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The Argentine shortfin squid Illex argentinus is a pelagic neritic cephalopod species found in the southwest Atlantic Ocean. The squid is characterized by a short lifespan, fast growth, and semelparous reproduction. The squid is one of most important targeted species in global cephalopod fisheries and plays a key role as transient "biological pumps" in the southwest Atlantic ecosystem. The squid is a highly migratory species and can migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles between its spawning and feeding ground to complete its life cycle. The squid adopts a mixed income-capital breeding strategy, where the reproduction is mainly supported by energy acquired and mobilized rapidly during the breeding season, coupled with using energy reserves when energy demands for reproduction are robust. The squid shows spatial differences in feeding habits and also shift diets as they grow, leading to different trophic niches. In general, the squid diet shifts from crustaceans to fish and cephalopods as they mature. Given the fact that species in a higher trophic position have greater energy content, a diet shift to fish and cephalopods is expected to meet the energy demands for reproduction. In the present review, we summarized the characteristics of energy accumulated in soma and reproductive systems for I. argentinus, which shows a dramatic increase in energy in the reproductive tissues when the squid reaches maturation. In addition, we compiled previous studies that focused on diet composition and trophic roles in the southwest Atlantic ecosystem, where the squid feeds voraciously on many prey species and plays a key role as prey item for many top predators, including marine mammals. Notably, squid changes diets in relation to energy demands and resource availability. However, future research is still needed to address the functional mechanisms of the shifting dietary habits with growth. To justify the mechanism, we suggest the following priorities in the near future studies: (1) evaluate the relationships between energy acquisition and migratory habits; (2) clarify feeding strategies that potentially maximize the energy gain; and (3) address the potential effect of the ongoing global climate change and fishery activity on the role of energy transfer in the southwest Atlantic ecosystem. Such research would advance our understanding of the species and support the sustainability of resource exploitation.

Abstract Musculoskeletal disorders are the leading causes of physical disabilities worldwide. The poor self-repair capacity of musculoskeletal tissues and the absence of effective therapies have driven the development of novel bioengineering-based therapeutic approaches. Adipose-derived stem cell (ADSC)-based therapies are being explored as new regenerative strategies for the repair and regeneration of bone, cartilage, and tendon owing to the accessibility, multipotency, and active paracrine activity of ADSCs. In this review, recent advances in ADSCs and their optimization strategies, including ADSC-derived exosomes (ADSC-Exos), biomaterials, and genetic modifications, are summarized. Furthermore, the preclinical and clinical applications of ADSCs and ADSC-Exos, either alone or in combination with growth factors or biomaterials or in genetically modified forms, for bone, cartilage, and tendon regeneration are reviewed. ADSC-based optimization strategies hold promise for the management of multiple types of musculoskeletal injuries. The timely summary and highlights provided here could offer guidance for further investigations to accelerate the development and clinical application of ADSC-based therapies in musculoskeletal regeneration. Graphical abstract

Abstract Experience replay has been instrumental in achieving significant advancements in reinforcement learning by increasing the utilization of data. To further improve the sampling efficiency, prioritized experience replay (PER) was proposed. This algorithm prioritizes experiences based on the temporal difference error (TD error), enabling the agent to learn from more valuable experiences stored in the experience pool. While various prioritized algorithms have been proposed, they ignored the dynamic changes of experience value during the training process, merely combining different priority criteria in a fixed or linear manner. In this paper, we present a novel prioritized experience replay algorithm called PERDP, which employs a dynamic priority adjustment framework. PERDP adaptively adjusts the weights of each criterion based on average priority level of the experience pool and evaluates experiences’ value according to current network. We apply this algorithm to the SAC model and conduct experiments in the OpenAI Gym experimental environment. The experiment results demonstrate that the PERDP exhibits superior convergence speed when compared to the PER.

Abstract The flower thrips Frankliniella intonsa (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) is a common insect found in flowers of many plants. Sometimes, F. intonsa causes damage to crops through direct feeding and transmission of plant viruses. Here, we assembled a chromosomal level genome of F. intonsa using the Illumina, Oxford Nanopore (ONT), and Hi-C technologies. The assembled genome had a size of 209.09 Mb, with a contig N50 of 997 bp, scaffold N50 of 13.415 Mb, and BUSCO completeness of 92.5%. The assembled contigs were anchored on 15 chromosomes. A set of 14,109 protein-coding genes were annotated in the genome with a BUSCO completeness of 95.0%. The genome contained 491 non-coding RNA and 0.57% of interspersed repeats. This high-quality genome provides a valuable resource for understanding the ecology, genetics, and evolution of F. intonsa, as well as for controlling thrips pests.

Lycium barharum L. is a food and drug homologous substance, rich in polysaccharides, betaine, anthocyanins, carotenoids and other active ingredients, and has good application value in health care functions such as improving immunity, relieving visual fatigue, and antioxidant, so it has been favored by researchers and consumers at home and abroad. At present, the application frequency of Lycium barharum L. in health food in China is relatively high, but there is a lack of systematic sorting and analysis. Based on this, this paper analyzes the application status, compliance and use basis, and influencing factors of the main functional components of Lycium barharum L. in China's health food, and discusses the main health functions and mechanisms of Lycium barharum L. in detail, in order to provide a certain reference and basis for the research, development and application of Lycium barharum L. in China's health food.

The cortisol in human body is a crucial biomarker in terms of wellness management, mental state monitoring and stress-related disorder diagnosis. Therefore, the rapid, reliable and facile measurement of cortisol concentration has attracted extensive research interest. However, traditional cortisol detection such as immunosensing requires demanding laboratory layout, lengthy procedures and high costs, which means, consequently, it is incompatible with the current goal of cortisol sensing. Given the contradiction, an electrochemical sensor based on molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for simple, efficient, non-invasive cortisol detection was proposed. The two-step approach employed is simple enough and allows for the mass production of devices. And the embedding of Prussian Blue (PB) within the MIP layer eliminates the need for complex external probes, thereby making the resultant sensors more suitable for integration into wearable devices. We firstly demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed strategy and characterized the successful formation of cavities specific to cortisol molecules. Thereafter, we measured the dependence of the current response on cortisol concentration in Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) buffer, which revealed a near-linear relationship between the logarithm of the cortisol concentration and the redox current from 10−9 mol/L to 10−5 mol/L, covering the optimal range of cortisol concentration in sweat. Subsequently, sensors with the same specifications were prepared and tested in PBS buffer, exhibiting good consistency. In artificial sweat, we further demonstrated that they have benign selectivity, interference immunity and great potential in practical applications.

As a widely-used fluoroquinolone antibiotics, 1-Cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-8-methoxy-7-(3-methyl-1-piperazinyl)-4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-3-quinolinecarboxylic acid (gatifloxacin, GAT) has aroused much concern recently and it is of great importance to realize the accurate and efficient detection. Herein, the silver sulfide/reduced graphene oxide composite (Ag2S/RGO) was synthesized with one-pot method and was coated on the glassy carbon electrode to develop an effective electrochemical sensor for GAT. After the optimization of the size of Ag2S, the pH of buffer solution, and the scanning rate, the Ag2S/RGO modified electrode exhibits good linear relationship to GAT within wide ranges of 0.2 µM − 20 µM and 20 µM − 250 µM with a detection limit of 0.0667 µM. Besides, the proposed sensor shows good selectivity to GAT versus multiple interferences, including organic compounds, ions, and other antibiotics. At last, the proposed sensor was successfully applied in the GAT analysis in various real samples (including shrimp, fish, and chicken) with satisfying recoveries of 91.8 % − 102.4 %. In general, the proposed Ag2S/RGO-based electrochemical sensor provides a novel strategy for the GAT analysis, which is of significance for the development of efficient analytical techniques for antibiotics.

Intelligent packaging film has received more and more attention because it can help consumers obtain more intuitive information about the packaging, provide better preservation and advanced convenience. In this study, black rice anthocyanin (BRA) was added into composite film formed by starch (S) and esterified starch (ES). As the BRA content increased, the thickness and the total color difference of the S/ES-BRA film increased. The opacity of S/ES-BRA film decreased relative to that of the film without BRA, but increased with the increase of anthocyanin. Compared with S/ES film, the elongation at break of S/ES-BRA0.5 film increased from 33.1 % to 45.4 %, and the tensile strength decreased from 7.3 to 5.8 MPa. S/ES-BRA film had response to different pH values and underwent color changes in different buffer solutions. Intelligent color changing packaging film will used to monitor food quality, water quality and soil properties.

This study investigates the phase evolution and enrichment mechanism of the cementitious materials in a blend of blast furnace (BF) and basic oxygen furnace (BOF) slags. Theoretical calculations reveal that there is an optimal modification temperature range of 1400–1550 °C, which is crucial for the transformation of the slag constituents. At lower temperatures (500–850 °C), the addition of BF slag reduces the proportion of calcium iron oxide (Ca2Fe2O5, C2F) and promotes the formation of merwinite (Ca3MgSi2O8, C3MS2). At higher temperatures (850–1450 °C), the addition of BF slag decreases the free CaO content, enhancing the stability of the modified slag. The presence of the dicalcium silicate and tricalcium phosphate complex (α-Ca2SiO4–Ca3(PO4)2, α-C2S-C3P), dicalcium ferrite (C2F), and magnesioferrite (MgFe2O4) in the modified slag facilitates the creation of dicalcium silicate (Ca2SiO4, C2S) and C3MS2 phases, which improve the stability of the slag and increase the amount of cementitious active materials, indirectly reducing crushing costs. Experimental results indicate that excessive BF slag content results in the over formation of gehlenite (Ca2Al2SiO7, C2AS) and C3MS2, potentially affecting the cementitious active material proportion. Insufficient BF slag does not fully utilize its CaO, SiO2, and Al2O3 for enhancing the BOF slag stability and increasing the cementitious material content. A BF slag content of approximately 30 % optimally consumes free CaO, promotes C2S formation, and enhances the stability of the modified slag. This research highlights the crucial role of the temperature and BF slag content in the phase evolution and cementitious potential of BF-modified BOF slags, providing guidelines for optimized utilization in construction materials.

Background Oral microbes mediate the production of nitric oxide (NO) through the denitrification pathway. This study aimed to investigate the association between oral microbial nitrate metabolism and prognosis in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients.Methods This prospective, observational, single-center cohort study included 124 AIS patients admitted within 24 hours of symptom onset, with 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure data. Oral swabs were collected within 24 hours. Hypertensive AIS patients were stratified by the coefficient of variation (CV) of 24-hour systolic blood pressure. Microbial composition was analyzed using LEfSe and PICRUSt2 for bacterial and functional pathway identification.Results Significant differences in oral microbiota composition were observed between hypertensive AIS patients with varying CVs. Lower CV groups showed enrichment of nitrate-reducing bacteria and “Denitrification, nitrate => nitrogen” pathways. The TAX score of oral nitrate-reducing bacteria, derived from LASSO modeling, independently correlated with 90-day modified Rankin Scale scores, serving as an independent risk factor for poor prognosis. Mediation analyses suggested indirect that the TAX score not only directly influences outcomes but also indirectly affects them by modulating 24-hour systolic blood pressure CV.Conclusions AIS patients with comorbid hypertension and higher systolic blood pressure CV exhibited reduced oral nitrate-reducing bacteria, potentially worsening outcomes.

The purpose of this work is to investigate the function of SNHG1, a long non-coding RNA implicated in disease progression, apoptosis, and proliferation, in order to solve the problem of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in newborn care. We investigated the impact of overexpressing SNHG1 on hypoxia-induced apoptosis and studied its expression in BV2 microglial cells under hypoxic circumstances. As a result of modifying YY1 expression, SNHG1′s overexpression prevents apoptosis, as our data demonstrate that it is considerably downregulated under hypoxia. We demonstrate that SNHG1 might potentially reduce microglial ischemia-reperfusion damage by using sophisticated nanoengineering drug delivery technologies to target it. This provides encouraging information for the therapy of ischemic epilepsy.

Objective Collect the characteristics of patients’ baseline data, and explore the predictive factors of late recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) after catheter ablation according to whether late recurrence or not. The purpose of this study was to determine the significance of the APPLE score in conjunction with the monocyte–high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (MHR) in predicting the late recurrence of AF after catheter ablation in patients with AF.Methods Baseline data were collected to explore the predictors of late recurrence after AF catheter ablation. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under the curve (AUC) were used to compare the predictive value of MHR, the APPLE score and their combined variables in the late recurrence of AF after catheter ablation.Results This is a retrospective study. A total of 438 patients were followed-up, including 303 cases of paroxysmal AF, 135 cases of persistent AF (28 cases of long-term persistent AF) and 115 cases of late recurrence. The Cox multivariate regression analysis revealed that MHR, the APPLE score and early recurrence were independent predictors of the late recurrence of AF. The AUC of the combined variables for predicting late recurrence after catheter ablation in patients with AF was higher than that of MHR and the APPLE score (p

m6A modification is a crucial epigenetic regulatory mechanism in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Low-dose cardiotonic drugs have been shown to induce apoptosis in DLBCL cells through epigenetic modulation. However, the involvement of the cardiotonic drug ouabain in the malignant progression of DLBCL remains unclear. Our study revealed that ouabain indeed contributes to the malignant progression of DLBCL through m6A modification. Through qPCR analysis, we observed a negative correlation between ouabain concentration and the expression levels of the demethylase ALKBH5 and the m6A-binding protein IGF2BP2 in DLBCL cells. Furthermore, high expression levels of ALKBH5 and IGF2BP2 were identified in both the GEO database and DLBCL patient tissue samples. Notably, elevated ALKBH5 and IGF2BP2 promoted cell proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. Inhibition of their expression rendered DLBCL cells more sensitive to ouabain treatment, resulting in significant suppression of cell proliferation, G1/S phase cell cycle arrest, and increased apoptosis. In summary, our results clarify that the demethylase ALKBH5 and the m6A-binding protein IGF2BP2 are involved in the malignant progression of DLBCL, and that the cardiotonic drug ouabain can inhibit the proliferation of DLBCL cells by inhibiting the expression of ALKBH5 and IGF2BP2, which provides new insights into the targeted treatment of DLBCL.

BackgroundThe autistic population is rapidly increasing; meanwhile, autistic adults face disproportionate risks for adverse COVID-19 outcomes. Limited research indicates that autistic individuals have been accepting of initial vaccination, but research has yet to document this population’s perceptions and acceptance of COVID-19 boosters. ObjectiveThis study aims to identify person-level and community characteristics associated with COVID-19 vaccination and booster acceptance among autistic adults, along with self-reported reasons for their stated preferences. Understanding this information is crucial in supporting this vulnerable population given evolving booster guidelines and the ending of the public health emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsData are from a survey conducted in Pennsylvania from April 11 to September 12, 2022. Demographic characteristics, COVID-19 experiences, and COVID-19 vaccine decisions were compared across vaccination status groups. Chi-square analyses and 1-way ANOVA were conducted to test for significant differences. Vaccination reasons were ranked by frequency; co-occurrence was identified using phi coefficient correlation plots. ResultsMost autistic adults (193/266, 72.6%) intended to receive or received the vaccine and booster, 15% (40/266) did not receive or intend to receive any vaccine, and 12.4% (33/266) received or intended to receive the initial dose but were hesitant to accept booster doses. Reasons for vaccine acceptance or hesitancy varied by demographic factors and COVID-19 experiences. The most significant were previously contracting COVID-19, desire to access information about COVID-19, and discomfort with others not wearing a mask (all P=.001). County-level factors, including population density (P=.02) and percentage of the county that voted for President Biden (P=.001) were also significantly associated with differing vaccination acceptance levels. Reasons for accepting the initial COVID-19 vaccine differed among those who were or were not hesitant to accept a booster. Those who accepted a booster were more likely to endorse protecting others and trusting the vaccine as the basis for their acceptance, whereas those who were hesitant about the booster indicated that their initial vaccine acceptance came from encouragement from someone they trusted. Among the minority of those hesitant to any vaccination, believing that the vaccine was unsafe and would make them feel unwell were the most often reported reasons. ConclusionsIntention to receive or receiving the COVID-19 vaccination and booster was higher among autistic adults than the population that received vaccines in Pennsylvania. Autistic individuals who accepted vaccines prioritized protecting others, while autistic individuals who were vaccine hesitant had safety concerns about vaccines. These findings inform public health opportunities and strategies to further increase vaccination and booster rates among generally accepting autistic adults, to better support the already strained autism services and support system landscape. Vaccination uptake could be improved by leveraging passive information diffusion to combat vaccination misinformation among those not actively seeking COVID-19 information to better alleviate safety concerns.

IntroductionAccurate reference genomes are fundamental to understanding biological evolution, biodiversity, hereditary phenomena and diseases. However, many assembled nuclear chromosomes are often contaminated by organelle genomes, which will mislead bioinformatic analysis, and genomic and transcriptomic data interpretation.MethodsTo address this issue, we developed a tool named Chlomito, aiming at precise identification and elimination of organelle genome contamination from nuclear genome assembly. Compared to conventional approaches, Chlomito utilized new metrics, alignment length coverage ratio (ALCR) and sequencing depth ratio (SDR), thereby effectively distinguishing true organelle genome sequences from those transferred into nuclear genomes via horizontal gene transfer (HGT).ResultsThe accuracy of Chlomito was tested using sequencing data from Plum, Mango and Arabidopsis. The results confirmed that Chlomito can accurately detect contigs originating from the organelle genomes, and the identified contigs covered most regions of the organelle reference genomes, demonstrating efficiency and precision of Chlomito. Considering user convenience, we further packaged this method into a Docker image, simplified the data processing workflow.DiscussionOverall, Chlomito provides an efficient, accurate and convenient method for identifying and removing contigs derived from organelle genomes in genomic assembly data, contributing to the improvement of genome assembly quality.

Humic electron mediators can facilitate the reductive dehalogenation of organohalogenated compounds by accelerating electron transfer. To investigate the effect of humic electron mediators on the microbial anaerobic reductive dechlorination of Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), three types of humic electron mediators, humin (HM), humic acid (HA), and anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonic acid (AQDS, HA analogs), were added to PCB dechlorination cultures enriched from different sources in terrestrial and marine environments (T and M cultures). The results showed that meta- and para-site dechlorination occurred in the M culture, while only meta-site dechlorination occurred in the T culture. The dechlorination process N and the dechlorination process H or H′ are presented in both cultures. HM enhanced PCB dechlorination metabolic activity in both cultures mainly by promoting meta-site dechlorination. HA showed a weak promoting effect on the M culture by promoting para-chlorine removal but inhibited the dechlorination metabolism of the terrestrial-origin culture, inhibiting meta-chlorine removal. AQDS showed inhibitory effects on both cultures by inhibiting the microbial removal of meta-chlorine. High-throughput sequencing and qPCR results suggest that HM is not a carbon source for the potential dechlorinating metabolism of Dehalococcoides but may promote reductive dechlorination by changing the community structure, and AQDS may inhibit anaerobic reductive dechlorination of PCBs by inhibiting the growth of Dehalococcoides. This study provides insights into the mechanism of enhancing PCB microbial dechlorination mediated by humic substances and plays a significant role in extending the application prospects of PCBs bioremediation technology.

Side-chain modification and asymmetric design for non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) have been proven to be effective methods for harvesting high-performance organic solar cells (OSCs). Combining the two molecular design strategies, we adopted phenyl chain and alkyl chains with different shapes to develop two novel asymmetric NFAs, named BTP-P2EHC11 and BTP-P2EHC2C4. Compared with BTP-P2EHC2C4 attached 2-ethylhexyl side chain, BTP-P2EHC11 with linear alkyl side chain have slightly red-shifted absorption and intensive absorption strength. Moreover, the PM6:BTP-P2EHC11 blend film presents higher and more balanced charge mobilities, reducing charge recombination, tighter intermolecular packing and more favorable fibrous network morphology with appropriate phase separation than PM6:BTP-P2EHC2C4, which lead to significantly enhanced short-circuit current density (JSC) of PM6:BTP-P2EHC11-based devices. Thus, the OSCs based on PM6:BTP-P2EHC11 achieve a superior power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.50% with a good trade-off among open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.876 V, JSC of 26.85 mA cm−2 and fill factor (FF) of 78.65%, while PM6:BTP-P2EHC2C4-based device exhibits a lower PCE of 17.49%. Our investigation elucidates that the combination of finely optimizing the shape of alkyl-chain and asymmetric side groups of NFAs could pave a promising avenue toward morphology optimization and performance promotion of OSCs.

ObjectiveTangbi capsule (TBC) is a traditional Chinese medicine prescription, which has the potential to improve the vascular insufficiency of lower extremities and limb numbness in diabetes. However, the potential mechanism remains unknown. This study aims to investigate the pharmacological effects and mechanism of TBC on rats with diabetic lower extremities arterial disease (LEAD).MethodsThe mechanism of TBC on diabetic LEAD was investigated through metabolomics and transcriptomics analysis, and the main components of TBC were determined by mass spectrometry. The efficacy and mechanism of TBC on diabetic LEAD rats were investigated through in vitro experiments, histopathology, blood flow monitoring, western blot, and real-time polymerase chain reaction.ResultsMass spectrometry analysis identified 31 active chemical components in TBC including (2R)-2,3-Dihydroxypropanoic acid, catechin, citric acid, miquelianin, carminic acid, salicylic acid, formononetin, etc. In vitro analysis showed that TBC could reduce endothelial cell apoptosis and promote angiogenesis. Histopathological analysis showed that TBC led to an obvious improvement in diabetic LEAD as it improved fibrous tissue proliferation and reduced arterial wall thickening. In addition, TBC could significantly increase the expression levels of HIF-1α, eNOS, and VEGFA proteins and genes while reducing that of calpain-1 and TGF-β, suggesting that TBC can repair vascular injury. Compared with the model group, there were 47 differentially expressed genes in the whole blood of TBC groups, with 25 genes upregulated and 22 downregulated. Eighty-seven altered metabolites were identified from the serum samples. Combining the changes in differentially expressed genes and metabolites, we found that TBC could regulate arginine biosynthesis, phenylalanine metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, vitamin B6 metabolism and other metabolic pathways related to angiogenesis, immune-inflammatory response, and cell growth to improve diabetic LEAD.ConclusionTBC improved vascular endothelial injury, apoptosis, lipid accumulation, liver and kidney function, and restored blood flow in the lower extremities of diabetic LEAD rats. The mechanism of TBC in the treatment of diabetic LEAD may be related to the modulation of inflammatory immunity, lipid metabolism, and amino acid metabolism. This study presented preliminary evidence to guide the use of TBC as a therapy option for diabetic LEAD.

Background: Xiaoyaosan (XYS), a renowned classical traditional Chinese medicinal formula utilized in addressing major depressive disorder (MDD), has garnered significant acclaim for its remarkable efficacy in clinical application. The onset of major depressive disorder (MDD) often correlates with chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS), a pivotal instigating factor in its development.Aim of the study: This study aims to clarify the potential anti-inflammatory mechanisms of XYS in treating CUMS model mice. Materials and methods: Utilizing cutting-edge ultra high-performance liquid chromatography - high-resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-HRMS), the active constituents of XYS were discerned, while employing proteomics analysis to delve into the potential mechanisms of its efficacy. Molecular docking studies, alongside subsequent in vivo experiments utilizing CUMS model mice, were conducted to corroborate the findings derived from the proteomics analysis. Results: In vivo experiments demonstrated that XYS not only markedly ameliorated behavioral markers but also attenuated serum inflammatory markers and suppressed IL-6 and TNF-α expression within the brains of CUMS model mice. Proteomics analysis suggested that the pivotal anti-inflammatory mechanism of XYS against CUMS-induced damage might involve modulation of the MAPK signaling pathway. Utilizing UPLC-HRMS, the active constituents of XYS were successfully identified, while molecular docking investigations explored interactions between XYS and MYDGF, PKC, MAP4K4, P-p65, p65, P-IKBα, and IKBα. The findings revealed XYS's regulatory influence on the MYDGF/MAP4K4/NF-κB signaling cascade. Conclusions: This study is the first to our knowledge to demonstrate that XYS can alleviate inflammation in CUMS model mice by modulating the MYDGF/MAP4K4/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Abstract Background The current guidelines for managing screen‐detected pulmonary nodules offer rule‐based recommendations for immediate diagnostic work‐up or follow‐up at intervals of 3, 6, or 12 months. Customized visit plans are lacking. Purpose To develop individualized screening schedules using reinforcement learning (RL) and evaluate the effectiveness of RL‐based policy models. Methods Using a nested case–control design, we retrospectively identified 308 patients with cancer who had positive screening results in at least two screening rounds in the National Lung Screening Trial. We established a control group that included cancer‐free patients with nodules, matched (1:1) according to the year of cancer diagnosis. By generating 10,164 sequence decision episodes, we trained RL‐based policy models, incorporating nodule diameter alone, combined with nodule appearance (attenuation and margin) and/or patient information (age, sex, smoking status, pack‐years, and family history). We calculated rates of misdiagnosis, missed diagnosis, and delayed diagnosis, and compared the performance of RL‐based policy models with rule‐based follow‐up protocols (National Comprehensive Cancer Network guideline; China Guideline for the Screening and Early Detection of Lung Cancer). Results We identified significant interactions between certain variables (e.g., nodule shape and patient smoking pack‐years, beyond those considered in guideline protocols) and the selection of follow‐up testing intervals, thereby impacting the quality of the decision sequence. In validation, one RL‐based policy model achieved rates of 12.3% for misdiagnosis, 9.7% for missed diagnosis, and 11.7% for delayed diagnosis. Compared with the two rule‐based protocols, the three best‐performing RL‐based policy models consistently demonstrated optimal performance for specific patient subgroups based on disease characteristics (benign or malignant), nodule phenotypes (size, shape, and attenuation), and individual attributes. Conclusions This study highlights the potential of using an RL‐based approach that is both clinically interpretable and performance‐robust to develop personalized lung cancer screening schedules. Our findings present opportunities for enhancing the current cancer screening system.

Additive manufacturing enables innovative design and integrated manufacturing of complex components. Metallic components with multi-performance and high reliability are always desirable for a broad range of high-end industries. Multi-material additive manufacturing is a promising way to provide multiple performances, yet there exist several persistent challenges on multi-material sustainability and recycling, interfacial defects and strength, dimensional accuracy and fineness, and manufacturing efficiency and cost, prohibiting its widespread practical applications. In this study, we introduce an additive/modification integrated manufacturing (AMIM) strategy for fabricating highly reliable multi-performance metals using only a single material with a one-step process. We demonstrate that, through a unique combination of pattern-induced orientation-consistent and layer-accumulated orientation-amplified mechanisms, the surface wear resistance performance of 316L stainless steels could be expanded to cover an exceptionally wide range from commercially available plastics to metals to ceramics. Furthermore, these strikingly different performances can be digitally programmed and precisely printed to form integrated 316L stainless steel components with excellent interfacial strength and high dimensional accuracy. This strategy paves a facile, inexpensive, and sustainable way to achieve multi-performance metals that are fully recyclable and environmentally friendly, serving as an alternative to the multi-material composite strategy.

Understanding the physiological processes in aging and how neurodegenerative disorders affect cognitive function is a high priority for advancing human health. One specific area of recently enabled research is the in vivo biomechanical state of the brain. This study utilized reverberant optical coherence elastography, a high-resolution elasticity imaging method, to investigate stiffness changes during the sleep/wake cycle, aging, and Alzheimer's disease in murine models. Four-dimensional scans of 44 wildtype mice, 13 mice with deletion of aquaporin-4 water channel, and 12 mice with Alzheimer-related pathology (APP/PS1) demonstrated that (1) cortical tissue became softer (on the order of a 10% decrease in shear wave speed) when young wildtype mice transitioned from wake to anesthetized, yet this effect was lost in aging and with mice overexpressing amyloid-β or lacking the water channel AQP4. (2) Cortical stiffness increased with age in all mice lines, but wildtype mice exhibited the most prominent changes as a function of aging. The study provides novel insight into the brain's biomechanics, the constraints of fluid flow, and how the state of brain activity affects basic properties of cortical tissues.

IntroductionPrevious studies have demonstrated that frailty is associated with depressive symptoms among older people and significantly increase the risk of difficulty in activities of daily living (ADL). However, uncertainties remain regarding the mechanisms behind such relationship. The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating effect of ADL in the relationship between frailty and depressive symptoms among older adults in China, and to explore to what extend sleep duration moderated the association between ADL and depressive symptoms.MethodsIn this study, we carried out cross-sectional descriptive analysis and 1,429 participants were included in the analysis. A survey was conducted using questionnaires and instruments measuring frailty, depressive symptoms, ADL and sleep duration. Bootstrap analyses served to explore the impact of ADL in mediating frailty and depressed symptoms, as well as the effect of sleep duration in moderating ADL and depressive symptoms.ResultsCompared to the robust group, the mediating effects of ADL between frailty and depressive symptoms were significant in the prefrail group and the frail group. The interaction term between sleep duration and ADL was significantly presented in the regression on depressive symptoms. Specifically, the Johnson–Neyman technique determined a range from 8.31 to 10.19 h for sleep duration, within which the detrimental effect of frailty on depressive symptoms was offset.ConclusionSleep duration moderated the indirect effect of ADL on the association between frailty and depressive symptoms. This provides support for unraveling the underlying mechanism of the association between frailty and depressive symptoms. Encouraging older adults to enhance ADL and obtain appropriate sleep duration might improve depressive symptoms for older adults with frailty and prefrailty.

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is a common cause of secondary hypertension. Adrenalectomy is an effective treatment for unilateral PA, particularly aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA), resulting in improvements in biochemical parameters and blood pressure in the vast majority of patients. The article provides a comprehensive overview of PA, focusing on the outcomes of adrenalectomy for PA and the factors that may suggest prognostic implications. Analysis of the outcome of different PA patients undergoing adrenalectomy in terms of preoperative factors, vascular and adipose conditions, type of pathology, and somatic variants. In addition, it is recommended to use the histopathology of primary aldosteronism (HISTALDO) consensus to classify the patient’s pathological type, with classical and nonclassical pathological types showing a different prognosis and possibly being associated with an unresected contralateral adrenal gland. The primary aldosteronism surgical outcome (PASO) consensus sets uniform standards for postoperative outcomes in unilateral PA, but its setting of thresholds remains controversial. Partial adrenalectomy shows similar surgical results and fewer postoperative complications than total adrenalectomy, but there is a risk of missing the true source of abnormal aldosterone secretion. Steroid profiling and functional imaging techniques offer alternative options to adrenal vein sampling (AVS) for unilateral and bilateral judgments in patients with PA. A combination of factors is needed to predict the prognosis of PA patients undergoing adrenalectomy in order to manage patient expectations of the outcome of the procedure and to closely monitor blood pressure and biochemical parameters in patients who suggest a poorer prognosis.

Abstract Accurately measuring emission factors (Es) of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) with consideration of intraspecific variability is vital but often overlooked. This study presents in‐situ measurements of BVOC emissions from 114 Eucalyptus urophylla individuals using the LI‐6800 portable photosynthesis system. We observed intraspecific variability exceeding an order of magnitude in BVOC Es. Despite this variability, our approach yielded statistically representative Es for E. urophylla, yet challenging the feasibility of extensive field measurements. By quickly screening net photosynthesis rate (Pn) across a broad set of individuals and selecting those within a specific Pn range, such as mean ± 0.1 × SD (standard deviation) of Pn for all screened individuals, for detailed BVOC emission measurements, we achieved comparable mean Es with approximately 10% of the original sampling effort. This offers a practical solution for efficient and accurate field measurement of representative BVOC Es, significantly reducing required sample size while effectively addressing intraspecific variability.

Background: Several respiratory infections outbreaks have been observed in mainland China after reduction of non-pharmaceutical interventions. Other countries have seen increases in respiratory infections outside typical seasons post-COVID-19, warranting investigation into underlying causes. Methods: We established monitoring networks for suspected respiratory infection in 14 tertiary hospitals nationwide. PCR for SARS-CoV-2, influenza A and B were performed on 3708 respiratory specimens and deep sequencing were conducted to identify co-infections or newly emerging microbes in 2023. Viral evolutionary analysis was completed. We retrospectively detected serum antibody level for various respiratory pathogens from 4324 adults without respiratory infections over 7 years to observe its dynamic curves. Findings: SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A were the main pathogens during outbreaks in 2023, bacterial-virus and bacterial-bacterial co-infections were most detected, but community co-infections didn't significantly increase pneumonia incidence. Different SARS-CoV-2 and influenza variants were present in different outbreaks, and no novel pathogens were found. The epidemiological patterns of influenza A, COVID-19 and etc. were altered, exhibiting characteristics of being ''staggered'' compared to most global regions, and potentially led to ''overlapping prevalence''. Binding antibody testing showed regular fluctuation, without significant decrease against common respiratory pathogens in adults. Influenza A antibody stimulation was attenuated during the 2023 outbreak. Conclusions: ''Misaligned'' alteration in seasonal respiratory disease patterns possibly caused combined epidemics, leading to cases spike in China, 2023. In adults, antibody levels didn't show significant decline, but reduced immune response to influenza during 2020–2023 emphasizes the need for consistent vaccination during pandemics.

Identification of novel biomarkers for prediction of disease course and prognosis is needed to reduce morbidity of liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC/HCC) patients. Although dysregulated Periodic tryptophan protein 1 homolog (PWP1/endonuclein) expression has been detected in several tumors, the potential regulatory effect of PWP1 on LIHC remains uncertain. Here we evaluated the expression of PWP1 using multiple online platforms, and demonstrated that PWP1 upregulation was consistently observed in LIHC relative to non-tumor liver tissues and correlated with unfavorable prognosis. Moreover, HCC prognosis was significantly influenced by the methylation status of various CpG sites in the PWP1 gene. Lastly, we provide direct evidence that PWP1 acts as a driver of HCC progression by showing that siRNA-mediated PWP1 silencing significantly suppressed HCC cell proliferation in vitro. These data strongly suggest that PWP1 silencing may be an effective therapeutic strategy to treat LIHC.

BackgroundPainful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) is a common chronic neurological complication of diabetes mellitus. Medications are often used to relieve pain, but with significant side effects. Acupuncture is now a component of pragmatic and integrative treatment for PDN. An increasing number of relevant randomized controlled trials have been published in recent years, but a comprehensive meta-analysis has not yet been performed. The aim of this paper is to verify the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for PDN by meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis (TSA).MethodsAll participants in this study should have had a PDN diagnosis and the trial group was treated with acupuncture. Eight databases, including EMbase, PubMed, Web of science, Cochrane Library, China Biology Medicine disc (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang and Chongqing VIP (CQVIP) were retrieved from inception to 5 April 2023. Meta-analysis was conducted utilizing RevMan 5.3 and Stata 15.0. TSA was performed to assess the adequacy of sample size for the outcomes.ResultsA total of 36 studies, comprising 2,739 PDN patients, were included. Among them, 1,393 patients were assigned to the trial group and 1,346 patients were treated in the control group. Outcomes covers the primary indicator Total effective rate (RR = 1.42, 95%CI [1.34, 1.52], p

Objective: An mRNA expression-based stemness index (mRNAsi) has been developed to characterize cancer stemness. However, the predictive value of mRNAsi-based signature in therapeutic resistance and immunotherapy in thyroid cancer (THCA) remains unclarified. This study evaluated and validated the role of mRNAsi in drug sensitivity, its relationship between mRNAsi and THCA clinical features and immunity based on bioinformatics. Methods: Based on transcriptome data of THCA patients from the Tumor Genome Atlas Project (TCGA) database, and expression data of multifunctional stem cell samples from the Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium (PCBC) databases, mRNAsi was calculated by the '' one class logistic regression (OCLR)'' method, Molecular subtypes of TCGA-THCA samples were identified with mRNAsi-related genes using ConsensusClusterPlus method. The gene mutation, clinical characteristics, immune characteristics, TIDE and drug sensitivity were compared among molecular subtypes. A prognostic model was designed with Lasso cox method. Modulation of malignant phenotype of THCA cell lines by model characterization genes is validated by CCK-8, flow cytometry. DNA methylation disorder in promoter region was analyzed between risk groups. The model was validated for survival in the internal Test dataset, while TCGA pan-cancer and immunotherapy datasets were further employed to validate the performance of this model. Results: We obtained a total of 78 stem cell samples, each containing the expression profile of 8087 mRNA genes. Based on mRNAsi, THCA was divided into 3 subtypes. Subtype C2 had the poorest prognosis and highest immune score, while subtype C3 had the best prognosis, lowest mRANsi and highest TIDE score. Patients in subtype C2 showed higher sensitivity to Cisplatin, Erlotinib, Paclitaxel, and Lapatinib. The prognostic signature was generated using 5 mRNAsi-related genes, which could predict prognosis for THCA. qRT-PCR results showed that the expression of 5 genes were various in Hth7 and KTC-1 cells, and inhibition CELSR3 expression increased percentage of apoptosis in Hth7 and KTC-1 cells. mRNAsi related DNA methylation sites were mainly enriched in tumor related pathways. Good performance of this model was validated in Test dataset, pan-cancer and immunotherapy datasets. Conclusion: This study identified three subtypes for classification and developed a prognostic model with mRNAsi-related genes, which provided great potential for prognosis and immunotherapy prediction.

Background: The association of soyfoods or soybean products with executive functions in the brain has been less well studied. In this study, we investigated the consumption of soyfoods or soybean products and its association with executive functions in Chinese adolescents. Methods: A three-stage stratified whole group sampling method was used to investigate the consumption of soyfoods or soybean products and executive functions among 1643 Chinese adolescents aged 13–15 years. One-way ANOVA and chi-square test were used to compare the basic conditions and executive functions of adolescents with different soyfoods or soybean products consumption. Linear regression analysis and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the association between soyfoods or soybean products and executive functions. Results: The proportions of Chinese adolescents with soyfoods or soybean products consumption ≤0 time/week, 1–3 time/week, and ≥4 time/week were 41.14 %, 46.80 %, and 12.05 %, respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed that with adolescents with soyfoods or soybean products consumption ≥4 time/week as a reference, adolescents with ≤0 time/week were less likely to have executive dysfunction in inhibiting functional (OR = 17.523, 95 % CI: 7.501, 40.938), 2back (OR = 3.384, 95 % CI: 1.729, 6.623), and switching functional (OR = 7.846, 95 % CI: 3.300, 18.657), were at higher risk of executive dysfunction (P

Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase, catalytic subunit delta (PIK3CD) gene (OMIM#602839) encodes the p110δ catalytic subunit, mainly expressed in immune cells, and is associated with autosomal dominant immunodeficiency-14A with lymphoproliferation (IMD14A, #615513). We generated a human iPS cell line from a 50-month-old boy with IMD14A carrying a heterozygous mutation (c.3061G>A, p.E1021K) in PIK3CD gene. This cell line retains the original mutation site and shows differentiation potential towards three germ layers in vitro, which can be used as a disease model for research.

Abstract The Japanese sawyer beetle Monochamus alternatus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is a pest in pine forests and acts as a vector for the pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, which causes the pine wilt disease. We assembled a high-quality genome of M. alternatus at the chromosomal level using Illumina, Nanopore, and Hi-C sequencing technologies. The assembled genome is 767.12 Mb, with a scaffold N50 of 82.0 Mb. All contigs were assembled into ten pseudo-chromosomes. The genome contains 63.95% repeat sequences. We identify 16, 284 protein-coding genes in the genome, of which 11,244 were functionally annotated. The high-quality genome of M. alternatus provides an invaluable resource for the biological, ecological, and genetic study of this beetle and opens new avenues for understanding the transmission of pine wood nematode by insect vectors.

Abstract Background Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) was associated with potentially life-threatening complications. Among patients supported by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), those who underwent HSCT had a worse prognosis than those who did not. Advances in HSCT and critical care management have improved the prognosis of ECMO-supported HSCT patients. Case The patient in the remission stage of lymphoma after 22 months of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, suffered from ARDS, severe neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and long-term COVID-19. We evaluated the benefits and risks of ECMO for the patient, including the possibility of being free from ECMO, the status of malignancy, the interval from HSCT to ARDS, the function of the graft, the amount of organ failure, and the comorbidities. ECMO was ultimately used to save his life. Conclusions We did not advocate for the general use of ECMO in HSCT patients and we believed that highly selected patients, with well-controlled tumors, few comorbidities, and fewer risk factors for death, tended to benefit from ECMO with well ICU management.

Abstract Objective This study aims to identify the most effective diagnostic method for distinguishing pathogenic and non-pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) in suspected pneumonia cases using metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) on bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples. Methods The effectiveness of mNGS was assessed on BALF samples collected from 583 patients, and the results were compared with those from microbiological culture and final clinical diagnosis. Three interpretational approaches were evaluated for diagnostic accuracy. Results mNGS outperformed culture significantly. Among the interpretational approaches, Clinical Interpretation (CI) demonstrated the best diagnostic performance with a sensitivity of 87.3%, specificity of 100%, positive predictive value of 100%, and negative predictive value of 98.3%. CI’s specificity was significantly higher than Simple Interpretation (SI) at 37.9%. Additionally, CI excluded some microorganisms identified as putative pathogens by SI, including Haemophilus parainfluenzae, Haemophilus parahaemolyticus, and Klebsiella aerogenes. Conclusion Proper interpretation of mNGS data is crucial for accurately diagnosing respiratory infections caused by GNB. CI is recommended for this purpose.

Abstract Glutarate is a key monomer in polyester and polyamide production. The low efficiency of the current biosynthetic pathways hampers its production by microbial cell factories. Herein, through metabolic simulation, a lysine-overproducing E. coli strain Lys5 is engineered, achieving titer, yield, and productivity of 195.9 g/L, 0.67 g/g glucose, and 5.4 g/L·h, respectively. Subsequently, the pathway involving aromatic aldehyde synthase, monoamine oxidase, and aldehyde dehydrogenase (AMA pathway) is introduced into E. coli Lys5 to produce glutarate from glucose. To enhance the pathway’s efficiency, rational mutagenesis on the aldehyde dehydrogenase is performed, resulting in the development of variant Mu5 with a 50-fold increase in catalytic efficiency. Finally, a glutarate tolerance gene cbpA is identified and genomically overexpressed to enhance glutarate productivity. With enzyme expression optimization, the glutarate titer, yield, and productivity of E. coli AMA06 reach 88.4 g/L, 0.42 g/g glucose, and 1.8 g/L·h, respectively. These findings hold implications for improving glutarate biosynthesis efficiency in microbial cell factories.

Magnetic graphene (Fe3O4@G) was synthesized as a magnetic solid phase extractor for the extraction and enrichment of organophosphorus pesticides in green tea by chemical coprecipitation method. Based on this, ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method was developed for the determination of 19 organophosphorus pesticide residues in green tea. 40 mg adsorbent and 4 g sodium chloride were used in this experiment with the pH of sample solution at 7 for 20 min extraction time, 3.0 mL acetone desorption. The result showed that the prepared Fe3O4@G material had good stability and reusability with the linear correlation coefficients greater than 0.999 in the range of 5～500 μg/L. The limits of detection (LOD) and the limits of quantitation (LOQ) were 5.0～6.0 μg/kg and 15.0～20.0 μg/kg, respectively. The recoveries were between 61.2% and 94.9% with the relative standard deviations (RSD, n=6) in the range of 2.6%～10.2% when the samples were labeled at 20.0, 40.0 and 200.0 μg/kg. This method was safe and economy with a wide application range, easier control of pretreatment, less amount of organic solvent and reusable materials, which has a good application prospect in the enrichment and separation of pesticides in tea by the magnetic dispersion solid phase extraction technology.

In the process of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data acquisition, aircraft are susceptible to various disturbances during flight, resulting in the loss or destruction of azimuth echo data, which leads to blurring of SAR images. To solve the problem of imaging blurring caused by missing data in azimuth, an imaging algorithm integrated with spectrum reconstruction based on adaptive beamforming is proposed. First, the multi-channel SAR azimuth missing data model is analyzed, and the multiple spatial freedoms provided by the multi-channel SAR system are applied to construct the spatial domain filter. Second, spatial adaptive beamforming is used for spatial filtering of each range-Doppler cell, and the spectrum of azimuth random missing data is reconstructed. Finally, the reconstructed spectrum data is imaged using the polar format algorithm (PFA). The point target simulation data and airborne multi-channel SAR real data are separately processed under the condition of both random and uniform missing data. Compared with the results of only PFA processing, the algorithm can eliminate false targets caused by periodic missing data and significantly improve the serious defocusing of point targets caused by random missing data. The entropy and the contrast of the real data image obtained by the proposed algorithm are improved by approximately 15% and 12%, respectively. The results verify the effectiveness of the algorithm.

Abstract Bivalent histone modifications, including functionally opposite H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 marks simultaneously on the same nucleosome, control various cellular processes by fine-tuning the gene expression in eukaryotes. However, the role of bivalent histone modifications in fungal virulence remains elusive. By mapping the genome-wide landscape of H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 dynamic modifications in Fusarium graminearum (Fg) during invasion, we identify the infection-related bivalent chromatin-marked genes (BCGs). BCG1 gene, which encodes a secreted Fusarium-specific xylanase containing a G/Q-rich motif, displays the highest increase of bivalent modification during Fg infection. We report that the G/Q-rich motif of BCG1 is a stimulator of its xylanase activity and is essential for the full virulence of Fg. Intriguingly, this G/Q-rich motif is recognized by pattern-recognition receptors to trigger plant immunity. We discover that Fg employs H3K4me3 modification to induce BCG1 expression required for host cell wall degradation. After breaching the cell wall barrier, this active chromatin state is reset to bivalency by co-modifying with H3K27me3, which enables epigenetic silencing of BCG1 to escape from host immune surveillance. Collectively, our study highlights how fungal pathogens deploy bivalent epigenetic modification to achieve temporally-coordinated activation and suppression of a critical fungal gene, thereby facilitating successful infection and host immune evasion.

Purposes In order to meet the expansion planning needs of electric vehicle charging stations under the “double carbon” goal and study the influence of charging station location and capacity on the absorption of distributed power supply. Methods This paper establishes a multi-objective double-layer configuration optimization model considering the uncertainty and correlation of wind-power output, and analyzes the influence of charging behavior change of electric vehicle(EV) users on charging pile location and volume scheme under time of use(TOU) power price incentive. The upper layer comprehensively considers the two objective functions of operator investment and construction, operation and maintenance, network loss cost and the minimum equivalent cost of user charging and queuing. The upper layer also uses the improved multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm to generate pareto optimal planning scheme. In order to minimize the wind and light discarding rate, the lower model verifies the Pareto solution set generated by the upper model. Findings Finally, the model is verified by IEEE33 node road network diagram, and the optimal site selection scheme of charging piles under uncertain scenery is obtained.

During non-landing measurements of a theodolite, the accuracy of the goniometric readings can be compromised by wobble errors induced by various factors such as wind loads, theodolite driving torque, and the stiffness of the supporting structure. To achieve high-precision non-landing measurements, it is essential to accurately determine and correct the platform wobble errors affecting the azimuth and pitch pointing angles. In this paper, a non-contact optical measurement method is proposed for quantifying platform wobble errors. The method establishes an auto-alignment optical path between an autocollimator and a reflector in the measuring device. By detecting the deviation angle of the CCD image point as the optical path changes, precise measurements of the platform wobble errors can be obtained. Experimental results demonstrate that the measuring device can achieve an auto-alignment optical path within 5 minutes, significantly improving measurement efficiency. Furthermore, after measuring the platform wobble error and applying data correction, the average error in the azimuth pointing angle is reduced from 31.5″ to 9.8″, and the average error in the pitch pointing angle is reduced from 21″ to 9.2″. These results highlight the substantial correction effect achieved by the proposed method.

This study aimed to determine the optimal planting density of floating bed plants for purifying wastewater treatment plant tailwater and realizing the resourceful use of wastewater. Three commonly used floating bed plants, Iris, Zelkova, and water onion, were selected, and a self-designed and assembled floating bed frame was used as the plant carrier. Simulated wastewater treatment plant tailwater was treated for 28 days, and the pH value, chemical oxygen demand (COD), NH4+−N, TN, TP, and plant growth were continuously monitored. The results showed that the best water purification effect was achieved when the planting density was 67 plants/m2. Thalia dealbata and Scirpus were found to have better TN and NH4+−N removal effects than Iris, while Iris had a superior TP removal effect compared to Thalia dealbata and Scirpus. Additionally, Thalia dealbata had a better COD removal effect than Iris and Scirpus. Therefore, the optimal planting density for constructing an ecological floating bed was determined to be 67 plants/m2.

[INLINE:1] Microglia-mediated neuroinflammation is considered a pathological feature of Parkinson’s disease. Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cell-1 (TREM-1) can amplify the inherent immune response, and crucially, regulate inflammation. In this study, we found marked elevation of serum soluble TREM-1 in patients with Parkinson’s disease that positively correlated with Parkinson’s disease severity and dyskinesia. In a mouse model of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-induced Parkinson’s disease, we found that microglial TREM-1 expression also increased in the substantia nigra. Further, TREM-1 knockout alleviated dyskinesia in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease and reduced dopaminergic neuronal injury. Meanwhile, TREM-1 knockout attenuated the neuroinflammatory response, dopaminergic neuronal injury, and neutrophil migration. Next, we established an in vitro 1-methyl-4-phenyl-pyridine-induced BV2 microglia model of Parkinson’s disease and treated the cells with the TREM-1 inhibitory peptide LP17. We found that LP17 treatment reduced apoptosis of dopaminergic neurons and neutrophil migration. Moreover, inhibition of neutrophil TREM-1 activation diminished dopaminergic neuronal apoptosis induced by lipopolysaccharide. TREM-1 can activate the downstream CARD9/NF-κB proinflammatory pathway via interaction with SYK. These findings suggest that TREM-1 may play a key role in mediating the damage to dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson’s disease by regulating the interaction between microglia and peripheral neutrophils.

Accurate, reliable, and fast intelligent detection of leather surface defects has become an important subject in industrial inspection, which aims at improving production efficiency and increasing automation levels. This work focuses on the rapid defect recognition and localization of leather surface defects for industrious applications, which is based on the state-of-the-art real-time detection model YOLO. Three experimental Schemes with different challenges were designed to find the optimal YOLO-based leather surface defect detection scheme. Typical tanned leather surface defect images from the factory were collected, which are comprised of eight types of defects, namely rotten surface, hole, scratch, crease, healed injury, bacterial injury, growth line, and pinhole, which exhibit variations in shapes, sizes, and colors, reflecting the various characteristics found in tanned leather defects. A comprehensive and in-depth review of the YOLO series of models is presented, including YOLOv1 to YOLOv8. The systematic and extensive experiments were conducted,which indicate that the YOLO models can simultaneously detect multiple types of defects present in each leather image. The multi-defect detection task achieved a maximum of 52.3% mean average precision (mAP), 58.2% precision, and 68.7% recall. For single-class detection tasks, the highest performance reached 85.1% mAP, 90.9% precision, and 81.8% recall. These works provide feasible intelligent solutions for surface defects in the leather industry, laying a solid foundation for the design and development of new solutions for leather defect detection.

Abstract Diabetes has long been considered a risk factor in implant therapy and impaired wound healing in soft and hard oral tissues. Magnesium has been proved to promote bone healing under normal conditions. Here, we elucidate the mechanism by which Mg2+ promotes angiogenesis and osseointegration in diabetic status. We generated a diabetic mice model and demonstrated the alveolar bone healing was compromised, with significantly decreased angiogenesis. We then developed Mg-coating implants with hydrothermal synthesis. These implants successfully improved the vascularization and osseointegration in diabetic status. Mechanically, Mg2+ promoted the degradation of Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1) and the nucleation of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) by up-regulating the expression of sestrin 2 (SESN2) in endothelial cells, thus reducing the elevated levels of oxidative stress in mitochondria and relieving endothelial cell dysfunction under hyperglycemia. Altogether, our data suggested that Mg2+ promoted angiogenesis and osseointegration in diabetic mice by regulating endothelial mitochondrial metabolism.

The sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), an essential half-reaction of water splitting, lead to high OER overpotential and low energy-conversion efficiency, hampering its industrial application. Therefore, considerable attention has been paid to the development of efficient catalysts to accelerate the OER. In this study, we synthesized the high-entropy oxides [(FeCoNiMnV)xO] and used them as efficient OER catalysts. A simple oil-phase method was used to synthesize (FeCoNiMnV)xO. The catalytic performances of the (FeCoNiMnV)xO catalysts were modified by tuning the reaction temperature. The optimized (FeCoNiMnV)xO catalyst exhibited multiple elemental interactions and abundant exposed active sites, leading to an overpotential of approximately 264 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in 1 M KOH and stability of 50 h at 1000 mA cm−2. Thus, a highly active OER catalyst was synthesized. This study provides an efficient approach for the synthesis of high-entropy oxides.

Abstract T T ¯ $$ T\overline{T} $$ deformed CFTs with positive deformation parameter have been proposed to be holographically dual to Einstein gravity in a glue-on AdS3 spacetime [1]. The latter is constructed from AdS3 by gluing a patch of an auxiliary AdS 3 ∗ $$ {\textrm{AdS}}_3^{\ast } $$ spacetime to its asymptotic boundary. In this work, we propose a glue-on version of the Ryu-Takayanagi formula, which is given by the signed area of an extremal surface. The extremal surface is anchored at the endpoints of an interval on a cutoff surface in the glue-on geometry. It consists of an RT surface lying in the AdS3 part of the spacetime and its extension to the AdS 3 ∗ $$ {\textrm{AdS}}_3^{\ast } $$ region. The signed area is the length of the RT surface minus the length of the segments in AdS 3 ∗ $$ {\textrm{AdS}}_3^{\ast } $$ . We find that the Ryu-Takayanagi formula with the signed area reproduces the entanglement entropy of a half interval for T T ¯ $$ T\overline{T} $$ -deformed CFTs on the sphere. We then study the properties of extremal surfaces on various glue-on geometries, including Poincaré AdS3, global AdS3, and the BTZ black hole. When anchored on multiple intervals at the boundary, the signed area of the minimal surfaces undergoes phase transitions with novel properties. In all of these examples, we find that the glue-on extremal surfaces exhibit a minimum length related to the deformation parameter of T T ¯ $$ T\overline{T} $$ -deformed CFTs.

Abstract The fruit fly Zeugodacus tau (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a major pest of melons and other cucurbits in Southeast Asia. In this study, we used Illumina, Nanopore, and Hi-C sequencing technologies to assemble a reference genome of Z. tau at the chromosomal level. The assembled genome was 421.79 Mb and consisted of six chromosomes (one X-chromosome + five autosomes). The contig N50 was 4.23 Mb. We identified 20,922 protein-coding genes, of which 17,251 (82.45%) were functionally annotated. Additionally, we found 247 rRNAs, 435 tRNAs, 67 small nuclear RNAs, and 829 small RNAs in the genome. Repetitive elements accounted for 55.30 Mb (13.15%) of the genome. This high-quality genome assembly is valuable for evolutionary and genetic studies of Z. tau and its relative species.

To address the issues of the Real-Time DEtection TRansformer (RT-DETR) object detection model, including poor defect feature extraction in the task of rail fastener defect detection, inefficient use of computational resources, and suboptimal channel attention in the self-attention mechanism, the following improvements were made. Firstly, a Super-Resolution Convolutional Module (SRConv) was designed as a separate component and integrated into the Backbone network, which enhances the image details and clarity while preserving the original image structure and semantic content. This integration improves the model’s ability to extract defect features. Secondly, a channel attention mechanism was integrated into the self-attention module of RT-DETR to enhance the focus on feature map channels, addressing the problem of sparse attention maps caused by the lack of channel attention while saving computational resources. Finally, the experimental results show that compared to the original model, the improved RT-DETR-based rail fastener defect detection algorithm, with an additional 0.4 MB of parameters, achieved a higher accuracy, with a 2.8 percentage point increase in the Mean Average Precision (mAP) across IoU thresholds from 0.5 to 0.9 and a 1.7 percentage point increase in the Average Recall (AR) across the same thresholds.

The Lancang–Mekong Region encompasses six countries, covering an area exceeding five million square kilometers and containing a population of more than 400 million. Floods in this region may cause extremely serious losses of lives and property. However, due to the severe shortage of flood disaster data, loss data and meteorological monitoring data, the assessment of flood disaster risks in this region remains highly formidable. In view of this, we systematically integrated the flood disaster data from EM-DAT (the Emergency Events Database), Desinventar (a disaster information management system), Reliefweb (a humanitarian information service provided by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), and ADRC (the Asian Disaster Reduction Center), coupled with GLDAS (Global Land Data Assimilation System) precipitation data and the population and economic data from the World Bank, and comprehensively considered vulnerability, exposure, and loss criteria to assess the flood disaster risks in the Lancang–Mekong Region. The research findings are as follows: (1) From 1965 to 2017, a total of 370 floods occurred in the Lancang–Mekong Region, among which the proportion of floods in Vietnam and Thailand combined was as high as 43.7%. In contrast, the number of floods in Qinghai and Tibet in China was relatively small, with a combined proportion of only 1.89%. (2) When mild flood disasters occur, the southern part of Myanmar, the western part of Thailand, and the northeastern part of Vietnam are faced with relatively large loss threats; when moderate flood disasters occur, the central part of Myanmar, the eastern part of Cambodia, and the southern part of Vietnam are faced with comparatively large loss threats; when severe flood disasters occur, high-loss areas are mainly concentrated in the southern part of Vietnam. (3) Considering exposure, vulnerability, and hazards comprehensively, the high-risk areas of floods in the Lancang–Mekong Region are mainly distributed in the central–southern part of Myanmar, the northeastern part of Vietnam, and the southern part of the area bordering Cambodia and Vietnam; the medium-risk areas are mainly distributed in the central part of Thailand and the eastern part of Sichuan in China; relatively speaking, other areas in the Lancang–Mekong Region have a lower flood risk level. This research can provide references for flood risk assessment in regions with scarce data and technical support for flood disaster prevention and control as well as risk management in the Lancang–Mekong Region.