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Background: Studying the growth and developmental mechanisms of steppe (Brandt’s) voles is important for biological control and protection of steppe ecology. In this paper, preliminary biological experiments’ data showed that the mortality of Brandt’s vole increased after retinoic acid treatment. Methods: LPH inhibitor, retinoic acid, quercetin and DMSO (Standard treatment concentration 10 mg/ml) were given them through oral with the help of Animal oral gavage feeding needles. The hind legs muscles of surviving Brandt’s voles were collected for transcriptomic analysis. Result: A total of 4047 and 2251 up- and down-regulated transcripts, respectively, were observed upon retinoic acid treatment compared to the DMSO (control) treatment. Transcriptomic changes were enriched significantly in 31 KEGG pathways, most of which were involved in sugar metabolism, particularly for fructose and mannose (ko00051), protein digestion and absorption (ko04974), phenylalanine metabolism (ko00360), tyrosine metabolism (ko00350) and the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway (ko04151), which is related to growth and development. A total of 114 differentially expressed genes were screened as candidate genes according to the enrichment results, including c-Jun N-terminal kinase and tubulin epsilon chain verified by RT-PCR. Ultimately, we proposed a preliminary regulatory molecular mechanism of retinoic acid relevant to mouse development and death.

A novel technique for broadband high-precision mass measurements of short-lived exotic nuclides is reported. It is based on the isochronous mass spectrometry (IMS) and realizes simultaneous determinations of revolution time and velocity of short-lived stored ions at the cooler storage ring CSRe in Lanzhou. The new technique, named as the $B\rho$-defined IMS or $B\rho$-IMS, boosts the efficiency, sensitivity, and accuracy of mass measurements, and is applied here to measure masses of neutron-deficient $fp$-shell nuclides. In a single accelerator setting, masses of $^{46}$Cr, $^{50}$Fe and $^{54}$Ni are determined with relative uncertainties of (5~-~6)$\times10^{-8}$, thereby improving the input data for testing the unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa quark mixing matrix. This is the technique of choice for future high-precision measurements of the most rarely produced shortest-lived nuclides., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

This study was conducted to investigate the flow and heat transfer characteristics of a flat plate located between two symmetrical cylinders. Flow visualization experiments were conducted based on ...

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severely impacts physical and mental health of COVID-19 patients. This study aimed to investigate COVID-19 patient narratives to reveal how their lived experiences of COVID-19 infection and quarantine shape their mental health. In-depth semi-structural interviews were conducted with 5 COVID-19 patients from Wuhan to elicit their lived experiences of COVID-19. The case reports showed that persons diagnosed with COVID-19 infection and admitted to the COVID ward developed the symptoms of anxiety, worry, low mood, frustration, irritability, stigma, distress, guilt, and loneliness. Lack of scientific information, long-term social isolation, and limited social support were the main risk factors leading to their mental health problems. The study sug-gests that timely diagnosis of patients’ mental health problems and diverse psychological interventions are needed before, during, and after their hospitalization.

White spot lesions and enamel cracks are the 2 most prominent diseases that occur after orthodontic treatment and are caused by enamel demineralization from accumulated bacterial biofilms and/or enamel damage caused by the removal of residual adhesive after bracket debonding. Inspired by the self-assembled amelogenin nanoribbons in enamel, we developed an enamel coating with a self-assembling antimicrobial peptide, D-GL13K, to simultaneously reduce demineralization and residual adhesive. The self-assembled amphiphilic nanoribbons significantly increased the hydrophobicity of the etched enamel, which reduced the permeability of the coated enamel surfaces as desired. The antimicrobial activity of this coating was evaluated against Streptococcus mutans by colony-forming unit counting and live/dead assays. The anti-demineralization effect was demonstrated by the reduced demineralization depth analyzed by optical coherence tomography and the increased Vickers hardness. The coatings did not reduce the shear bond strength but significantly reduced the adhesive remnant index score. This bioinspired enamel coating may provide a new strategy for preventing white spot lesions and enamel cracks after orthodontic treatment.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide. Microvascular invasion (MVI) is considered the major risk factor for postoperative recurrence and metastasis in HCC. The diagnosis of MVI relies on the postoperative pathological assessment of the tumor tissues. Seeking non-invasive methods and biomarkers for evaluation of MVI before surgery has important clinical implications for guiding surgical treatment and improving patients' survival. Recent studies have reported the applications of radiomics technique in prediction of MVI in HCC and showed promising results. Herein we summarized the research progress in CT- or MRI-based radiomics models for prediction of MVI in HCC to provide helpful thinking for further research in this field.肝细胞癌是全球最常见的恶性肿瘤之一，微血管侵犯（MVI）是术后复发及转移的重要原因。MVI的诊断依靠术后肿瘤的病理学检查，术前寻求无创评估MVI的方法及生物标志物，对指导手术治疗和提高患者生存具有重要临床意义。近年来不少研究报道了利用影像组学预测肝细胞癌MVI，结果表明该技术在本领域具有一定的应用前景。现总结了近年来基于CT或MRI图像影像组学模型预测MVI研究结果，以期为该领域的进一步研究提供有益的思考。.

肝脏钙化性巢状间质-上皮肿瘤（calcifying nested stromal-epithelial tumor，CNSET）是一种非肝细胞、非胆管细胞原发的肝脏低度恶性潜能肿瘤，非常罕见。目前国外报道病例52例，国内报道仅2例。本文报道1例肝脏CNSET，并结合相关文献复习，以提高临床和病理医师对该肿瘤的认识水平，从而为患者的及时治疗提供机会。.

The incidence and mortality of HCC in China account for approximately 50% of all cases worldwide. Low early diagnosis rate and high postoperative recurrence rate are two major causes for poor 5-year survival rate of HCC patients in China. At present, multiple problems such as low performance and compliance of screening technology and lack of effective markers for predicting postoperative recurrence, remain to be resolved. Due to the simplicity and accuracy, new molecular markers, such as liquid biopsy, are expected to serve as supplementary tools to traditional screening and early warning approaches, thereby realizing early detection and accurate treatment of HCC. In this article, research progress upon the clinical application of liquid biopsy in early screening and prediction of postoperative recurrence of HCC was reviewed, and prospects the future research.中国肝细胞癌（HCC）发病及死亡人数约占全球50%。HCC早期诊断率低及术后复发率高是我国HCC患者5年生存率欠佳的两大原因。当前存在筛查技术性能及依从性较低、缺乏有效预测术后复发标志物等问题。液体活检等新型分子标志物因其简便、精准等特点，有望成为传统筛查预警方法的有益补充，实现HCC的早期发现及精准治疗。现就液体活检在HCC早筛及治疗后复发预测中的临床转化应用进行论述，并对未来研究进行展望。.

To investigate the epidemiological characteristics and identify the risk factors ofA cross-sectional study was performed for questionnaire surveys among colorectal cancer patients in Henan Cancer Hospital during the period from March to July, 2021. Patients' stool samples were collected, and the triosephosphate isomerase (A total of 307 colorectal cancer patients were investigated, including 176 males (57.3%) and 131 females (42.7%). PCR assay detected 8.1% [95% confidential interval (The prevalence of

The correlated f-electron compound URu2Si2 exhibits superconductivity (SC) with a critical temperature Tc = 1.5 K that coexists with the “hidden order” (HO) phase that forms below a characteristic temperature T0 = 17.5 K. The SC of URu2Si2 appears to be spin singlet chiral SC with d-wave order parameter symmetry, and the pairing of SCing electrons may involve spin excitations of the HO phase. Electrical resistance R measurements were performed on single crystal specimens of URu2−xFexSi2 with increasing x throughout the transition from the HO phase to the large moment antiferromagnetic LMAFM phase in high magnetic fields H oriented at various angles θ with respect to the tetragonal c-axis. Measurements of R(θ) at H = 20, 33, 40, and 45 T were conducted in the temperature range 0.33 ≤ T ≤ 20 K and showed θ-dependent behavior in the various phase transitions of URu2−xFexSi2 (HO, LMAFM, spin density wave, Fermi surface reconstruction, etc.). These phase transitions, as functions of T, H, and θ are plotted in a phase diagram of T vs. H//c = Hcosθ for multiple values of x and show that H//c, not θ is a tuning parameter of the URu2−xFexSi2 system throughout all Fe concentrations, as previously found by Scheereret al. for the URu2Si2 parent compound.

This study explored the first-person lived experiences of 2 nurses and 2 doctors combating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China. The in-depth interviews indicated that frontline healthcare professionals were at high risk of developing symptoms of fear, anxiety, depression, stress, loneliness, and burnout. The fear of being infected and the heavy workload in the isolation ward are the main risk factors for frontline health workers' psychological problems. Comprehensive assistance and social support must be provided in order to resolve their mental health issues.

Aims The vertical distribution of plant roots is a comprehensive result of plant adaptation to the environment. Limited knowledge on fine vertical root distributions and complex interactions between roots and environmental variables hinders our ability to reliably predict climatic impacts on vegetation dynamics. This study attempts to understand the drought adaptability of plants in arid areas from the perspective of the relationship between vertical root distribution and surroundings. Methods By analyzing root profiles compiled from published studies, the root vertical profiles of two typical phreatophytes, Tamarix ramosissima and Populus euphratica, and their relationships with environmental factors were investigated. A conceptual model was adopted to link the parameter distribution frequency with plant drought adaptability. Important Findings The strong hydrotropism (groundwater-dependent) and flexible water-use strategy of T. ramosissima and P. euphratica help both species survive in hyperarid climates. The differences in the developmental environments between T. ramosissima and P. euphratica can be explained well by the different distribution characteristics of root profiles. That is, higher root plasticity helps T. ramosissima develop a more efficient water-use strategy and therefore survive in more diverse climatic and soil conditions than P. euphratica. We conclude that the higher variation in root profile characteristics of phreatophytes can have greater root adaptability to the surroundings and thus wider hydrological niches and stronger ecological resilience. The inadequacy of models in describing root plasticity limits the accuracy of predicting the future response of vegetation to climate change, which calls for developing process-based dynamic root schemes in Earth system models.

Deep generative models with a specific variational autoencoding structure are capable of estimating parameters for the multidimensional logistic 2-parameter (ML2P) model in item response theory. In this work, we incorporated Q-matrix and variational autoencoder (VAE) to estimate item parameters with correlated and independent latent abilities, and we validate Q-matrix via the root mean square error (RMSE), bias, correlation, and AIC and BIC test score. The incorporation of a non-identity covariance matrix in a VAE requires a novel VAE architecture, which can be utilized in applications outside of education such as players performance evaluation, clinical trials assessment. Moreover, results show that the ML2P-VAE method is capable of estimating parameters and validating Q-matrix for models with a large number of latent variables with low computational cost, whereas traditional methods are infeasible for data with high-dimensional latent traits.

Pressure sensor used in marine hydrographic survey is an important device for the deep sea detection, the tsunami forecast and the marine engineering. Owing to its mature technology process and low...