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With the continuous advancement of the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port and Island Reef Project, deploying Microbial Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation (MICP technology) for related research on the temperature range in this area would be of great significance. MICP technology is an innovative and sustainable new soil reinforcement technology that uses the metabolic activity of specific bacteria to produce calcium carbonate precipitation (CaCO3) to connect loose soil. A few previous studies reporting on the applications of MICP technology in different temperature environments drew different conclusions. Therefore, this study involved MICP sand column reinforcement tests at ambient temperatures of 20 °C, room temperature, 30 °C, and 40 °C. The reinforcement effect was evaluated using indicators such as CaCO3 generation rate, Ca2+ conversion rate, bacterial adhesion rate, water absorption rate, and unconfined compressive strength, providing a reference basis for the future applications of MICP technology to island and reef engineering construction. The results showed that, with an increase of temperature from 20 °C to 40 °C, the CaCO3 production rate, Ca2+ conversion rate, and unconfined compressive strength showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing; the UCS was 548 KPa at 20 °C and 2276.67 KPa at 30 °C; the water absorption rate at 20 °C was 25.32, which decreased continuously with increasing temperature, and reached 21.49 at 40 °C; and the bacterial adhesion rate also continued to rise in the range of 20 °C to 40 °C, from 10.91 to 28.44. The increase in temperature had an impact on the physiological state of bacterial cells. A scanning electron microscope test shows that CaCO3 crystal forms generated under different temperature environments were different, and the CaCO3 mineral deposits generated during MICP reinforcement at 30 °C were denser. Fewer gaps were present between adjacent sand particles, and the bond was tight, which served better as a bridge. The strength of the solidified sample was also higher. The annual average temperature of the South China Sea is about 30 °C. The findings of this experiment provide feasibility and sustainable development for MICP project reinforcement in the South China Sea.

Electrolyte engineering is crucial for improving battery performance, particularly for lithium metal batteries. Recent advances in electrolytes have greatly improved cyclability by enhancing electrochemical stability at the electrode interfaces, but concurrently achieving high ionic conductivity has remained challenging. Here we report an electrolyte design strategy for enhanced lithium metal batteries by increasing the molecular diversity in electrolytes, which essentially leads to high entropy electrolytes (HEEs). We find that in weakly solvating electrolytes, the entropy effect reduces ion clustering while preserving the characteristic anion-rich solvation structures, which is characterized by synchrotron-based X-ray scattering and molecular dynamics simulations. Electrolytes with smaller-sized clusters exhibit a 2-fold improvement in ionic conductivity compared to conventional weakly-solvating electrolytes, enabling stable cycling at high current densities up to 2C (6.2 mA cm-2) in anode-free LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2 (NMC622) || Cu pouch cells. The efficacy of the design strategy is verified by performance improvements in three disparate weakly solvating electrolyte systems.

Little is known about how evolved hydrogen affects the cycling of Li batteries. Hypotheses include the formation of LiH in the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) and dendritic growth of LiH. Here, we discover that LiH formation in Li batteries likely follows a different pathway: Hydrogen evolved during cycling reacts to nucleate and grow LiH within already deposited Li metal, consuming active Li. We provide the evidence that LiH formed in Li batteries electrically isolates active Li from the current collector that degrades battery capacity. We detect the coexistence of Li metal and LiH also on graphite and silicon anodes, showing that LiH forms in most Li battery anode chemistries. Last, we find that LiH has its own SEI layer that is chemically and structurally distinct from the SEI on Li metal. Our results highlight the formation mechanism and chemical origins of LiH, providing critical insight into how to prevent its formation.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of utilizing Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) combined group psychotherapy intervention on psychological distress management and gut micro-biome regulation for colorectal(CRC) survivors. Methods: A single-arm phase I clinical trial was conducted between December 2020 and December 2021 in Xiyuan and Beijing Cancer Hospital in China. Inclusion criteria was stage I-III CRC survivors after radical surgery with age between 18-75. The intervention was a six-week online TCM combined group psychotherapy intervention including 90 minutes’ communication, TCM lifestyle coaching, self-acupressure guidance and mindfulness practice led by TCM oncologist and psychiatrist each week. Outcomes were measured by Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventor (FCRI), and Quality of Life Questionnaire(QLQ-C30). Fetal samples before and after intervention were collected for 16Sr RNA analysis. Results: We recruited 40 CRC survivors and 38 of them finally completed all interventions with average age of 58±13 years’ old. Paired t-test showed that SAS at week 2(35.4±5.8), week 4(37.9±10.5) and week 6(31.3±6.4) during the intervention was significantly lower than baseline (42.1±8.3, pIntestinibacter, Terrisporobacter, Coprobacter and Gordonibacter were all significantly elevated after intervention. Conclusions: TCM combined group psychotherapy intervention is feasible and effective to reduce CRC survivors’ psychological distress and modulate certain gut bacteria which might be associated with brain-gut axis effect. It is necessary to carry out with phase II randomized controlled clinical trial.

Background. The rate of ovarian cancer (OC) is one of the highest in women's reproductive systems. An improperly expressed microRNA (miRNA) has been discovered to have a vital role in the pathophysiology of OC. However, more research into OC's miRNA-message RNA (mRNA) gene interaction network is required. Methods. Firstly, the microarray data sets GSE25405 and GSE119055 from the GEO (Gene Expression Omnibus) database were downloaded and then analyzed with the GEO2R tool aiming at identifying DEMs (differential expressed miRNAs) between ovarian malignant tissue and ovarian normal tissue. The whole consistently changed miRNAs were then screened out to be candidate DEMs. For estimating underlying upstream transcription factors, FunRich was employed. miRNet was utilized to determine putative DEMs' downstream target genes. The R program was then used to do the GO annotation as well as the analysis of KEGG pathway enrichment for target genes. The PPI (protein-protein interaction), as well as the DEM-hub gene networks, were created by the Cytoscape software and STRING database. Finally, we chose the GSE74448 dataset to test the precision of hub gene expressions. Results. We have screened out six (five upregulated and one downregulated) DEMs. The majority of upregulated and downregulated DEMs are likely regulated by SP1 (specificity protein 1). SP4 (s protein 4), POU2F1 (POU class 2 homeobox 1), MEF2A (myocyte-specific enhancer factor 2A), ARID3A (AT-rich interaction domain 3A), and EGR1 (early growth response 1) can regulate upregulated and downregulated DEMs. We have found 807 target genes (656 upregulated and 151 downregulated DEM), being generally enriched in focal adhesion and proteoglycans in cancer, gastric cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, as well as breast cancer. The majority of hub genes are projected to be controlled by hsa-miR-429, hsa-miR-140-5p, hsa-miR-199a-5p, and hsa-miR-199a-3p after the DEM-hub gene network was built. VEGFA (vascular endothelial growth factor A), EZH2 (enhancer of zeste 2 polycomb repressive complex 2 subunit), and HIF1A (hypoxia inducible factor 1 subunit alpha) expressions are consistent with the GSE74448 dataset in the first 18 hub genes. Conclusion. We have built an underlying miRNA-mRNA interacting network in OC, giving us unparalleled insight into the disease's diagnosis and treatment.

An electrochemical biosensor based on Au@MoS2 composite nanosheets was successfully prepared for the high-sensitivity detection of dopamine.

Hyperspectral (HS) image fusion aims at integrating a panchromatic (PAN) image and an HS image, featuring the fused image with the spatial quality of the former and the spectral diversity of the latter. The classic fusion algorithm generally includes three consecutive procedures that are upsampling, detail extraction, and detail injection. In this article, we propose an HS and PAN image fusion method based on generative adversarial network and local estimation of injection gain. Instead of upsampling the HS image by classical interpolation techniques, a generative adversarial super-resolution network (GASN) is designed to obtain the interpolated HS image in the fusion framework. GASN establishes a spectral-information-based discriminator to conduct adversarial learning with the generator, so as to preserve the spectral information of the low-resolution HS image. An image segmentation-based injection gain estimation (ISGE) algorithm is subsequently proposed for HS and PAN images fusion. The injection gain is estimated over image segments obtained by a binary partition tree approach to improve the fusion performance. The proposed GASN and ISGE are implemented into two credible global estimation pansharpening methods, and experimental results prove the performance improvement of the proposed method. The proposed method is also compared with existing state-of-the-art methods, and experiments on several public databases demonstrate that the proposed method is competitive or superior to the state-of-the-art fusion methods.

The survival benefit of adjuvant radiotherapy in T4 colon cancer (CC) remains controversial, with conflicting results reported in the literature. This study aimed to explore the relationship between pretreatment carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level and overall survival (OS) of pT4N+ CC patients treated with adjuvant radiotherapy. Data of pT4N+ CC patients who received curative surgery between 2004 and 2015 were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The primary outcome was OS, and subgroup analysis was conducted according to pretreatment CEA level. A total of 8763 patients were eligible for our study. In the CEA-normal group, 151 patients received adjuvant radiotherapy, while 3932 patients did not. In the CEA-elevated group, 212 patients received adjuvant radiotherapy, while 4468 patients did not. In general, adjuvant radiotherapy was associated with better OS in pT4N+ CC patients (HR = 0.846, 95% CI = 0.733–0.976, P = 0.022 ). Intriguingly, only patients with an elevated pretreatment CEA level gained a survival benefit from adjuvant radiotherapy (HR = 0.782; 95% CI = 0.651–0.939; P = 0.008 ) while those with a normal pretreatment CEA level did not (HR = 0.907; 95% CI = 0.721–1.141; P = 0.403 ). Multivariable Cox regression analysis demonstrated that adjuvant radiotherapy was an independent protective factor in pT4N+ CC patients with an elevated pretreatment CEA level. Pretreatment CEA levels could serve as a potential biomarker to screen pT4N+ CC patients who would benefit from adjuvant radiotherapy.

BeiDou Global Navigation Satellite System (BDS-3) not only performs the normal positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) functions, but also provides featured services, which are divided into geostationary orbit (GEO) and medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite-based featured services in this paper. The former refers to regional services consisting of the regional short message communication service (RSMCS), the radio determination satellite service (RDSS), the BDS satellite-based augmented service (BDSBAS) and the satellite-based precise point positioning service via B2b signal (B2b-PPP). The latter refers to global services consisting of the global short message communication service (GSMCS) and the MEO satellite-based search and rescue (MEOSAR) service. The focus of this paper is to describe these featured services and evaluate their performances. The results show that the inter-satellite link (ISL) contributes a lot to the accuracy improvement of orbit determination and time synchronization for the whole constellation. Compared with some other final products, the root mean squares (RMS) of the BDS-3 precise orbits and broadcast clock are 25.1 cm and 2.01 ns, respectively. The positioning accuracy of single frequency is better than 6 m, and that of the generalized RDSS is usually better than 12 m. For featured services, the success rates of RSMCS and GSMCS are better than 99.9% and 95.6%, respectively; the positioning accuracies of single and dual frequency BDSBAS are better than 3 and 2 m, respectively; the positioning accuracy of B2b-PPP is better than 0.6 m, and the convergence time is usually smaller than 30 min; the single station test shows that the success rate of MEOSAR is better than 99%. Due to the ISL realization in the BDS-3 constellation, the performance and capacities of the global featured services are improved significantly.

Objective To evaluate Chinese cancer patients’ health related quality of life and its predictor factors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method We conducted an online cross-sectional survey study among Chinese cancer patients in 2020 around China by utilizing the validated Mandarin version of COVID-19 IHRQOL questionnaire. Results 387 patients participated in this survey, in which 283(72.9%) patients worried the pandemic’s impact on their cancer care, 69% feared getting infected by COVID-19. 30.7% and 17.3% patients had experienced depression and social isolation. More than 80% patients reported perceived benefits such as feeling more grateful. 26.3% patients reported financial hardship and 44.9% reported cancer care disruption. Multivariate analyses showed that more financial hardship was significantly associated with higher level of COVID-19 specific distress (p

The long-chain fatty acyl CoA synthetase (ACSLs) family of enzymes contributes significantly to lipid metabolism and produces acyl-coenzyme A by catalyzing fatty acid oxidation. The dysregulation of ACSL3 and ACSL4, which belong to the five isoforms of ACSLs, plays a key role in cancer initiation, development, metastasis, and tumor immunity and may provide several possible therapeutic strategies. Moreover, ACSL3 and ACSL4 are crucial for ferroptosis, a non-apoptotic cell death triggered by the accumulation of membrane lipid peroxides due to iron overload. Here, we present a summary of the current knowledge on ACSL3 and ACSL4 and their functions in various cancers. Research on the molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of ferroptosis is critical to developing targeted therapies for cancer.

Electrolyte engineering is a critical approach to improve battery performance, particularly for lithium metal batteries. In this work, we introduce the concept of high entropy electrolytes (HEEs) that achieve improved ionic conductivity while maintaining excellent electrochemical stability. We find that increasing the molecular diversity and concomitantly the mixing entropy of weakly solvating electrolytes can reduce ion clustering while retaining anion-rich solvation structure, confirmed through synchrotron-based X-ray scattering and molecular dynamics simulations. Less clustered electrolytes exhibit higher diffusivity and ionic conductivity, enabling high current density cycling up to 2C (> 6 mA cm-2) for up to ~80 cycles in anode-free NMC-Cu pouch cells. We substantiate the generality of the concept by verifying performance improvement in three disparate electrolyte systems. This work highlights a large unexplored design space of HEEs that can improve electrolyte properties for lithium metal batteries.

Background The side effects of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) and myelosuppression reduce the cancer patients’ adherence to chemotherapy. Many Chinese patients choose Chinese medicine (CM) during chemotherapy to reduce side effects; however, the evidence is lacking. The efficacy of a CM herbal treatment protocol, Jianpi Bushen Sequential Formula (健脾补肾续贯方, JBSF) will be evaluated on chemotherapy completion rate among patients with colon cancer. Methods A multi-center double-blind randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted on 400 patients with colon cancer who will receive 8 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy with oxaliplatin and capecitabine (CAPEOX). Patients will be randomized 1:1 to receive the JBSF or placebo formula. The primary outcome is the overall chemotherapy completion rate. The secondary outcomes include individual chemotherapy completion rate, 4-cycle completion rate of chemotherapy, time to treatment failure, relative dose intensity and treatment toxicity. Follow-up visits will be scheduled before every and after last chemotherapy. Discussion This study will provide evidence on whether JBSF can improve the chemotherapy completion rate and reduce side effects among patients with colon cancer. (Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, No. NCT03716518)

Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBP1) is a rate-limiting enzyme in gluconeogenesis and an important tumor suppressor in human malignancies. Here, we aimed to investigate the expression profile of FBP1 in ovarian cancer, the molecular mechanisms that regulate FBP1 expression and to examine how the FBP1 regulatory axis contributes to tumorigenesis and progression in ovarian cancer. We showed that FBP1 expression was significantly decreased in ovarian cancer tissues compared with normal ovarian tissues, and low-FBP1 expression predicted poor prognosis in patients with ovarian cancer. The enhanced expression of FBP1 in ovarian cancer cell lines suppressed proliferation and 2-D/3-D invasion, reduced aerobic glycolysis, and sensitized cancer cells to cisplatin-induced apoptosis. Moreover, DNA methylation and C-MYC binding at the promoter inhibited FBP1 expression. Furthermore, through physical interactions with signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), FBP1 suppressed nuclear translocation of STAT3 and exerted its non-metabolic enzymatic activity to induce the dysfunction of STAT3. Thus, our study suggests that FBP1 may be a valuable prognostic predictor for ovarian cancer. C-MYC-dependent downregulation of FBP1 acted as a tumor suppressor via modulating STAT3, and the C-MYC/FBP1/STAT3 axis could be a therapeutic target.

Background Although programmed cell death‐ligand 1 (PD‐L1) plays a well‐known function in immune checkpoint response by interacting with programmed cell death‐1 (PD‐1), the cell‐intrinsic role of PD‐L1 in tumors is still unclear. Here, we explored the molecular regulatory mechanism of PD‐L1 in the progression and metastasis of ovarian cancer. Methods Immunohistochemistry of benign tissues and ovarian cancer samples was performed, followed by migration, invasion, and angiogenesis assays in PD‐L1‐knockdown ovarian cancer cells. Immunoprecipitation, mass spectrometry, and chromatin immunoprecipitation were conducted along with zebrafish and mouse experiments to explore the specific functions and mechanisms of PD‐L1 in ovarian cancer. Results Our results showed that PD‐L1 induced angiogenesis, which further promoted cell migration and invasion in vitro and in vivo of ovarian cancer. Mechanistically, PD‐L1 was identified to directly interact with vascular endothelial growth factor receptor‐2 (VEGFR2) and then activated the FAK/AKT pathway, which further induced angiogenesis and tumor progression, leading to poor prognosis of ovarian cancer patients. Meanwhile, PD‐L1 was found to be regulated by the oncogenic transcription factor c‐JUN at the transcriptional level, which enhanced the expression of PD‐L1 in ovarian cancer. Furthermore, we demonstrated that PD‐L1 inhibitor durvalumab, combined with the antiangiogenic drug, apatinib, could enhance the effect of anti‐angiogenesis and the inhibition of cell migration and invasion. Conclusion Our results demonstrated that PD‐L1 promoted the angiogenesis and metastasis of ovarian cancer by participating in the c‐JUN/VEGFR2 signaling axis, suggesting that the combination of PD‐L1 inhibitor and antiangiogenic drugs may be considered as a potential therapeutic approach for ovarian cancer patients., This manuscript demonstrated that PD‐L1 promoted the angiogenesis and metastasis of ovarian cancer by participating in the c‐JUN/VEGFR2 signaling axis, and suggested that the combination of PD‐L1 inhibitor and antiangiogenic drugs may be considered as a potential therapeutic approach for ovarian cancer patients.

Artificial skins reproducing properties of human skin are emerging and significant for study in various areas, such as robotics, medicine, and textiles. Perspiration, as one of the most imperative thermoregulation functions of human skin, is gaining increasing attention, but how to realize ideal artificial skin for perspiration simulation remains challenging. Here, an integrated 3D hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity design is proposed for artificial sweating skin (i-TRANS). Based on normal fibrous wicking materials, the selective surface modification with gradient of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) creates hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity contrast in both lateral and vertical directions. With the additional help of bottom hydrophilic Nylon 6 nanofibers, the constructed i-TRANS is able to transport "sweat" directionally without trapping undesired excess water and attain uniform "secretion" of sweat droplets on the top surface, decently mimicking human skin perspiration situation. This fairly comparable simulation not only presents new insights for replicating skin properties, but also provides proper in vitro testing platforms for perspiration-relevant research, greatly avoiding unwanted interference from the "skin" layer. In addition, the facile, fast, and cost-effective fabrication approach and versatile usage of i-TRANS can further facilitate its application.

Carbon capture and sequestration reduces carbon dioxide emissions and is critical in accomplishing carbon neutrality targets. Here, we demonstrate new sustainable, solid-state, polyamine-appended, cyanuric acid–stabilized melamine nanoporous networks (MNNs) via dynamic combinatorial chemistry (DCC) at the kilogram scale toward effective and high-capacity carbon dioxide capture. Polyamine-appended MNNs reaction mechanisms with carbon dioxide were elucidated with double-level DCC where two-dimensional heteronuclear chemical shift correlation nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was performed to demonstrate the interatomic interactions. We distinguished ammonium carbamate pairs and a mix of ammonium carbamate and carbamic acid during carbon dioxide chemisorption. The coordination of polyamine and cyanuric acid modification endows MNNs with high adsorption capacity (1.82 millimoles per gram at 1 bar), fast adsorption time (less than 1 minute), low price, and extraordinary stability to cycling by flue gas. This work creates a general industrialization method toward carbon dioxide capture via DCC atomic-level design strategies.

Vortex electromagnetic wave (VEMW) carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM), which is expected to introduce additional degrees of freedom in inverse synthetic aperture radar(ISAR) imaging. However, the current research about maneuvering targets is based on the "stop go" hypothesis, which does not apply to high-speed motion scenarios due to the intrapulse movement of the target. To improve the imaging quality, this letter proposes a VEMW-based high-speed maneuvering targets imaging method. Firstly, the ISAR imaging scenario of high-speed target is established. According to the spatial geometric relationship between radar and maneuvering target, the vortex echo is deduced and its characteristics are analyzed. Subsequently, a frequency modulation rate estimation method considering both calculation efficiency and high precision is proposed to realize the accurate estimation of target speed. Then, an adaptive azimuth image compensation method based on minimum entropy is proposed. Through the setting of threshold, the number of component signals in linear frequency modulation(LFM) signal is determined and compensated successively. Finally, the range profile and azimuth profile are combined to reconstruct the three-dimensional information. The simulation results demonstrate that this work can effectively eliminate the influence of high-speed motion on range and azimuth profile, also benefit the development of ISAR imaging technique of high-speed maneuvering targets.

The activation function represents a crucial component in the design of a convolutional neural network (CNN). It enables the efficient extraction of multiple features from visual patterns, and introduces systemic non-linearity to data processing. This paper proposes a novel and insightful activation method termed FPLUS, which exploits mathematical power function with polar signs in form. It is enlightened by common inverse operations while endowed with an intuitive meaning of bionics. The formulation is derived theoretically under conditions of some prior knowledge and anticipative properties. Subsequently, its feasibility is verified through a series of experiments using typical benchmark datasets. The results indicate that our approach bears superior competitiveness among numerous activation functions, as well as compatible stability across many CNN architectures. Furthermore, we extend the function presented to a more generalized type called PFPLUS with two parameters that can be fixed or learnable, so as to augment its expressive capacity. The outcomes of identical tests serve to validate this improvement. Therefore, we believe the work in this paper holds a certain value in enriching the family of activation units.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are considered as biomarkers and display great potential in the diagnosis of diseases. As a colorectal cancer (CRC)-associated miRNA biomarker, miR-92a-3p possesses higher concentration in exosomes than in serum, causing it more feasible to diagnose CRC by measuring the concentration of miR-92a-3p inside exosomes. Herein, a rationally-engineered ratiometric fluorescent biosensor is proposed to detect the concentration of exosomal miR-92a-3p. The metal-organic framework (MOF-525) with self-fluorescence serves as both a fluorescent reference and a quencher of the fluorescence of single-stranded reporter by adsorption. The presence of miR-92a-3p triggers the looping of 5P-template strand and the further periodic rolling circle amplification. The periodic long strands and the reporters can form double strands to prevent the reporters from being adsorbed by MOF-525. The concentration of miR-92a-3p is positively correlated with the Δreporter/MOF-525 fluorescence intensity ratio. The biosensor exhibits a detection range of 0.1-10 pM and can differentiate miR-92a-3p from mismatched RNA sequences. The accuracy and practicality of the proposed biosensor for exosomal miRNA detection were evaluated by comparing with the conventional RT-qPCR. The as-obtained results are close to those of the RT-qPCR. This ratiometric fluorescent biosensor holds the potential for the sensitive detection of exosomal miRNA.