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Abstract Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a highly dangerous infectious disease caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), a virus that attacks the human immune system. To explore the correlation between intestinal fungal community and immune function (Immune cells and inflammatory factors) in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The feces and blood samples were collected from two groups of subjects: PLWHA and healthy controls. High-throughput sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer 1, flow cytometry, and ELISA were performed to analyze the differences and correlations between fungal microbiota, cellular immune status and serum inflammatory factors in the two groups. There were significant differences in the composition of fungal microbiota between the two groups. The relative abundance of Candida, Bjerkandera, and Xeromyces in PLWHA was significantly higher than that of healthy volunteers (P

Collimated flat-top beam shapers primarily consisting of freeform lenses have a wide range of applications and pose challenges in terms of processing and integration when the diameter is less than millimeters. Metasurfaces represent a promising solution to planarize optics, can mimic any surface curvature without additional fabrication difficulty, and are suitable for flat-top optics. The conventional metasurface design approach relies on imparting the required phase using meta-atoms and encounters challenges in amplitude modulation due to near-field coupling and varying transmittances among meta-atoms with different phases, making the design of flat-top beam shapers difficult. In this paper, we propose a complex-amplitude constraint Gerchberg–Saxton algorithm for designing a collimated flat-top beam shaper metasurface doublet, which avoids the influence of strong near-field coupling on the amplitude distribution and simultaneously considers the amplitude-phase characteristics of the meta-atoms. A collimated flat-top beam with exceptional homogeneity U p of approximately 0.01, a wavefront error less than 0.1λ, and a transmittance higher than 86 % is experimentally obtained, comparable to commercial products based on freeform lenses. A collimated flat-top beam shaper metasurface doublet for generating flat-top beam is introduced, promoting efficient integration with laser systems.

Abstract Background Vulvar and vaginal melanoma (VuM & VaM) is a rare gynecologic malignancy with high mortality but low effectiveness to checkpoint immunotherapy compared to cutaneous melanoma. This article aims to elucidate the role of the disordered immune microenvironment in cancer progression in VuM. Methods At first, this article applied single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to the VuM obtained from a 68-year-old female patient, and constructed a single-cell atlas of VuM consist of 12,243 single cells. Then this article explores the genomic complexity and core signal channel in VuM microenvironment. Results This article provides new insights about the pathogenesis of VuM based on single-cell resolution data. It was found that the activation of CD8+ T cell contributed to induce tumor angiogenesis and immune escape, and the activation of the antigen-presenting molecular function participated in melanoma metastasis. Conclusion This article provided new insights into underlining VuM molecular regulation and potential signaling involved in immunotherapy, which would benefit the clinical practice and administration.

Impacts of economy-society-environment on surface water resource in China are complex and unclear. Revealing these connections is vital to understand responses of surface water quality to anthropogenic activities. This study made an attempt to explore potential indications on surface water quality from economic, social and environmental factors in eight separate regions of China during the period of 2000–2019. Five machine learning models were employed including Greedy Thick Thinning Bayesian Belief Network, Naive Bayes, Augmented Naive Bayes (ANB), Logistic Regression and Random Forest. A total of 8 economic variables, 5 social variables and 8 environmental variables were introduced into the models. Results showed that ANB presented the best performance in estimating the surface water quality class with the highest accuracies of 81%, 75% and 87% for three surface water quality groups (Class I–III, Class IV–V and worse than Class V), respectively. The higher the surface water environmental carrying capacity in a region, the better the estimation performance of ANB on the surface water quality class. Surface water quality with Class I–III was more closely related to economic and social development, while environmental variables largely interpreted the quality of surface water with Class IV–V in most regions. The critical factors filtered by the importance analysis were indicative on surface water quality. This study provided a feasible framework in revealing the economy-society-environment nexus in the context of comprehensive management on regional surface water quality.

The differences in earlobe color of Jiangshan black-bone chickens have been reported to be caused by the combined effects of melanin and collagen. In this study, we conducted LC-MS untargeted metabolomics and 16S rDNA diversity sequencing on the cecal contents of two types of earlobes: peacock green (Blue and Green group) and dark reddish-purple (Black group). The metabolomic sequencing identified a total of 747 differential metabolites (DMs), in which the metabolites were primarily enriched in tyrosine and tryptophan metabolism pathways between peacock green and dark reddish-purple earlobes. There were 15 different bacterial taxa among the three groups of earlobes at the genus level, and correlation analysis between metabolites and microbes revealed that the DMs between peacock green and dark reddish-purple earlobes were positively correlated with the different bacterial taxa. In short, there are differences in gut microbiota and metabolites between Jiangshan black-bone chickens with peacock green earlobes and those with dark reddish-purple earlobes. Our results suggest that the bacterial phyla Firmicutes and Bacteroidota may influence melanin synthesis by affecting tryptophan metabolism, induced by 5-Methoxyindoleacetate, and tyrosine metabolism, induced by maleylacetoacetic acid and maleic acid, leading to differences in earlobe color.

The Gobi Desert ecosystem is currently experiencing the impacts of persistent climate warming and extreme weather. However, the relative influences of factors such as soil, climate, and spatial variables on the β-diversity of desert plants and their key components have not been systematically studied. In this research, the Dunhuang North Mountain and Mazong Mountain areas were selected as study areas, with a total of 79 plant community plots systematically established. The aim was to explore intercommunity β-diversity and its components and to analyze the interrelationships with climate factors, soil factors, and geographic distance. The results indicate that (1) there is a geographic decay pattern and significant differences among plant communities in the Dunhuang North Mountain and Mazong Mountain areas, with β-diversity primarily driven by replacement components. (2) Climate, soil, and geographic distance significantly influence β-diversity and its replacement components, with climate factors exerting the greatest influence and geographic distance the least. (3) Multiple regression analysis (MRM) reveals differential effects of climate factors, soil factors, and geographic distance on β-diversity and its replacement components, with climate and soil factors exerting a much greater influence than geographic distance. In summary, the β-diversity of plant communities and their replacement components in the Dunhuang North Mountain and Mazong Mountain areas result from the combined effects of habitat filtering and dispersal limitation, with habitat filtering having a greater impact, while environmental heterogeneity is an important factor influencing species differences in this region.

Lake microbiota play a crucial role in geochemical cycles, influencing both energy flow and material production. However, the distribution patterns of bacterial communities in lake sediments remain largely unclear. In this study, we used 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing technology to investigate the bacterial structure and diversity in sediments across different locations (six independent lakes) within Lianhuan Lake and analyzed their relationship with environmental factors. Our findings revealed that both the alpha and beta diversity of sediment bacterial communities varied significantly among the six independent lakes. Furthermore, changes between lakes had a significant impact on the relative abundance of bacterial phyla, such as Pseudomonadota and Chloroflexota. The relative abundance of Pseudomonadota was highest in Habuta Lake and lowest in Xihulu Lake, while Chloroflexota abundance was lowest in Habuta Lake and highest in Tiehala Lake. At the genus level, the relative abundance of Luteitalea was highest in Xihulu Lake compared to the other five lakes, whereas the relative abundances of Clostridium, Thiobacillus, and Ilumatobacter were highest in Habuta Lake. Mantel tests and heatmaps revealed that the relative abundance of Pseudomonadota was significantly negatively correlated with pH, while the abundance of Chloroflexota was significantly positively correlated with total phosphorus and total nitrogen in water, and negatively correlated with electrical conductivity. In conclusion, this study significantly enhances our understanding of bacterial communities in the different lakes within the Lianhuan Lake watershed.

The utilization of sheet structure composites as a viable conductive filler has been implemented in polymer-based electromagnetic shielding materials. However, the development of an innovative sheet structure to enhance electromagnetic shielding performance remains a significant challenge. Herein, we propose a novel design incorporating silver-modified nanosheet self-assembled hollow spheres to optimize their performance. The unique microporous structure of the hollow composite, combined with the self-assembled surface nanosheets, facilitates multiple reflections of electromagnetic waves, thereby enhancing the dissipation of electromagnetic energy. The contribution of absorbing and reflecting electromagnetic waves in hollow nanostructures could be attributed to both the inner and outer surfaces. When multiple reflection attenuation is implemented, the self-assembled stack structure of nanosheets outside the composite material significantly enhances the occurrence of multiple reflections, thereby effectively improving its shielding performance. The structure also facilitates multiple reflections of incoming electromagnetic waves at the internal and external interfaces of the material, thereby enhancing the shielding efficiency. Simultaneously, the incorporation of silver particles can enhance conductivity and further augment the shielding properties. Finally, the optimized Ag/NiSi-Ni nanocomposites can demonstrate superior initial permeability (2.1 × 10−6 H m−1), saturation magnetization (13.2 emu g−1), and conductivity (1.2 × 10−3 Ω•m). This work could offer insights for structural design of conductive fillers with improved electromagnetic shielding performance.

Three-dimensional numerical simulations are performed to examine the effects of dynamic wing morphing of a hummingbird-inspired flexible flapping wing on its aerodynamic performance in hovering flight. The range analysis and variation analysis in the orthogonal experiment are conducted to assess the significance level of various deformations observed in the hummingbird wings on wing aerodynamic performance. It has been found that both camber and twist significantly can affect lift, and twist has an even higher significant impact on lift efficiency. Spanwise bending, whether out-of-stroke-plane or in-stroke-plane, has a negligible impact on lift and efficiency, and the in-stroke-plane bending can cause lift to decrease to an extent. Optimal parameters for determining the wing deformations are selected and tested to validate the conclusions drawn in the analysis for the results in orthogonal experiment. Through a comparison study between the optimized wings and the rigid wing, it is found that although the wing flexibility can cause the net force to decrease, the flexible wing used less energy to bring the net force closer to the vertical direction, thereby improving the lift efficiency. This study provides an aerodynamics understanding of the efficiency improvement of the hummingbird-inspired flexible flapping wing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by fluctuating muscle weakness. Severe patients may develop life-threatening respiratory failure and experience crisis. Plasma exchange or intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is the first-line treatment option for myasthenia crisis, but some patients still poorly respond to them. Here, we first reported a generalized MG patient from China who was in a state of impending myasthenic crisis and did not respond effectively to IVIg but was successfully rescued by add-on efgartigimod. Especially, we also detected meaningful changes in T-cell and B-cell subsets after efgartigimod, promoting a potential role of efgartigimod in re-establishing immune homeostasis.

Objective We explored whether changes in clinical parameters and inflammatory markers can facilitate early identification of positive blood culture in adult patients with COVID-19 and clinically suspected bloodstream infection (BSI). Methods This single-center retrospective study enrolled 20 adult patients with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit who underwent blood culture for clinically suspected BSI (February 2020–November 2021). We divided patients into positive (Pos) and negative blood culture groups. Clinical parameters and inflammatory markers were obtained from medical records between blood culture collection and the first positive or negative result and compared between groups on different days. Results Patients in the positive culture group had significantly older age and higher D-dimer, immunoglobulin 6 (IL-6), and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score as well as lower albumin (ALB). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.865 for IL-6, D-dimer and ALB on the first day after blood culture collection; the AUC was 0.979 for IL-6, IL-10, D-dimer, and C-reactive protein on the second day after blood culture collection. Conclusion Changes in clinical parameters and inflammatory markers after blood culture collection may facilitate early identification of positive culture in adult patients with COVID-19 and clinically suspected BSI.

Abstract Background This study aimed to identify distinct patterns within the symptom cluster of fatigue, pain, and sleep disturbance among ovarian cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, to determine the factors predicting these patterns and their impact on quality of life. Methods The longitudinal study collected data from 151 ovarian cancer patients at three time points: before chemotherapy (T0), after the first chemotherapy cycle (T1), and following the completion of four cycles of chemotherapy (T2). Latent profile analysis and latent transition analysis were used to identify symptom patterns and evaluate changes in symptom patterns. A bias‐adjusted three‐step approach was utilized to examine predictor variables and distal outcomes associated with latent class membership. Results Three symptom patterns emerged: “All Low,” “Moderate” (T0)/“Low pain and high sleep disturbance” (T1 and T2), and “All High.” Patients with lower educational attainment and higher levels of anxiety and depression were found to be at an elevated risk of belonging to the “All High” class. All quality‐of‐life domains showed significant differences among the three subgroups, following an “All Low” > “All High” pattern (p

ABSTRACTAlthough vaginitis is closely related to vaginal microecology in females, the precise composition and functional potential of different types of vaginitis remain unclear. Here, metagenomic sequencing was applied to analyze the vaginal flora in patients with various forms of vaginitis, including cases with a clue cell proportion ranging from 1% to 20% (Clue1_20), bacterial vaginitis (BV), vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), and BV combined with VVC (VVC_BV). Our results identified Prevotella as an important biomarker between BV and Clue1_20. Moreover, a gradual decrease was observed in the relative abundance of shikimic acid metabolism associated with bacteria producing indole as well as a decline in the abundance of Gardnerella vaginalis in patients with BV, Clue1_20, and healthy women. Interestingly, the vaginal flora of patients in the VVC_BV group exhibited structural similarities to that of the VVC group, and its potentially functional characteristics resembled those of the BV and VVC groups. Finally, Lactobacillus crispatus was found in high abundance in healthy samples, greatly contributing to the stability of the vaginal environment. For the further study of L. crispatus, we isolated five strains of L. crispatus from healthy samples and evaluated their capacity to inhibit G. vaginalis biofilms and produce lactic acid in vitro to select the potential probiotic candidate for improving vaginitis in future clinical studies. Overall, we successfully identified bacterial biomarkers of different vaginitis and characterized the dynamic shifts in vaginal flora between patients with BV and healthy females. This research advances our understanding and holds great promise in enhancing clinical approaches for the treatment of vaginitis.IMPORTANCEVaginitis is one of the most common gynecological diseases, mostly caused by infections of pathogens such as Candida albicans and Gardnerella vaginalis. In recent years, it has been found that the stability of the vaginal flora plays an important role in vaginitis. Furthermore, the abundant Lactobacillus-producing rich lactic acid in the vagina provides a healthy acidic environment such as Lactobacillus crispatus. The metabolites of Lactobacillus can inhibit the colonization of pathogens. Here, we collected the vaginal samples of patients with bacterial vaginitis (BV), vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), and BV combined with VVC to discover the differences and relationships among the different kinds of vaginitis by metagenomic sequencing. Furthermore, because of the importance of L. crispatus in promoting vaginal health, we isolated multiple strains from vaginal samples of healthy females and chose the most promising strain with potential probiotic benefits to provide clinical implications for treatment strategies.

Previous research has found that prolonged eye-based attention can bias ocular dominance. If one eye long-termly views a regular movie meanwhile the opposite eye views a backward movie of the same episode, perceptual ocular dominance will shift towards the eye previously viewing the backward movie. Yet it remains unclear whether the role of eye-based attention in this phenomenon is causal or not. To address this issue, the present study relied on both the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) techniques. We found robust activation of the frontal eye field (FEF) and intraparietal sulcus (IPS) when participants were watching the dichoptic movie while focusing their attention on the regular movie. Interestingly, we found a robust effect of attention-induced ocular dominance shift when the cortical function of vertex or IPS was transiently inhibited by continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS), yet the effect was significantly attenuated to a negligible extent when cTBS was delivered to FEF. A control experiment verified that the attenuation of ocular dominance shift after inhibitory stimulation of FEF was not due to any impact of the cTBS on the binocular rivalry measurement of ocular dominance. These findings suggest that the fronto-parietal attentional network is involved in controlling eye-based attention in the ‘dichoptic-backward-movie’ adaptation paradigm, and in this network, FEF plays a crucial causal role in generating the attention-induced ocular dominance shift.

IntroductionStaphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a prominent pathogen responsible for both hospital-acquired and community-acquired infections. Among its arsenal of virulence factors, Panton-Valentine Leucocidin (PVL) is closely associated with severe diseases such as profound skin infections and necrotizing pneumonia. Patients infected with pvl-positive S. aureus often exhibit more severe symptoms and carry a substantially higher mortality risk. Therefore, it is crucial to promptly and accurately detect pvl-positive S. aureus before initiating protective measures and providing effective antibacterial treatment.MethodsIn this study, we propose a precise identification and highly sensitive detection method for pvl-positive S. aureus based on recombinase-assisted amplification and the CRISPR-ERASE strip which we previously developed.ResultsThe results revealed that this method achieved a detection limit of 1 copy/μL for pvl-positive plasmids within 1 hour. The method successfully identified all 25 pvl-positive and 51 pvl-negative strains among the tested 76 isolated S. aureus samples, demonstrating its concordance with qPCR.DiscussionThese results show that the CRISPR-ERASE detection method for pvl-positive S. aureus has the advantages of high sensitivity and specificity, this method combines the characteristics of recombinase-assisted amplification at room temperature and the advantages of ERASE test strip visualization, which can greatly reduce the dependence on professional laboratories. It is more suitable for on-site detection than PCR and qPCR, thereby providing important value for rapid on-site detection of pvl.

The retina is part of the central nervous system specialized for vision. Inherited retinal diseases (IRD) are a group of clinically and genetically heterogenous disorders that lead to progressive vision impairment or blindness. Although each disorder is rare, IRD accumulatively cause blindness in up to 5.5 million individuals worldwide. Currently, the pathophysiological mechanisms of IRD are not fully understood and there are limited treatment options available. Most IRD are caused by degeneration of light-sensitive photoreceptors. Genetic mutations that abrogate the structure and/or function of photoreceptors lead to visual impairment followed by blindness caused by loss of photoreceptors. In healthy retina, photoreceptors structurally and functionally interact with retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and Müller glia (MG) to maintain retinal homeostasis. Multiple IRD with photoreceptor degeneration as a major phenotype are caused by mutations of RPE- and/or MG-associated genes. Recent studies also reveal compromised MG and RPE caused by mutations in ubiquitously expressed ciliary genes. Therefore, photoreceptor degeneration could be a direct consequence of gene mutations and/or could be secondary to the dysfunction of their interaction partners in the retina. This review summarizes the mechanisms of photoreceptor-RPE/MG interaction in supporting retinal functions and discusses how the disruption of these processes could lead to photoreceptor degeneration, with an aim to provide a unique perspective of IRD pathogenesis and treatment paradigm. We will first describe the biology of retina and IRD and then discuss the interaction between photoreceptors and MG/RPE as well as their implications in disease pathogenesis. Finally, we will summarize the recent advances in IRD therapeutics targeting MG and/or RPE.

Urban Flood (UF) and Urban Heat Island (UHI) become prevalent “urban diseases” currently. Previous studies usually regarded UF and UHI as separate issues that requires respective concentration; however, UF and UHI are inextricably connected so that they should be considered together. Hence, this paper proposes a spatiotemporal framework to link UF and UHI by developing an Urban Flood Heat Island (UFHI) index, taking the Greater Bay Area (GBA) in China as the study case. Random Forest (RF) classifier and Urban-Rural Dichotomy were selected to compute the spatiotemporal distribution of UF susceptibility (UFS) and UHI intensity (UHII), respectively. Theil-Sen Median Slope, Mann-Kendall Test, and Hurst analysis were used to explore the spatiotemporal variation pattern of the UF-UHI joint risk. Spatial Durbin Model was used to compute the correlation between UFS and UHII. RF regressor was employed to quantify the contribution of the common driving factors. We found: (1) UFS and UHII are spatiotemporally correlated, thus UHII can be used as a control variable for the refined UFS assessments, (2) the areas with the UF-UHI joint risk of persistently significant increase (∼7.9 %) majorly distributed in the central region, (3) according to the contributions of factors, UF and UHI in the GBA could be effectively alleviated by breaking the continuous impervious surfaces by introducing blue-green structures. This study offers a new perspective for the effective alleviation of UF and UHI, which would be helpful for the sustainable development of cities in developing countries where human and material sources are limited.

The optical properties of lithium niobate single crystals are quantitatively calculated at different temperatures. The present work shows a clear relation among the crystal structure, optical properties, and temperature in lithium niobate single crystals.