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Given the importance of net primary productivity (NPP) as an indicator of ecosystem productivity and its role in the global carbon cycle, understanding the factors that influence its stability can greatly improve our understanding of shrubland ecosystems and their response to global change. Between 2015 and 2022, we visited most of the primary shrubland in China and surveyed 751 shrubland patches. We collected data on community structure (canopy cover), shrub and herb species diversity, and soil physicochemical properties (soil nitrogen content and soil phosphorus content). We also used remote sensing data to obtain NPP from 2001 to 2022. We quantified temporal trends in shrubland stability in China and used structural equation modeling to disentangle the direct and indirect effects of climate, soil, and shrub community structural properties. We found that 85.3% of China’s shrublands remained stable in terms of productivity from 2001 to 2022, 10.6% of the shrublands increased in stability, and 4.1% of the shrublands need to be alerted to a significant decrease in stability. These changes in stability were mainly related to precipitation changes. We found that changes in precipitation directly affected the stability of net productivity and also indirectly through changes in shrub cover and species richness. Some aspects of community structure moderated these effects. We further found that the portion of shrubland with an upward trend in stability did not have a significant correlation between the stability of net primary productivity and community structure and soil N. Instead, soil phosphorus was the largest direct influence.

One of the most significant pieces of linear infrastructure in China is the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project (MR-SNWDP), a large section of which consists of an expansive soil slope (ESS) that threatens the safety of the canal. Here, we prepared 144 Sentinel-1 data from May 2017 to July 2022 to study the behavior of the ESS in the canal section in Huixian City in the MR-SNWDP. Then, the Elastoplastic Deformation model under Wetting and Heating Effects (EDWHE) was employed to accurately characterize the displacement of the ESS. The InSAR results illustrate that the unstable zones tend to be small and are distributed along the canal slope, with the magnitude of deformations generally no more than 20 mm/year. Additionally, their deformation time series generally accumulate exponentially and evolve in a significant pattern of seasonal swelling and shrinkage. We observed that the slope movements significantly accelerated during the period when extreme rainfall occurred around 22 July 2021. Affected by satellite imagery and the geometric structure of the slope, the magnitudes and evolving trends of LOS deformation vary with different aspects of the slope sections. Then, the elastic swelling-shrinkage deformations were derived through the EDWHE model, of which the uplift or settlement was mainly dependent on geological and meteorological conditions. Moreover, the active zone depths of the ESS were retrieved using an InSAR-based lag-time approach and clearly reflected their distribution pattern. In this investigation, the behavior of the ESS in the study area was quantitatively analyzed using InSAR, and the results provide support for designing protective slope treatments and keeping the canal safe in the MR-SNWDP.

Background: As a non-pharmacologic treatment, bright light therapy (BLT) is often used to improve affective disorders and memory function. In this study, we aimed to determine the effect of BLT on depression and electrophysiological features of the brain in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their caregivers using a light-emitting diode device of 14000 lux.Methods: A 4-week case-control trial was conducted. Neuropsychiatric and electroencephalogram (EEG) examination were evaluated at baseline and after 4 weeks. EEG power in delta (1–4 Hz), theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (8–12 Hz), and beta (12–30 Hz) bands was calculated for our main analysis. Demographic and clinical variables were analyzed using Student’s t test and the chi-square test. Pearson’s correlation was used to determine the correlation between electrophysiological features, blood biochemical indicators, and cognitive assessment scale scores.Results: In this study, 22 in-patients with AD and 23 caregivers were recruited. After BLT, the Hamilton depression scale score decreased in the fourth week. Compared with the age-matched controls of their caregivers, a higher spectral power at the lower delta and theta frequencies was observed in the AD group. After BLT, the EEG power of the delta and theta frequencies in the AD group decreased. No change was observed in blood amyloid concentrations before and after BLT.Conclusion: In conclusion, a 4-week course of BLT significantly suppressed depression in patients with AD and their caregivers. Moreover, changes in EEG power were also significant in both groups.

Background HMGA2 can promote the development of multiple malignancies. This study aimed to determine whether a putative functional genetic polymorphism (rs968697 T>C) in the HMGA2 gene promoter region was associated with malignancy susceptibility in the Chinese population. Methods The rs968697 genetic polymorphism was genotyped using the SNaPshot method in the case-control study. The odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using a logistic regression model. STATA software was used to conduct the meta-analysis. Results The rs968697 genetic polymorphism was associated not only with susceptibility to malignant tumors [CC versus TT: OR = 0.45, 95%CI = 0.28–0.73, p = .001; CC versus (CT + TT): OR = 0.47, 95%CI = 0.29–0.75, p = .003] including gastric cancer (GC), but also with TNM stage and survival prognosis of GC patients. Genotype-tissue expression analysis, luciferase assay and bioinformatics analysis revealed that the rs968697 genetic polymorphism might affect the binding of transcription factors, especially POLR2A, which in turn regulate the expression of HMGA2. Conclusions The current research suggests that the rs968697 genetic polymorphism may be used as a biomarker for malignancy susceptibility and GC prognosis in the Chinese population.

IntroductionMicrobial infections are associated with the occurrence of autoimmune diseases, but the mechanisms of microbial infection inducing autoimmune diseases are not fully understood. The existence of heterophilic antigens between microorganisms and human tissues may explain part of the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. Here, we investigate the distribution of heterophilic antigens and its relationship with autoimmune diseases.MethodsMonoclonal antibodies against a variety of microorganisms were prepared. The titer, subclass and reactivity of antibodies with microorganisms were identified, and heterophilic antibodies that cross-reacted with human tissues were screened by human tissue microarray. The reactivity of these heterophilic antibodies with different individuals and different species was further examined by immunohistochemistry.ResultsIn this study, 21 strains of heterophilic antibodies were screened. The results showed that these heterophilic antibodies were produced due to the existence of heterophilic antigens between microorganism and human body and the distribution of heterophilic antigens had individual, tissue and species differences.ConclusionOur study showed that heterophilic antigens exist widely between microorganisms and human body, and the heterophilic antigens carried by microorganisms may break the immune tolerance of the body through carrier effect and initiate immune response, which may be one of the important mechanisms of infection inducing autoimmune diseases.

Background and purpose Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) is a neurological and otolaryngological emergency during which rapid diagnosis and early treatment are of great importance. Clinical experience indicates that a considerable number of patients with SSNHL have concurrent right-to-left shunt (RLS). With limited reports, the association between SSNHL and RLS is yet unclear and there is a need for large observational studies to explore their latent relationship.Methods and analysis This proposed study is a prospective, observational case–control study. A total of 194 eligible participants matched in age and sex will be divided equally into two groups: 97 patients with SSNHL included in the case group and 97 individuals without SSNHL in the control group. Medical evaluations, including clinical characteristics, laboratory examination, audiological examination and ultrasonography examination, will be performed in all subjects. The primary outcome of the study is the difference in RLS rates between the groups. Differences in patent foramen ovale rates and other measured variables will be further assessed. A conditional logistic regression as a correlation analysis will be used to evaluate the relationship between RLS and SSNHL.Discussion This study may provide evidence on the correlation between RLS and SSNHL in order to enrich the aetiology of SSNHL.Ethics and dissemination The study protocol has been approved by the Ethics Committee of Peking University Shenzhen Hospital. A written informed consent form will be signed and dated by the participants and the researchers before the study begins. The results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications.Trial registration number ChiCTR2200064067.

The oral cavity is the second most microbially rich region of the human body, and many studies have shown that there is a strong association between microorganisms and oral health. Some pathogenic bacteria produce biofilms and harmful metabolites in the mouth that may cause oral problems such as oral malodor, periodontitis, and dental caries. Altering the oral microbiota by using probiotics may alleviate oral health problems. Thus, using multi-function screening, we aimed to identify probiotics that can significantly improve oral health. The main parameters were the inhibition of pathogenic bacteria growth, inhibition of biofilm formation, reduction in the production of indole, H2S, and NH3 metabolites that cause halitosis, increase in the production of H2O2 to combat harmful bacteria, and co-aggregation with pathogens to prevent their adhesion and colonization in the oral cavity. Tolerance to cholic acid and choline was also assessed. Bifidobacterium animalis ZK-77, Lactobacillus salivarius ZK-88, and Streptococcus salivarius ZK-102 had antibacterial activity and inhibited biofilm production to prevent caries. They also improved the oral malodor parameter, H2S, NH3, and indole production. The selected probiotics (especially L. salivarius ZK-88) alleviated the inflammation in the oral cavity of rats with periodontitis. The analysis of the gingival crevicular fluid microbiome after probiotic intervention showed that B. animalis ZK-77 likely helped to restore the oral microbiota and maintain the oral microecology. Next, we determined the best prebiotics for each candidate probiotic in order to obtain a formulation with improved effects. We then verified that a probiotics/prebiotic combination (B. animalis ZK-77, L. salivarius ZK-88, and fructooligosaccharides) significantly improved halitosis and teeth color in cats. Using whole-genome sequencing and acute toxicity mouse experiments involving the two probiotics, we found that neither probiotic had virulence genes and they had no significant effects on the growth or development of mice, indicating their safety. Taking the results together, B. animalis ZK-77 and L. salivarius ZK-88 can improve oral health, as verified by in vivo and in vitro experiments. This study provides a reference for clinical research and also provides new evidence for the oral health benefits of probiotics.

The purpose of this study was to examine the antecedents of academic emotions among university students through real-time and multilevel analyses. We explored the link between state self-control and academic emotions, the influence of self-determination on the relationship between them, and the moderating role of trait self-control. The data was collected over seven consecutive days during which university students (N = 155) completed smartphone questionnaires. Data was organized into hierarchical two-level structures, where situations (Level 1) nested within individuals (Level 2). The results showed that positive emotions were negatively predicted by state self-control while negative emotions were positively predicted by state self-control. Moreover, state self-control under low self-determination was a significant negative predictor of positive emotions, whereas high self-determination had no predictive effect on positive emotions. The relationship between self-determination and negative emotions was further moderated by trait self-control. The limitations of this study and future research directions are also discussed.

ObjectiveThis aim of this study is to screen the differential molecules of kidney deficiency and blood stasis (KDBS) syndrome in coronary heart disease by high-throughput sequencing. In addition, the study aims to verify the alterations in the expression levels of miR-4685-3p and its regulated downstream, namely, C1QC, C4, and C5, using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and to determine whether the complement and coagulation cascade pathway is the specific pathogenic pathway.MethodsPatients diagnosed with unstable angina pectoris with KDBS syndrome, patients with non-kidney deficiency blood stasis (NKDBS) syndrome, and a Normal group were recruited. The clinical symptoms of each group were further analyzed. Illumina's NextSeq 2000 sequencing platform and FastQC software were used for RNA sequencing and quality control. DESeq software was used for differential gene expression (DGE) analysis. qPCR and ELISA verification were performed on DGE analysis.ResultsThe DGE profiles of 77 miRNA and 331 mRNA were selected. The GO enrichment analysis comprised 43 biological processes, 49 cell components, and 42 molecular functions. The KEGG enrichment results included 40 KEGG pathways. The PCR results showed that, compared with the Normal group, the miR-4685-3p levels decreased in the CHD_KDBS group (P = 0.001), and were found to be lower than those observed in the CHD_NKDBS group. The downstream mRNA C1 regulated by miR-4685-3p showed an increasing trend in the CHD_KDBS group, which was higher than that in the Normal group (P = 0.0019). The mRNA C4 and C5 in the CHD_KDBS group showed an upward trend, but the difference was not statistically significant. ELISA was utilized for the detection of proteins associated with the complement and coagulation cascade pathway. It was found that the expression level of C1 was significantly upregulated in the CHD_KDBS group compared with the Normal group (P

IntroductionMetastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) with sarcomatoid features has a poor prognosis. Cytoreductive radical nephrectomy (CRN) can improve prognosis, but patient selection is unclear. This study aimed to develop a prediction model for selecting patients suitable for CRN.Materials and methodsPatients with a diagnosis of mRCC with sarcomatoid features in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database between 2010 and 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. CRN benefit was defined as a survival time longer than the median overall survival (OS) in patients who did not receive CRN. A prediction nomogram was established and validated using the SEER cohort (training and internal validation) and an external validation cohort.ResultsOf 900 patients with sarcomatoid mRCC, 608 (67.6%) underwent CRN. OS was longer in the CRN group than in the non-CRN group (8 vs. 6 months, hazard ratio (HR) = 0.767, p = 0.0085). In the matched CRN group, 124 (57.7%) patients survived >6 months after the surgery and were considered to benefit from CRN. Age, T-stage, systematic therapy, metastatic site, and lymph nodes were identified as independent factors influencing OS after CRN, which were included in the prediction nomogram. The monogram performed well on the training set (area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC) curve = 0.766, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.687–0.845), internal validation set (AUC = 0.796, 95% CI: 0.684–0.908), and external validation set (AUC = 0.911, 95% CI: 0.831–0.991).ConclusionsA nomogram was constructed and validated with good accuracy for selecting patients with sarcomatoid mRCC suitable for CRN.

BackgroundRegional citrate anticoagulation (RCA) is being used more commonly in children for continuous renal replacement therapy. Few reports describe the application of membrane-based therapeutic plasma exchange (mTPE) with RCA in children with liver failure (LF).AimsTo explore the application of RCA-mTPE in children with LF.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed data from children with LF who underwent RCA-mTPE in the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University's pediatric intensive care unit. We used the total to ionized calcium ratio (T/iCa) > 2.5 as the diagnostic criteria for citrate accumulation (CA). The patients were divided into two groups according to the occureence of CA at the end of RCA-mTPE (CA group: T/iCa > 2.5; NCA group: T/iCa ≤ 2.5). To evaluate the clinical safety and efficacy of RCA-mTPE, the following data from medical records were assessed and compared between groups: clinical characteristics, reasons for LF, RCA-mTPE parameters and duration, laboratory findings, and complications.ResultsIn total, 92 RCA-mTPE treatments were administered to 21 children with LF over 3.8 ± 0.9 h. The following mean values were determined: blood flow rate (QB) = 2.8 ml/kg/min, 4% sodium citrate dose/blood flow rate ratio (QCi/QB) = 1.1(QCi,ml/kg/h); plasma dose/body weight ratio(QP/BW) = 18.5 (QP, ml/kg/h); 10% calcium gluconate dose/blood flow rate ratio (QCa/QB) = 0.2(QCa, ml/kg/h). The mean concentration of iCa in vitro was 0.38 ± 0.07 mmol/L. Citrate accumulation was recorded after 34 (37%) treatments. Hypocalcemia occurred in 11 (12%) and 7 (7.6%) treatments, during and after mTPE, respectively. Three hypotensive and one convulsive events, related to hypocalcemia, and two clotting events occurred during RCA-mTPE. After RCA-mTPE, the patients' pH, HCO3− and Na+ levels, and T/iCa were significantly increased and the total bilirubin (TB), conjugated bilirubin (DB), prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST),and ammonia levels were significantly decreased. The TB, DB, and lactic acid levels, before RCA-mTPE, were significantly higher in the CA group than in the NCA group, but there were no significance between the two groups in QB/BW, QCi/QB, and QP/BW, mTPE duration, and estimated amount of citrate metabolized.ConclusionsChildren with LF undergoing RCA-mTPE are at risk of hypocalcemia. With proper protocol adjustment, however, RCA-mTPE can be used safely and effectively in these patients.

The landscape of extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA) during mammalian spermatogenesis, as well as the biogenesis mechanism, remains to be explored. Here, we revealed widespread eccDNA formation in human sperms and mouse spermatogenesis. We noted that germline eccDNAs are derived from oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation in cells likely undergoing cell death, providing a potential new way for quality assessment of human sperms. Interestingly, small-sized eccDNAs are associated with euchromatin, while large-sized ones are preferentially generated from heterochromatin. By comparing sperm eccDNAs with meiotic recombination hotspots and structural variations, we found that they are barely associated with de novo germline deletions. We further developed a bioinformatics pipeline to achieve nucleotide-resolution eccDNA detection even with the presence of microhomologous sequences that interfere with precise breakpoint identification. Empowered by our method, we provided strong evidence to show that microhomology-mediated end joining is the major eccDNA biogenesis mechanism. Together, our results shed light on eccDNA biogenesis mechanism in mammalian germline cells.

Acute myocardial infarction (MI), despite significant progress in its treatment, remains a leading cause of chronic heart failure and cardiovascular events such as cardiac arrest. Promoting angiogenesis in the myocardial tissue after MI to restore blood flow in the ischemic and hypoxic tissue is considered an effective treatment strategy. The repair of the myocardial tissue post-MI involves a robust angiogenic response, with mechanisms involved including endothelial cell proliferation and migration, capillary growth, changes in the extracellular matrix, and stabilization of pericytes for neovascularization. In this review, we provide a detailed overview of six key pathways in angiogenesis post-MI: the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, the Notch signaling pathway, the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, the Hippo signaling pathway, the Sonic Hedgehog signaling pathway, and the JAK/STAT signaling pathway. We also discuss novel therapeutic approaches targeting these pathways, including drug therapy, gene therapy, protein therapy, cell therapy, and extracellular vesicle therapy. A comprehensive understanding of these key pathways and their targeted therapies will aid in our understanding of the pathological and physiological mechanisms of angiogenesis after MI and the development and application of new treatment strategies.

IntroductionSystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease involving many systems and organs, and individuals with SLE exhibit unique cancer risk characteristics. The significance of the basement membrane (BM) in the occurrence and progression of human autoimmune diseases and tumors has been established through research. However, the roles of BM-related genes and their protein expression mechanisms in the pathogenesis of SLE and pan-cancer development has not been elucidated.MethodsIn this study, we applied bioinformatics methods to perform differential expression analysis of BM-related genes in datasets from SLE patients. We utilized LASSO logistic regression, SVM-RFE, and RandomForest to screen for feature genes and construct a diagnosis model for SLE. In order to attain a comprehensive comprehension of the biological functionalities of the feature genes, we conducted GSEA analysis, ROC analysis, and computed levels of immune cell infiltration. Finally, we sourced pan-cancer expression profiles from the TCGA and GTEx databases and performed pan-cancer analysis.ResultsWe screened six feature genes (AGRN, PHF13, SPOCK2, TGFBI, COL4A3, and COLQ) to construct an SLE diagnostic model. Immune infiltration analysis showed a significant correlation between AGRN and immune cell functions such as parainflammation and type I IFN response. After further gene expression validation, we finally selected AGRN for pan-cancer analysis. The results showed that AGRN’s expression level varied according to distinct tumor types and was closely correlated with some tumor patients’ prognosis, immune cell infiltration, and other indicators.DiscussionIn conclusion, BM-related genes play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of SLE, and AGRN shows immense promise as a target in SLE and the progression of multiple tumors.

Abstract Attaining compact energy storage under extreme temperature conditions is of paramount importance in the development of advanced dielectric materials. The polymer composite approach has proved effective towards this goal, and addressing the correlation between filler distribution and electrical properties is foremost in designing composite dielectrics, especially in multifiller systems. Here, the design of a bi‐gradient polymer composite dielectric using an integrated framework based on the phase field model is reported. This framework can predict the charge‐inhibiting behavior of composite dielectrics, which is a key factor impacting the high‐temperature capacitive performance but unfortunately is ignored in conventional phase field models. It is found that due to the traps provided by the functional organic fillers, more carriers are trapped near the electrodes and weaken the electric field, thus significantly suppressing the breakdown initialization process. An interpenetrating gradient structure is designed rationally and synthesized experimentally, which exhibits concurrent high energy density (5.51 J cm−3) and high charge‐discharge efficiency (90%) up to 200 °C. This work provides a strategy to predict the high‐temperature energy storage performance of polymer composites containing charge‐inhibiting components and helps broaden the scope of data‐driven materials design based on phase‐field modeling.

The integrated CO2 capture and conversion (iCCC) technology has been booming for carbon neutrality. Here the authors optimized the Ni–CaO composite catalyst to promote iCCC involving consecutive high-temperature Calcium-looping and dry reforming of methane and illustrated their synergistic promotions at the suitable catalyst interface.

Abstract Background Gut fungi are increasingly recognized as important contributors to host physiology, although most studies have focused on gut bacteria. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins play vital roles in cell metabolism. However, the contribution of gut fungi to host protein PTMs remains unclear. Mining gut fungi that mediate host protein PTMs and dissecting their mechanism are urgently needed. Results We studied the gut fungal communities of 56 weaned piglets and 56 finishing pigs from seven pig breeds using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene amplicon sequencing and metagenomics. The results showed that Kazachstania slooffiae was the most abundant gut fungal species in the seven breeds of weaned piglets. K. slooffiae decreased intestinal epithelial lysine succinylation levels, and these proteins were especially enriched in the glycolysis pathway. We demonstrated that K. slooffiae promoted intestinal epithelial glycolysis by decreasing lysine succinylation by activating sirtuin 5 (SIRT5). Furthermore, K. slooffiae-derived 5′-methylthioadenosine metabolite promoted the SIRT5 activity. Conclusions These findings provide a landscape of gut fungal communities of pigs and suggest that K. slooffiae plays a crucial role in intestinal glycolysis metabolism through lysine desuccinylation. Our data also suggest a potential protective strategy for pigs with an insufficient intestinal energy supply. Video Abstract

Abstract Differentiation therapy using small molecules is a promising strategy for improving the prognosis of glioblastoma (GBM). Histone acetylation plays an important role in cell fate determination. Nevertheless, whether histone acetylation in specific sites determines GBM cells fate remains to be explored. Through screening from a 349 small molecule-library, we identified that histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) MS-275 synergized with 8-CPT-cAMP was able to transdifferentiate U87MG GBM cells into neuron-like cells, which were characterized by cell cycle arrest, rich neuron biomarkers, and typical neuron electrophysiology. Intriguingly, acetylation tags of histone 3 at lysine 9 (H3K9ac) were decreased in the promoter of multiple oncogenes and cell cycle genes, while ones of H3K9ac and histone 3 at lysine 14 (H3K14ac) were increased in the promoter of neuron-specific genes. We then compiled a list of genes controlled by H3K9ac and H3K14ac, and proved that it is a good predictive power for pathologic grading and survival prediction. Moreover, cAMP agonist combined with HDACi also induced glioma stem cells (GSCs) to differentiate into neuron-like cells through the regulation of H3K9ac/K14ac, indicating that combined induction has the potential for recurrence-preventive application. Furthermore, the combination of cAMP activator plus HDACi significantly repressed the tumor growth in a subcutaneous GSC-derived tumor model, and temozolomide cooperated with the differentiation-inducing combination to prolong the survival in an orthotopic GSC-derived tumor model. These findings highlight epigenetic reprogramming through H3K9ac and H3K14ac as a novel approach for driving neuron-fate-induction of GBM cells.

Atmospheric influence is the main interference factor in Ground-Based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (GB-InSAR) deformation monitoring. Due to the complex terrain and various environmental factors, the correction method based on the assumption of a uniform atmospheric influence may lead to low atmospheric correction accuracy. In this paper, a two-stage semi-empirical model is proposed to correct the atmospheric phase screen during the GB-InSAR monitoring of a super large slope under complex atmospheric conditions. First, the observed atmospheric phase is modeled according to the height and range of the terrain structure to correct the linear atmospheric phase. Then, considering the complex atmospheric conditions and the spatially nonuniform atmosphere with a large azimuth field of view, stable Persistent Scatterers (PS) are selected to obtain the atmospheric phase of all PS by interpolation to correct the nonlinear atmospheric phase. This method is used to process a large field of view radar image of the foundation of the Xinpu and Outang landslides in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. Compared with the conventional method, the atmospheric phase error is reduced by approximately 2 mm. This method effectively corrects the nonuniform atmospheric phase under the landslide monitoring scene and meets the wide-area monitoring needs of the landslide.

Time-series PolSAR are capable for continuous change monitoring of natural resources and urban land-covers regardless of weather and lighting conditions. However, in the big SAR data era, the scarcity of labeled PolSAR samples poses new challenge to the traditional change detection methods. To reduce the dependence on labeled samples and ensure the efficiency of long time-series PolSAR interpretation, an unsupervised and pseudolabel-based change detection method is proposed. First, the similarity maps of time-series PolSAR are gauged by three selected polarimetric distance measurements (PDMs), which are suitable for PolSAR distribution characteristics and have the potential to reflect PolSAR changes. Second, the high-confidence changed pseudosamples are selected based on the similarity maps, and the unchanged pseudosamples are selected based on the nonsimilarity maps. Third, the limited selected pseudosamples (changed and unchanged) and multidimensional features are used to train the ConvLSTM network for change detection, and the input features include the T3 coherence matrix elements of time-series PolSAR and the aforementioned PDMs. Finally, the change detection results based on pseudosamples and the ConvLSTM network can be obtained, without additional manual labels. Adequate experiments are conducted on Radarsat-2, UAVSAR full-polarized, and Sentinel-1 dual-polarized datasets, achieving improved unsupervised change detection accuracy at 89.59–93.24%.

The device reliability problems of the bonding wire array in gallium nitride (GaN)-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) power amplifier become more and more serious due to high-voltage operation, impedance mismatching conditions, and so on. In this paper, both the experimental and theoretical studies on the electrothermal responses of bonding wire arrays in GaN power amplifier are performed. By using the finite element method to self-consistently solve the current transport and heat conduction equations, the temperature distributions of the GaN die surface and the bonding wire array under the continuous wave input signals of different power can be obtained, which are consistent with the experimental results captured by the IR microscopy of the measurement system.

Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by sustained neuroinflammation leading to memory loss and cognitive decline. The past decade has witnessed tremendous efforts in Alzheimer’s disease research; however, no effective treatment is available to prevent disease progression. An increasing body of evidence suggests that neuroinflammation plays an important role in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis, alongside the classical pathological hallmarks such as misfolded and aggregated proteins (e.g., amyloid-beta and tau). Firstly, this review summarized the clinical and pathological characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease. Secondly, we outlined key aspects of glial cell-associated inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis and provided the latest evidence on the roles of microglia and astrocytes in Alzheimer’s disease pathology. Then, we revealed the double-edged nature of inflammatory cytokines and inflammasomes in Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, the potential therapeutic roles of innate immunity and neuroinflammation for Alzheimer’s disease were also discussed through these mechanisms. In the final section, the remaining key problems according to the current research status were discussed.

[Introduction] Coupling electrochemical energy storage equipment with thermal power plants is a feasible solution to improve the flexible peaking capacity of power system under the high proportion penetration of renewable energy power. [Method] The function and application characteristics of electrochemical energy storage technology in thermal power plants were introduced firstly. Then the characteristics of electrochemical energy storage technology were summarized and concluded. Meanwhile, the applicability of different types of electrochemical energy storage systems for different application purposes scenarios was analyzed. According to the current application and bottleneck of electrochemical energy storage technology in thermal power plants, the development direction of electrochemical energy storage technology is discussed. Finally, the development direction of electrochemical energy storage technology was prospected. [Result] According to the analysis results, although the electrochemical energy storage technology has a broad engineering application prospect in thermal power plants, there is still room for improvement in operation safety, construction and maintenance costs, material recovery, and other aspects. [Conclusion] Operation strategy optimization, development of new high-performance materials, and equipment safety and recycling management will become the main development directions of electrochemical energy storage technology participating in the application process of thermal power frequency modulation in the future.

Abstract Main goal of the JUNO experiment is to determine the neutrino mass ordering using a 20 kt liquid-scintillator detector. Its key feature is an excellent energy resolution of at least 3% at 1 MeV, for which its instruments need to meet a certain quality and thus have to be fully characterized. More than 20,000 20-inch PMTs have been received and assessed by JUNO after a detailed testing program which began in 2017 and elapsed for about four years. Based on this mass characterization and a set of specific requirements, a good quality of all accepted PMTs could be ascertained. This paper presents the performed testing procedure with the designed testing systems as well as the statistical characteristics of all 20-inch PMTs intended to be used in the JUNO experiment, covering more than fifteen performance parameters including the photocathode uniformity. This constitutes the largest sample of 20-inch PMTs ever produced and studied in detail to date, i.e. 15,000 of the newly developed 20-inch MCP-PMTs from Northern Night Vision Technology Co. (NNVT) and 5000 of dynode PMTs from Hamamatsu Photonics K. K.(HPK).

Abstract Background 14–3-3 proteins are essential in regulating various biological processes and abiotic stress responses in plants. Although 14–3-3 proteins have been studied in model plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa, there is a lack of research on the 14–3-3 gene family in potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.). Results A total of 18 14–3-3 genes encoding proteins containing a typical conserved PF00244 domain were identified by genome-wide analysis in potatoes. The St14–3-3 gene family members were unevenly distributed across the chromosomes, and gene structure analysis showed that gene length and intron number varied greatly among the members. Phylogenetic analysis of 14–3-3 proteins in potatoes and other plant species showed that they could be divided into two distinct groups (ε and non-ε). Members in the ε group tended to have similar exon-intron structures and conserved motif patterns. Promoter sequence analysis showed that the St14–3-3 gene promoters contained multiple hormone-, stress-, and light-responsive cis-regulatory elements. Synteny analysis suggested that segmental duplication events contributed to the expansion of the St14–3-3 gene family in potatoes. The observed syntenic relationships between some 14–3-3 genes from potato, Arabidopsis, and tomato suggest that they evolved from a common ancestor. RNA-seq data showed that St14–3-3 genes were expressed in all tissues of potatoes but that their expression patterns were different. qRT-PCR assays revealed that the expression levels of nearly all tested St14–3-3 genes were affected by drought, salt, and low-temperature stresses and that different St14–3-3 genes had different responses to these stresses. Conclusions In summary, genome-wide identification, evolutionary, and expression analyses of the 14–3-3 gene family in potato were conducted. These results provide important information for further studies on the function and regulation of St14–3-3 gene family members in potatoes.

Highlights A strategy that combines multi-mode scanning probe microscopy-based electrical characterization and nano-infrared spectroscopy is developed. A series of samples with different coupling agents and nanoparticles are characterized to unveil the local structure-property correlation of the interface in ferroelectric polymer nanocomposites. The formation of hydrogen bond between the surface modifiers and the ferroelectric polymer enhances the β-phase content and reduces the domain size of the interface, and hence promotes the local piezoelectric effect and breakdown strength.

Abstract The Taishan Antineutrino Observatory (TAO or JUNO-TAO) is a satellite experiment of the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO). Located near a reactor of the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, TAO will measure the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum with an unprecedented energy resolution of $$

The overlapping decentralized control strategy is a solution to the decentralized control of large-scale systems based on the inclusion principle. Its design process can be summarized as three stages of expansion-decoupling-contraction. In this paper, the subsystem division scheme of the overlapping decentralized control strategy is studied for building structure systems under earthquake. Using the energy-to-peak algorithm, we mainly analyse the influences of the location of the overlapping layer, the number of overlapping layers and the number of subsystems on the control effect of the structural system, and compare them with the traditional energy-to-peak centralized control method. The numerical results indicate that the dynamic response of the structure can be effectively suppressed by raising the location of the overlapping layer, increasing the number of overlapping layers, and increasing the number of subsystems. Compared with the centralized control strategy, the control effect is equivalent, or even better, verifying the feasibility of this research scheme.

ABSTRACTAirway epithelial cells function as both a physical barrier against harmful substances and pathogenic microorganisms and as an important participant in the innate immune system. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) plays a crucial role in modulating inflammatory responses during respiratory infections. However, the signalling cascade that induces MMP-9 secretion from epithelial cells infected with Mycoplasma pneumoniae remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of MMP-9 secretion in airway epithelial cells infected with M. pneumoniae. Our data clearly showed that M. pneumoniae induced the secretion of MMP-9 from bronchial epithelial cells and upregulated its enzymatic activity in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Using specific inhibitors and chromatin co-precipitation experiments, we confirmed that the expression of MMP-9 is reliant on the activation of the Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and TLR6-dependent mitogen-activated protein kinase/nuclear factor- κB/activator protein-1 (MAPK/NF-κB/AP-1) pathways. Additionally, epigenetic modifications such as histone acetylation and the nuclear transcription factor Sp1 also regulate MMP-9 expression. M. pneumoniae infection also decreased the expression of the tumour suppressor reversion-inducing cysteine-rich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK) by inducing Sp1 phosphorylation. Overexpression of RECK significantly impaired the M. pneumoniae-triggered increase in MMP-9 enzymatic activity, although the level of MMP-9 protein remained constant. The study demonstrated that M. pneumoniae-triggered MMP-9 expression is modulated by TLR2 and 6, the MAPK/NF-κB/AP-1 signalling cascade, and histone acetylation, and M. pneumoniae downregulated the expression of RECK, thereby increasing MMP-9 activity to modulate the inflammatory response, which could play a role in airway remodelling.

Luanchuan mining area, which is located in Henan Province, China and characterized by undulating topography and large precipitation, is vulnerable to the landslide disasters. The observations from the space-borne radar (ascending and descending TerraSAR-X) images and the ground-based radar (GPRI-II) images are integrated to monitor the surface deformations in Luanchuan mining area. Before the integration of the observations from multi-source SAR images, the coordinate systems of multi-source images are required to be unified by geographical projection. However, the accuracy of the commonly used geographical coding will be degraded by external DEM errors and inaccurate satellite orbit, which makes it difficult to achieve the high-precision registration of space-borne and ground-based radar scenes. Therefore, in this paper the iterative closest point (ICP) method is introduced to register the space-borne and ground-based images, yielding sub-pixel registration accuracy. Reasonable weights are then assigned to multi-source observations through Strain Model and Variance Component Estimation (SM-VCE) method, from which the high-precision three-dimensional deformations can be reconstructed. The results show that the maximum deformation rates in the east-west, north-south and vertical directions of Luanchuan mining area from July 20, 2019, to August 1, 2019, are about 0.2, 0.4 and 0.7 mm/day, respectively. The deformations are mainly on the loose slags in the Luanchuan pit rather than the bedrock, as a result of the accumulation of waste slags. Some suggestions on the installation location of ground-based radar are also provided to better combine the space-borne and ground-based observations.

Object detection, which is one of the most fundamental visual recognition tasks, has been a hotspot in computer vision. CNN (Convolutional Neural Networks) have been widely employed for building detector. Due to the success of RPN (Region Proposal Network), the two-stage detectors get both classification accuracy and precise regression bounding boxes. However, they still struggle in small-size object detection. In this paper, we present a deep network, namely Spatial Fine-Grained Network (SFGN). The SFGN that exploits Spatial Fine-Grained Features (SFGF) concatenates the higher resolution features, which is fine-grained with the low resolution features and high-level semantic by stacking spatial features for fine-grained features. An enhanced region proposal generator is proposed to get the objectless for small object to obtain a small set of proposal. The contextual information surrounding the region of interest is embedded using local spatial information for increasing the useful information and discriminating the background. For improving the detection performance, we use a simple yet surprisingly effective online hard example mining (OHEM) algorithm for training region proposal generator. It embeds an efficiently implemented soft non-maximum suppression (soft-NMS) for replacing with tradition NMS to obtain consistent improvements without increasing the computational complexity in inference. On PASCAL VOC 2007 and PASCAL VOC 2012 datasets, our SFGN improves baseline model from 81.2% mAP to 80.6% mAP. On MS COCO dataset, SFGN also performs better than baseline model. As intuition suggests, our detection results provide strong evidence that our SFGN improves detection accuracy, especially in small object test.

This study deals with the problem of the [Formula: see text] state estimation for discrete-time memristive neural networks with time-varying delays, where the output is subject to randomly occurring denial-of-service attacks. The average dwell time is used to describe the attack rules, which makes the randomly occurring denial-of-service attack more universal. The main purpose of the addressed issue is to contribute with a state estimation method, so that the dynamics of the error system is exponentially mean-square stable and satisfies a prescribed [Formula: see text] disturbance attenuation level. Sufficient conditions for the solvability of such a problem are established by employing the Lyapunov function and stochastic analysis techniques. Estimator gain is described explicitly in terms of certain linear matrix inequalities. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed state estimation scheme is proved by a numerical example.

Li et al. evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of the CoronaVac inactivated COVID-19 vaccine in elderly patients with underlying medical conditions in China. Most patients show comparable neutralizing antibody and SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses to healthy controls, and no serious adverse effects are seen.

In this study, orthogonal experiments were carried out under different processing parameters to tackle the cracking issue of Hastelloy X (HX) fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). The metallurgical defects, molten pool characteristics, cracking and residual stresses under various parameters were studied. The results show that when the volume energy density (VED) is controlled within the range of 83.33–200.00 J/mm3, the as-built samples have a greater density and a smoother surface. Cracking propagation occurs mostly along high-angle grain boundaries, and Mo6C carbides develop at cracks and between dendrites, which are liquation cracking characteristics. Cracks can be effectively suppressed by altering the morphology of the molten pool and minimizing residual stress. The cracking density of as-built HX can be lowered by 93% after optimizing the process settings so that the produced samples with nearly full density and minimal surface roughness can be obtained.

Abstract Considering the substantial role played by dendritic cells (DCs) in the immune system to bridge innate and adaptive immunity, studies on DC-mediated immunity toward biomaterials principally center on their adjuvant effects in facilitating the adaptive immunity of codelivered antigens. However, the effect of the intrinsic properties of biomaterials on dendritic cells has not been clarified. Recently, researchers have begun to investigate and found that biomaterials that are nonadjuvant could also regulate the immune function of DCs and thus affect subsequent tissue regeneration. In the case of proteins adsorbed onto biomaterial surfaces, their intrinsic properties can direct their orientation and conformation, forming “biomaterial-associated molecular patterns (BAMPs)”. Thus, in this review, we focused on the intrinsic physiochemical properties of biomaterials in the absence of antigens that affect DC immune function and summarized the underlying signaling pathways. Moreover, we preliminarily clarified the specific composition of BAMPs and the interplay between some key molecules and DCs, such as heat shock proteins (HSPs) and high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1). This review provides a new direction for future biomaterial design, through which modulation of host immune responses is applicable to tissue engineering and immunotherapy.

To realize the online rapid prediction of the remaining useful life (RUL) of electric vehicle (EV) power battery under direct current (DC) fast charging conditions and reduce the influence of complex health indicator (HI) on the prediction accuracy, an adaptive prediction method of the RUL of EV power battery based on whale swarm algorithm–long short-term memory (WSA-LSTM) algorithm is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a complete set of HI is built based on a dynamic data-driven application system (DDDAS) to ensure the real-time combination of condition monitoring data and simulation systems. Then, combined with the calculation of Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients and the entropy weight method, the main features that affect the battery capacity are screened out to reduce the interference of secondary HI on RUL prediction. Thirdly, the whale swarm algorithm is used to globally optimize the hyperparameters of the long short-term memory to achieve rapid RUL prediction. Finally, we conduct simulation experiments based on real-time data under EV DC charging conditions. The simulation results show that the HI screening method proposed in this paper is effective, and the RUL prediction method can achieve a fast and accurate prediction of DC fast charging conditions.

With the rapid development of Internet technologies, security issues have always been the hot topics.Continuous identity authentication based on mouse behavior plays a crucial role in protecting computer systems, but there are still some problems to be solved.Aiming at the problems of low authentication accuracy and long authentication latency in mouse behavior authentication method, a new continuous identity authentication method based on mouse behavior was proposed.The method divided the user’s mouse event sequence into corresponding mouse behaviors according to different types, and mined mouse behavior characteristics from various aspects based on mouse behaviors.Thereby, the differences in mouse behavior of different users can be better represented, and the authentication accuracy can be improved.Besides, the importance of mouse behavior features was obtained by the ReliefF algorithm, and on this basis, the irrelevant or redundant features of mouse behavior were removed by combining the neighborhood rough set to reduce model complexity and modeling time.Moreover binary classification was adopted.The algorithm performed the training of the authentication model.During identity authentication, the authentication model was used to obtain a classification score based on the mouse behavior collected each time, and then the user’s trust value was updated in combination with the trust model.When the user’s trust value fell below the threshold of the trust model, it might be judged as illegal user.The authentication effect of the proposed method was simulated on the Balabit and DFL datasets.The results show that, compared with the methods in other literatures, this method not only improves the authentication accuracy and reduces the authentication latency, but also has a certain robustness to the illegal intrusion of external users.

Global warming caused by excess carbon dioxide (CO2) emission has been a focus of the world. The development of neutral carbon technologies becomes a strategic choice for the sustainable human society. Integrating CO2 capture and conversion (iCCC) technology can simultaneously convert the captured CO2 from flue gas into value-added chemicals, which saves great energies and expenses incurred in CO2 compression and transportation processes of conventional carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology. The present review critically discusses the dual-function materials (DFMs) and the iCCC technology at intermediate temperature for methane production and high temperature for syngas production. The design of reactor and optimization of operation conditions are emphasized from the perspective of industrial applications. The dual-fixed-bed reactors mode by switching the flue gas and reactant gases, and the dual-fluidized-bed reactors mode by the circulation of DFMs particles are comparatively reviewed. We hope this review can stimulate further studies including designing and fabricating feasible DFMs, exploring realistic catalytic process for CO2 conversion to high value-added chemicals, developing workable reactor modes and optimizing operation conditions, and establishing industrial demonstration for real applications of iCCC technology in the future.

[Introduction] Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power generation technology is a high-efficiency and low-carbon power generation technology. A waste heat boiler is one of the components of IGCC. This paper aims to study the off-design operating characteristics of waste heat boilers and improve the efficiency of integrated coal gasification combined cycle power generation technology. [Method] The working principle and heat and mass transfer principle of the waste heat boiler were mainly analyzed by MATLAB software to carry out programming calculations to explore the relationship between feed water temperature, feed water pressure, liquid-phase heat transfer coefficient, gas-phase heat transfer coefficient and heat absorption in waste heat boiler. [Result] The results show that when the liquid-phase heat transfer coefficient is in the range of 200～1 000 W/(m2·K) and the gas-phase heat transfer coefficient is in the range of 20～100 W/(m2·K), as if the feed water temperature increases from 30 ℃ to 100 ℃ or the feed water pressure increases, the heat absorption of the waste heat boiler decreases continuously. In case the feed water temperature is in the range of 30～100 ℃, when the liquid phase heat transfer coefficient increases from 200 W/(m2·K) to 1 000 W/(m2·K) or the gas phase heat transfer coefficient increases from 20 W/(m2·K) to 100 W/(m2·K), the heat absorption of the waste heat boiler increases continuously.[Conclusion] Under the condition that liquid-phase heat transfer coefficient and gas-phase heat transfer coefficient remain unchanged, the feed water temperature or pressure increases, and the heat absorption capacity of the waste heat boiler will decrease; While the feed water temperature and pressure remain unchanged, the liquid-phase heat transfer coefficient or gas-phase heat transfer coefficient increases, and the heat absorption capacity of the waste heat boiler will increase.

Carbon neutrality initiative has stimulated the development of the sustainable methodologies for hydrogen generation and safe storage. Here the authors demonstrate that the dual-active sites of Pt single-atoms and frustrated Lewis pairs on porous nanorods of CeO2 enable the efficient additive-free H2 generation with a low CO generation through reforming of methanol and water.

The tribological properties of artificial joints can be significantly affected by surface textures. In this study, micro textures were prepared by laser surface texturing on the 316 L stainless steel. The relationship between surface and tribological properties of the material was proposed, and the tribological behavior was verified by different micro-pit area ratios and aspect ratios under the conditions of human walking. The results indicate that the tribological properties of the textured 316 L stainless steel are greatly correlated with surface roughness and wettability. Within the parameter range of this study, the friction of textured surfaces has been significantly reduced when the area ratio of micro-pits is 10% and the aspect ratio is 0.52. In addition, the anti-friction mechanism of textured surface is that micro-pits could store worn debris and provide secondary lubrication, and that many air bubbles between interfaces would enhance bearing capacity and interface slip when the material surface is hydrophobic.

Abstract This paper revealed a physical connection between the antiphase variation in the preceding autumn Tibetan Plateau (TP) and Lake Baikal snow cover anomalies (TBSA) and the following winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on interannual time scales during 1979–2021. The antiphase variation in TBSA, accounting for 44% of the total years, has a dipole structure in autumn, which prolonged into the following winter. The persistent antiphase TBSA associated diabatic forcing, disturbances and transient eddies favor a double wave train structure spanning the TP (east of Baikal) and North Atlantic from autumn to winter. Amid the wave train, the circulation anomalies over the North Atlantic extract more energy from the basic flow due to the seasonal increase in the westerly jet, which further evolves into the winter NAO pattern. Our results provide new insights into the formation and projection of winter NAO from the perspective of subtropical and extratropical Eurasia snow.

PurposeThis study presents a novel approach to predict postoperative biochemical recurrence (BCR) in prostate cancer (PCa) patients which involves constructing a signature based on anoikis-related genes (ARGs).MethodsIn this study, we utilised data from TCGA-PARD and GEO databases to identify specific ARGs in prostate cancer. We established a signature of these ARGs using Cox regression analysis and evaluated their clinical predictive efficacy and immune-related status through various methods such as Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, subject work characteristics analysis, and CIBERSORT method. Our findings suggest that these ARGs may have potential as biomarkers for prostate cancer prognosis and treatment. To investigate the biological pathways of genes associated with anoikis, we utilised GSVA, GO, and KEGG. The expression of ARGs was confirmed by the HPA database. Furthermore, we conducted PPI analysis to identify the core network of ARGs in PCa.ResultsBased on analysis of the TCGA database, a set of eight ARGs were identified as prognostic signature genes for prostate cancer. The reliability and validity of this signature were well verified in both the TCGA and GEO codifications. Using this signature, patients were classified into two groups based on their risk for developing BCR. There was a significant difference in BCR-free time between the high and low risk groups (P < 0.05).This signature serves as a dependable and unbiased prognostic factor for predicting biochemical recurrence (BCR) in prostate cancer (PCa) patients. It outperforms clinicopathological characteristics in terms of accuracy and reliability. PLK1 may play a potential regulatory role as a core gene in the development of prostate cancer.ConclusionThis signature suggests the potential role of ARGs in the development and progression of PCa and can effectively predict the risk of BCR in PCa patients after surgery. It also provides a basis for further research into the mechanism of ARGs in PCa and for the clinical management of patients with PCa.

Bioprobe based on fluorescence is widely used in biological and medical research due to its high sensitivity and selectivity. Yet, its quantification in vivo is complicated and often compromised by the interaction between the fluorophore with the environmental factors, as well as the optical scattering and absorption by the tissue. A high florescence quantum yield and minimal interference by the environment are key requirements for designing an effective bioprobe, and the pre-requisitions severely limit the available options. We propose that a comprehensive evaluation of potential bioprobe can be achieved by simultaneously measuring both radiative and non-radiative transitions, the two fundamental and complementary pathways for the energy de-excitation. This approach will not only improve the accuracy of the quantification by catching the information from a broader spectrum of the energy, but also provide additional information of the probe environment that often impacts the balance between the two forms of the energy transition. This work first analyzes the underlying mechanism of the hypothesis. The practical feasibility is then tested by means of simultaneous measurements of photoacoustic signal for the non-radiative and fluorescence for the radiative energy processes, respectively. It is demonstrated that the systematic evaluation of the probe energy de-excitation results in an improved quantitative tracing of a bioprobe in complex environment.

ObjectiveThis study aims to determine whether the risks of cardiocerebrovascular disease are relevant to sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) based on a national database.MethodsA total of 1,321 participants aged from 18 to 69 with complete data including medical history and audiometry from the NHANES database (2015–2018) were analyzed. All included participants had available hearing data and the average thresholds of the hearing data were measured and calculated as low-frequency pure-tone average (LFPTA; 500, 1,000, and 2,000 Hz) and high-frequency pure-tone average (HFPTA; 3,000, 4,000, 6,000, and 8,000 kHz). SNHL was defined as an average pure tone of more than or equal to 20 dB in at least one better ear. Multivariable models to assess the association between cardiocerebrovascular risks and SNHL were used in this study.ResultsThe prevalence of stroke was 1.6% in individuals with SNHL and 0.4% in individuals without SNHL (p = 0.023). A higher cardiovascular risk score was observed in SNHL patients compared to participants without SNHL (1.58 vs. 0.90, p < 0.001). Stroke was associated with a 3.67-fold increase in the risk of SNHL (95% CI: 1.12–12.00, p = 0.032) in univariable logistic regression, and the association (OR = 4.22, 95%CI = 1.28–13.93, p = 0.020) remained significant after adjusting for several covariates. Multivariable logistic regression models indicated a positive correlation between cardiovascular risk and SNHL (OR = 1.66, 95% CI = 1.40–1.96, p < 0.001), but no significant relationship was shown with all covariates adjusted. However, significant associations were found between SNHL and both age and sex in both univariable and multivariable logistic regression models.ConclusionOur findings suggested that a higher cardiocerebrovascular risk burden was associated with an increased risk of SNHL, and the relationship may be influenced by age and sex. Future longitudinal studies are needed to investigate the mechanistic and pathologic vascular hypothesis of SNHL.

There has been growing interest in the biological and pharmacological potential of C. odorata in recent times. While a number of reports had highlighted the beneficial attributes of various extracts prepared from C. odorata, the biological properties of the lipophilic extract remained unexplored. This work aimed at examining the anticancer, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of C. odorata aerial part lipophilic extract (COLE). The results revealed that COLE possessed potent and selective anticancer properties against human breast and colon cancer cells. The extract presented strong cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cells (IC50 of 9.18 µg/mL), MDA-MB-231 (IC50 of 12.19 µg/mL), HT-29 (IC50 of 19.48 µg/mL), and HCT-116 cells (IC50 of 14.12 µg/mL). Meanwhile, COLE was found to be non-toxic at the concentrations tested against normal (HEK-293 and CCD-841 CoN) cells. In addition, COLE demonstrated significant antibacterial activity against B. cereus (MIC value of 0.157 mg/mL), and moderate activity against L. monocytogenes (MIC value of 0.63 mg/mL) and E. coli (MIC value of 1.06 mg/mL). Furthermore, COLE effectively scavenged free radical species, including ABTṠ+ (IC50 of 46.80 µg/mL), DPPḢ (IC50 of 27.78 µg/mL), and superoxide anion (IC50 of 64.07 µg/mL), likely due to the high phenolic (262.48 mg gallic acid equivalent/g) and flavonoid content (70.20 mg quercetin equivalent/g). UPLC-MS analysis revealed the putative identities of 85 secondary metabolites whereas the GC–MS analysis detected 36 volatile constituents in COLE. Also, it was revealed that terpenes and phenolic compounds were the predominant specialized metabolites present in COLE, and putatively responsible for the remarkable biological properties. Taken together, these results revealed the richness of C. odorata lipophilic extract in terms of its metabolite profile and biological activities. In conclusion, COLE is worthy of further investigation to take advantage of its good anticancer, antioxidative and antimicrobial properties in pharmacological or nutraceutical application.

Acute myocardial infarction (MI) is a prevalent and highly fatal global disease. Despite significant reduction in mortality rates with standard treatment regimens, the risk of heart failure (HF) remains high, necessitating innovative approaches to protect cardiac function and prevent HF progression. Cardiac resident macrophages (cMacs) have emerged as key regulators of the pathophysiology following MI. cMacs are a heterogeneous population composed of subsets with different lineage origins and gene expression profiles. Several critical aspects of post-MI pathophysiology have been shown to be regulated by cMacs, including recruitment of peripheral immune cells, clearance and replacement of damaged myocardial cells. Furthermore, cMacs play a crucial role in regulating cardiac fibrosis, risk of arrhythmia, energy metabolism, as well as vascular and lymphatic remodeling. Given the multifaceted roles of cMacs in post-MI pathophysiology, targeting cMacs represents a promising therapeutic strategy. Finally, we discuss novel treatment strategies, including using nanocarriers to deliver drugs to cMacs or using cell therapies to introduce exogenous protective cMacs into the heart.

Objectives: This study investigated the association between perivascular fat density (PFD) via preoperative computed tomographic angiography (CTA) and early in-stent restenosis (ISR) after carotid artery stenting (CAS). Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 248 consecutive patients who had undergone initial CAS and received a preoperative cervical CTA examination between January 2019 and October 2020. The patients were categorized into two according to whether they sustained ISR during the 2 years postoperative follow-up period. Correlations between PFD and ISR were assessed, and multivariate regression for evaluating predictors of ISR was conducted. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine the cutoff value for the PFD. Results: A total of 181 eligible patients (mean age 61.25 ± 10.35 years, 57 male) were enrolled. The ISR group had a higher proportion of closed-cell stents (48.8% versus 27.5%; p = 0.009) and a greater degree of residual stenosis (28[20,33] % versus 20[14.75,30] %; p

Over the past few decades, clinical trials conducted worldwide have demonstrated the efficacy of arsenic trioxide (ATO) in the treatment of relapsed acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Currently, ATO has become the frontline treatments for patients with APL. However, its therapeutic applicability is severely constrained by ATO-induced cardiac side effects. Any cardioprotective agents that can ameliorate the cardiac side effects and allow exploiting the full therapeutic potential of ATO, undoubtedly gain significant attention. The knowledge and use of natural products for evidence-based therapy have grown rapidly in recent years. Here we discussed the potential mechanism of ATO-induced cardiac side effects and reviewed the studies on cardiac side effects as well as the research history of ATO in the treatment of APL. Then, We summarized the protective effects and underlying mechanisms of natural products in the treatment of ATO-induced cardiac side effects. Based on the efficacy and safety of the natural product, it has a promising future in the development of cardioprotective agents against ATO-induced cardiac side effects.

Spectrum prediction is a promising technique to release spectrum resources and plays an essential role in cognitive radio networks and spectrum situation generating. Traditional algorithms normally focus on one-dimensional or predict spectrum values in a slot-by-slot manner and thus cannot fully perceive the spectrum states in complex environments and lack timeliness. In this paper, a deep learning-based prediction method with a simple structure is developed for temporal–spectral and multi-slot spectrum prediction simultaneously. Specifically, we first analyze and construct spectrum data suitable for the model to simultaneously achieve long-term and multi-dimensional spectrum prediction. Then, a hierarchical spectrum prediction system is developed that takes advantage of the advanced Bi-ConvLSTM and the seq2seq framework. The Bi-ConvLSTM captures time–frequency characteristics of spectrum data, and the seq2seq framework is used for long-term spectrum prediction. Furthermore, the attention mechanism is used to address the limitations of the seq2seq framework that compresses all inputs into fixed-length vectors, resulting in information loss. Finally, the experimental results have shown that the proposed model has a significant advantage over the benchmark schemes. Especially, the proposed spectrum prediction model achieves 6.15%, 0.7749, 1.0978, and 0.9628 in MAPE, MAE, RMSE, and R2, respectively, which is better than all the baseline deep learning models.