfunctional ECs and hence provide mechanistic insights into atherosclerotic progression. Methods: We applied single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) on aortic cells from Western diet-fed apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE−/−) mice to explore the transcriptional landscape and heterogeneity of dysfunctional ECs. In vivo validation of SOX4 upregulation in ECs were performed in atherosclerotic tissues, including mouse aortic tissues, human coronary arteries, and human renal arteries. Single-cell analysis on human aortic aneurysmal tissue was also performed. Downstream vascular abnormalities induced by EC-specific SOX4 overexpression, and upstream modulators of SOX4 were revealed by biochemical assays, immunostaining, and wire myography. Effects of shear stress on endothelial SOX4 expression was investigated by in vitro hemodynamic study. Results: Among the compendium of aortic cells, mesenchymal markers in ECs were significantly enriched. Two EC subsets were subsequently distinguished, as the ‘endothelial-like’ and ‘mesenchymal-like’ subsets. Conventional assays consistently identified SOX4 as a novel atherosclerotic marker in mouse and different human arteries, additional to a cancer marker. EC-specific SOX4 overexpression promoted atherogenesis and endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndoMT). Importantly, hyperlipidemia-associated cytokines and oscillatory blood flow upregulated, whereas the anti-diabetic drug metformin pharmacologically suppressed SOX4 level in ECs. Conclusion: Our study unravels SOX4 as a novel phenotypic regulator during endothelial dysfunction, which exacerbates atherogenesis. Our study also pinpoints hyperlipidemia-associated cytokines and oscillatory blood flow as endogenous SOX4 inducers, providing more therapeutic insights against atherosclerotic diseases.

Due to the limitations of spatial quantification methods, the spatio-temporal patterns of grassland utilization intensity (GUI) in the Selinco watershed (SLCW), the core region of ecological security on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, is unclear under multiple utilization modes. This paper quantified GUI by constructing the association between the potential and actual Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) of grasslands in terms of interannual variability. To obtain an accurate spatio-temporal dataset of potential EVI, the following two components were considered on. Firstly, the temporal lag effects of each raw climate factor were investigated to determine the optimal climate variables affecting vegetation productivity. Secondly, four machine learning (ML) algorithms, including an artificial neural network, random forest, support vector machine, and gradient boosting regression tree combined with the Bayesian model average, were used to construct grassland potential EVI models involving EVI, grassland type, and environmental factors (topography, soil, raw climate, and bioclimatic). Meanwhile, to maximize the performance of ML models, variable selection, variable transformation, and hyperparameter optimization were systematically implemented, where the hyperparameter optimization algorithms employ the grid search algorithm, Bayesian optimization, genetic algorithm, and particle swarm optimization. Then, the spatio-temporal dataset of GUI in the SLCW from 2001 to 2019 was established by using the above quantification method based on multisource remote sensing and artificial intelligence algorithms. The analysis of spatio-temporal variation in GUI showed that the implementation of ecological restoration projects leads to a significant and rapid decline in the overall GUI of the SLCW after 2010 (declining by 4.8%), which is more obvious in the non-nature reserve (declining by 9.3%). In the Qiangtang Nature Reserve within the SLCW, although the GUI shows a declining trend after 2010 because of the implementation of ecological restoration projects, it shows an insignificant increase from 2001 to 2019 due to the recovery increase of wildlife populations in recent decades. Besides, by exploring the effects of elevation and slope on the GUI, it is found that grasslands on higher slopes at lower elevations are at a greater risk of degradation due to more intensive grassland utilization.

Abstract Background To assess the characteristics, predictive risk factors, and prognostic effect of secondary bladder cancer (SBCa) following radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). Methods Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database, the authors analyzed clinicopathologic characteristics and survival data from 472 UTUC patients with SBCa after RNU, between 2004 and 2017. Cox’s proportional hazard regression model was implemented to identify independent predictors associated with post-recurrence outcomes. The threshold for statistical significance was p

Abstract Background Newcastle disease virus (NDV) strain ZM10, a typical enterotropic avirulent vaccine strain, has been widely used in China for chickens against Newcastle disease. To elucidate its enterotropic mechanism and develop recombiant multivalent vaccines based on it, the reverse genetics system for NDV ZM10 is an indispensable platform. Results A full-length cDNA clone of NDV ZM10 and three supporting plasmids were constructed using the ligation-independent cloning method. Recombinant NDV rZM10 was successfully rescued after these plasmids were co-transfected into BHK-21 cells. Besides, the recombinant virus rZM10-RFP encoding the red fluorescent protein was generated by inserting the RFP gene into the full-length clone of NDV between the P and M genes. These rescued viruses were genetically and biologically identical to the parental strain and showed similar growth kinetics. Conclusion The recovery system of NDV ZM10 strain was established, and can be used as a foundation for research on the enterotropic mechanism and development of multivalent vaccines against viral diseases of livestock and poultry.

Abstract Previous studies in Arabidopsis reported that the PPR protein SOAR1 plays critical roles in plant response to salt stress. In this study, we reported that expression of the Arabidopsis SOAR1 (AtSOAR1) in rice significantly enhanced salt tolerance at seedling growth stage and promoted grain productivity under salt stress without affecting plant productivity under non-stressful conditions. The transgenic rice lines expressing AtSOAR1 exhibited increased ABA sensitivity in ABA-induced inhibition of seedling growth, and showed altered transcription and splicing of numerous genes associated with salt stress, which may explain salt tolerance of the transgenic plants. Further, we overexpressed the homologous gene of SOAR1 in rice, OsSOAR1, and showed that transgenic plants overexpressing OsSOAR1 enhanced salt tolerance at seedling growth stage. Five salt- and other abiotic stress-induced SOAR1-like PPRs were also identified. These data showed that the SOAR1-like PPR proteins are positively involved in plant response to salt stress and may be used for crop improvement in rice under salinity conditions through transgenic manipulation.

Abstract CircRNAs have been reported to play crucial roles in tumor progression and recurrence, showing potential as biomarkers in cancer. However, the global abundance of circRNA and their involvement in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development have not been fully explored. Whole transcriptome sequencing was performed on tumor and peritumor from 60 patients with HCC to quantify the expression of circRNAs, and the global circRNA abundance was calculated by circRNA index (CRI). Gene‐set enrichment analysis and weighted gene co‐expression network analysis were used to reveal the biological signaling pathways associated with the global circRNA abundance. The correlation between the global circRNA abundance and the infiltration level of CD8+ T cells was explored by immunohistochemical assays. Small interfering RNA was used to knock down the pre–messenger RNA spliceosome in HCC cell lines to verify the regulation of spliceosome in global circRNA abundance. We found that dysregulation of global circRNA abundance in both tumor and peritumor could lead to worse prognosis. The immunohistochemical assay further revealed that the dysregulation of global circRNA abundance in both tumor and peritumor would obstruct the CD8+ T cells from invading into the tumor, which might explain its correlation with HCC prognosis. We also demonstrated that the spliceosome genes were the main factors to regulate the global circRNA abundance in HCC, and these results were also confirmed by knockdown experiments. Conclusion: This study revealed the association between the global circRNA abundance and patients' prognosis and its underlying mechanism.

Objective This research aimed to evaluate the effects of age on growth, tibia development, and intestinal calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) transporter gene expressions in broiler chickens. Methods A total of 224 male Arbor Acres broilers were fed with nutrient-adequate diets and reared in eight cages (28 broilers per cage). Eight broilers (one broiler per cage) were selected and killed at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 days of age, respectively. Results Body weight continuously increased with age of broiler chickens from 5 to 40 days. The bone weight, ash weight, diameter, and length of the tibia also increased with broiler age. By contrast, the tibia ash, Ca, and P percentages quadratically changed with age (p