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This study analysed and discussed the friction and wear properties, as well as the interface evolution behaviour of polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) under various base oils, through conducting friction experiments on PDC/Si3N4 with different base oils. The friction and lubrication mechanism of PDC under different base oils were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x‐ray energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), three‐dimensional white light interferometry, and Raman spectroscopy. The results of the study demonstrated that PDC exhibited the best friction and wear performance when lubricated with synthetic oil PAO, followed by castor oil. The inferior performance of paraffin oil can be attributed to its low viscosity, resulting in a lower presence of ions capable of passivating the carbon dangling bond. Consequently, paraffin oil displayed inadequate oxidation stability and increased susceptibility to oil film destruction, ultimately leading to suboptimal friction and wear characteristics. Overall, this study provides valuable insights for industrial applications, aiding in the selection of appropriate base oils as cutting fluids for PDC cutting tools and enhancing the friction and wear properties of PDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect and mechanism of kaempferol on alcoholic steatohepatitis. Methods: C57BL/6 N mice were utilized to establish Binge-on-Chronic alcohol exposure mice model. Kaempferol was given as the interventional drug to chronic alcohol-fed mice for 6 weeks to assess its effects. In vitro, intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells were stimulated by alcohol, and miRNA-155 mimics were used to further study the effect of kaempferol to miRNA-155 signaling in intestinal epithelial cells. HE staining and oil red O staining were used to observe the liver and intestinal tissue damage in each group of mice, and ALT, AST, IL-1β, and TNF-α were detected by kits; lipopolysaccharide (LPS) expression was detected by ELISA kit, and the expression of IL-1β and TNF-α was assessed by qRT-PCR; Western blot was utilized to assess the excessive inflammatory response of liver and colon tissue and the related signaling pathway activation. Results: Kaempferol treatment significantly improved pathological changes such as steatosis and vacuolated lesions in liver tissue of the alcohol diet model group, and reduced serum ALT and AST enzyme activities and liver tissue interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α mRNA expression levels. Kaempferol significantly reduced the expression of miRNA-155 in the intestinal tissue of alcohol-fed mice, significantly increased their cytokine suppressor signaling 1 (SOCS1) protein expression, inhibited the activation of nuclear factor kappa-B and significantly increased the production of the intestinal tight junction proteins occludin and zonula occludens-1. More importantly, kaempferol significantly reduced serum LPS levels in alcoholic steatohepatitis mice. In vitro experiments showed that compared with the control group, kaempferol significantly inhibited the expression level of miRNA-155 in Caco-2 cells under ethanol exposure, decreased the activation of nuclear factor kappa-B, led to an increase in the expression of SOCS1 protein, and increased the production level of occludin protein in Caco-2 cells under the effect of alcohol. In contrast, overexpression of miRNA-155 significantly decreased occludin and SOCS1 protein production and increased nuclear factor kappa-B activation levels in Caco-2 cells, and the administration of kaempferol significantly inhibited this effect. Conclusion: Kaempferol improved the stability of gut barrier function to ameliorate hepatic injury induced by alcohol intake through enhancing occludin protein expression, by targeting miR-155 to inhibit the excessive inflammatory response in the intestine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant tumor with poor survival rate. G2 and S phase-expressed‐1 (GTSE1) takes part in the progression of diverse tumors as an oncogene, but its role and potential mechanism in NPC remain unknown. Methods: The GTSE1 expression was analyzed by western blot in NPC tissues and cells. Knock-down experiments were conducted to determine the function of GTSE1 in NPC by cell counting kit-8, the 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) incorporation experiment, cell scratch wound-healing experiment, transwell assays, tube forming experiment and western blot. In addition, the in vivo role of GTSE1 was addressed in tumor-bearing mice. Results: The expression of was increased in NPC. Silencing of GTSE1 suppressed cell viability, the percent of EdU positive cells, and the number of invasion cells and tubes, but enhanced the scratch ratio in NPC cells. Mechanically, downregulation of GTSE1 decreased the expressions of FOXM1 and STMN1, which were restored with the upregulation of FOXM1. Increased expression of STMN1 reversed the effects of the GTSE1 silencing on proliferation, migration, invasion and angiogenesis of NPC cells. Furthermore, knockdown of GTSE1 repressed the tumor volume and tumor weight of xenografted mice. Conclusion: GTSE1 was highly expressed in NPC, and silencing of GTSE1 ameliorated the malignant processes of NPC cells by upregulating STMN1, suggesting a possible therapeutical target for NPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of novel nitride-based phosphors is always a significant work, especially for AlON system because of their rigid crystal structure, which is similar to the promising host material of β-SiAlON. In this work, Mg2+ ion was introduced into AlON-related phase Al 5 O 3 N 3 along with co-doped Si4+ ion used to keep charge neutrality, and thus a novel Mg-based nitroaluminosilicate MgAl 3 SiO 3 N 3 (MASON) was successfully synthesized under a mild preparation condition due to the high reactivity of MgO. Benefiting from its special crystal structure optimized by the introduction of Mg2+ ion, Eu2+-activated MASON performs significant photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) properties. In contrast to most Eu2+-activated AlON related phosphors that commonly emit high-energy blue light, the as-prepared sample emits a high-bright green light along with good thermal stability. Moreover, its broad emission band with the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 134 nm well compensates the "cyan cavity", which leads to a full spectrum light-emitting diode. The structure-property relation of Eu2+ in MASON was established in this work, which confirms the significant role of the introduced Mg2+ ion in the structure optimization of AlON system. The result may pave an efficient way to explore more promising AlON-based phosphors. High-brightness green light emission was achieved in Eu2+-activated nitroaluminosilicate MgAl 3 SiO 3 N 3. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric capacitors with rapid discharge rates and high power density are the basis for advanced pulsed power systems. Sr 0.7 Bi 0.2 TiO 3 (SBT) is expected to be used in energy storage capacitors owing to the small hysteresis and high energy storage efficiency (η). Nevertheless, the low breakdown strength (BDS) limits the enhancement of energy storage density. This study explores the potential of Ho 2 O 3 -modified SBT to address this limitation. Introducing Ho reduces oxygen vacancies, decreases electrical conductivity, and increases thermal conductivity, thus enhancing BDS. The enhancement mechanism of electrical performance is studied through microscopic morphology analysis, structural refinement and numerical simulation. The Sr 0.7 Bi 0.15 Ho 0.05 TiO 3 exhibits remarkable properties, including ultra-low loss tanδ (0.1 %), ultra-high η (95.8 %), and outstanding thermal, frequency, and cycling stability in energy storage properties. Additionally, Sr 0.7 Bi 0.15 Ho 0.05 TiO 3 possesses a high power density (67.9 MW/cm3) and a rapid discharge rate (0.03 μs). The findings indicate that Sr 0.7 Bi 0.15 Ho 0.05 TiO 3 is a prospective material for energy storage capacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the tribological properties of polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC), different additives including graphene, molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2), and a combination of graphene + MoS 2 were utilized. The microstructure and chemical reactions of PDC were analyzed using techniques such as atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The focus was on the formation and degradation of the friction film. The findings revealed that both graphene + MoS 2 exhibit excellent lubrication properties, forming a protective friction film on the surface of PDC. Furthermore, the combined use of graphene + MoS 2 demonstrated a synergistic effect, resulting in enhanced wear resistance of PDC compared to the individual use of graphene or MoS 2 alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning-related attention is one of the most important factors influencing learning. Although technologies have enabled the automatic detection of students' attention levels, previous studies mainly focused on colleges or high schools, lacking further validations in primary school students. More importantly, the detected attention might fail to be learning-related if students did not attend learning tasks in the first place, which is common in real-world learning. This phenomenon poses challenges to the practical application of automatic attention detection, especially at the primary school stage, which is crucial for students to develop learning attitudes/strategies. Inspired by the emerging inter-person perspective in neuroscience, we proposed an inter-brain attention coupling method to detect learning-related attention as an extension to the existing single-person-based method. To test this method, wearable electroencephalogram devices were used to monitor students' attention levels in a primary school classroom. We found that one's inter-brain attention coupling, defined as the degree to which an individual student's attention dynamics match the attention dynamics averaged across other classmates, was positively correlated with academic performance: higher performances are associated with higher coupling to the class-average attention dynamics. Moreover, the attention detection framework based on the inter-person perspective outperforms as an indicator of academic performance compared with the widely-used attention level within an individual. The results provide practical insights by extending the applications of detected attention levels from an inter-person perspective and demonstrating its feasibility in monitoring learning-related attention among primary school students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Objectives Methods Results Conclusion G protein‐coupled receptor 40 (GPR40) is a potential drug target for Alzheimer's disease (AD), and its agonist GW9508 ameliorates cognitive impairment by intravenous administration.The present study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of GW9508 administered peripherally on cognitive dysfunction in streptozotocin (STZ)‐induced AD mice.Seventy male ICR mice were randomly divided into seven groups: vehicle sham group, model, Donepezil, GW9508‐L, GW9508‐M, GW9508‐H, and GW1100 + GW9508‐H groups, and administered either vehicle (artificial cerebrospinal fluid [aCSF]) or STZ (3 mg/kg in the vehicle) once a day (9:00 a.m.) by intracerebroventricular injection bilaterally on day 1 and day 3, respectively. After 2 weeks of recovery, all mice were given drug treatment. Behavioral experiments were applied to test the recognition and spatial memory of mice, while molecular biology experiments such as Western blot, ELISA, and Nissl staining were used to detect the corresponding changes of signaling pathways.Intraperitoneal administration of GW9508 prevented STZ‐induced cognitive impairment as well as decreased the level of p‐tau and Aβ1–42 in plasma and brain. GW9508 upregulated the expression of gut‐brain peptides like PYY, CCK, IGF‐1, and GLP‐1 both in blood circulation and brain and downregulated the expression level of autophagy‐related proteins through activating Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Meanwhile, the treatment effect of GW9508 was reversed by GPR40 antagonist GW1100 significantly.Peripheral administration of GW9508 exhibits neuroprotective effects, and it could be a promising therapy for AD. The neuroprotective mechanism of GW9508 was based on promoting gut‐brain peptide secretion, activating Akt/mTOR signal pathway, and regulating neuronal autophagy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To explore the neuroprotective potential of hyperforin and elucidate its underlying molecular mechanisms involved in its therapeutic effects against vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). Methods: The active compounds and possible targets of Hypericum perforatum L. that may be effective against VCI were found by network pharmacology in this research. We utilized bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) surgery to induce a VCI mouse model. Morris water maze (MWM) and Y‐maze tests were used to assess VCI mice's cognitive abilities following treatment with hyperforin. To evaluate white matter lesions (WMLs), we utilized Luxol fast blue (LFB) stain and immunofluorescence (IF). Neuroinflammation was assessed using IF, western blot (WB), and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The effects of hyperforin on microglia were investigated by subjecting the BV2 microglial cell line to oxygen–glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R) stimulation. The expressions of VEGFR2, p‐SRC, SRC, VEGFA, and inflammatory markers including IL‐10, IL‐1β, TNF‐α, and IL‐6 were subsequently assessed. Results: The VEGFR2/SRC signaling pathway is essential for mediating the protective properties of hyperforin against VCI according to network pharmacology analysis. In vivo findings demonstrated that hyperforin effectively improved BCCAO‐induced cognitive impairment. Furthermore, staining results showed that hyperforin attenuated WMLs and reduced microglial activation in VCI mice. The hyperforin treatment group's ELISA results revealed a substantial decrease in IL‐1β, IL‐6, and TNF‐α levels. According to the results of in vitro experiments, hyperforin decreased the release of pro‐inflammatory mediators (TNF‐α, IL‐6, and IL‐1β) and blocked microglial M1‐polarization by modulating the VEGFR2/SRC signaling pathway. Conclusion: Hyperforin effectively modulated microglial M1 polarization and neuroinflammation by inhibiting the VEGFR2/SRC signaling pathways, thereby ameliorating WMLs and cognitive impairment in VCI mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is substantial evidence that the family's financial situation influences the development of adolescents' future orientation, little is known about the influencing mechanism. This study examined the potential mediating effects of self-efficacy (SE) and perceived social fairness (PSF) in the relationship between family financial difficulties (FFD) and future orientation (FO) with two independent samples of Chinese adolescents. In Study 1, a total of 1,527 adolescents (762 girls; mean age = 14.81 years, SD = 1.70) were recruited to complete a multi-section questionnaire. The results indicated that FFD significantly and negatively predicted FO. SE and PSF significantly mediated the relationship between FFD and FO both independently and sequentially. To test whether the above results are stable and replicable, we further conducted a validation study in Study 2 (N = 410) and found all the results remained significant. Implications for future research and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study intends to assess the reference range of lamotrigine concentration for treating childhood epilepsy. Methods: PubMed, Ovid-Embase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang data and VIP databases were searched from database inception to January 2022. RCT, cohort study, case–control study, cross-sectional study that estimated the reference range of lamotrigine for children epilepsy treatment were included. The data extracted included basic information, statistical methods, data type, and results of reference range. Descriptive analysis was performed for them. Results: 8 studies were included and estimated the reference range, and all of them were calculated based on efficacy data and/or concentration data. Statistical methods including ROC curve, concentration-effect curve, mean ± standard deviation, 95% confidence interval and percentile interval were utilized. For lamotrigine monotherapy, the lower limits ranged from 2.06 mg/L to 3.99 mg/L, and the upper limits ranged from 8.43 mg/L to 9.08 mg/L, showing basic consistency. However, for lamotrigine concomitant with valproate, the lower limits ranged from 2.00 mg/L to 8.00 mg/L, and the upper limit was 11.50 mg/L, for lamotrigine concomitant with other antiepileptics, the lower limits ranged from 1.00 mg/L to 3.09 mg/L, and the upper limits varied from 5.90 mg/L to 16.24 mg/L, indicating inconsistency. Conclusion: Several studies have estimated the reference range of lamotrigine for childhood epilepsy, while controversy exist and no studies have determined the upper limit of the range based on safety data. To establish the optimal reference range, further high-quality studies are necessary that consider both efficacy and safety data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2020, novel coronavirus pneumonia has been spreading rapidly around the world, bringing tremendous pressure on medical diagnosis and treatment for hospitals. Medical imaging methods, such as computed tomography (CT), play a crucial role in diagnosing and treating COVID-19. A large number of CT images (with large volume) are produced during the CT-based medical diagnosis. In such a situation, the diagnostic judgement by human eyes on the thousands of CT images is inefficient and time-consuming. Recently, in order to improve diagnostic efficiency, the machine learning technology is being widely used in computer-aided diagnosis and treatment systems (i.e., CT Imaging) to help doctors perform accurate analysis and provide them with effective diagnostic decision support. In this paper, we comprehensively review these frequently used machine learning methods applied in the CT Imaging Diagnosis for the COVID-19, discuss the machine learning-based applications from the various kinds of aspects including the image acquisition and pre-processing, image segmentation, quantitative analysis and diagnosis, and disease follow-up and prognosis. Moreover, we also discuss the limitations of the up-to-date machine learning technology in the context of CT imaging computer-aided diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supramolecular self-assembly in a biological system is usually dominated by sophisticated metabolic processes (chemical reactions) such as catalysis of enzymes and consumption of high energy chemicals, leading to groups of biomolecules with unique dynamics and functions in an aqueous environment. In recent years, increasing efforts have been made to couple chemical reactions to molecular self-assembly, with the aim of creating supramolecular materials with lifelike properties and functions. In this feature article, after summarising the work of chemical reaction mediated supramolecular hydrogels, we first focus on a typical example where dynamic self-assembly of molecular hydrogels is activated by in situ formation of a hydrazone bond in water. We discuss how the formation of the hydrazone-based supramolecular hydrogels can be controlled in time and space. After that, we describe transient assembly of supramolecular hydrogels powered by out-of-equilibrium chemical reaction networks regulated by chemical fuels, which show unique properties such as finite lifetime, dynamic structures, and regenerative capabilities. Finally, we provide a perspective on the future investigations that need to be done urgently, which range from fundamental research to real-life applications of dynamic supramolecular hydrogels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Despite the increasingly modern surgical techniques in the oncology field, the factors that influence postoperative prognosis in patients with hypopharyngeal and laryngeal carcinoma (HLC) remain unclear. The study aimed to evaluate the factors influencing the prognosis of HLC patients with pathological diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma, and the findings are intended to direct follow-up management strategies. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed. The study population included 407 postoperative patients with HLC from 2011 to 2015. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine the prognostic factors identified. Results: Based on univariate analysis results, smoking and alcohol history, tumor differentiation, preoperative radiotherapy, primary tumor sites, flap reconstruction, lymph node invasion (LNI), and preoperative albumin levels (PAL) significantly affects the prognosis of HLC patients (P <.05). Meanwhile, multivariate analysis revealed that smoking pack-year (OR = 1.002, 95% CI = 1.001 ∼ 1.003), primary tumor sites (OR = 6.241, 95% CI = 1.715 ∼ 18.433), LNI (OR = 2.869, 95% CI = 1.095 ∼ 8.743), and PAL (OR =.020, 95% CI =.004 ∼ 0.104) were associated with complications. Tumor differentiation (OR = 0.650, 95% CI =.383 ∼ 0.855), primary tumor sites (OR = 12.392, 95% CI = 3.290 ∼ 26.679), LNI (OR = 16.323, 95% CI = 2.726 ∼ 47.729), preoperative radiotherapy (OR = 9.300, 95% CI = 3.182 ∼ 27.181), and PAL (OR =.321, 95% CI =.141 ∼.732) were associated with overall survival rates. Conclusion: Smoking and alcohol history, tumor differentiation, LNI, primary tumor sites, flap reconstruction, PAL, and preoperative radiotherapy are crucial factors that influence the postoperative prognosis of patients with HLC. In addition, a monogram of five factors was established to predict the survival rates of HLC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of nano-molybdenum disulfide (nano-MoS2) on the tribological behavior of polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) with a cobalt leaching depth of 422 μm were studied in this research. Ball-on-disk friction tests were conducted to evaluate the impact of nano-MoS2 concentration and bearing capacity on the lubrication effect of drilling fluid and the friction performance of PDC. The results demonstrated that the addition of nano-MoS2 enhanced the lubrication effect of drilling fluid and improved the friction performance of PDC. The study also discussed the lubrication mechanism of drilling fluid and the mechanism by which adding nano-MoS2 enhances tribological properties. These findings contribute to deepen the understanding of the friction and wear mechanism of PDC in lubricating environment, and provide a theoretical reference for the future application of PDC in the petroleum field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer vision provides a real-time, non-destructive, and indirect way of horticultural crop yield estimation. Deep learning helps improve horticultural crop yield estimation accuracy. However, the accuracy of current estimation models based on RGB (red, green, blue) images does not meet the standard of a soft sensor. Through enriching more data and improving the RGB estimation model structure of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), this paper increased the coefficient of determination (R2) by 0.0284 and decreased the normalized root mean squared error (NRMSE) by 0.0575. After introducing a novel loss function mean squared percentage error (MSPE) that emphasizes the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), the MAPE decreased by 7.58%. This paper develops a lettuce fresh weight estimation method through the multi-modal fusion of RGB and depth (RGB-D) images. With the multimodal fusion based on calibrated RGB and depth images, R2 increased by 0.0221, NRMSE decreased by 0.0427, and MAPE decreased by 3.99%. With the novel loss function, MAPE further decreased by 1.27%. A MAPE of 8.47% helps to develop a soft sensor for lettuce fresh weight estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precisely manipulated π–π stacking of the hybrid catalyst favors the specific prediction of the ORR active sites, which are the iron atoms in the form of natural Fe-N 4 that bind preferentially to the oxygen. [Display omitted] Metal macrocycles with well-defined molecular structures are ideal platforms for the in-depth study of electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Structural integrity of metal macrocycles is vital but remain challenging since the commonly used high-temperature pyrolysis would cause severe structure damage and unidentifiable active sites. Herein, we propose a pyrolysis-free strategy to precisely manipulate the exfoliated 2D iron polyphthalocyanine (FePPc) anchored on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) via π–π stacking using facile high-energy ball milling. A delocalized electron shift caused by π–π interaction is firstly found to be the mechanism of facilitating the remarkable ORR activity of this hybrid catalyst. The optimal FePPc@rGO-HE achieves superior half-wave potential (0.90 V) than 20 % Pt/C. This study offers a new insight in designing stable and high-performance metal macrocycle catalysts with well-defined active sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Thin endometrium is considered suboptimal for embryo implantation, leading to compromised pregnancy rates without effective therapies. While some studies have reported promoted endometrial growth after a period of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in patients with intrauterine adhesion, there have been no reports in patients with resistant thin endometrium. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of HBOT on endometrium growth and pregnancy outcomes in patients with resistant thin endometrium during frozen embryo transfer (FET) treatments. Methods: This prospective pre-post cohort study was conducted at a university-affiliated assisted reproductive medical center between October 2021 and December 2022. Patients who had experienced at least one canceled transfer cycle due to a thin endometrium(< 7 mm) on the endometrium transformation day, despite the use of standard therapies as well as adjuvant therapies, were enrolled in the study. Patients were assigned voluntarily to either the HBOT group or the concurrent control group. The HBOT group received daily HBOT for at least 10 days during the proliferative phase, in addition to the routine endometrium preparation methods and the concurrent control group underwent cycles without HBOT. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to ensure comparability between the groups. Both self-control and case-control comparisons were conducted. The primary outcome measured was endometrial thickness (ET) on the day of endometrium transformation. Secondary outcomes included intrauterine pregnancy rate (IPR), embryo implantation rate (IR), miscarriage rate, and others. Results: Patients in the HBOT group demonstrated a significantly thicker endometrial thickness on the day of endometrium transformation after undergoing therapy (5.76 ± 1.66 vs. 6.57 ± 1.23, P = 0.002). This improvement was accompanied by a decreased rate of cycle cancellations. Baseline parameters and endometrial thickness were comparable between the HBOT group and the concurrent control group during the cycle. The IPR was similar in patients who received cleavage-stage embryos (0.0% vs. 6.7%, P = 1.00), but significantly higher in patients in the HBOT group who received blastocysts (53.8% vs. 18.2%, P = 0.017). Conclusions: A period of HBOT prior to endometrium transformation contributes to increased endometrial thickness and facilitates blastocyst implantation in patients with resistant thin endometrium during FET treatments. Trial registration: The trial was registered on the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (registration no. ChiCTR2300072831, retrospectively registered). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer is a highly harmful malignant tumor, which poses a great threat to women's body and mind, and the mortality rate ranks second among all women's diseases. The incidence rate accounts for 7-10% of various malignant tumors in the whole body, second only to uterine cancer in women, and has become the main cause of threatening women's health. Advanced breast cancer is often considered an incurable disease. The family of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein complexes is composed of about 20 hnRNP proteins with molecular weights ranging from 32 to 120 kDa, and they are named according to their molecular weights. Among them, hnRNPA2 and hnRNPB1 are the two most important members of the hnRNP family, both derived from the same gene on chromosome 7p15. Therefore, research to understand the molecular mechanism and process of breast cancer progression has an important role in promoting the current medical research on breast cancer treatment methods. Therefore, studying the mechanism of tumorigenesis is the key to tumor prevention and treatment. Therefore, this paper proposes that A2/B1 promotes the stability of NRF2 mRNA and inhibits ferroptosis and cell proliferation in breast cancer cells. The article mainly introduces the disease diagnosis method based on artificial neural network and its neural network algorithm. In the experimental part, the activity of hnRNP A2/B1 on cancer cells is deeply studied. The results show that the absorbance of the MTT method increases continuously with the extension of the culture time, and the maximum reaches 1.2. This fully shows that its absorption capacity is very strong, especially after 24 hours, the absorption rate rises from 0.6 to 0.9, which shows that 24 hours is the best absorption time. And it can also be found that hnRNPA2/B1 has a significant inhibitory effect on breast cancer cells; it can reduce the effect on breast cancer cell cycle and apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proportion of acidic purple soils has increased. Consequently, an effective method for amelioration of acidic purple soils is urgently needed. A 40 day incubation experiment using apple tree biochar, fermented sheep manure and chicken manure was conducted to assess the effects of organic materials on the acidity and fertility of acidic purple soil. The results showed that application of organic materials increased soil pH and decreased soil-exchangeable acidity. All of the treatments increased soil-exchangeable and water-soluble base cations after incubation. Specifically, biochar increased soil pH and reduced exchangeable acidity more than the other two fermented manures, because biochar was rich in carbonates and other alkaline substances. The concentration of soil available K was significantly higher under biochar than manure addition, while the opposite was true for soil available P and N, with a higher increase in soil available P in the manure treatments. By evaluating the soil fertility using a fuzzy comprehensive method, it was found that the fermented livestock manure enhanced soil fertility more strongly than biochar. Considering the effectiveness of soil amendments and production cost, applying a large amount of fermented organic fertilizer is an effective approach to the amelioration of acidified purple soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the stock price prediction effect, based on the improved PSO algorithm, this paper constructs a stock price prediction model through neural network. Based on the idea of avoiding particles falling into the same local solution as much as possible and always keeping the particles with a certain diversity, in order to improve the global search ability of the algorithm in the early stage of evolution and the local search ability in the later stage of the evolution, the adaptive adjustment of inertial weight is proposed, and the algorithm is improved by combining with neural network. In addition, on the basis of the improved algorithm, this paper constructs a stock price prediction system based on neural network. Finally, this paper designs experiments to verify the function of the model from the perspectives of stock data collection and processing, and stock price prediction accuracy, and draw statistical graphs based on the statistical research results. The results of the research show that the system constructed in this paper has a certain practical effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) consist of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC), typical carcinoid (TC), and atypical carcinoid (AC). We aimed to analyze the immunophenotypic, metastatic, and prognostic risk factors for PNETs. Materials and methods: A total of 266 patients with PNETs were enrolled, including 219 patients with SCLC, 18 patients with LCNEC, 11 patients with TC, and 18 patients with AC. Clinicopathological characteristics and immunophenotypes were compared among the subtypes of PNETs. Risk factors for metastasis, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were analyzed. Results: Thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) and the Ki-67 index were significantly different among subtypes of PNETs (all P < 0.05). Smoking (OR, 2.633; P = 0.031), high pretreatment carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA > 5 ng/ml: OR, 3.084; P = 0.014), and poorly differentiated pathotypes (P = 0.001) were independent risk factors for lymph-node metastasis. Smoking (OR, 2.071; P = 0.027) and high pretreatment CEA (OR, 2.260; P = 0.007) were independent risk factors for distant metastasis. Results of the multivariate Cox regression model showed pretreatment CEA (HR, 1.674; P = 0.008) and lymphocyte–monocyte ratio (LMR) (HR = 0.478, P = 0.007) were significantly associated with PFS; BMI (P = 0.031), lymph-node metastasis (HR = 4.534, P = 0.001), poorly differentiated pathotypes (P = 0.015), platelet–lymphocyte ratio (PLR) (HR = 2.305, P = 0.004), and LMR (HR = 0.524, P = 0.045) were significantly associated with OS. Conclusions: PNETs are a group of highly heterogeneous tumors with different clinical manifestations, pathological features, and prognoses. Knowing clinicopathological characteristics and immunophenotypes of PNETs is significant for diagnosis. Pretreatment PLR, LMR, and CEA have certain value in the prognosis of PNETs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase in the insecticide resistance of pests, such as Mythimna separata, Aphis craccivora Koch, and Tetranychus cinnabarinus, necessitates the development of new heterocyclic compounds with high insecticidal activity. A series of novel 2-phenylpyridine derivatives containing N-phenylbenzamide moieties were designed and synthesised with Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling, nucleophilic substitution, and amidation reactions. The reaction conditions in each step are mild, and the product is easy to separate (yield is about 85%). The structures of the compounds were characterised using 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and HRMS. Moreover, the insecticidal activity of the compounds was analysed using the leaf dipping method. The compounds 5a, 5d, 5g, 5h, and 5k at 500 mg/L exhibited 100% inhibition against Mythimna separata. Therefore, the 2-phenylpyridine moieties have the potential to lead to the discovery of novel and effective insecticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine was discovered a century ago and has since been clinically applicable. BCG can not only be used for the prevention of tuberculosis, but also has a non-specific protective effect on the human body called trained immunity that is mediated by innate immune cells such as monocytes, macrophages, and natural killer cells. Mechanisms of trained immunity include epigenetic reprogramming, metabolic reprogramming, and long-term protection mediated by hematopoietic stem cells. Trained immunity has so far shown beneficial effects on cancer, viral-infections, autoimmune diseases, and a variety of other diseases, especially bladder cancer, respiratory viruses, and type 1 diabetes. The modulation of the immune response by BCG has led to the development of a variety of recombinant vaccines. Although the specific mechanism of BCG prevention on diseases has not been fully clarified, the potential role of BCG deserves further exploration, which is of great significance for prevention and treatment of diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consider there exist many time‐varying factors during the recurrent neural networks training in piratical application engineering. In this paper, different from the time‐invariant case, a time‐varying learning rate is presented to accelerate the convergence speed for the recurrent neural networks (RNNs) when used to solve the linear simultaneous equations. Theoretical analysis shows that the neural networks with the time‐varying learning rate can globally converge to the theoretical solution; moreover, if the linear activation function is used, the model will be exponential convergent to the theoretical solution, and if the sign‐bi‐power activation function is used, the state solution by the neural networks will be convergent in finite time. Computer simulation results further substantiate that the time‐varying learning rate can be used for accelerating the convergence rate of the RNN models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring the oil scale deposition thickness of pipelines is beneficial to ensuring the efficient and safe operation of pipelines. In this paper, an improved gamma-ray transmission method is proposed to reconstruct the two-dimensional (2D) oil scale profile of pipelines. The method combines the gamma-ray transmission method and scanning technology to measure the deposition thickness of the oil scale and rotates the gamma-ray scanning direction to different angles, after completing a transmission scanning process, to achieve the full-angle measurement of the oil scale deposition thickness. Based on this method, a set of oil scale profile detection devices is designed and the detection process is simulated by the Geant4 toolkit. In this system model, the pipelines with and without oil scale are scanned, respectively, by using the single-energy gamma-ray beam to analyze the relative transmittance of gamma rays at the energy of 0.662 MeV. The results show that the approach is efficient for detecting the deposition thickness of oil scale in oil pipelines and is accurate for the 2D oil scale profile reconstruction of a pipeline. The maximum deviation is about 0.59 cm, and the relative error is less than 5%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Directly-irradiated high-temperature solid-gas flows laden with polydisperse particles are studied using a numerical model. • The model uses the multiphase particle-in-cell and Monte Carlo ray-tracing methods. • The number of the prescribed discrete particle components is the key parameter affecting the computational accuracy. • The particle vertical velocity increases up to 4 × for the particle diameter increasing from 43.4 µm to 202.8 µm. • Small and large particles are heated at noticeably different rates. Heat transfer in directly-irradiated high-temperature solid–gas flows laden with polydisperse particles is investigated using a novel transient three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model. The model couples particle–gas hydrodynamics of solid–gas flows laden with polydisperse particles, radiative heat transfer in non-grey absorbing, emitting and anisotropically-scattering multi-component participating media, conduction heat transfer in the gas phase, and interfacial convection heat transfer. The multiphase particle-in-cell method is used to predict high-fidelity solid–gas flow characteristics, such as the local discrete particle size distribution, with increased computational efficiency by combining the advantages of both Eulerian and Lagrangian methods. The multi-component radiative transfer model is implemented using an advanced collision-based Monte Carlo ray-tracing method. The number of the prescribed discrete particle components is found to be the key parameter affecting the computational accuracy and efficiency, which primarily depends on the size distribution of the particles. For the model particle–gas flow featuring free-falling Gamma-distributed ceramic particles exposed to concentrated solar irradiation, the particle volume fraction, radiative, fluid flow and thermal characteristics appear to converge with the increasing number of the discrete particle components. Five particle components are sufficient to obtain physically meaningful results. A further increase in the number of the particle components only slightly increases the accuracy of the numerical predictions at the expense of a rapidly increasing computational time. For five particle components, the particle vertical velocity at the receiver exit for particles with the diameter of 43.4 μ m is 57% of that for the particles with the diameter of 202.8 μ m. The temperatures of these two particle components increase from the initial ambient values by factors of 2 and 1.2, respectively, during the simulation time. The model developed allows for increased fidelity of particle–gas flow simulations with significant radiative effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. To investigate the clinical efficacy of ultrasound (US) combined with neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) in treating lumbar disc herniation (LDH) and its effect on the level of inflammatory factors. Methods. The data of 240 patients with LDH treated at our hospital from January 2020 to February 2021 were reviewed and classified into an US combined with NMES treatment group (US+NMES, n = 80), NMES only treatment group (NMES, n = 80), and US only treatment group (US, n = 80). Their Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores, levels of inflammatory factors and pain mediators, recovery rate, and total recovery time before and after treatment were compared. Additionally, the incidence of complications/adverse reactions was also investigated. Results. Compared with data before treatment, the three groups had lower VAS and ODI scores, inflammatory factor levels (interleukin- [IL-] 1, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor- [TNF-] α), and pain mediators (transforming growth factor- [TGF-] β1, prostaglandin E2 [PEG2], and 5-hydroxytryptamine [5-HT]) after treatment, with the most significant decrease observed in the US+NMES group. Compared with patients who received US or NMES treatment alone, patients from the US+NMES had faster recovery time and lower incidence of complications/adverse reactions. Conclusion. Collectively, US combined with NMES was associated with significant relief in pain and lumbar dysfunction and reduced local inflammatory response and pain mediator levels in LDH patients, suggesting that this combined approach could achieve better efficacy than US or NMES alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless rechargeable sensor networks (WRSNs) employ wireless charging transfer technology to provide dynamic energy replenishment for sensors. Previous related research considers enhancing the flexibility of WRSNs with the use of wireless charging vehicles (WCVs). Although this research prolongs network lifetime to some extent, there still exist two essential drawbacks: off-road limitation and traveling speed limitation. Benefiting from the intrinsic flexibility, high flight speed, low cost and small size, wireless charging drones (drones) have great potentials to be used to charge sensors in WRSNs. However, suffering from limited battery capacities, it is impossible to use drones for charging sensors in large WRSNs independently. To conquer the drawbacks of WCVs and drones, we propose a novel WRSN model which integrates WCVs, WCV-carried drones and independent drones to construct an efficient novel charging system. The proposed system, which aims to extend network lifetime and to minimize the time of charging scheduling on premise of satisfying charging requests with the cooperation of WCVs and drones. Thus, we develop a novel charging scheduling scheme, which divides the sensing region into three circular sub-regions for scheduling the WCVs or drones collaboratively. Sensor nodes located in the inner ring are charged by independent drones directly from the base station. Nodes located in the middle ring are charged by WCVs, while the outer ring charged by WCV-carried drones. Simulation results show that our scheduling scheme outperforms multiple WCVs which either employ temporal or distantial priority scheme and earliest-deadline first scheme with respect to the lifetime and network charging efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A fluorescence sensing system based on NH 2 -MIL-101(Fe) and Si-CQDs was successfully constructed for the first time. • The main mechanism of the system for detection of copper ions was FRET. • The application of the constructed sensor in actual samples expanded the path for quantitative analysis of Cu2+. • The smartphone-based detection method can realize sensing of Cu2+ in daylight. A fluorescence sensor was developed based on NH 2 -MIL-101(Fe) and silicon-doped carbon quantum dots for the analysis of copper ions. Copper ions enhanced the fluorescence intensity of doped silicon-carbon quantum dots and decreased the intensity of NH 2 -MIL-101(Fe). The addition of copper ions resulted in fluorescence resonance energy transfer, which caused a reverse change in the fluorescence signal. The sensor based on the above mechanism can eliminate false positive interference. The fluorescence sensing system had a remarkable linear range of 0.25–5 µM for copper ions and a detection limit of 11 nM. It was then applied to water samples, resulting in recoveries ranging from 95.43 % to 103.1 %. The successful construction of this optical sensor not only broadened the way to detect copper ions but also provided a new idea for the detection of other targets mediated by copper ions. Finally, an attempt was made to construct a smartphone-assisted colourimetric platforms to detect copper ions in daylight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Household consumption has become an important field of carbon dioxide emissions. Urban–rural disparity in the household carbon emissions (HCEs) of residents and their influencing factors are relevant to HCE reduction. Taking Fujian as the study area, the LMDI and SDA models were used to analyze the effects of influencing factors for the direct household carbon emissions (DHCEs) and indirect carbon emissions (IHCEs) of urban and rural residents from 2006 to 2018. The HCEs continue to rise, approximately 65% from the IHCEs in 2017, and urban areas occupied 67% in 2018. The gap between urban and rural per capita HCEs is narrowing. In 2017, approximately 75% of urban per capita HCEs came from the IHCEs, while the per capita DHCEs' occupation exceeded the IHCEs in rural areas. Per capita consumption expenditure has the largest positive effect on the DHCEs and IHCEs in urban and rural areas. With the urbanization process, the inhibition effect of rural DHCEs is larger than the positive effect of the urban DHCEs, while the positive impact on urban areas is more substantial than on rural areas in the IHCEs. Combined with regional differences, urban and rural areas should take "common but differentiated" emission reduction responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While previous studies have extensively explored the neural mechanisms of perceptual decision-making, most of them used paradigms with limited real-life consequences and largely neglected participants' individual differences. In this study, to resemble a perceptual decision-making scenario with real-life consequences, construction workers were recruited for an occupational hazard recognition task by categorizing construction site images as hazardous or safe with their EEG recorded. Event-related potential (ERP) analysis revealed distinct influences of perceptual decision-making by two dispositional factors of risk propensity and injury exposure experience. Risk propensity was positively correlated with the stimulus-locked difference waveforms (hazardous minus safe) at approximately 200 ms post-stimuli-onset over right-lateralized parietal–occipital areas. The difference waveforms showed reversed polarity between groups with high and low-risk propensity. Injury exposure experience was negatively correlated with the response-locked difference waveforms approximately 450 ms before motor response over right-lateralized parietal-occipital regions. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report how individuals' injury exposure experience influenced the neural signatures of one's perceptual decision-making. These results extended previous findings for perceptual decision-making by setting up a scenario with high ecological validity and suggested possibly substantial different mechanisms for individual workers by the intrinsic factor of risk propensity and the extrinsic factor of injury exposure experience. • Construction workers conducted a hazard recognition task to resemble a scenario with real-life consequences. • How risk propensity and injury exposure experience modulated the perceptual decision-making dynamic were investigated. • The stimulus-locked component was influenced by risk propensity during the perceptual process. • The response-locked component was influenced by injury exposure experience during the decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a gaze correction and animation method for high-resolution, unconstrained portrait images, which can be trained without the gaze angle and the head pose annotations. Common gaze-correction methods usually require annotating training data with precise gaze, and head pose information. Solving this problem using an unsupervised method remains an open problem, especially for high-resolution face images in the wild, which are not easy to annotate with gaze and head pose labels. To address this issue, we first create two new portrait datasets: CelebGaze ($256 \times 256$) and high-resolution CelebHQGaze ($512 \times 512$). Second, we formulate the gaze correction task as an image inpainting problem, addressed using a Gaze Correction Module (GCM) and a Gaze Animation Module (GAM). Moreover, we propose an unsupervised training strategy, i.e., Synthesis-As-Training, to learn the correlation between the eye region features and the gaze angle. As a result, we can use the learned latent space for gaze animation with semantic interpolation in this space. Moreover, to alleviate both the memory and the computational costs in the training and the inference stage, we propose a Coarse-to-Fine Module (CFM) integrated with GCM and GAM. Extensive experiments validate the effectiveness of our method for both the gaze correction and the gaze animation tasks in both low and high-resolution face datasets in the wild and demonstrate the superiority of our method with respect to the state of the art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infection with Brucella is characterized by the inhibition of host immune responses. MicroRNA-155 (miR-155) has been implicated in the immune response to many diseases. In this study, its expression during Brucella 16M infection of macrophages and mice was analyzed. Expression of miR-155 was significantly induced in macrophages at 24 h post infection. Further, an analysis of infected mice showed that miR-155 was inhibited at 7 and 14 days but induced at 28 days. Interestingly, this trend in induction or inhibition was reversed at 7 and 14 days in 16M△virB-infected mice. This suggested that decreased expression of miR-155 at an early stage of infection was dependent on intracellular replication. In humans with brucellosis, serum levels of miR-155 were significantly decreased compared to those in individuals without brucellosis and healthy volunteers. Significant correlations were observed between serum level of miR-155 and serum anti-Brucella antibody titers and the sweating symptom. This effect suggests that Brucella interferes with miR-155-regulated immune responses via a unique mechanism. Taken together, data from this study indicate that Brucella infection affects miR-155 expression and that human brucellosis patients show decreased serum levels of miR-155. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With recent advances in machine learning, we demonstrated the use of supervised machine learning to optimize the prediction of treatment outcomes of vedolizumab through iterative optimization using VARSITY and VISIBLE 1 data in patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis. The analysis was carried out using elastic net regularized regression following a 2-stage training process. The model performance was assessed through AUROC, specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy. The generalizable predictive patterns suggest that easily obtained baseline and medical history variables may be able to predict therapeutic response to vedolizumab with clinically meaningful accuracy, implying a potential for individualized prescription of vedolizumab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A LC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for the quantification of egg allergens (Gal d 1–6) in foods. • VMVLC[+57]NR (Gal d 1) and GTDVQAWIR (Gal d 5) were employed for analyzing egg allergens using LC-MS/MS. • Best practice: employing a matrix-matched calibration curve with allergen ingredients and internal standards for precise food allergen quantification. Accurate determination of egg allergens in food is vital for allergen management and labeling. However, quantifying egg allergens with mass spectrometry poses challenges and lacks validation methods. Here, we developed and validated an LC-MS/MS method for quantifying egg allergens (Gal d 1–6) in foods. Sample extraction, enzymatic digestion, purification, proteins/peptides selection, and calibration curves were optimized. VMVLC[+57]NR (Gal d 1) and GTDVQAWIR (Gal d 5) exhibited outstanding sensitivity and stability, serving as quantitation markers for egg white and yolk. Using a matrix-matched calibration curve with allergen ingredients as calibrants and labeled peptides as standards, we achieved highly accurate quantitation. Validation involved spiking egg protein into egg-free foods, showing excellent sensitivity (LOQ: 1–5 mg/kg), accuracy (62.4 %–88.5 %), and reproducibility (intra-/inter-day precision: 3.5 %–14.2 %/8.2 %–14.6 %). Additionally, we successfully applied this method to commercial food analysis. These findings demonstrate optimal allergen selection, peptides, and calibration strategy are crucial parameters for food allergen quantification via MS-based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covalent adaptable network (CAN) with the ability of structural rearrangement has attracted great attentions in recent years because it breaks the limitations in reprocessability and recyclability of traditional thermosetting polymers. Developing catalyst-free dynamic chemistry that proceeded in mild condition would make significant advances in the field of CAN and hold great promise for real applications. Here, we report a new class of highly dynamic imidazole-urea bonds for developing dynamically crosslinked poly (imidazole-urea) (PIU). The reversible reaction and the reaction kinetics between different imidazoles and isocyanate were first studied by model compounds. PIUs with varied crosslinking structures were then constructed from biobased histamine and commercially available isocyanates. Rheological and stress relaxation analysis revealed the rearrangement ability of PIUs at elevated temperature, while thermogravimetric and tensile tests showed their good thermal stability and mechanical properties. The reprocessed PIUs also demonstrated high recovery efficiency of mechanical properties after several cycles of reprocessing. It is expected that this study could broaden the scope of imidazole compounds for novel dynamic polymers. [Display omitted] • Imidazole-Urea bond is reported to construct dynamically crosslinked polymers. • The reaction kinetics of various imidazoles with isocyanate are investigated. • Dynamic poly (imidazole-urea) networks are synthesized from biobased histamine and commercial isocyanates. • The PIUs show good thermomechanical properties and reprocessability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at reducing damage between ship berthing and high-pressure vessels, the protective honeycomb filled with Roller Arrowhead Wings Honeycomb (RAWH) was constructed based on equivalent method. A novel Double Arrowhead Wings Honeycomb (DAWH), inspired by Tilia Platyphylloswas, was proposed for arrangement in RAWH. The analytical models were derived with size factor n for honeycomb selection and design. The mechanical properties, energy absorption, compression response, structure efficiency, and deformation mode of RAWH were investigated by Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Experiment (EXP), comparing with Roller Hexagonal Honeycomb (RHH), Roller Re-entrant Honeycomb (RRH), and Roller Solid. With particular calculation methods, the work energy absorption, engineering strain, and engineering stress were obtained within acceptable error compared to finite element analysis. The contact force of RAWH exceeded RHH, RRH and Solid about 1.7, 5, and 0.32 times, with a maximum of 15000 N. Further, the deformation modes of RAWH were discussed and recorded with "V" mode and "U" mode appearing special characteristics of enhancement and resilience. The equivalent Poisson's ratios for protective honeycombs were studied and described in the Morgan-Mercer-Flodin (MMF) growth model with the phenomena of "Step Fluctuation", "Inter-layer Progression" and "Step Stability". These results, methods, and discussions might bring significance for reducing damage from collisions in ocean engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The dislocation slip systems induced by nano-indentation in c- and m-plane bulk AlN were investigated. • The activated slip systems were (0001)< 11 2 ¯ 0 >, { 11 2 ¯ 2 }< 11 2 ¯ 3 > in c-plane AlN. • { 1 1 ¯ 00 } < 11 2 ¯ 0 > is the only slip system activated in m-plane AlN. In this work, the structure and slip systems of dislocations induced by nano-indentation in high quality c-plane (0001) and m-plane (1 1 ¯ 00) Aluminum nitride (AlN) single crystals have been systemically investigated. Dislocations with burgers vector of b = 1/3< 11 2 ¯ 0 > and b = 1/3< 11 2 ¯ 3 > were introduced on the (0001) basal planes and { 11 2 ¯ 2 } pyramidal planes in c-plane AlN, respectively. The similar investigation made in m-plane AlN shows that only { 10 1 ¯ 0 } < 11 2 ¯ 0 > slip system was confirmed to be activated when the indenter stress was applied along [ 1 1 ¯ 00 ] direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preparing high-crystallinity covalent organic framework (COF) membranes by interfacial polymerization remains a grand challenge. Herein, a monomer pre-assembly process is proposed to prepare high-crystallinity COF membranes by surfactant-assisted interfacial polymerization (SAIP) strategy. The self-assembled chains of amphiphilic surfactants across interface can gather and pre-assemble monomers and improve their interphase transport for complete topological growth. Apart from the reduction in polymerization time from over 72 h–48 h, the crystallinity and pore uniformity of COF membranes are highly enhanced. This strategy is universal and four kinds of amine monomers are utilized to tune COF pore size. The 1.8 nm-sized COF membrane shows highly enhanced rejection from 65.5% to 95.7% for reactive black with a size of 2.0 nm, when compared to that without surfactants. Importantly, the orderly stacked pores permit fast molecule transport with a 76% increase in acetonitrile permeance (366.9 L m−2 h−1 bar−1). Meanwhile, the robust crystal properties endow this COF membrane with excellent solvent resistance, compressive strength, and hence operational stability for over 100 h. The amphiphilic molecule-assisted interface engineering may represent a technology for scalable fabrication of high-crystallinity framework materials for molecule separation. For SAIP method, the self-assembled chains of amphiphilic surfactants across oil-water interface gather and pre-assemble monomers and improve their interphase transport for complete topological growth, resulting in a high-crystallinity COF membrane with periodic pores, and hence highly enhanced rejection and permeation properties, as compared to that prepared by conventional IP method. [Display omitted] • A surfactant-assisted monomer pre-assembly process is proposed for COF membrane. • High-crystallinity COF membrane is prepared by modified interfacial polymerization. • Both highly enhanced dye rejection and solvent permeation are achieved. • Robust crystal character allows stable operation of membrane for more than 100 h. • This strategy shows universality in preparation of COF membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, microwave (MW) sintering method is employed to synthesize far-red (FR) emission ZnGa 2 O 4 :Cr3+ phosphor at a lower sintering temperature (900 °C), comparing with the conventional high temperature solid-state sintering (SS) method. Micrometer-size phosphor particles with smooth morphology are obtained due to the MW-induced small temperature gradient between the constituent particles upon the local dielectric volumetric heating. The MW sintering ZnGa 2 O 4 :Cr3+ phosphor exhibited excitable properties at the wavelengths of 260 nm, 410 nm and 550 nm, and the intensity of photoluminescence excitation (PLE) at 260 nm showed a dramatic enhancement, which is 2–3 times higher than that of SS sintering sample due to MW "non-thermal effect" in reducing the defect amount in the ZnGa 2 O 4 host latices. These results together with decay time, thermal quenching and color coordinate evaluations showed that synthesis of FR emission ZnGa 2 O 4 :Cr3+ by MW-sintering method has advantages of high efficiency, energy saving and least environmental threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the efficacy and safety of rivaroxaban in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), heart failure (HF) and sinus rhythm (SR). Methods: Comprehensive literature searches were conducted using the PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI and Wanfang databases from inception to February 2021. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) focusing on the efficacy and safety of new oral anticoagulant (NOAC) therapy in CAD and HF patients in SR were eligible. Statistical analyses were performed using R Programming Language. Results: Three RCTs included 10,658 adult patients treated with antiplatelet drugs with or without rivaroxaban were ultimately analysed. The average follow-up period was 20.4–24 months. Rivaroxaban had a favourable point estimate in myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke (MI rivaroxaban group (3.83%, 203/5306) vs. APT group (4.52%, 214/4731), RR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.65–0.94, P < 0.01, I2 = 0%), (stroke: rivaroxaban group (1.60%, 85/5306) vs. APT group (2.52%, 119/4731), RR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.49–0.85, P < 0.01, I2 = 12%) compared with the placebo. Rivaroxaban was comparable to the placebo for all-cause death and major bleeding (all-cause death: rivaroxaban group (12.27%, 688/5606) vs. APT group (14.59%, 737/5052), RR = 0.73, 95% CI 0.49–1.06, P > 0.05, I2 = 87%), (major bleeding: rivaroxaban group (1.52%, 85/5586) vs. APT group (1.37%, 69/5043), RR = 1.18, 95% CI 0.86–1.62, P > 0.05, I2 = 0%). Conclusions: In SR patients with CAD and HF, the rates of MI and stroke associated with rivaroxaban combined with APT were lower than those associated with APT alone, and the two treatments had similar rates of all-cause death and major bleeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motorcycle bans have been implemented in many cities across China for long time, one of the main reasons for which is the high death rate of the traffic accidents related to motorcycles' fast speed and weak safety. This study applies a quasi-experiment on whether or not and when motorcycle bans are implemented in the 11 prefecture cities in Zhejiang Province, taking the prefecture-level cities with motorcycle bans as the experimental group and the others as the control group, so as to identify whether such bans can effectively reduce the number of traffic accidents and deaths, as well as the related internal mechanism. This study concludes that the effect of the motorcycle bans on reducing the number of traffic accident deaths is significant, and their impact does not decrease over time due to the diversity of policies. Further, the mechanism analysis shows that the motorcycle bans have not only reduced the number of motorcycles and thus may improve the traffic safety but also diminished the traffic accidents by reducing the fatality rate. Finally, this study proposes to optimize the motorcycle bans by planning special lanes and strengthening motorcycle management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, novel lead-free (1- x)Sr 0·7 Bi 0·2 TiO 3 - x La(Mg 0·5 Zr 0.5)O 3 ((1- x)SBT- x LMZ) ceramics were designed and fabricated by the conventional solid-state reaction method. The dielectric performance, energy storage characteristics and charge-discharge behavior of the ceramics were systematically investigated. Specifically, the temperature stability of dielectric constant is improved by doping SBT with LMZ. On a separate note, BDS is also enhanced ascribed to the reduction of the grain size. Consequently, the 0.87SBT-0.13LMZ exhibits high critical electric field of 340 kV/cm with ultrahigh efficiency (η) of 98.2% and recoverable energy storage density (W rec) of 1.22 J/cm3. Moreover, pulsed charge-discharge test elucidates that 0.87SBT-0.13LMZ possesses great thermal stability (30 °C–150 °C) along with a fast discharge period of 0.125 μs, high power density (P D) of 72.38 MW/cm3 as well as a high pulsed discharge energy density (1.2 J/cm3) at 380 kV/cm. Based on these outstanding characteristics, the 0.87SBT-0.13LMZ is considered as a potential candidate for pulse systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacter cloacae complex (CREC) is a new emerging threat to global public health. The objective of the study was to investigate the clinical characteristics and molecular epidemiology of CREC infections in the medical center of northeast China.Methods: Twenty-nine patients were infected/colonized with CREC during a ten-year period (2010-2019) by WHONET analysis. Antibiotic susceptibilities were tested with VITEK 2 and micro broth dilution method (for polymyxin B and tigecycline). Carbapenemase encoding genes, β-lactamase genes, and seven housekeeping genes for MLST were amplified and sequenced for 18 cryopreserved CREC isolates. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree was built with the concentrated sequences to show the relatedness between the 18 isolates.Results: There was a rapid increase in CREC detection rate during the ten-year period, reaching 8.11% in 2018 and 6.48% in 2019. The resistance rate of CREC isolates to imipenem and meropenem were 100.0 and 77.8%, however, they showed high sensitivity to tigecycline, polymyxin B and amikacin. The 30-day crude mortality of CREC infection was 17.4%, indicating that it may be a low-virulence bacterium. Furthermore, molecular epidemiology revealed that ST93 was the predominant sequence type followed by ST171 and ST145, with NDM-1 and NDM-5 as the main carbapenemase-encoding genes. Moreover, E. hormaechei subsp. steigerwaltii and E. hormaechei subsp. oharae were the main species, which showed different resistance patterns.Conclusion: Rising detection rate of CREC was observed in a tertiary hospital, which showed heterogeneity in drug resistance patterns, resistance genes, and MLST types. Effective infection prevention and control measures should be taken to reduce the spread of CREC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metformin (MET) and sitagliptin (STG) are widely used as the first-line and long-term oral hypoglycemic agents for managing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the current lack of convenient and rapid measurement methods poses a challenge for individualized management. This study developed a point-of-care (POC) assay method utilizing a miniature mass spectrometer, enabling rapid and accurate quantification of MET and STG concentrations in human blood and urine. By combining the miniature mass spectrometer with paper spray ionization, this method simplifies the process into three to four steps, requires minimal amounts of bodily fluids (50 μL of blood and 2 μL of urine), and is able to obtain quantification results within approximately 2 min. Stable isotope-labeled internal standards were employed to enhance the accuracy and stability of measurement. The MS/MS responses exhibited good linear relationship with concentration, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) below 25%. It has the potential to provide immediate treatment feedback and decision support for patients and healthcare professionals in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Cervical cancer (CC) is the second most common tumor in women worldwide. Studies have been accepted that genetic variations play an important role in the development of CC. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of TCF7L1 variants on CC risk. Methods. 508 patients of cervical cancer and 497 healthy subjects were recruited to determine the impact of TCF7L1 polymorphisms on CC susceptibility. The associations were investigated by computing odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals. The effect of SNP-SNP interactions on CC risk was explored by multifactor dimensionality reduction analysis. Results. Our study showed that rs11904127 (OR 0.79, p = 0.010) and rs62162674 (OR 0.82, p = 0.044) of TCF7L1 significantly decreased cervical cancer risk. Stratified analysis indicated that rs11904127 and rs62162674 present decreased susceptibility to CC in age > 51 years (OR 0.74, p = 0.019 ; OR 0.72, p = 0.014 , respectively). Haplotype analyses revealed that Grs2366264Trs11689667Crs62162674 has a lower risk to cervical cancer (OR = 0.43 , p = 0.018). Besides, there is strong interaction of rs11904127 and rs2366264. Conclusion. Rs11904127 and rs62162674 in TCF7L1 are related to cervical cancer. We suggest that these variants can be used as prognostic markers for judging the susceptibility to cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bifunctional catalyst was prepared by one-step pyrolysis of trimetallic ZIF. The obtained catalyst showed excellent charge–discharge stability in rechargeable Zn-air battery. • A facile and effect strategy is proposed for the synthesis of catalyst precursor. • This strategy reduces the adverse effects of the pyrolysis process on the catalyst. • The coexistence of Co NPs and CoFe-N x improves the ORR/OER activity. • The catalyst displays excellent durability as a cathode for Zn-air battery. Searching for high active, low cost and durable catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) remains challenge in developing metal-air battery cathodes. Herein, we proposed a novel bifunctional catalyst derived from the pyrolysis of Co/Fe/Zn trimetallic zeolitic imidazolite framework. The obtained Co@CoFe 0.01 N C catalyst displays desirable activity for both ORR and OER (E 1/2 = 0.844 V, E j=10 = 1.654 V). The Zn-air battery equipped with Co@CoFe 0.01 N C catalyst on the cathode exhibits a high peak power density of 174.1 mW cm−2, which is much superior than that of commercial 20% Pt/C (87.6 mW cm−2). Significantly, the designed Co@CoFe 0.01 N C presents an outstanding stability for over 100 h in rechargeable Zn-air battery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]