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• m6A modification level was lower in SLE patients compared with controls. • m6A-related lncRNAs are aberrantly expressed and may play novel potential roles in SLE. • m6A-related lncRNAs were correlated with clinical manifestations of patients with SLE. • Co-expressed mRNAs for aberrantly expressed m6A related-lncRNAs might participate in SLE. LncRNAs are potential biomarkers for SLE, but the epigenetic regulatory mechanisms of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification in SLE remain largely unclear. In this study, we established m6A modification profile and investigated the potential roles of m6A-related lncRNAs in SLE. The m6A modification profile of SLE was established using MeRIP-seq. Four potential m6A related-lncRNAs (linc02446, linc01410, Xist, and PSMB8-AS1) were selected for validation using qRT-PCR, and their expression and association with clinical characteristics with SLE were evaluated. Overall, m6A level was lower in patients with SLE than in controls. Compared with controls, the expression of the two m6A related-lncRNAs (Xist and PSMB8-AS1) was downregulated in patients with SLE (all P < 0.05); the linc02446 was up-regulated in PBMCs of patients with SLE (Z =-2.738, P = 0.006), while it was not differentially expressed in T cells (Z =-0.387, P = 0.699). No significant alteration in linc01410 expression was observed in patients (Z =-0.940, P = 0.347). The lower expression levels of Xist and PSMB8-AS1 were associated with many clinical manifestations in patients with SLE (all P < 0.05). Additionally, mRNAs co-expressed with m6A related-lncRNAs (Xist, linc02446, and PSMB8-AS1) also participated in SLE. These results suggest that m6A methylation and m6A related-lncRNAs might be involved in the pathogenesis of SLE. Thus, our findings provide some clues on the potential function of lncRNAs that m6A modification may target in novel therapeutic or diagnostic strategies for SLE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimization of porous infill structures via local volume constraints has become a popular approach in topology optimization. In some design settings, however, the iterative optimization process converges only slowly, or not at all even after several hundreds or thousands of iterations. This leads to regions in which a distinct binary design is difficult to achieve. Interpreting intermediate density values by applying a threshold results in large solid or void regions, leading to sub-optimal structures. We find that this convergence issue relates to the topology of the stress tensor field that is simulated when applying the same external forces on the solid design domain. In particular, low convergence is observed in regions around so-called trisector degenerate points. Based on this observation, we propose an automatic initialization process that prescribes the topological skeleton of the stress field into the density field as solid simulation elements. These elements guide the material deposition around the degenerate points, but can also be remodelled or removed during the optimization. We demonstrate significantly improved convergence rates in a number of use cases with complex stress topologies. The improved convergence is demonstrated for infill optimization under homogeneous as well as spatially varying local volume constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We aim to explore the capacity of perioperative pupillary variables to predict acute pain in the post‐anesthesia care unit (PACU). Methods: Patients scheduled to undergo thoracic or abdominal surgery under general anesthesia between April 2021 and June 2021 were enrolled. We measured the pupil diameter, pupillary light reflex (PLR), and pupillary reflex dilatation 5 min before anesthesia induction (T1), 5 min after intubation (T2), at the end of anesthesia (T3), immediately before extubation (T4), and 5 min after extubation (T5). We assessed the early postoperative pain intensity in the PACU using Numeric Rating Scales (NRS) at recovery, 5 min after recovery, and 10 min after recovery. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between perioperative pupillary variables and postoperative pain intensity. Results: Fifty‐one patients were enrolled, 50 of whom were included in the final analysis. A total of 13 patients (26%) needed remedial analgesia in the PACU. Pupil parameters at T1, T2, T3, and T5 were not associated with NRS in the PACU. Multiple logistic regression models and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves indicated that only latency of PLR at T4 can predict postoperative acute pain. The ROC analysis showed that the cutoff value for latency of PLR at T4 was 0.29 s to discriminate between no pain and pain, and the area under the curve was 0.778 (95% CI 0.634–0.922, p = 0.002) with sensitivity 50.0% and specificity 91.7%. Conclusion: The latency of PLR immediately before extubation may be a useful predictor for postoperative acute pain in the PACU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although previous studies have suggested that navigation can improve the accuracy of pedicle screw placement, few studies have compared navigation-assisted transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) and navigation-assisted minimally invasive TLIF (MIS-TLIF). The entry point of pedicle screw insertion in navigation-assisted MIS-TLIF (NM-TLIF) may deviate from the planned entry point due to an uneven bone surface, which may result in misplacement. The purpose of this study was to explore the pedicle screw accuracy and clinical consequences of MIS-TLIF and TLIF, both under O-arm navigation, to determine which surgical method is better.Methods: A retrospective study of 54 patients who underwent single-segment NM-TLIF or navigation-assisted TLIF (N-TLIF) was conducted. In addition to the patients' demographic characteristics, intraoperative indicators and complications, the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and visual analog scale (VAS) score were recorded and analyzed preoperatively and at the 1-, 6-, and 12-month and final postoperative follow-ups. The clinical qualitative accuracy and absolute quantitative accuracy of pedicle screw placement were assessed by postoperative CT. Multifidus muscle injury was evaluated by T2-weighted MRI.Results: Compared with N-TLIF, NM-TLIF was more advantageous in terms of the incision length, intraoperative blood loss, drainage volume, time to ambulation, length of hospital stay, blood transfusion rate and analgesia rate (P < 0.05). The ODI and VAS scores for low back pain were better than those of N-TLIF at 1 month and 6 months post-surgery (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the clinical qualitative screw placement accuracy (97.3% vs. 96.2%, P > 0.05). The absolute quantitative accuracy results showed that the axial translational error, sagittal translational error, and sagittal angle error in the NM-TLIF group were significantly greater than those in the N-TLIF group (P < 0.05). The mean T2-weighted signal intensity of the multifidus muscle in the NM-TLIF group was significantly lower than that in the N-TLIF group (P < 0.05).Conclusions: Compared with N-TLIF, NM-TLIF has the advantages of being less invasive, yielding similar or better screw placement accuracy and achieving better symptom relief in the midterm postoperative recovery period. However, more attention should be given to real-time adjustment for pedicle insertion in NM-TLIF rather than just following the entry point and trajectory of the intraoperative plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the transient process of solid–liquid phase change is modeled and simulated by the multiphase smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. First, to simulate the interfacial behaviors of melt liquids, the multiphase SPH model is established for immiscible viscous fluids with a large density ratio, where the environmental liquid surrounding the solid phase is considered, and the surface tension of the melt liquid can be accurately modeled by the continuum surface force method. Based on the multiphase model, the thermal dynamics model is incorporated to describe the heat conduction process. The solid–liquid phase change is realized by directly switching the state of the concerned SPH particle, where the absorbed latent heat is computed by the phase change model. Second, the model is validated by several simulation cases, including the Stefan problem, hydrostatic pressure of the evolving fluid interface, rising of two bubbles, and square droplet deformation, and the effects of numerical parameters on simulation accuracy and stability are also discussed. Third, the integrated SPH model is applied to simulate molten droplet formation and dropping processes. The results show that an initial solid–liquid interface disappears during the melting process, and new liquid–liquid interfaces gradually form and evolve under the action of surface tension, gravity, and viscosity. Phenomena such as thin-layer fluid dynamics and capillary instabilities are also reproduced, showing the effectiveness of the model for handling multiphase flow with heat conduction and phase change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a malignant infectious disease with high mortality caused by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus, and up to now there are no curable drugs or effective vaccines. In order to understand AIDS's development trend, we establish hybrid EMD-BPNN (empirical modal decomposition and Back-propagation artificial neural network model) model to forecast new HIV infection in Dalian and to evaluate model's performance.Methods: The monthly HIV data series are decomposed by EMD method, and then all decomposition results are used as training and testing data to establish BPNN model, namely BPNN was fitted to each IMF (intrinsic mode function) and residue separately, and the predicted value is the sum of the predicted values from the models. Meanwhile, using yearly HIV data to established ARIMA and using monthly HIV data to established BPNN, and SARIMA (seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average) model to compare the predictive ability with EMD-BPNN model.Results: From 2004 to 2017, 3310 cases of HIV were reported in Dalian, including 101 fatal cases. The monthly HIV data series are decomposed into four relatively stable IMFs and one residue item by EMD, and the residue item showed that the incidence of HIV increases firstly after declining. The mean absolute percentage error value for the EMD-BPNN, BPNN, SARIMA (1,1,2) (0,1,1)12 in 2018 is 7.80%, 10.79%, 9.48% respectively, and the mean absolute percentage error value for the ARIMA (3,1,0) model in 2017 and 2018 is 8.91%.Conclusions: The EMD-BPNN model was effective and reliable in predicting the incidence of HIV for annual incidence, and the results could furnish a scientific reference for policy makers and health agencies in Dalian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A chronic progressive degenerative joint disease, such as osteoarthritis (OA) is positively related to age. The medical economy is facing a major burden, because of the high disability rate seen in patients with OA. Therefore, to prevent and treat OA, exploring the diagnostic biomarkers of OA will be of great significance. Methods: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database using the RobustRankAggreg R package, and a protein–protein interaction network was constructed. The module was obtained from Cytoscape, and the four algorithms of degree, MNC, closeness, and MCC in CytoHubba were used to identify the hub genes. A diagnostic model was constructed using Support Vector Machines (SVM), and the ability of the model to predict was evaluated by other cohorts. Results: From normal and OA samples, 136 DEGs were identified, out of which 45 were downregulated in the normal group and 91 were upregulated in the OA group. These genes were associated with the extracellular matrix-receptor interactions, the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and the protein digestion and absorption pathway, as per a functional enrichment analysis. Finally, we identified the 7 hub genes (COL6A3, COL1A2, COL1A1, MMP2, COL3A1, POST, and FN1). These genes have important roles and are widely involved in the immune response, apoptosis, inflammation, and bone development. These 7 genes were used to construct a diagnostic model by SVM, and it performed well in different cohorts. Additionally, we verified the methylation expression of these hub genes. Conclusions: The 7-genes signature can be used for the diagnosis of OA and can provide new ideas in the clinical decision-making for patients with OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine-like 1 (SPARCL1) plays an important role in tumor pathogenesis. We aim to evaluate the clinical significance and potential biological roles of SPARCL1 in colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods. Datasets from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases were downloaded to evaluate the expression levels of SPARCL1 in CRC. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed to evaluate the diagnostic value of SPARCL1. Then, comprehensive database search was conducted for published clinical studies to explore clinical significance of SPARCL1. In addition, coexpression genes of SPARCL1 were identified through the cBioPortal database and enrichment analysis of SPARCL1 and its coexpression genes were performed by the "clusterProfiler" R package. Finally, the correlations between SPARCL1 and tumor microenvironment scores, tumor-infiltrating immune cells in CRC were determined by "ESTIMATE" and "GSVA" R packages. Results. SPARCL1 was significantly downregulated in CRC tissues, and SPARCL1 showed high accuracy for diagnosis of primary CRC in both GEO and TCGA datasets. Pooled results from published clinical studies showed SPARCL1 expression was associated with differentiation (OR = 1.89 , 95% CI: 1.38-2.59), tumor stage (OR = 0.47 , 95% CI: 0.29-0.77), distant metastasis (OR = 0.53 , 95% CI: 0.33-0.84), and overall survival (HR = 0.56 , 95% CI: 0.43-0.74). SPARCL1 and its top 300 coexpression genes were involved in several KEGG pathways, such as focal adhesion, cell adhesion molecules, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, cGMP-PKG signaling pathway, and ECM-receptor interaction. Besides, the SPARCL1 expression was significantly correlated with stromal score, immune score, ESTIMATE score, and diverse immune cells. Conclusion. SPARCL1 significantly correlated with clinicopathological features and tumor microenvironment in CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The loss of dermal white adipose tissue (dWAT) is vital to the formation of dermal fibrosis (DF), but the specific mechanism is not well understood. A few studies are reviewed to explore the role of dWAT in the formation of DF. Recent findings indicated that the adipocytes‐to‐myofibroblasts transition in dWAT reflects the direct contribution to the DF formation. While adipose‐derived stem cells (ADSCs) contained in dWAT express antifibrotic cytokines, the loss of ADSCs leads to skin protection decreased, which indirectly exacerbates DF and tissue damage. Therefore, blocking or reversing the adipocytes‐to‐myofibroblasts transition or improving the survival of ADSCs in dWAT and the expression of antifibrotic cytokines may be an effective strategy for the treatment of DF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the spectrum scarcity of unmanned aerial vehicles' (UAVs) communication systems, cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) is used to identify the available spectrum for cognitive UAV networks (CUAVNs). Due to the flexible locations of flying UAVs, we first design an intraframe cooperation way to replace the traditional interframe cooperation to achieve CSS in this article. Considering certain performance requirements in CUAVNs, we perform an in-depth analysis of the relationship among performance indices of sequential probability ratio test (SPRT)-based CSS and approximate the actual detection performance and the stopping time by ignoring the excess over the boundaries and the random walk. Finally, numerical results corroborate the effectiveness and correctness of our theoretical analysis, and comparison results represent the superiority of our proposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The association between migraine and dementia has rarely been investigated, and available results are conflicting. Thus, the aim of this meta‐analysis was to evaluate whether an association exists between migraine and dementia. Materials & Methods: We searched for cohort studies from databases including PubMed, EBSCO, Web of Science, and EMBASE database from inception to April 1, 2021, using subject and free words. RevMan 5.1 software was used to calculate the risk ratio (RR) of dementia in patients with migraine. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the source of heterogeneity. A random‐effects model was used when heterogeneity was present. The Funnel plot and Egger's test were used to evaluate publication bias. Results: Five published cohort studies covering a total of 249,303 individuals were identified. Pooled analysis showed that migraine was associated with increased risk of all‐cause dementia (RR: 1.34, 95% CI: 1.13–1.59) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) (RR: 2.49, 95% CI: 1.16–5.32). However, we did not found any association between migraine and risk of vascular dementia (VaD) (RR: 1.51, 95% CI: 0.77–2.96). Conclusions: Our results revealed that migraine was a potential risk indicator for AD and all‐cause dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study experimentally investigates the effect of changes in amylose‐to‐amylopectin ratio on the multi‐scale structures, hydrophilicity, and thermal properties of starch–chitosan essential oil (EO) films incorporated with vanillin. The results indicate that aggregates and uneven structures tend to form in the EO films with a higher proportion of amylose. In Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, as the chitosan content increases, the wavenumber of stretching vibration of hydroxyl and the bending vibration of amino groups decrease, while the wavenumber of stretching vibration of C‐O increases. Furthermore, with an increase in the chitosan content, the changes in the starch–chitosan EO film structure impacts the hydrophilic trend, and the hydrophilic changes in the EO films with common starch and G80 starch are significant changes with the proportions of starch to chitosan from 7:3 to 5:5. When their mass ratio is 3:7, the starch–chitosan EO films investigated exhibit the lowest decomposition peak temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) has been considered as an essential paradigm of cognitive radio (CR) to provide ever-growing wireless applications with the available spectrum band. However, the following problems degrade the security and efficiency of CSS in cognitive radio networks (CRNs), such as, (i) the open facet of the CRN provides an opportunity for the Byzantine attacker to falsify the sensing information, (ii) imperfect reporting channels may distort the sensing information during the decision-making process, (iii) a large amount of sensing information transmission incurs communication overhead. Confronting these problems, we propose a secure and efficient CSS scheme, called generalized voting-sequential and differential reporting (GV-SDR) in this paper. For this aim, we first design a data transmission monitoring process in the periodic spectrum sensing frame structure to defend against Byzantine attack. Furthermore, we exploit the on/off signaling characteristic and propose a single signaling transmission method to mitigate the negative impact of the imperfect reporting channel. Moreover, based on the generalized voting (GV) rule, the sensing information fusion is carried out in the sequential and differential reporting (SDR) mechanism to improve the spectrum sensing efficiency. Simulation results show that in front of Byzantine attack and imperfect reporting channels, the proposed GV-SDR not only significantly reduces the sensing information required by the FC, but also provides the better detection performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stable and continuous remote sensing land-cover mapping is important for agriculture, ecosystems, and land management. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are promising methods for achieving this goal. However, the large number of high-quality training samples required to train a CNN is difficult to acquire. In practice, imbalanced and noisy labels originating from existing land-cover maps can be used as alternatives. Experiments have shown that the inconsistency in the training samples has a significant impact on the performance of the CNN. To overcome this drawback, a method is proposed to inject highly consistent information into the network, to learn general and transferable features to alleviate the impact of imperfect training samples. Spectral indices are important features that can provide consistent information. These indices can be fused with CNN feature maps which utilize information entropy to choose the most appropriate CNN layer, to compensate for the inconsistency caused by the imbalanced, noisy labels. The proposed transferable CNN, tested with imbalanced and noisy labels for inter-regional Landsat time-series, not only is superior in terms of accuracy for land-cover mapping but also demonstrates excellent transferability between regions in both time series and cross-regional Landsat image classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Propofol is a commonly used drug for sedation and general anesthesia during cancer surgery. Previous studies indicate that propofol exerts anti-tumor effect in various cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate the underlying molecular mechanism of propofol in liver cancer. The effects of propofol on liver cancer cells were evaluated by cell viability assay, colony formation assay, and tumor xenograft model. Dysregulated lncRNAs of propofol-treated liver cancer cells were evaluated by transcriptome RNA sequencing. The underlying molecular mechanisms of lncRNA cancer susceptibility candidate 9 (CASC9) in propofol-induced anti-tumor effects were evaluated by western blot, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), wound scratch healing assay, transwell cell migration and invasion assay, TUNEL staining, fluorescence in situ hybridization, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). We found that propofol suppressed proliferation, migration, invasion, and tumor xenograft growth of liver cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. Exosomes transfer from propofol-treated cells inhibited proliferation, migration, and invasion and promoted apoptosis of liver cancer cells. Transcriptional profiling of propofol-treated liver cancer cells identified CASC9 as significantly downregulated lncRNA in cells and exosomes. Enforced CASC9 expression partially rescued the inhibitory effects of propofol on liver cancer cells. Furthermore, CASC9 was found to interact directly with EZH2 and epigenetically regulated PTEN expression. Restoration of CASC9 partially abrogated the inhibition of propofol on Akt/mTOR signaling. Our results indicated that propofol exerted anti-tumor effects by downregulating CASC9, and subsequently suppressed Akt/mTOR signaling. Our findings provided a novel insight into propofol-induced anti-tumor effects in liver cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural colored fabrics based on colloidal photonic crystals (CPCs) have attracted increasing concerns benefitting from the fadeless and environmental-friendly properties, which might promote the revolution of traditional textile printing and dyeing industry. However, enhancing the structural stability of CPCs on fabrics in a high efficiency and easy-to-perform manner still remains challenges. Here, we constructed novel brilliant angle-independent structural colored fabrics through atomization deposition fabricating poly(hexafluorobutyl acrylate- co -glycidyl methacrylate) (poly(HFBA- co -GMA)) CPCs on polyester (PET) fabrics. On the one hand, the hexafluorobutyl groups on poly(HFBA- co -GMA) colloidal microspheres endow the fabrics with excellent hydrophobicity. On the other hand, the hexafluorobutyl groups are able to generate strong hydrogen bonding interactions with carboxyl groups on PET fabrics, providing the structural colored fabrics with outstanding structural stability. Moreover, excellent flexibility, outstanding breathability, patterning and large-scale production of structural colored fabrics were also realized. This work offers a brand-new fashion towards manufacturing high performance structural colored fabrics, which might hold the potential in industrial eco-friendly coloration technology. [Display omitted] •Angle-independent structural colored fabrics were prepared by atomization deposition. • Great structural stability was achieved by hydrogen bonds between CPCs and fabrics. • Hexafluorobutyl groups in CPCs microspheres allow fabrics to be hydrophobic. • Flexibility, breathability and easiness in patterning were also achieved. • Facile and large-scale production of structural colored fabrics were realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Food waste can be converted into high-quality carbon quantum dots in under 5 min. • Carbon dots are produced at room temperature by NaCl cutting. • Environmental changes can be sensed using carbon dots. • Carbon dots are generated under low-energy consumption. In this study, we developed a low-energy-consumption green method for synthesising carbon dots (CD) at room temperature using watermelon rind as the carbon source through a cutting process based on NaCl crystals. The synthesis process was rapid (<5 min) and facile. The synthesised CD were characterised using photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results revealed that the synthesised dots exhibited robust adsorption, a spherical shape and a uniform size distribution. The PL intensity of the quantum dots decrease due to the temperature rising, metal ions and ponceau 4R added. In contrast with PH, PL intensity increase, so these CD can serve as multifunctional sensing materials. Overall, this study presents an environmentally friendly method for the rapid synthesis of CD that are suitable for temperature, pH, metal ion and food sensing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural color in nature provides a new strategy for eco-friendly colorization. Biomimetic construction of amorphous photonic crystals (APCs) on the substrate surface can form a specific non-iridescent structural color, which can be widely used in textile, paint and other fields. However, the APCs structural color has the shortcomings of dim color and poor colorfastness, which restrict the industrial application. In this study, base on the structural design of APCs building blocks, a novel copolymer containing reactive epoxy groups of poly (styrene-co-glycidyl methacrylate) (P(St-co-GMA)) was synthesized, which was used for fabricating APCs structural color by rapid spray coating method. P(St-co-GMA) nanospheres with different particle diameters can be self-assembled into APCs showing different crack-free structural colors. This research reports for the first time that the polymer nanospheres with two different particle diameters were synthesized by one-pot polymerization to enhance the color brightness of structural color. P(St-co-GMA) nanospheres structural colorized fabrics showed excellent colorfastness, flexibility and air permeability. This research promotes the industrial application of structural color for the rapid larger-scale fabrication of APCs with excellent colorfastness on substrates through the synthesis of polymer nanospheres with reactive epoxy groups. [Display omitted] • P(St-co-GMA) nanospheres with different particle sizes were synthesized by one-pot polymerization. • P(St-co-GMA) nanospheres structural color could be rapid large-scale prepared by spraying. • P(St-co-GMA) nanospheres could fabricate the crack-free structural colors with high brightness. • P(St-co-GMA) containing reactive epoxy groups endows structural color with good colorfastness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Poly[1-vinyl-3-benzyltriethylammonium proline ionic liquid] membranes was prepared. • The properties of PILMs were comprehensively investigated. • The PILMs-SPE-HPLC was developed for the determination of quercetin in tea. • Modelling of isotherm and kinetic adsorption was performed. A novel poly[1-vinyl-3-benzyltriethylammonium proline ionic liquid] membrane(PIL/PVDF membrane) were prepared through the blending poly[1-vinyl-3-benzyltriethylammonium proline ionic liquid](P[Pro][TEA])-poly(vinylidene fluoride)(PVDF) phase inversion method. A series of PIL/PVDF membrane characterization (NMR, FT-IR, SEM, EDS, and XPS) was performed. The properties of PIL/PVDF membrane (contact angle, water flux, mechanical properties, thermal stability,electric charge property, specific surface area and pore diameter) were evaluated. A solid phase extraction − high performance liquid chromatography (SPE-HPLC) method for separation/analysis of quercetin was developed. The factors affecting the adsorption and elution (time, dosage, pH etc.) were investigated. Under optimal conditions, the method has been successfully applied to the separation/analysis of quercetin in tea, and the recovery rates are satisfactory (86.4–106.0 %). The concentration factor of quercetin was 10. The adsorption capacity of PIL/PVDF membrane towards quercetin was 22.1 mg g−1. The extraction mechanism was preliminarily discussed. The established SPE-HPLC method was simple and reliable, which provided application prospects for extraction and detection of quercetin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This study examined the effects of different degree of esterification (DE) on the stability of high internal phase Pickering emulsions (HIPPEs) fabricated using pectin‐whey protein isolate complexes. The modified pectin with different DE was prepared using the alkali de‐esterification method with high methoxyl pectin (HMP). The impact of DE on the conformational changes of pectin and whey protein isolate (WPI) during the complexes formation was examined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and fluorescence spectroscopy. Citrus pectin (CP)–WPI complexes and camellia oil were used to create an emulsion with a self‐supporting structure of 75% internal phase volume. The thermal, centrifugal, storage and freeze–thaw stabilities of CP–WPI stabilised HIPPEs with different DE were evaluated and the results revealed that the low methoxyl pectin (LMP) produced via alkali de‐esterification altered the charge density of pectin. Compared with the untreated pectin, the electrostatic interaction between CP–WPI complexes was enhanced and the stability of CP–WPI stabilised HIPPEs was improved. The study will help to better understand the interaction between CP and WPI, enhance the efficiency of the pectin–protein delivery system and improve the utilisation rate of citrus pectin, which has important guiding significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Observational studies and clinical validation have suggested a link between thyroid dysfunction and an elevated ovarian cancer (OC) risk. However, whether this association indicates a cause-and-effect relationship remains uncertain. We aimed to investigate the plausible causal impact of thyroid dysfunction on OC through a Mendelian randomization (MR) study. Methods: Genome-wide association study (GWAS) data for thyrotropin (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), hypothyroidism, and hyperthyroidism were obtained as exposures and those for OC (N = 199,741) were selected as outcomes. Inverse variance-weighted method was used as the main estimation method. A series of sensitivity analyses, including Cochran's Q test, MR-Egger intercept analysis, forest plot scatter plot, and leave-one-out test, was conducted to assess the robustness of the estimates. Results: Genetic prediction of hyperthyroidism was associated with a potential increase in OC risk (odds ratio = 1.094, 95% confidence interval: 1.029–1.164, p = 0.004). However, no evidence of causal effects of hypothyroidism, TSH, and FT4 on OC or reverse causality was detected. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated consistent and reliable results, with no significant estimates of heterogeneity or pleiotropy. Conclusions: This study employed MR to establish a correlation between hyperthyroidism and OC risk. By genetically predicting OC risk in patients with hyperthyroidism, our research suggests new insights for early prevention and intervention of OC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) predominantly develop in the stomach. While nomogram offer tremendous therapeutic promise, there is yet no ideal nomogram comparison customized specifically for handling categorical data and model selection related gastric GISTs. (1) We selected 5463 patients with gastric GISTs from the SEER Research Plus database spanning from 2000 to 2020; (2) We proposed an advanced missing data imputation algorithm specifically designed for categorical variables; (3) We constructed five Cox nomogram models, each employing distinct methods for the selection and modeling of categorical variables, including Cox (Two-Stage), Lasso-Cox, Ridge-Cox, Elastic Net-Cox, and Cox With Lasso; (4) We conducted a comprehensive comparison of both overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) tasks at six different time points; (5) To ensure robustness, we performed 50 randomized splits for each task, maintaining a 7:3 ratio between the training and test cohorts with no discernible statistical differences. Among the five models, the Cox (Two-Stage) nomogram contains the fewest features. Notably, at Near-term, Mid-term, and Long-term intervals, the Cox (Two-Stage) model attains the highest Area Under the Curve (AUC), top-1 ratio, and top-3 ratio in both OS and CSS tasks. For the prediction of survival in patients with gastric GISTs, the Cox (Two-Stage) nomogram stands as a simple, stable, and accurate predictive model with substantial promise for clinical application. To enhance the clinical utility and accessibility of our findings, we have deployed the nomogram model online, allowing healthcare professionals and researchers worldwide to access and utilize this predictive tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate tool wear prediction is of great significance to improve production efficiency, ensure product quality and reduce machining cost. This paper proposes a hybrid physics data-driven model-based fusion framework for tool wear prediction to improve low prediction accuracy of physical model and poor interpretation of data-driven model. In this framework, physical information and local features of sensor measurement signals are used as inputs to build a hybrid physics data-driven (HPDD) model. And data mining and physics principles are effectively integrated by using unlabeled samples for data expansion. Piecewise prediction is introduced to reduce difficulty in parameter estimation. Then, in order to manage prediction uncertainty of physical information and HPDD method, two prediction results are gradually combined based on Bayesian fusion mechanism to eliminate prediction error. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by experiment. Compared with existing methods, this method significantly improves prediction. The mean values of root mean square error (RMSE) and mean relative error (MARE) for tool wear prediction results are respectively 2.28 and 1.85. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we conduct a reliability characterisation study of cold standby systems. Utilising synthetic rectangular formulas and cold preparedness equivalent models for cold standby systems, we analyse the lifetimes of several typical configurations, including series, parallel, and k/n:m voting systems. This study proposes system equivalent models for various types of cold standby systems, all composed of components that follow the same exponential distribution. We use the equivalent model to determine the optimal timing for the use of cold spares and derive the reliability function and residual lifetime function for each type of system. To demonstrate the validity of our model, the Monte Carlo simulation is strategically designed based on the system failure rate function. The experimental results are then compared with those obtained from the numerical model, highlighting that the numerical method incurs a lower time cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfide solid electrolytes (SSEs) have become an ideal candidate material for all‐solid‐state Li metal batteries (ASSLMBs) because of their high ionic conductivity. However, the vile Li incompatibility and poor air stability of SSEs barriers their commercial application. Herein, novel Li6+2xP1−xInxS5−1.5xO1.5xCl (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) SSEs are synthesized via In and O co‐doped Li6PS5Cl. By regulating the substitution concentration, the prepared Li6.12P0.92In0.08S4.88O0.12Cl exhibits considerable ionic conductivity (2.67 × 10−3 S cm−1) and enhanced air stability. Based on the first‐principles density functional theory (DFT) calculation, it is predicted that In3+ replaces P5+ to form InS45− tetrahedron and O2− replaces S2− to form PS3O4− group. The mechanism of enhancing air stability by In, O co‐substituting Li6PS5Cl is clarified. More remarkably, the formation of Li‐In alloys induced by Li6.16P0.92In0.08S4.88O0.12Cl electrolyte at the anode interface is beneficial to reducing the migration barrier of Li‐ions, promoting their remote migration, and enhancing the stability of the Li/SSEs interface. The optimized electrolyte shows superior critical current density (1.4 mA cm−2) and satisfactory Li dendrite inhibition (stable cycle at 0.1 mA cm−2 over 3000 h). The ASSLMBs with Li6.16P0.92In0.08S4.88O0.12Cl electrolyte reveal considerable cycle stability. This work emphasizes In, O co‐doping to address redox issues of sulfide electrolytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multipath effect largely affects the performance of GPS positioning since it is related to the surrounding environment of the GPS station and cannot be effectively corrected by the empirical model. In particular, the multipath effect increases during flood due to the reflection and refractive of water performing higher than that of dry soil. Thus, in order to improve the performance of SPP (signal point positioning) during flood, the multipath effect should be considered and mitigated. The quantities related to multipath effect are analyzed by using data sets collected during flood, which includes the CNR (carrier-to-noise ratio) and MP (pseudorange multipath). In addition, the performance of SPP during a flood is evaluated, results show that the decreased percentages of SPP in the three components are approximately 25.00 % for E, 17.91 % for N, and 21.48 % for U, respectively. To mitigate the influence of multipath induced by flood, the correlation between the CNR, MP, and elevation angle (EA) is investigated in theory. Results indicate that the correlation between CNR and MP is much greater than the correlation between MP and EA. Thus, a new method based on an improved multi-CNR weight strategy and the sidereal filtering method is proposed to mitigate the multipath effect. The performance of the proposed method is assessed by using real data sets. Experimental results show that the average correlation between the multipath correction model and multipath error can reach approximately 0.65. After applying the proposed method, the accuracy of MP and SPP can be effectively improved, and the average improvement rate of the MP and three components are approximately 16.84 % and 14.76 % compared with the original results, respectively. It should be noted that this proposed method is also suitable for static SPP applications in other multipath environments, such as the environment obscured by trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale space measurement is of great significance for the assembly of large parts. In view of the problems of traditional measurement methods, such as difficult expansion of the measurement range, complicated calibration process, and poor portability, this work proposes a multicamera vision measurement network that can freely expand the measurement range based on the auto calibration method. First, cameras were fixed to auxiliary targets and every camera with a target was mounted on a precision turntable. Second, the rotation axis parameters of the camera and the target pose relative to the camera coordinate system were estimated. Finally, the extrinsic parameters between the cameras could be estimated by interactive scanning method. The experimental results show that the method in this paper simplifies the calibration method of the multicamera vision measurement network, and the measurement accuracy basically reaches the accuracy of the Zhang type calibration method under the premise that the measurement range can be expanded freely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly aggressive malignancy characterized by a complex tumor microenvironment. Angiogenesis is of paramount importance in the proliferation and metastasis of PDAC. However, currently, there are no well-defined biomarkers available to guide the prognosis and treatment of PDAC. In this study, we investigated the interactions between tumor-associated endothelial cells (TAECs) and tumor cells in PDAC, and identified a specific subset of TAECs characterized by high expression of COL4A1. COL4A1+ endothelial cells interact with tumor cells through the COLLAGEN signaling pathway to promote tumor cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. We also observed activation of HOXD9 in COL4A1+ endothelial cells. Based on these findings, we developed a prognostic model called TaEMS, which accurately predicts patient prognosis. TaEMS identified high-risk patients enriched in cell cycle-related pathways and low-risk patients enriched in focal adhesions, smooth muscle regulation, and immune pathways. Moreover, high-risk patients displayed a reduced level of immune cell infiltration, indicating the presence of a "cold tumor" phenotype. Overall, our study uncovered an intricate crosstalk between TAECs and tumor cells in PDAC, emphasizing the role of HOXD9 and highlighting the potential of TaEMS as a prognostic biomarker for precise therapies. • COL4A1+ endothelial cells displayed a close association with tumor cells and protumor cells. • COL4A1+ endothelial cells regulate tumor cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. • The prognostic model, TaEMS, accurately predicts patient prognosis and response to anti-angiogenic therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A spatial ray tracing method in non-uniform refractive index field based on Hamiltonian algorithm was proposed. • The non-uniform refractive index field was reconstructed by multi-angle Tomography Schlieren method. • Error compensation method for visual measurement in the non-uniform refractive index space was realized. In complex large-scale industrial environments, light rays no longer propagate in a straight line due to the influence of non-uniform refractive index, which will lead to large measurement errors in visual measurement. In order to accurately compensate the error, this paper firstly quantitatively analyzes the influence of non-uniform refractive index distribution on visual measurement. Then the symplectic matrix ray-tracing method of Hamiltonian optics is used to reconstruct spatial light in the reverse direction with known light propagation end point and spatial refractive index distribution. Thus the traditional model of light propagation along a straight line in visual measurement can be changed and the measurement error introduced by non-uniform refractive index field can be corrected. Finally, the proposed Hamiltonian ray tracing method was verified through the spatial non-uniform refractive index field reconstructed by Background Oriented Schlieren(BOS) method. The experimental results verified the effectiveness and feasibility of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • One-step hydrothermal synthesis of carbon quantum dots with 24.58% quantum yield. • Establishment of carbon quantum dots fluorescence "on-off-on" sensor. • Successful fluorescence detection of multi-component content in real samples. • Revealing the potential for visual fluorescence detection in subsequent studies. The nitrogen(N)-sulfur(S)-sodium(Na(I)) co-doped carbon quantum dots (CQDs) were synthesized via a one-step hydrothermal method, which exhibited a remarkably high fluorescence quantum yield (24.58%) and exceptional optical properties. The fluorescence "on-off-on" sensor was constructed. The fluorescence of CQDs was rapidly quenched with Fe(III) and the fluorescence recovered by ascorbic acid (Asc) partially and arginine (Arg)/histidine (His) completely. The CQDs fluorescence sensor demonstrated rapid response, exceptional sensitivity, excellent stability, remarkable selectivity, and robust anti-interference performance, which was feasible to simultaneously determine the concentrations of multiple analytes in the sample with satisfactory recovery rates. The "on-off-on" fluorescence mechanism of CQDs was investigated, revealing the significant potential of carbon nano-functionalized materials in the field of drug detection through fluorescence sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) sensor coated with crystal violet/perfluorinated sulfonic acid (CV/Nafion) composite film for relative humidity (RH) monitoring. The composite film demonstrates the characteristics of an optical "humidity test paper" by exhibiting a color transition from yellow to green within a RH range of 10 % to 80 %. This color variation indicates its potential to effectively monitor RH levels in diverse environments. To achieve a quantitative RH sensing, we coat CV/Nafion composite film on an etched TFBG (ETFBG), where surrounding RH changes can be measured from spectral responses of ETFBG transmission. In experiments, the proposed the CV/Nafion-coated ETFBG sensor exhibits RH sensitivities of 0.068 dB/%RH and 3 pm/%RH for intensity change and wavelength shift measurements, respectively, within a relative humidity (RH) range of 10 % to 80 %. Additionally, based on intensity measurement, short response and recovery times of ∼4.4 and ∼4.6 s are estimated from a continuous RH monitoring. • The proposed sensor's color will change from yellow to green with the increasing of the RH. • The proposed sensor could be used for RH detection of liquids, gases, and solids. • High RH detection sensitivity of 0.068 dB/% RH was obtained. • The response and recovery times are 4.4 s and 4.6 s respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Interaction mechanism of Co 9 S 8 was investigated via the first-principles. • Adsorption energies of Co 9 S 8 towards Na 2 S n are larger than those towards Li 2 S n. • Co 9 S 8 has a more effective suppression on shuttle effect in Na-S than Li-S system. • Co 9 S 8 is a promising cathode material for sulfur in alkali metal-sulfur batteries. Severe shuttle effect will deteriorate electrochemical performances of alkali metal-sulfur batteries involving lithium- or sodium-sulfur batteries. In this paper, the interaction mechanism between Co 9 S 8 and polysulfides (Li 2 S n /Na 2 S n) has been investigated thoroughly via the first-principles calculations. Both band structure and density of state show the metallicity of Co 9 S 8 , implying its positive role in conductivity improvement for cathodes. The adsorption energies of Co 9 S 8 towards long-chain Na 2 S n are larger than those towards Li 2 S n , indicating a more effective suppression of Co 9 S 8 on shuttle effect in Na-S than Li-S system. Co 9 S 8 also exhibits a catalytic property to beneficially decrease the Gibbs free energy barrier and thus speed up electrochemical reactions. Co 9 S 8 has been verified theoretically to be a promising cathode material for alkali metal-sulfur batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let G be a connected graph of order n with adjacency matrix A (G) and degree diagonal matrix D (G). The A α -matrix of G is defined as A α (G) = α D (G) + (1 − α) A (G) for any α ∈ [ 0 , 1). All the eigenvalues of A α (G) are called A α -eigenvalues of G , and the A α -spectrum of G consists of all the A α -eigenvalues along with their multiplicities. Denote the set of connected graphs (resp., of order n) with distinct A α -eigenvalues by G A α (resp., G n A α ). We also use G A α ⁎ (resp., G n A α ⁎ ) to denote the set of connected graphs in G A α (resp., G n A α ) whose A α -eigenvalues are main. Two graphs G and H are called A α -cospectral if they have the same A α -spectrum. This paper proposes a new approach to construct infinite families of G A α and G A α ⁎ . More specifically, for a graph G in G n A α or G n A α ⁎ , the infinite families of G A α or G A α ⁎ are constructed from G. At the same time, the A α -spectra of these graphs are completely determined by the A α -spectrum of G. Finally, using this technique, we also construct some infinite families of non-isomorphic A α -cospectral graphs in G A α and G A α ⁎ . Applying the results obtained to two cases of adjacency matrix and signless Laplacian matrix, we can derive the main results in [9] and [10]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enhanced nonreciprocal radiation in grating structure for light under conical incidence is investigated. The basic structure is composed of a one-dimensional grating on a continuous Weyl semimetal planar and a thick metallic mirror. The results show that near-perfect nonreciprocal radiation can be observed for transverse electric wave, which cannot be achieved for light in traditional incidence. Such effect results from the guided mode resonance (GMR) excited inside the grating, demonstrated by studying the electromagnetic field amplitude distribution. Moreover, the strong nonreciprocity is also stable for the geometric parameters in a wide varying range, lowering the cost of manufacture. Most of important, the proposed scheme could be employed to realize enhanced nonreciprocity for both TM polarization and TE polarization with different resonant wavelengths along with the same resonant wavelength. The concepts proposed here should pave the way to the development of polarization-dependent and polarization-independent as well as dual-polarization nonreciprocal emitters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cholesterol biosynthesis and metabolism are critical aspects that shape the process of tumor development and associated microenvironmental conditions owing to the ability of cholesterol to drive tumor growth and invasion. Squalene Epoxidase (SQLE) is the second rate-limiting enzyme involved in the synthesis of cholesterol. The functional role of SQLE within the tumor microenvironment, however, has yet to be established. Here we show that SQLE is distinctively expressed across most types of cancer, and the expression level is highly correlated with tumor mutation burden and microsatellite instability. Accordingly, SQLE was identified as a prognostic risk factor in cancer patients. In addition, we observed a negative correlation between SQLE expression and immune cell infiltration across multiple cancers, and murine xenograft model further confirmed that SQLE knockdown was associated with enhanced intratumoral CD8+ T cell infiltration. Using next-generation sequencing, we identified 410 genes distinctively expressed in tumors exhibiting SQLE inhibition. KEGG and GO analysis further verified that SQLE altered the immune response in the tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, we found that the metabolism and translation of proteins is the main binding factor with SQLE. Our findings ascertain that SQLE is a potential target in multiple cancers and suppressing SQLE establishes an essential mechanism for shaping tumor microenvironment. • (1) SQLE may serve as a promising biomarker for the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of human cancers. • (2) Knockdown SQLE inhibits melanoma growth by elevating CD8+ cytotoxic T cell accumulation. • (3) Protein-protein interactions exist between SQLE and EIF3D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Dendritic CsPbBr 3 @SiO 2 particles are used for ultrastable and high efficient LSCs. • Two types of LSCs are fabricated with maximum η opt of 7.88% and 10.92%, respectively. • The optimal LSCs show good transmittance of above 40 % over 515 nm of wavelength. • The LSCs remain above 92 % of the original η opt under harsh conditions over 14 days. Conventional perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) suffer long-term stability, further limiting practical application of luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs). In this work, novel dendritic CsPbBr 3 @SiO 2 particles with bright solid-state green light emission and 46 % of photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) have first been synthesized via one-step solid-phase calcination method. The dendritic CsPbBr 3 @SiO 2 particles have then been used as fluorescent material for construction of LSCs along with using organosilicon polymers with better compatibility as waveguide materials. Single-layer thin film LSCs and overall curing LSCs are easily prepared by the casting and curing method, exhibiting high external optical efficiency (η opt) of 7.88 % and 10.92 %, respectively. The maximum internal quantum efficiency (η int) of thin film LSCs and overall curing LSCs reach 45.09 % and 44.07 %, respectively, while their maximum external quantum efficiency (η ext) of 29.42 % and 34.07 % are obtained, respectively. Importantly, both types of LSCs show excellent stability, maintaining above 92 % of the initial η opt under high-relative-humidity (RH = 90 %), high-temperature (60 °C) and sunlight exposure conditions for two weeks or room temperature environment for twenty weeks. Moreover, both types of LSCs at optimal conditions have good transparency (>40 % over 515 nm of light wavelength). Otherwise, both types of LSCs have higher η opt than that of the previous related work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tunable nonreciprocal radiation for near vertical incident light is investigated. The effect is realized by placing a cascaded one-dimensional graphene and Weyl semimetal (WS) nanowire array on a thick metallic layer. It is observed that perfect absorptivity and emissivity can be realized with different resonant wavelengths, resulting in the achievement of perfect nonreciprocity with an angle of merely 1o. This effect results from the cavity mode resonance (CMR) excited by the WS array, and it is disclosed through analyzing the amplitude distribution of electromagnetic field. In addition, the perfect nonreciprocal radiation could be maintained within a large geometrical dimension range. Furthermore, it is shown that the perfect spectral nonreciprocity could be dynamically tuned by controlling the axial vector of the WS as well as the Fermi level of graphene. The findings will provide new possibility for developing novel energy capture and conversion structure also with advanced thermal systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA), which is due to the progressive loss and degeneration of articular cartilage, is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore OA biomarkers for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of OA.Methods and Materials: The GSE129147, GSE57218, GSE51588, GSE117999, and GSE98918 datasets with normal and OA samples were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The GSE117999 and GSE98918 datasets were integrated, and immune infiltration was evaluated. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed using the limma package in R, and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was used to explore the co-expression genes and co-expression modules. The co-expression module genes were analyzed by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed using the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING) database, and hub genes were identified by the degree, MNC, closeness, and MCC algorithms. The hub genes were used to construct a diagnostic model based on support vector machines.Results: The Immune Score in the OA samples was significantly higher than in the normal samples, and a total of 2313 DEGs were identified. Through WGCNA, we found that the yellow module was significantly positively correlated with the OA samples and Immune Score and negatively correlated with the normal samples. The 142 DEGs of the yellow module were related to biological processes such as regulation of inflammatory response, positive regulation of inflammatory response, blood vessel morphogenesis, endothelial cell migration, and humoral immune response. The intersections of the genes obtained by the 4 algorithms resulted in 5 final hub genes, and the diagnostic model constructed with these 5 genes showed good performance in the training and validation cohorts.Conclusions: The 5-gene diagnostic model can be used to diagnose OA and guide clinical decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS), a type of phase transition that is important in organisms, is a unique means of forming biomolecular condensates. LLPS plays a significant role in transcription, genome organisation, immune response and cell signaling, and its dysregulation may cause neurodegenerative diseases and cancers. Exploring the regulatory mechanism of LLPS contributes to the understanding of the pathogenic mechanism of abnormal phase transition and enables potential therapeutic targets to be proposed. Many factors have been found to regulate LLPS, of which post-translational modification (PTM) is among the most important. PTMs can change the structure, charge, hydrophobicity and other properties of the proteins involved in phase separation and thereby affect the phase transition behaviour. In this review, we discuss LLPS and the regulatory effects of PTMs, RNA and molecular chaperones in a phase separation system. We introduce several common PTMs (including phosphorylation, arginine methylation, arginine citrullination, acetylation, ubiquitination and poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation), highlight recent advances regarding their roles in LLPS and describe the regulatory mechanisms behind these features. This review provides a detailed overview of the field that will help further the understanding of and interventions in LLPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Targeted drug delivery to the glioblastoma (GBM) overcoming blood–brain barrier (BBB) has been challenging. Exosomes are promising vehicles for brain tumor drug delivery, but the production and purification hinder its application for nanomedicine. Besides, the formation of protein corona (PC) may affect the behaviour of nanocarriers. Here, multifunctional exosomes-mimetics (EM) are developed and decorated with angiopep-2 (Ang) for enhancing GBM drug delivery by manipulating PC. Docetaxel (DTX)-loaded EM with Ang modification (DTX@Ang-EM) show less absorption of serum proteins and phagocytosis by macrophages. Ang-EM show enhanced BBB penetration ability and targeting ability to the GBM. Ang-EM-mediated delivery increase the concentration of DTX in the tumor area. The multifunctional DTX@Ang-EM exhibits significant inhibition effects on orthotopic GBM growth with reduced side effects of the chemotherapeutic. Findings from this study indicate that the developed DTX@Ang-EM provide a new strategy for targeted brain drug delivery and GBM therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurial intention is a necessary prerequisite for prospective entrepreneurs to start a new business, and today's college students are the potential entrepreneurs of the future. How to improve students' willingness to start a business is an important topic that a large number of scholars continue to pay attention to. The purpose of this work is to disentangle how college students' previous innovative behavior affects their entrepreneurial intention from the view of social psychology. Survey data from a vocational college in China indicate that college students' previous innovative behavior facilitates flow, which in turn affects their entrepreneurial intention. Our empirical findings flourish the research on antecedents of college students' entrepreneurial intention, make contributions to the research on flow in entrepreneurship, and provide useful recommendations and suggestions in entrepreneurship teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Aloe vera has long been considered an anticancer herb in different parts of the world. Objective. To explore the potential mechanism of aloe vera in the treatment of cancer using network pharmacology and molecule docking approaches. Methods. The active ingredients and corresponding protein targets of aloe vera were identified from the TCMSP database. Targets related to cancer were obtained from GeneCards and OMIM databases. The anticancer targets of aloe vera were obtained by intersecting the drug targets with the disease targets, and the process was presented in the form of a Venn plot. These targets were uploaded to the String database for protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis, and the result was visualized by Cytoscape software. Go and KEGG enrichment were used to analyze the biological process of the target proteins. Molecular docking was used to verify the relationship between the active ingredients of aloe vera and predicted targets. Results. By screening and analyzing, 8 active ingredients and 174 anticancer targets of aloe vera were obtained. The active ingredient-anticancer target network constructed by Cytoscape software indicated that quercetin, arachidonic acid, aloe-emodin, and beta-carotene, which have more than 4 gene targets, may play crucial roles. In the PPI network, AKT1, TP53, and VEGFA have the top 3 highest values. The anticancer targets of aloe vera were mainly involved in pathways in cancer, prostate cancer, bladder cancer, pancreatic cancer, and non-small-cell lung cancer and the TNF signaling pathway. The results of molecular docking suggested that the binding ability between TP53 and quercetin was the strongest. Conclusion. This study revealed the active ingredients of aloe vera and the potential mechanism underlying its anticancer effect based on network pharmacology and provided ideas for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Permian radiolarian zones and their correlations with conodont zones or other chronostratigraphic schemes are still under debate. In this study, four genera, 21 species and two subspecies of radiolarians together with one genus and six species of conodonts were recovered from the Linghao Formation cropping out at the Longwangpo (LWP) section, northwestern Guangxi, South China. Six radiolarian interval zones and one abundance zone are recognized in the section, namely in ascending order, the Follicucullus scholasticus, Albaillella cavitata, A. protolevis, A. levis, A. excelsa, A. triangularis Interval zones and A. yaoi Abundance Zone. They are correlated with the Clarkina dukouensis, C. guangyuanensis and C. orientalis conodont zones recognized at the same section. Based on our data, the F. scholasticus Interval Zone and the lowermost part of A. cavitata Interval Zone are recognized to be upper Capitanian age, whereas the four Albaillella Interval zones are of Lopingian age (Wuchiapingian to the late Changhsingian). Two previously known Changhsingian radiolarian zones, namely the A. triangularis and A. yaoi Interval zones, should be extended down to the uppermost Wuchiapingian in this studied section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the synthesis and vacuole-inducing activity of 5-((4-(pyridin-3-yl)pyrimidin-2-yl)amino)-1H-indole-2-carbohydrazide derivatives, including five potent derivatives 12c, 12 g, 12i, 12n, and 12A that exhibit excellent vacuole-inducing activity. Remarkably, 12A effectively induces methuosis in tested cancer cells but not human normal cells. In addition, 12A exhibits high pan-cytotoxicity against different cancer cell lines but is hardly toxic to normal cells. It is found that the 12A-induced vacuoles are derived from macropinosomes but not autophagosomes. The 12A-induced cytoplasmic vacuoles may originate from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and be accompanied by ER stress. The MAPK/JNK signalling pathway is involved in the 12A-induced methuotic cell death. Moreover, 12A exhibits significant inhibition of tumour growth in the MDA-MB-231 xenograft mouse model. The excellent potency and selectivity of 12A prompt us to select it as a good lead compound for further development of methuosis inducers and investigation of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying methuosis. Novel methuosis-inducing anticancer agents are designed and synthesised. Vacuole inducers 12i and 12A display high anticancer activity and little-toxic to normal cells. Compound 12A is a selective methuosis inducer involving the activation of MAPK/JNK signalling pathway. Compound 12A effectively inhibits tumour growth in the MDA-MB-231 xenografted mouse model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the multi-objective optimal design of a novel 6-degree of freedom (DOF) hybrid spray-painting robot. Its kinematic model is obtained by dividing it into serial and parallel parts. The dynamic equation is formulated by virtual work principle. A performance index for evaluating the compactness of robot is presented. Taking compactness, motion/force transmissibility, and energy consumption as performance indices, the optimal geometric parameters of the robot are selected in the Pareto-optimal set by constructing a comprehensive performance index. This paper is very useful for the development of the spray-painting robot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rigid-flexible coupled train-seat-human model was developed for studying ride comfort of rail vehicles. The weighted acceleration r.m.s. value at the seat pan was used for assessing ride comfort. The contribution of different modes of the carbody to ride comfort was defined from the perspective of power spectral density. The role of first bending mode was more important than other bending modes when bogie and seat positions are far from the nodes of first bending mode. Under this situation, the bogie spacing filter effect of first bending mode can be adopted to predict peaks and troughs of the equivalent acceleration on the floor or human-seat interface varying with speed or first bending frequency. The incorporation of human-seat system was necessary in order to accurately evaluate ride comfort. The ride comfort exhibited a global trend of improvement with increased bending rigidity or reduced speed. Increasing the damping ratio of bending modes improved ride comfort effectively. Increasing stiffness or decreasing damping of human-seat vertical contact on the seat pan worsened ride comfort. Equivalent accelerations at symmetrical seat positions showed analogous tendency as the speed. Ride comfort was worst at two ends whatever the speed was, followed by carbody centre at high speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We derive the well‐posedness results concerning the initial‐boundary value problem for a class of coupled Benjamin–Bona–Mahony (BBM)–Schrödinger system. More precisely, we obtain the existence of local smooth solutions of (1) for initial and boundary data in the energy space Hm × Hm for m=1,2. Depending on a priori estimates, we also prove that the solutions exist global in time in the energy space H2 × H2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Targeted drug delivery to the glioblastoma (GBM) overcoming blood–brain barrier (BBB) has been challenging. Exosomes are promising vehicles for brain tumor drug delivery, but the production and purification hinder its application for nanomedicine. Besides, the formation of protein corona (PC) may affect the behaviour of nanocarriers. Here, multifunctional exosomes-mimetics (EM) are developed and decorated with angiopep-2 (Ang) for enhancing GBM drug delivery by manipulating PC. Docetaxel (DTX)-loaded EM with Ang modification (DTX@Ang-EM) show less absorption of serum proteins and phagocytosis by macrophages. Ang-EM show enhanced BBB penetration ability and targeting ability to the GBM. Ang-EM-mediated delivery increase the concentration of DTX in the tumor area. The multifunctional DTX@Ang-EM exhibits significant inhibition effects on orthotopic GBM growth with reduced side effects of the chemotherapeutic. Findings from this study indicate that the developed DTX@Ang-EM provide a new strategy for targeted brain drug delivery and GBM therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A polarization-dependent transmissive and reflective phase-gradient metasurface (PGMS) is investigated and experimentally verified in the $Ku$ -band. The PGMS is based on a single-layer substrate-integrated element, which consists of a cross-shaped dielectric unit and a couple of metallic strips/patches that are printed on the dielectric unit. Taking advantage of both the dielectric and the metallic components, the proposed element can transmit or reflect the linearly polarized (LP) incident wave depending on its polarization. Moreover, the phase of the transmitted or reflected wave can be independently controlled by different phase-control parameters. As a result, two independent foci can be obtained on the transmission and reflection sides of the PGMS for two orthogonal LP waves. For demonstration, a prototype of the PGMS is fabricated and tested. Both the transmissive and reflective foci are observed at the target positions. Also, the PGMS is shown to be able to manipulate the wavefronts independently on its two sides by adjusting the phase distributions. These features make the proposed PGMS a great choice for use in polarization identification, near-field energy transfer, or far-field wireless communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The freeze-thaw cycle is one of the important processes that affected heavy metal behaviors in soil. However, information regarding the adsorption and desorption behavior of heavy metals in soils under different freeze-thaw conditions is relatively less. Therefore, different freeze-thaw conditions including unfrozen, 15 freeze-thaw cycles at 60% water content, and 15 freeze-thaw cycles at 100% water content were investigated. Then the adsorption and desorption behaviors of Pb and Cr in freeze-thaw soils were studied. Results showed the Pb and Cr adsorption amount mostly decreased with increasing water-soil ratio, and the soil performance of Pb and Cr adsorption at same water-soil ratios showed variation under different freeze-thaw conditions. The Pb isothermal adsorption was higher for most freeze-thaw treatments compared to the control. The soil performance of Cr isothermal adsorption showed variation under different freeze-thaw conditions. Most electrostatic binding of Pb and Cr were stronger under unfrozen and freeze-thaw conditions than unfrozen conditions. Most Pb and Cr adsorption kinetics patterns of freeze-thaw treated soils were rapid than unfrozen conditions. These results implied that freeze-thaw cycles could change the soil adsorption and desorption patterns of Pb and Cr. Therefore, further studies are urgently needed to investigate Pb and Cr immobilization mechanisms in soils during freeze-thaw cycles. Hence, these findings provided useful information on Pb and Cr immobilization process in soils that underwent freeze-thaw cycles to offer an additional insight into predicting Pb and Cr behaviors in cold and freezing environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]