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Nitroarenes are important chemicals but display toxity to environment and organisms. In the present work, non-precious bicomponent CuCo-based nanocomposites (CuCo 2 O 4 /CuO) prepared with the aid of gamma(γ)-ray-irradiation were utilized for hydrogen production from ammonia borane (AB) hydrolysis and tandem hydrogenation of nitroarenes. The γ-ray-irradiation remarkably boosted the catalytic performance for the AB dehydrogenation and the hydrogenation of nitroarenes. Hydrogen generation rate (HGR) for the CuCo 2 O 4 /CuO catalyst reached 856.3 mL min−1·g cat −1, which was approximately two-fold than that of the catalyst prepared by conventional method (only 397.1 mL min−1·g cat −1). Meanwhile, this irradiation-induced catalyst also showed excellent performance for the hydrogenation of screened nitroarenes with 100% yield of the corresponding amines. The CuCo 2 O 4 /CuO catalyst exhibited high reusability with ∼90% remained activity of the initial one after six runs. The bicomponent CuCo 2 O 4 /CuO exhibited positive hydrogen spillover and synergistic effects contributing to the considerable activity improvement, which is beneficial to the detoxication, conversion and utilization of poison nitroarenes. [Display omitted] • Gamma irradiation induced the construction of binary CuCo-based nanocomposites (CuCo 2 O 4 /CuO). • CuCo 2 O 4 /CuO exhibited remarkable activity for dehydrogenation of ammonia borane and tandem hydrogenation of nitroarenes. • Excellent selectivity was achieved regarding CuCo 2 O 4 /CuO in the tandem hydrogenation of various nitroarenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Anthocyanin and catechin production in tea (Camellia sinensis) leaves can positively affect tea quality; however, their regulatory mechanisms are not fully understood. Here we report that, while the CsMYB75‐ or CsMYB86‐directed MYB–bHLH–WD40 (MBW) complexes differentially activate anthocyanin or catechin biosynthesis in tea leaves, respectively, CsMYBL2a and CsMYBL2b homologs negatively modified the light‐ and temperature‐induced anthocyanin and catechin production in both Arabidopsis and tea plants. The MBW complexes activated both anthocyanin synthesis genes and the downstream repressor genes CsMYBL2a and CsMYBL2b. Overexpression of CsMYBL2b, but not CsMYBL2a, repressed Arabidopsis leaf anthocyanin accumulation and seed coat proanthocyanin production. CsMYBL2b strongly and CsMYBL2a weakly repressed the activating effects of CsMYB75/CsMYB86 on CsDFR and CsANS, due to their different EAR and TLLLFR domains and interactions with CsTT8/CsGL3, interfering with the functions of activating MBW complexes. CsMYBL2b and CsMYBL2a in tea leaves play different roles in fine‐tuning CsMYB75/CsMYB86–MBW activation of biosynthesis of anthocyanins and catechins, respectively. The CsbZIP1–CsmiR858a–CsMYBL2 module mediated the UV‐B‐ or cold‐activated CsMYB75/CsMYB86 regulation of anthocyanin/catechin biosynthesis by repressing CsMYBL2a and CsMYBL2b. Similarly, the CsCOP1–CsbZIP1–CsPIF3 module, and BR signaling as well, mediated the high temperature repression of anthocyanin and catechin biosynthesis through differentially upregulating CsMYBL2b and CsMYBL2a, respectively. The present study provides new insights into the complex regulatory networks in environmental stress‐modified flavonoid production in tea plant leaves. Significance Statement: It is not clear how tea (Camellia sinensis) leaves control the biosynthesis and accumulation of catechins, anthocyanins, and other types of flavonoids under various environmental conditions. In the present study we show that two MYB repressors (CsMYBL2b and CsMYBL2a) differently fine‐tune the high temperature‐ or light stress‐regulated anthocyanin and catechin production through interfering with CsMYB75‐ or CsMYB86‐directed MYB–bHLH–WD40 (MBW) complexes. CsbZIP1–CsmiR858a, CsCOP1–CsbZIP1–CsPIF3, and BR signaling are involved in this stress‐modified CsMYBL2b and CsMYBL2a expression, which further regulate MBW activation of catechin and anthocyanin production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water electrolysis is relatively an environmentally friendly hydrogen production technology, but due to the slow transfer of four electrons in the anodic oxidation reaction, it needs a theoretical voltage of up to 1.23 V. Therefore, in this experiment, a series of transition metal oxides, ACo2O4 (A = Fe, Cu, Zn, Ni), was synthesized on Ni foam current collectors by a hydrothermal and calcination method, and the material was applied in urea electrolysis to produce hydrogen. What is noteworthy is that the CuCo2O4 electrode has a unique flower-like nanoneedle structure, and has a larger electrochemical active area, more reactive active sites, and a faster charge transfer rate. In 1.0 M KOH and 0.5 M urea solution, CuCo2O4 provides a potential of only 1.268 V at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 during the urea oxidation reaction (UOR), while in 1.0 M KOH solution, with the same current density, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is required to provide a potential of 1.53 V, indicating that the UOR can effectively replace the OER. Density functional theory calculations show that the CuCo2O4 material exhibits Gibbs free energy of the hydrogen closest to zero, thus promoting the electrochemistry performance of the electrode. In a cell composed of CuCo2O4//CuCo2O4, the current density of 10 mA cm−2 can be achieved by providing a potential of only 1.509 V. This work offers a novel scheme for reducing energy consumption of the OER and improving catalytic performance of the UOR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers in the world, but the research on its prevention, early diagnosis and treatment is still a major challenge in clinical oncology. Thus, there is a pressing requirement to find effective strategies to improve the survival of colon cancer patients. Methods: Celecoxib has been accounted to be an effective antitumor drug, but may exhibit significant side effects. In recent studies, 5‐(4‐hydroxyphenyl)‐3H‐1,2‐dithiole‐3‐thione (ADT‐OH), one of the most commonly used reagents for the synthesis of sustained‐release H2S donors, has also been reported to inhibit cancer progression by affecting processes such as cell cycle, angiogenesis, and apoptosis. Therefore, we evaluated the therapeutic effect of the combination of ADT‐OH and celecoxib on colorectal cancer through in vitro and in vivo, hoping to achieve better therapeutic effect and reduce the effect of celecoxib on gastric injury through exogenous administration of H2S. Results: Our results demonstrated that ADT‐OH combined with celecoxib synergistically inhibited the proliferation and migration ability of human colorectal cancer HCT116 cells, altered cell cycle and cytoskeleton, increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), and promoted cell apoptosis. Noteworthy, in vivo studies also indicated the excellent antitumor therapeutic effect of the combination therapy without apparent toxicity. Conclusions: In general, our results provide a reasonable combination strategy of low‐dose ADT‐OH and celecoxib in the preclinical application of colorectal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an emergency situation, fast and efficient logistics and distribution are essential for minimizing the impact of a disaster and for safeguarding property. When selecting a distribution center location, time satisfaction needs to be considered, in addition to the general cost factor. The improved jellyfish search algorithm (CIJS), which simulates the bionics of jellyfish foraging, is applied to solve the problem of an emergency logistics and distribution center site selection model considering time satisfaction. The innovation of the CIJS is mainly reflected in two aspects. First, when initializing the population, the two-level logistic map method is used instead of the original logistic map method to improve the diversity and uniform distribution of the population. Second, in the jellyfish search process, a Cauchy strategy is introduced to determine the moving distance of internal motions, which improves the global search capability and prevents the search from falling into local optimal solutions. The superiority of the improved algorithm was verified by testing 20 benchmark functions and applying them to site selection problems of different dimensions. The performance of the CIJS was compared to that of heuristic algorithms through the iterative convergence graph of the algorithm. The experimental results show that the CIJS has higher solution accuracy and faster solution speed than PSO, the WOA, and JS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coupling effect of moisture content and temperature on the elastic modulus of concrete is experimentally investigated. The elastic modulus of dry concrete exhibits a clear temperature-weakening effect, while the elastic modulus of wet concrete exhibits a water-strengthening effect at room temperature. Under humidity-heat conditions, the elastic modulus of wet concrete declines with the temperature rise. When the temperature is 20 °C, 200 °C, 400 °C, 520 °C, and 620 °C, the humidity–heat coupling factors of the elastic modulus change rate D I ˙ F with moisture content are 0.08, 0.07, 0.04, 0.01, and −0.03, respectively, and the declining rate increases with the rise of moisture content. The relation between the humidity-heat coupling factor DIF, moisture content, and temperature was established; The equivalent relation between the water-strengthening effect and the temperature-weakening effect of the elastic modulus was obtained. The temperature range of the strengthening effect and "apparent weakening effect" of water stored inside concrete before heating on elastic modulus was determined; The evolutionary mechanism of the competition between the microcrack expansion and healing of concrete under combined humidity and heat conditions was revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The online automated maturity grading and counting of tomato fruits has a certain promoting effect on digital supervision of fruit growth status and unmanned precision operations during the planting process. The traditional grading and counting of tomato fruit maturity is mostly done manually, which is time-consuming and laborious work, and its precision depends on the accuracy of human eye observation. The combination of artificial intelligence and machine vision has to some extent solved this problem. In this work, firstly, a digital camera is used to obtain tomato fruit image datasets, taking into account factors such as occlusion and external light interference. Secondly, based on the tomato maturity grading task requirements, the MHSA attention mechanism is adopted to improve YOLOv8's backbone to enhance the network's ability to extract diverse features. The Precision, Recall, F1-score, and mAP50 of the tomato fruit maturity grading model constructed based on MHSA-YOLOv8 were 0.806, 0.807, 0.806, and 0.864, respectively, which improved the performance of the model with a slight increase in model size. Finally, thanks to the excellent performance of MHSA-YOLOv8, the Precision, Recall, F1-score, and mAP50 of the constructed counting models were 0.990, 0.960, 0.975, and 0.916, respectively. The tomato maturity grading and counting model constructed in this study is not only suitable for online detection but also for offline detection, which greatly helps to improve the harvesting and grading efficiency of tomato growers. The main innovations of this study are summarized as follows: (1) a tomato maturity grading and counting dataset collected from actual production scenarios was constructed; (2) considering the complexity of the environment, this study proposes a new object detection method, MHSA-YOLOv8, and constructs tomato maturity grading models and counting models, respectively; (3) the models constructed in this study are not only suitable for online grading and counting but also for offline grading and counting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To develop a scoring system based on clinical and imaging features to distinguish complicated appendicitis (CA) from uncomplicated appendicitis (UCA) during pregnancy. Method: This was a retrospective case–control study. Patients diagnosed with acute appendicitis during pregnancy were included, and they were divided into a CA group and a UCA group based on the intraoperative findings and the biopsy results. Multivariate logistic regression and machine learning were employed to establish a predictive model. Results: A total of 342 patients were included in this study. Among them, 141 (41.23%) patients were diagnosed with CA. The predictive model contained six indices, including symptom duration time more than 24 h, fever, heart rate at least 98 beats/minute, monocyte count at least 0.72 × 109/L, lymphocyte count at least 1 × 109/L and direct bilirubin at least 4.75 μmol/L. The total score was 31 points, and a score of more than 15.5 points predicted the development of CA during pregnancy with area under the curve (AUC) of 0.80 (95% confidence interval 0.75–0.84) and specificity of 0.84. A decision flow chart for distinguishing CA from UCA during pregnancy was developed by Decision Tree with an AUC of 0.78. Conclusion: The models combining clinical findings and laboratory tests, developed by two methods, can distinguish CA from UCA in pregnancy in a convenient and visualized way. Trial Registration: The research has been registered in Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on January 7, 2022 with registration ID ChiCTR2200055339. Synopsis: Models combining clinical findings and laboratory tests, developed through two methods, can distinguish complicated appendicitis from uncomplicated appendicitis in pregnancy in a convenient, visual way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China's population ages, the nationwide prevalence of dementia is increasing. However, the epidemiology of dementia among the Tibetan population remains unclear. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 9116 participants aged >50 years in the Tibetan population to investigate the risk factors and prevalence of dementia among this population. Permanent residents of the region were invited to participate, and the response rate was 90.7 %. The participants underwent neuropsychological testing and clinical assessments, from which physical measurements (e.g., body mass index, blood pressure), demographic information (e.g., gender, age), and lifestyle details (e.g., family living arrangement, smoking, alcohol arrangement) were recorded. Dementia diagnoses were made using the standard consensus diagnostic criteria. The risk factors of dementia were identified using stepwise multiple logistic regression. The average age of the participants was 63.71 (standard deviation = 9.36), and there were 44.86 % males. The prevalence of dementia was 4.66 %. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that older age, unmarried status, lower education level, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, cerebral vascular disease, and HAPC were independently and positively associated with dementia (P < 0.05). However, no association was found between the frequency of religious activities and the prevalence of dementia in this population (P > 0.05). There exist a number of contributory risk factors for dementia in the Tibetan population, with variations associated with high altitude, religious activities (i.e., scripture turning, chanting, spinning Buddhist beads, and bowing), and dietary habits. These findings suggest that social activities, such as religious activities, are protective factors for dementia. • This study is the first epidemiological survey of dementia in Tibetan residential areas. • Focus on investigating the prevalence and risk factors for dementia in Tibetan adults over the age of 50. • Risk factors for dementia in Tibetan populations may be related to altitude, religious beliefs and dietary habits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We design a generative adversarial network (GAN)-based pencil drawing learning system for art education on large image datasets to help students study how to draw pencil drawings for images and scenes. The system generates a pencil drawing result for a natural image based on GAN. The GAN network is trained on pencil drawing big datasets containing image pairs of natural images and their corresponding pencil drawings. Using the pencil drawing learning system, students can paint pencil drawings whenever they want and for whatever they like by uploading an image of the content they want to draw and getting a pencil drawing example of the uploaded image from the system. With the returned pencil drawing, students will see the pencil drawing effect of natural scenes clearly and realize how to draw the pencil drawing for the natural scene. Besides, with students using the pencil drawing learning system, it will be convenient for teachers assigning homework to students. Teachers can know the learning demands of students by evaluating the hand-in homework and update the content correspondingly. We have conducted two user studies for evaluating the practicality of the system, and the result of the two user studies demonstrated the applicability and practicality of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PbSe, a predicted two-dimensional (2D) topological crystalline insulator (TCI) in the monolayer limit, possess excellent thermoelectric and infrared optical properties. Native defects in PbSe take a crucial role for the applications. However, little attention has been paid to the defect induced doping characteristics. Here, we provide an experimental and theoretical investigation of defect induced p-type characteristic on epitaxial monolayer PbSe on Au(111). Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements demonstrate an epitaxial PbSe monolayer with a fourfold symmetric lattice. Combined scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal a quasi-particle bandgap of 0.8 eV of PbSe. STM results unveil that there are two types of defects on the surface, one is related the vacancies of Pb atoms and the other is the replacement of the absent Se atoms by Pb. Corresponding theoretical optimization confirms the structures of the defects. More importantly, both STS measurements and DFT calculations give evidence that the Pb vacancies move the Fermi energy inside the valence band and produce extra holes, leading to p-type characteristics of PbSe. Our work provides effective information for the future research of device performance based on PbSe films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prunella vulgaris L. (P. vulgaris) has long been considered to have antipyretic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects, lowering blood lipids and pressure. Many studies show that in addition to the traditional telomere attrition, DNA damage and epigenetic changes, immunosenescence is also a new possibility to explore the mechanism of ageing. Therefore, this herb may have potential anti-ageing effects. Typically, there are a series of markers that identify senescent cells, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD)2, an inhibitor of CDK4 (p16INK4A), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, immune cells number, proliferation, and nuclear abnormalities. These changes rarely present in young tissues, while greatly increasing in response to ageing. Firstly, the ageing model of the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mouse was established by d-galactose subcutaneous injection. Then, SOD2, p16INK4A and TNF-α were detected by quantitative Real-time PCR (qPCR), Western Blot (WB) and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Simultaneously, senescent cells in livers were stained by hematoxylin and eosin (HE). The viability of splenocytes was detected by Cell Counting Kit-8(CCK-8). The difference in specific immune cells (NK cells, B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes) was detected by flow cytometry. Both low (100 mg/kg) and high (300 mg/kg) concentrations of P. vulgaris treated ageing ICR mice show anti-ageing alterations, such as p16INK4A decreased approximately 1/2 and SOD2 tripled in livers, TNF-α decreased from 1 to 0.6 in plasma, and T cells increased from 0.09 to 0.19%. Compared with the ageing group, the spleen cells in the Prunella-treated group had stronger proliferation ability. Thus, P. vulgaris could have an anti-ageing effect. This is the first study to demonstrate the anti-ageing effect of P. vulgaris. It may also be capable of preventing a variety of age-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifunctional electrocatalysts play an increasingly crucial role in various practical electrochemical energy conversion devices. Especially, on the air cathode of rechargeable zinc–air batteries (ZABs), oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), requiring efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts, are switched during discharging and charging process. Here, supported by the theoretical computations, a facile strategy for the in situ assembly of NiFe‐MOFs nanosheets on heteroatoms‐doped porous activated carbon spheres is developed. The newly designed electrocatalyst (NP‐ACSs@NiFe‐MOFs) shows excellent performance toward bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis. Specifically, a remarkable low value of potential gap (ΔE = 0.61 V), which is the difference between the potential to reach an OER current density of 10 mA cm−2 and ORR half‐wave potential, is achieved in 0.1 m KOH. Notably, the aqueous ZAB based on NP‐ACSs@NiFe‐MOFs shows super cycle stability with small voltage gap of only 0.79 V when cycled for 450 h at 10 mA cm−2. Also, the quasi‐solid‐state ZAB indicates excellent flexibility and cycling stability. This study presents a facile strategy for the rational integration of different catalytically active components, and can be extended to prepare other strongly competitive multifunctional electrocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese herbal medicine has a wide range of sources, convenient materials, low residue, no drug resistance and other characteristics, and has a wide application prospect in livestock and poultry production. Chinese herbal medicine additives can shorten sows labor process, improve sows performance of farrowing, lactation and reproduction with prevent sows postpartum inflammation and regulate intestinal health. The article summarizes nutritional functions, biological activity components and biological functions of Chinese herbal medicine additives and application progress in sows production, to provide references for improving sows reproductive performance with Chinese herbal feed additives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Eczema is a common allergic skin condition among children and adolescents, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are a kind of fatty acid which were reported to be associated with reduced risk of eczema. Previous studies explored different types of PUFAs with various age groups of children and adolescents, and the influence of confounding factors such as medicine use was not considered. In the present study, we aimed to identify the associations between PUFAs and the risk of eczema in children and adolescents. These findings of our study might help better understand the associations between PUFAs and eczema. Methods: This cross-sectional study collected the data of 2,560 children and adolescents aged 6–19 years from National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) between 2005 and 2006. Total PUFA, omega-3 (n-3), including octadecatrienoic acid/18:3, octadecatrienoic acid/18:4, eicosapentaenoic acid/20:5, docosapentaenoic acid/22:5, and docosahexaenoic acid/22:6, omega-6 (n-6), including octadecatrienoic acid/18:2 and eicosatetraenoic acid/20:4, total n-3 intake, total n-6 intake, and n-3/n-6 were main variables in this study. Univariate logistic regression was applied for identifying potential confounders for eczema. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were conducted to explore the associations between PUFAs and eczema. Subgroup analysis was performed on subjects with different ages, and patients complicated with other allergic diseases, allergy, and medicine use or not. Results: In total, there were 252 (9.8%) subjects who had eczema. After adjusting for confounding factors including age, race, poverty to income ratio (PIR), medicine use, hay fever, sinus infection, body mass index (BMI), serum total immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibody, and IgE, we observed that eicosatetraenoic acid/20:4 (OR = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.04–0.68) and total n-3 (OR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.77–0.99) were linked with decreased risk of eczema in children and adolescents. Eicosatetraenoic acid/20:4 was correlated with decreased risk of eczema in participants without hay fever (OR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.70–0.97) and medicine use (OR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.68–0.94) or with allergy (OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.59–0.94). Total n-3 intake was associated with a reduced risk of eczema with the adjusted OR of 0.84, 95% CI: 0.72–0.98) in participants without hay fever. In those without sinus infection, octadecatrienoic acid/18:4 was linked with decreased risk of eczema (OR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.69–0.99). Conclusion: N-3 and eicosatetraenoic acid/20:4 might be associated with the risk of eczema in children and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cations and anions are indispensable resources for the development of nature and modern industry and agriculture, and exploring more efficient technology to monitor them is urgently needed. A multifunctional fluorescent probe based on 1,8-naphthalimide, N-(2-thiophenhydrazide)acetyl-4-morpholine-1,8-naphthalimide (TMN), was successfully designed and synthesized for the detection of Co2+, F−, and CN−, with N-carboxymethyl-4-morpholine-1,8-naphthalimide and thiophene-2-carbohydrazide as starting materials. TMN displayed superior stability in MeCN with an "on–off" mode towards Co2+, F−, and CN− by the naked eye. The linear response ranges of TMN were 0–3 and 4–19 μM with a detection limit of 0.21 μM for detecting Co2+, 0–5 and 5–22 μM with a detection limit of 0.36 μM for F−, and 0–10 and 10–25 μM with a detection limit of 0.49 μM for CN−. TMN could also recognize Co2+, F−, and CN− in real samples. Finally, the possible sensing mechanisms of TMN for detecting Co2+, F−, and CN− were deeply investigated. These results implied that TMN could be a potential chemosensor for monitoring metal cations and anions sensitively and selectively and could be used in real sample detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primula obconica is a perennial herbaceous flower of the Primulaceae that exhibits distinct heterostyly. Long(L)- and short(S)-styled morphs differ substantially in various ways, which can directly affect the genetic regulation of plants. We can improve genetic breeding by understanding their differences and the genetic mechanisms of heterostyly. This trial of P. obconica, which included material and morphological observation, cross-fertilization characteristics, and ISSR molecular markers, was carried out to analyze the difference in distyly comprehensively. The findings demonstrated that the pollen, anther and other floral characteristics of L- and S-morphs varied. The results of the breeding characteristics showed that there were different self-incompatible mechanisms between both morphs, the L-morphs showed partial fitness, while the S-morphs showed complete heteromorphic incompatibility. The ISSR analysis also revealed that 19 primer pairs were polymorphic, clearly banded, and stable, showing significant differences in molecular markers for different morphs. Our study reveals the differences between the morphs of the Primula, which can provide a basis for genetic evolution and breeding work on heterostyly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the aerosol characteristics in a regional background environment, fine-particle (PM2.5, n = 228) samples were collected over a one-year period at the Shangdianzi (SDZ) station, which is a Global Atmospheric Watch regional background station in North China. The chemical and optical characteristics of PM2.5 were analyzed, including organic carbon, elemental carbon, water-soluble organic carbon, water-soluble inorganic ions, and fluorescent components of water-soluble organic matter. The source factors of major aerosol components are apportioned, and the sources of the fluorescent chromophores are further analyzed. The major chemical components of PM2.5 at SDZ were NO3−, organic matter, SO42−, and NH4+. Annually, water-soluble organic carbon contributed 48% ± 15% to the total organic carbon. Secondary formation (52%) and fossil fuel combustion (63%) are the largest sources of water-soluble organic matter and water-insoluble organic matter, respectively. In addition, three humic-like and one protein-like matter were identified via parallel factor analysis for excitation—emission matrices. The fluorescence intensities of the components were highest in winter and lowest in summer, indicating the main impact of burning sources. This study contributes to understanding the chemical and optical characteristics of ambient aerosols in the background atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of (S)-1-phenyl-3,4-dihydroisoquinoline-2(1H)-carboxamide derivatives was synthesized and evaluated for inhibitory activity against monoamine oxidase (MAO)-A and-B, acetylcholine esterase (AChE), and butyrylcholine esterase (BChE). Four compounds (2i, 2p, 2t, and 2v) showed good inhibitory activity against both MAO-A and MAO-B, and two compounds (2d and 2j) showed selective inhibitory activity against MAO-A, with IC50 values of 1.38 and 2.48 µM, respectively. None of the compounds showed inhibitory activity against AChE; however, 12 compounds showed inhibitory activity against BChE. None of the active compounds showed cytotoxicity against L929cells. Molecular docking revealed several important interactions between the active analogs and amino acid residues of the protein receptors. This research paves the way for further study aimed at designing MAO and ChE inhibitors for the treatment of depression and neurodegenerative disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anaerobic, mesophilic, and cellulolytic Ruminiclostridium cellulolyticum produces an efficient cellulolytic extracellular complex named cellulosome, which consist of a non-catalytic multi-functional integrating subunit, organizing the various catalytic subunits into the complex. Main components of cellulosome were encoded by the cip-cel operon in R. cellulolyticum, and their stoichiometry is controlled by the mechanism of selective RNA processing and stabilization, which allows to confer each processed RNA portion from the cip-cel mRNA on different fates due to their stability and resolve the potential contradiction between the equimolar stoichiometry of transcripts with a within a transcription unit and the non-equimolar stoichiometry of subunits. Results: In this work, RNA processing events were found to occur at six intergenic regions (IRs) harboring stem-loop structures in cip-cel operon. These stem-loops not only stabilize processed transcripts at their both ends, but also act as cleavage signals specifically recognized by endoribonucleases. We further demonstrated that cleavage sites were often located downstream or 3′ end of their associated stem-loops that could be classified into two types, with distinct GC-rich stems being required for RNA cleavage. However, the cleavage site in IR4 was found to be located upstream of the stem-loop, as determined by the bottom AT-pair region of this stem-loop, together with its upstream structure. Thus, our findings reveal the structural requirements for processing of cip-cel transcripts, which can be potentially used to control the stoichiometry of gene expression in an operon. Conclusions: Our findings reveal that stem-loop structures acting as RNA cleavage signals not only can be recognized by endoribonucleases and determine the location of cleavage sites but also determine the stoichiometry of their flanking processed transcripts by controlling stability in cip-cel operon. These features represent a complexed regulation of cellulosome in the post-transcriptional level, which can be exploited for designing synthetic elements to control gene expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the clinical effect of a multidisciplinary collaboration team combined with a palliative care model in patients with terminal cancer. Method: A total of 84 patients diagnosed with terminal cancer in our hospital were included and randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group, with 42 cases in each group. Patients in the intervention group were treated by a multidisciplinary collaborative team combined with the palliative care model, and patients in the control group were treated by routine nursing intervention. The Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) were used to evaluate negative emotions and anxiety and depression of patients before and after intervention. The Quality of Life Scale (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer [EORTC] QLQ-C30) and Social Support Scale (SSRS) were used to evaluate the quality of life and social support of patients. This study has been registered in 13/01/2023 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05683236). Result: The general data of the two groups were comparable. After intervention, the SAS (43.7 ± 7.4 vs. 54.2 ± 9.3) and SDS scores (38.4 ± 6.5 vs. 53.1 ± 8.4) of the intervention group were significantly lower than those of the control group. The total SSRS score, subjective support score, objective support score and utilisation of support of the intervention group were significantly higher than those of the control group (P < 0.05). The overall quality of life score of the intervention group was higher than that of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (79.5 ± 4.5 vs. 73.2 ± 3.6, P < 0.05). The scores of each functional scale were significantly higher than those of the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Compared with conventional nursing, the application of the multidisciplinary collaborative team combined with tranquilisation therapy in patients with terminal cancer can significantly reduce the anxiety and depression of patients, enable patients to obtain comprehensive social support, and effectively improve the quality of life of patients. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT05683236, 13/01/2023, Retrospectively registered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Dao Ban Xiang" is a famous traditional Chinese dry‐cured meat product. This study aimed to comparatively analyze the difference in the volatile flavor information of "Dao Ban Xiang" produced in winter and summer. In this study, we determine the physical and chemical properties, free amino acids (FAAs), free fatty acids (FFAs), and volatile compounds in the four processing stages of samples in winter and summer. The content of FAAs decreased significantly during the curing period in winter while increasing steadily in summer. The content of total FFAs increased in both winter and summer, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) decreased significantly in summer. The characteristic compound in winter samples is hexanal, nonanal, and (E)‐2‐octenal, which may mainly come from the degradation of FAAs, while the characteristic compound in winter samples is hexanal, nonanal, and (E)‐2‐nonenal, which may mainly be derived from the oxidation of FFAs. This study extends our knowledge on flavor from traditional cured meat products at different processing stages in different seasons and could be useful for the standardization of the traditional and regional meat products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: During endoscopic ultrasound‐guided fine needle aspiration (EUS‐FNA), cytopathology with rapid on‐site evaluation (ROSE) can improve diagnostic yield and accuracy. However, ROSE is unavailable in most Asian and European institutions because of the shortage of cytopathologists. Therefore, developing computer‐assisted diagnostic tools to replace manual ROSE is crucial. Herein, we reported the validation of an artificial intelligence (AI)‐based model (ROSE‐AI model) to substitute manual ROSE during EUS‐FNA. Methods: A total of 467 digitized images from Diff‐Quik (D&F)‐stained EUS‐FNA slides were divided into training (3642 tiles from 367 images) and internal validation (916 tiles from 100 images) datasets. The ROSE‐AI model was trained and validated using training and internal validation datasets, respectively. The specificity was emphasized while developing the model. Then, we evaluated the AI model on a 693‐image external dataset. We assessed the performance of the AI model to detect cancer cells (CCs) regarding the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV). Results: The ROSE‐AI model achieved an accuracy of 83.4% in the internal validation dataset and 88.7% in the external test dataset. The sensitivity and PPV were 79.1% and 71.7% in internal validation dataset and 78.0% and 60.7% in external test dataset, respectively. Conclusion: We provided a proof of concept that AI can be used to replace manual ROSE during EUS‐FNA. The ROSE‐AI model can address the shortage of cytopathologists and make ROSE available in more institutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Successful management of chronic rotator cuff (RC) tears remains a challenge owing to its limited intrinsic healing capacity and unsatisfactory failure rate. Menstrual blood–derived mesenchymal stem cells (MenSCs) have the potential to differentiate into the chondrogenic or osteogenic lineage. Autologous platelet-rich gel (APG), a gel material derived from platelet-rich plasma (PRP), can be applied as a carrier system for cell delivery and also as a releasing system for endogenous growth factors. Purpose: To investigate the effect of human MenSCs encapsulated in APG (MenSCs@APG) on the healing of chronic RC tears in a rabbit model. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: After evaluation of the effect of PRP on MenSC proliferation or differentiation, the stem cells were encapsulated in APG for in vivo injection. Supraspinatus tenotomy from the right greater tuberosity was performed on 45 New Zealand White rabbits. After 6 weeks, these rabbits were randomly allocated to 3 supplemental treatments during supraspinatus repair: saline injection (control [CTL] group), APG injection (APG group), and MenSCs@APG injection (MenSCs@APG group). At week 18, these rabbits were sacrificed to harvest the humerus–supraspinatus tendon complexes for micro–computed tomography (CT), histological evaluation, tensile test, and MenSC tracking. Results: In vitro results showed that APG can stimulate MenSC proliferation and enhance chondrogenic or osteogenic differentiation. In vivo results showed that APG can act as a carrier for delivering MenSCs into the healing site, and also as a stimulator for enhancing the in vivo performance of MenSCs. Micro-CT showed that bone volume/total volume and trabecular thickness of the new bone in the MenSCs@APG group presented significantly larger values than those of the APG or CTL group (P <.05 for all). Histologically, compared with the CTL or APG group, significantly more mature fibrocartilage regenerated at the healing site in the MenSCs@APG group. A large number of human nuclei–stained cells were observed in the MenSCs@APG group, presenting a similar appearance to fibrochondrocytes or osteocytes. Biomechanically, the MenSCs@APG group showed significantly higher failure load and stiffness than the APG or CTL group (P <.05 for all). Conclusion: Human MenSCs@APG facilitated RC healing in a rabbit model of chronic tears. Clinical Relevance: Autogenous MenSCs@APG may be a new stem cell–based therapy for augmenting RC healing in the clinic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metacognitive experience, measured by processing fluency, contributes to divergent thinking performance; however, whether it exhibits varying effects on insight problem-solving remains unknown. Additionally, as individuals' interpretation of metacognitive experience is influenced by their creative mindset, whether creative mindset plays a role in the relationship between metacognitive experience and insight problem-solving is another issue. In Experiment 1, a Chinese logogriph task was used to investigate insight problem-solving performance. The font style of logogriphs (easy versus difficult) was used to alter the ease of processing. The results showed that individuals had lower performance accuracy for logogriphs presented in difficult font styles, suggesting the negative effect of metacognitive disfluency experience on logogriph solving. In Experiment 2, different creative mindsets (entity versus incremental) were activated in individuals via prime manipulation. Individuals with an incremental creative mindset had a significantly higher performance accuracy and longer reaction time for logogriphs presented in difficult font styles than individuals with an entity creative mindset, suggesting that an incremental creative mindset might counteract the negative effect of metacognitive disfluency experience on logogriphs solving. These findings suggest that metacognitive disfluency experience has a negative effect on insight problem-solving and that a creative mindset moderated this effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD), a rare immune-mediated chronic fibro-inflammatory condition, has various initial symptoms, thus posing diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Here, we report a case of IgG4-RD in a 35-year-old man with initial clinical symptoms of facial edema and recent onset of proteinuria. It took more than 1 year from the onset of clinical symptoms to diagnosis. Pathological examination of renal biopsy revealed significant renal interstitial lymphoid tissue hyperplasia simulating growth pattern of lymphoma. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining results showed that CD4 + T lymphocyte hyperplasia was dominant. There was no significant deletion of CD2/CD3/CD5/CD7. No monoclone was detected in TCR gene rearrangement. IHC staining showed that the number of IgG4-positive cells was greater than 100/HPF. The ratio of IgG4/IgG was greater than 40%. Combined with clinically examinations, IgG4-related tubulointerstitial nephritis was considered. Further cervical lymph node biopsy results suggested IgG4-related lymphadenopathy. He received methylprednisolone 40 mg/day intravenously for 10 days, leading to normal results of laboratory tests and clinical manifestations. The patient had a good prognosis without recurrence during 14 months of follow-up. This case report can be used as a reference for early diagnosis and treatment of such patients in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study thermalization of spin chains whose two end spins interact with two independent non-Markovian dephasing baths by the quantum state diffusion (QSD) equation approach. Up to now almost all of the studies about thermalization in an open quantum system focused on Markovian environment, while the effect of non-Markovian environment on thermalization is still elusive. Our results show that non-Markovianity of environments will delay thermalization. And moreover the effect of non-Markovianity is weakened by the non-integrability. For an isolated system, thermalization is seen in the subsystem states of system where the reduced density matrix of the subsystem follows quantum statistical mechanics. Different from the isolated system, for an open quantum system it is found that if the system evolves in the whole Hilbert space, thermalization can occur both locally and globally. Moreover, as long as global thermalization takes place, thermalization process consists of an early-stage local thermalization and a late-stage global one, which we name pre-local-thermalization (PLT) to distinguish it from pre-thermalization. And it is found that the integrability is beneficial for PLT. In addition, for the integrable system evolving in the whole Hilbert space, both local pre-thermalization and global pre-thermalization can be clearly observed in the presence of dephasing baths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food-dependent, exercise-induced anaphylaxis (FDEIA) is a potentially life-threatening disorder that often occurs with exercise, and patients typically have eaten a specific food within hours before disease onset. This disease is exceedingly rare, with a prevalence of 0.02%. No well-recognized prevention or treatment strategy has been available for FDEIA except avoiding triggers strictly. Here we report an 11-year-old boy with a history of recurrent anaphylaxis of unknown etiology more than 10 times within two years. As the anaphylactic symptoms had not been controlled after traditional treatments, the patient was given subcutaneous injection of dupilumab seven times within 33 weeks. During dupilumab treatments, the patient was exposed to culprit mushrooms plus exercises at least twice a month but without notable anaphylaxis. Thus, dupilumab may improve the allergic reactions in FDEIA patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A ternary-structured photocatalyst of graphite carbon nitride quantum dot sensitized TiO2 nanotubes (g-CNQDs/TNTs) on SiO2 photonic crystals (PCs) was fabricated successfully to achieve higher photodegradation efficiency of dyes in wastewater. Hydrothermal compositing conditions of g-CNQDs/TNTs were optimized to be 160 °C for 20 h and with a loading ratio of 1 : 8 of g-CNQDs to TNTs. In addition, the effect of the photonic bandgap (PBG) of PCs on the photocatalytic activity was investigated. When the PBG of PCs was located near the absorption peak of g-CNQDs at 464 nm, the photodegradation performance of g-CNQDs/TNTs and g-CNQDs/TNTs/PCs was 2.14 times and 3.76 times higher than that of pristine TNTs, respectively. The synergistic effect of quantum dots and PCs contributes to suppressing the recombination of photo-generated carriers and enhancing light harvesting. This work provides a pathway for efficient pollutant degradation on multi-synergistic photocatalysts by constructing a ternary-structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waterborne polyurethanes (WPUs) have attracted great interest owing to their environmentally friendly properties, and are wildly applied in production and daily life. However, waterborne polyurethanes are flammable. Up to now, the challenge remains to prepare WPUs with excellent flame resistance, high emulsion stability, and outstanding mechanical properties. Herein, a novel flame-retardant additive, 2-hydroxyethan-1-aminium (2-(1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)ethyl)(phenyl)phosphinate (BIEP-ETA) has been synthesized and applied to improve the flame resistance of WPUs, which has both phosphorus nitrogen synergistic effect and the ability to form hydrogen bonds with WPUs. The WPU blends (WPU/FRs) exhibited a positive fire-retardant effect in both the vapor and condensed phases, with significantly improved self-extinguishing performance and reduced heat release value. Interestingly, thanks to the good compatibility between BIEP-ETA and WPUs, WPU/FRs not only have higher emulsion stability, but also have better mechanical properties with synchronously improved tensile strength and toughness. Moreover, WPU/FRs also exhibit excellent potential as a corrosion-resistant coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Along with the peritoneal dialysis (PD)‐favored policy in China and the implementation of more comprehensive PD management, PD has evolved in Chinese mainland over the last decade. Despite the existence of national registries and several provincial epidemiological descriptive studies, there was almost no national research on the changing trajectory in PD population. A comparison study, based on two national surveys that were 10 years apart, was conducted to reveal the evolvement of PD care in Chinese mainland. Methods: Two national surveys have been done respectively in 2010 and 2020 to capture the epidemiological status, application of different modalities, management of perioperative infection, and long‐term complications among PD patients. Results: In the study with 730 participating hospitals (n = 14,912 PD patients) in 2010 and 746 hospitals (n = 101,537) in 2020, prevalent PD patients have increased in the past 10 years with increased numbers of PD patients in both secondary (average 5 ± 16 vs. 43 ± 41, p < 0.01) and tertiary hospitals (32 ± 53 vs. 153 ± 215, p < 0.01). Automated PD has been accessible in 0.4% of all hospitals, only in tertiary centers in 2010 and its application increased to 51% in 2020. PD centers have become more engaged in PD catheter placement, treated properly for the PD‐related infection, and carried out the follow‐up in compliance with the national protocols. Conclusions: Our study indicates that over the past decade, the prevalent PD population has quickly expanded with increased APD availability in Chinese mainland. The management of PD patients has become better conforming to the guidelines and long‐term follow‐up of patients have remained stable. Further studies are warranted to evaluate whether the rapidly changing paradigm of PD could translate into the socio‐economic benefits in the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation for conformal arrays is challenging due to non-omnidirectional element patterns and shadow effects. Conical conformal array (CCA) can avoid the shadow effect at small elevation angles. So CCA is suitable for DOA estimation on both azimuth and elevation angles at small elevation angles. However, the element pattern in CCA cannot be obtained by conventional directional element coordinate transformation. Its local element pattern also has connection with the cone angle. The paper establishes the CCA radiation pattern in local coordinate system using 2-D coordinate transformation. In addition, in the case of large elevation angle, only half elements of the CCA can receive signal due to the shadow effect. The array degrees of freedom (DOF) are reduced by halves. We introduce the difference coarray method, which increases the DOF. Moreover, we propose a more accurate propagator method for 2-D cases. This method constructs a new propagation matrix and reduces the estimation error. In addition, this method reduces computational complexity by using linear computations instead of eigenvalue decomposition (EVD) and avoids spectral search. Simulation and experiment verify the estimation performance of the CCA. Both demonstrate the CCA model established in this paper is corresponding to the designed CCA antenna, and the proposed algorithms meet the needs of CCA angle detection. When the number of array elements is 12, the estimation accuracy is about 5 degrees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UVB exposure accelerates skin aging and pigmentation. Melatonin effectively regulates tyrosinase (TYR) activity and aging. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between premature senescence and pigmentation, and the mechanism of melanin synthesis effected by melatonin. Primary melanocytes were extracted and identified from the male foreskin. To inhibit TYR expression, primary melanocytes were transduced with the lentivirus pLKD-CMV-EGFP-2A-Puro-U6-TYR. The wild-type TYR(+/+) and TYR(–/–) or TYR(+/–) knockout C57BL/6 J mice were used to determine the role of TYR on melanin synthesis in vivo. Results showed that UVB-induced melanin synthesis is dependent on TYR in primary melanocytes and mice. Furthermore, in primary melanocytes pretreated with Nutlin-3 or PFT-α to up or downregulate p53, results showed that premature senescence and melanin synthesis increased in primary melanocytes after UVB irradiation at 80 mJ/cm2, and further increased after being treated with Nutlin-3, while significantly decreased with PFT-α. In addition, melatonin inhibited UVB-induced premature senescence associated with inactivation of p53 and phosphorylation of p53 on Ser15 (ser-15), a decrease of melanin synthesis accompanied by reduced TYR expression. Moreover, skin erythema and pigmentation induced by UVB were reduced in the dorsal and ear skin of mice topically pretreated with 2.5% melatonin. These indicate that melatonin inhibits UVB-induced senescence-associated pigmentation via the p53-TYR pathway in primary melanocytes and prevents pigmentation obviously in the dorsal and ear skin of C57BL/6 J mice after UVB irradiation. Key messages: P53 links UVB irradiation-induced senescence and senescence-associated pigmentation and regulates TYR in primary melanocytes after UVB irradiation. Melatonin inhibits senescence-associated pigmentation through the p53-TYR pathway in primary melanocytes. Melatonin prevents skin erythema and melanin pigmentation induced by UVB irradiation in the dorsal and ear skin of C57BL/6J mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective: Central nervous system (CNS) infiltration commonly occurs in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Nevertheless, CNS infiltration is rarely detected at the initial diagnosis. The glymphatic system, which regulates cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and interstitial fluid transport, is considered one of the possible routes of CNS infiltration by leukemia cells. In this study, we used diffusion tensor image analysis along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS) method to investigate glymphatic system function and obtained CSF volume using synthetic magnetic resonance imaging (SyMRI) in pediatric ALL without clinically diagnosed CNS infiltration. Materials and methods: Twenty-nine ALL and 29 typically developing (TD) children were prospectively recruited (age 4–16 years) in the present study. Group differences in brain volumetric parameters, brain water diffusivities, and the ALPS index were evaluated after controlling for age, gender, and handedness. Furthermore, significant group-different parameters were correlated with clinical information using partial correlations analysis. Results: Lower Dxassoc and ALPS index, and increased CSF volume were found in pediatric ALL (all pFDR-corrected < 0.05). Moreover, the ALPS index was negatively associated with the risk classification (r = − 0.59, pFDR-corrected = 0.04) in pediatric ALL. Conclusions: Dysfunction of the glymphatic system and accumulation of CSF were presented in pediatric ALL without clinically diagnosed CNS infiltration. These novel findings suggested that the glymphatic system might be essential in the early-stage process of ALL CNS infiltration, which provides a new direction for exploring underlying mechanisms and early detection of pediatric ALL CNS infiltration. Key Points: • Lower Dxassoc and ALPS index, and increased CSF volume were found in pediatric ALL (all pFDR-corrected < 0.05). • The ALPS index was negatively associated with the risk classification (r = −0.59, pFDR-corrected = 0.04) in pediatric ALL. • Dysfunction of the glymphatic system and accumulation of CSF were presented in pediatric ALL without clinically diagnosed CNS infiltration, which suggested that the ALPS index and CSF volume might be promising imaging markers for early detection of pediatric ALL CNS infiltration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like its outdoor counterpart (e.g., GPS), an indoor tracking system can bring about disruptive changes in how we live and work. This paper proposes a location and tracking system using a single WiFi link based on channel state information. The system can realize real-time, decimeter-level localization and tracking. In this system, phase calibration and static path elimination are realized by multiplying the conjugate signals of different antennas. Then, a three-dimensional MUSIC algorithm is employed to estimate the angle of arrival (AOA), the time of flight (TOF), and the velocity of a target. A scheme is then developed to adjust the MUSIC search range and reduce the computation time from about ten hours to tens of seconds. The Widar2.0 data set from Tsinghua University are used for the experiments; the proposed system is found to have an average tracking error of 0.68 m in the three environments of classroom, office, and corridor, which is better than the existing single link localization and tracking system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flowering transition is tightly coordinated by complex gene regulatory networks, in which AGAMOUS-LIKE 16 (AGL16) plays important roles. Here, we identified the molecular function and binding properties of AGL16 and demonstrated its partial dependency on the SUPPRESSOR OF CONSTANS 1 (SOC1) function in regulating flowering. AGL16 bound to promoters of more than 2,000 genes via CArG-box motifs with high similarity to that of SOC1 in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Approximately 70 flowering genes involved in multiple pathways were potential targets of AGL16. AGL16 formed a protein complex with SOC1 and shared a common set of targets. Intriguingly, only a limited number of genes were differentially expressed in the agl16-1 loss-of-function mutant. However, in the soc1-2 knockout background, AGL16 repressed and activated the expression of 375 and 182 genes, respectively, with more than a quarter bound by AGL16. Corroborating these findings, AGL16 repressed the flowering time more strongly in soc1-2 than in the Col-0 background. These data identify a partial interdependency between AGL16 and SOC1 in regulating genome-wide gene expression and flowering time, while AGL16 provides a feedback regulation on SOC1 expression. Our study sheds light on the complex background dependency of AGL16 in flowering regulation, thus providing additional insights into the molecular coordination of development and environmental adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luminescent polymer nanomaterials not only have the characteristics of various types of luminescent functional materials and a wide range of applications, but also have the characteristics of good biocompatibility and easy functionalization of polymer nanomaterials. They are widely used in biomedical fields such as bioimaging, biosensing, and drug delivery. Designing and constructing new controllable synthesis methods for multifunctional fluorescent polymer nanomaterials with good water solubility and excellent biocompatibility is of great significance. Exploring efficient functionalization methods for luminescent materials is still one of the core issues in the design and development of new fluorescent materials. With this in mind, this review first introduces the structures, properties, and synthetic methods regarding fluorescent polymeric nanomaterials. Then, the functionalization strategies of fluorescent polymer nanomaterials are summarized. In addition, the research progress of multifunctional fluorescent polymer nanomaterials for bioimaging is also discussed. Finally, the synthesis, development, and application fields of fluorescent polymeric nanomaterials, as well as the challenges and opportunities of structure–property correlations, are comprehensively summarized and the corresponding perspectives are well illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The architectures of many state‐of‐the‐art local tempering detection models are complexity, and the training process of those models is also time‐consuming. Therefore, this paper constructs a lightweight local tampering detection method based on the convolutional network MobileNetV2 and a dual‐stream network. Specifically, the algorithm first improves the MobileNetv2, which not only reduces the multiple of its downsampling operator to retain richer traces of image tampering, but also introduces the dilated convolution in it to expand the receptive field of feature maps. The dual‐stream network uses RGB stream to extract image tampering features such as strong contrast difference and unnatural tampered boundaries, and implements spatial rich model (SRM) stream to extract image tampered area and noise features of real area. Finally, the features extracted from two streams are fused through an improved attention mechanism called parallel convolutional block attention module (CBAM), which can improve the sensitivity of the model to important features in RGB and SRM. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm still has higher positioning accuracy than some existing algorithms, while achieving lightweight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytophthora sojae is a devastating pathogen of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] that causes Phytophthora root and stem rot (PRR) on soybean plants worldwide. The pathogen leads to evident differentiation of pathogenicity which brings some difficulties to the control of the disease. Soybean germplasm plays an important role in disease resistance to P. sojae. To understand the role of soybean in the pathogen differentiation of P. sojae, transcriptome sequencing and biological information technology were used to analyse the difference in transcriptional level of soybean response to P. sojae infection by two isolates BB8 and BZ9 with different pathogenicity. A total of 1596 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened from the soybean plants treated with the strong pathogenic isolate BB8 and weak pathogenic isolate BZ9, of which 256 were upregulated and 1340 were downregulated in BZ9 treated samples. Gene Ontology analysis revealed that the highly enriched terms annotated in biological processes were metabolic process, cellular process and single‐organism process. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways were distributed primarily in metabolism, environmental information processing and cellular processes. Photosynthesis‐antenna proteins, photosynthesis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms, plant hormone signal transduction, flavonoid biosynthesis, carbon metabolism and nitrogen metabolism were the most substantial metabolic pathways. Ten candidate DEGs were selected and their expression levels were detected via fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The expression trends were basically consistent with the results of RNA‐seq detection, confirming the reliability of RNA‐seq data. Taken together, this was the report on the transcriptome analysis of soybean in response to P. sojae using high‐throughput sequencing. A number of DEGs and pathways were discovered, which provided valuable information for obtaining high‐quality soybean resistance resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

miR‐184 is one of the most abundant miRNAs expressed in the lens and corneal tissue. Mutations in the seed region of miR‐184 are responsible for inherited anterior segment dysgenesis. Animal models recapitulating miR‐184‐related anterior segment dysgenesis are still lacking, and the molecular basis of ocular abnormalities caused by miR‐184 dysfunction has not been well elucidated in vivo. In the present study, we constructed a miR‐184−/− zebrafish line by destroying both two dre‐mir‐184 paralogs with CRISPR‐Cas9 technology. Although there were no gross developmental defects, the miR‐184−/− zebrafish displayed microphthalmia and cataract phenotypes. Cytoskeletal abnormalities, aggregation of γ‐crystallin, and lens fibrosis were induced in miR‐184−/− lenses. However, no obvious corneal abnormalities were observed in miR‐184−/− zebrafish. Instead of apoptosis, deficiency of miR‐184 led to aberrant cell proliferation and a robust increase in p21 levels in zebrafish eyes. Inhibition of p21 by UC2288 compromised the elevation of lens fibrosis markers in miR‐184−/− lenses. RNA‐seq demonstrated that levels of four transcriptional factors HSF4, Sox9a, CTCF, and Smad6a, all of which could suppress p21 expression, were reduced in miR‐184−/− eyes. The predicted zebrafish miR‐184 direct target genes (e.g., atp1a3a and nck2a) were identified and verified in miR‐184−/− eye tissues. The miR‐184−/− zebrafish is the first animal model mimicking miR‐184‐related anterior segment dysgenesis and could broaden our understanding of the roles of miR‐184 in eye development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a famous traditional Chinese formula, Danshen Decoction has the potential to relieve the pain of pulmonary arterial hypertension patients, however, the functional components remain unknown. Herein, we reported a method to screen the functional components in Danshen Decoction targeting endothelin receptor A, an accepted target for the treatment of the disease. The receptor was functionalized on the macroporous silica gel through an epidermal growth factor receptor fusion tag and its covalent inhibitor. Using the affinity gel as the stationary phase, the bioactive compound was identified as salvianolic acid B by mass spectrometry. The binding kinetic parameter (dissociation rate constants kd) of salvianolic acid B with the receptor was determined via peak profiling. Using the specific ligands of the receptor as probes, the binding configuration prediction of salvianolic acid B with the receptor was performed by molecular dynamics simulation. Our results indicated that salvianolic acid B is a potential bioactive compound in Danshen Decoction targeting the receptor. This work showed that receptor chromatography in combination with molecular dynamics simulation is applicable to predicting the binding kinetics and configuration of a ligand to a receptor, providing crucial insight for the rational design of drugs that recognize functional proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trichiurus japonicus is an economically important fish that ranks 11th in global marine fish capture production. However, the reproductive characteristics of this fish have undergone notable changes in recent decades, potentially affecting the quality of offspring and sustainable utilization. To improve our understanding of the physiological regulation of maturation in T. japonicus, untargeted liquid chromatography mass spectrometry was utilized to identify the small molecules that characterize the comprehensive metabolic profiles of ovaries during ovary development from stage II to stage IV. According to the results of OPLS-DA, the ovarian metabolite profiles of the three developmental stages were separated. The concentrations of 124 and 100 metabolites were significantly altered between stage II vs. III and III vs. IV, respectively. Lipids and lipid-like molecules accounted for the largest proportion of the altered metabolites, followed by amino acids, peptides, and analogues. The significantly altered metabolites-enriched pathways differed slightly between stages II and III and stages III and IV. Steroid-related pathways were heavily affected during stages II to III, while significantly altered metabolites from stages III to IV were involved in oocyte-maturation-related pathways. Through metabonomics analysis, potentially important metabolic pathways and metabolites between different ovarian stages were detected, providing basic information for further investigation of maturation mechanisms in wild fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY Meristemoids, which are stomatal precursor cells, exhibit self‐renewal and differentiation abilities. However, the only known core factor associated with meristemoid division termination and fate transition is the heterodimer formed by the basic helix–loop–helix proteins MUTE and SCREAMs (SCRMs). FOUR LIPS (FLP), a well‐known transcription factor that restricts guard mother cell (GMC) division, is a direct target of MUTE. Whether FLP involves in meristemoid differentiation is unknown. Through sensitized genetic screening of flp‐1, we identified a mute‐like (mutl) mutant with arrested meristemoids. The mutant carried a novel allele of the MUTE locus, i.e., mute‐4. Intriguingly, mute‐4 is a hypomorphic allele that exhibits wild‐type appearance with slightly delayed meristemoid‐to‐GMC transition, whereas it renders an unexpected mutl epidermis with most meristemoids arrested and very few stomata when combined with flp (flp mute‐4), suggesting that FLP is a positive regulator during this transition process. Consistently, the expression of FLP increased during GMC commitment, and the number of cells at this stage was markedly increased in flp. flp scrm double mutants produced arrested meristemoids similar to mute, and FLP was able to interact physically with SCRM. Taken together, our results demonstrate that FLP functions together with MUTE and SCRMs to direct meristemoid‐to‐GMC fate transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) is considered as a high energy-efficient CO 2 conversion method and a promising technology to achieve carbon neutralization. Thus, in this work, the reduced Co or Ni doped Pr 0.4 Sr 0.6 Fe 0.9 Mo 0.1 O 3 perovskite oxides are used as the cathode of SOEC. After reduction, Co-Fe alloy nanoparticles are in situ exsolved from Pr 0.4 Sr 0.6 Co 0.2 Fe 0.7 Mo 0.1 O 3 and Pr 0.4 Sr 0.6 Co 0.45 Fe 0.45 Mo 0.1 O 3 , and NiFe 10.8 alloy nanoparticles are attached on the Pr 0.4 Sr 0.6 Ni 0.2 Fe 0.7 Mo 0.1 O 3 matrix. The reduced Pr 0.4 Sr 0.6 Ni 0.2 Fe 0.7 Mo 0.1 O 3 exhibits the highest oxygen vacancy concentration and CO 2 adsorption ability, which further promote oxygen surface exchange and electrochemical surface exchange reaction. Besides, the reduced Pr 0.4 Sr 0.6 Ni 0.2 Fe 0.7 Mo 0.1 O 3 exhibits the highest surface reaction rate constant (k chem) of 3.54 × 10-4 cm s-1 and highest oxygen chemical bulk diffusion coefficient (D chem) of 27.53 × 10-5 cm2 s-1, suggesting that reduced Pr 0.4 Sr 0.6 Ni 0.2 Fe 0.7 Mo 0.1 O 3 shows the best catalytic activity for CO 2 reduction reaction. The symmetrical cell with reduced Pr 0.4 Sr 0.6 Ni 0.2 Fe 0.7 Mo 0.1 O 3 shows the lowest polarization resistance (R p) value, and at 800 °C, the electrolysis cell with reduced Pr 0.4 Sr 0.6 Ni 0.2 Fe 0.7 Mo 0.1 O 3 cathode also exhibits the best performance of 0.81 A cm-2 in 50%CO-50%CO 2 and 1.05 A cm-2 in pure CO 2 at 1.5 V, indicating that reduced Pr 0.4 Sr 0.6 Ni 0.2 Fe 0.7 Mo 0.1 O 3 is a promising cathode for CO 2 electrolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ligustrum quihoui is a perennial shrub that has been cultivated in China as a landscape plant. In November 2020, leaf spots on L. quihoui were observed in several residential areas in the east of Anqing city. Symptoms first appeared as small dark brown dots on the leaf surface which then became larger, forming necrotic lesions and resulting in intense defoliation. To identify the pathogen, infected leaves were collected and cultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA). Three cultures were isolated from the diseased leaves, which grew to form olive green colonies after 5 days of incubation on PDA. Based on colony characteristics, morphology phylogenetic analysis of ribosome transcriptional spacers (rDNA-ITS), and pathogenicity tests, the causal agent of leaf spot on L. quihoui was identified as Corynespora cassiicola. This is the first report to show that C. cassiicola can cause leaf spot on L. quihoui. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Existing control circuits for piezoelectric energy harvesting (PEH) suffers from long startup time or high power consumption. This paper aims to design an ultra-low power control circuit that can harvest weak ambient vibrational energy on the order of several microwatts to power heavy loads such as wireless sensors. Design/methodology/approach: A self-powered control circuit is proposed, functioning for very brief periods at the maximum power point, resulting in a low duty cycle. The circuit can start to function at low input power thresholds and can promptly achieve optimal operating conditions when cold-starting. The circuit is designed to be able to operate without stable DC power supply and powered by the piezoelectric transducers. Findings: When using the series-synchronized switch harvesting on inductor circuit with a large 1 mF energy storage capacitor, the proposed circuit can perform 322% better than the standard energy harvesting circuit in terms of energy harvested. This control circuit can also achieve an ultra-low consumption of 0.3 µW, as well as capable of cold-starting with input power as low as 5.78 µW. Originality/value: The intermittent control strategy proposed in this paper can drastically reduce power consumption of the control circuit. Without dedicated cold-start modules and DC auxiliary supply, the circuit can achieve optimal efficiency within one input cycle, if the input signal is larger than voltage threshold. The proposed control strategy is especially favorable for harvesting energy from natural vibrations and can be a promising solution for other PEH circuits as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In daily life, individuals need to recognize and update emotional information from others' changing body expressions. However, whether emotional bodies can enhance working memory (WM) remains unknown. In the present study, participants completed a modified n‐back task, in which they were required to indicate whether a presented image of an emotional body matched that of an item displayed before each block (0‐back) or two positions previously (2‐back). Each block comprised only fear, happiness, or neutral. We found that in the 0‐back trials, when compared with neutral body expressions, the participants took less time and showed comparable ceiling effects for accuracy in happy bodies followed by fearful bodies. When WM load increased to 2‐back, both fearful and happy bodies significantly facilitated WM performance (i.e., faster reaction time and higher accuracy) relative to neutral conditions. In summary, the current findings reveal the enhancement effect of emotional body expressions on WM and highlight the importance of emotional action information in WM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]