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[Objective] Plant resources of the Micang Mountain Nature Reserve in Shaanxi Province were identified through field survey. This investigation provided a theoretical basis for the study of the flora of Shaanxi Province, and was of great significance for the protection and utilization of plant resources in Shaanxi Province. [Methods] One newly recorded genus and four newly recorded plants in Shaanxi Province were determined by consulting the literature and comparing the specimens in collections. [Results] One newly recorded genus of the vascular plants, Gonocarpus Thunberg, and its newly recorded species Gonocarpus micranthus Thunberg in Shaanxi Province were determined. In addition, three newly recorded plants were found, including Viburnum atrocyaneum C. B. Clarke (Viburnaceae), Carpesium minus Hemsley (Asteraceae), and Euonymus oxyphyllus Miquel (Celastraceae). [Conclusion] This study improves the records of vascular plants in Shaanxi province. The voucher specimens are stored in the herbarium of Northwest A&F University (WUK).

Abstract The enactment of the Environmental Protection Tax Law was a major event in the process of China's economic and social development. This law has achieved certain results in the first two years since enactment, but there have also been many problems. During the three-year strict pandemic control period, the normal process of Environmental Protection Tax Law implementation was impacted, causing alienation and reducing the quality of implementation. This study empirically reveals the alienation mechanism in the implementation of the Environmental Protection Tax Law by taking 1000 Chinese tax professionals, and randomly divides the sample equally into two parts, utilizing 500 samples for the initial test and another 500 samples for the robustness test. This research shows that pollutant emission monitoring (correlation coefficient is 0.07), preferential tax policies (correlation coefficient is 0.03) and the quality of tax personnel (correlation coefficient is 0.06) are not conducive to realizing the crowding-out effect of the Environmental Protection Tax Law, while preferential tax policies (correlation coefficient is 0.05), information-sharing platforms (correlation coefficient is 0.06) and the quality of tax personnel (correlation coefficient is 0.05) hinder the incentive effect, and the remaining elements passed the correlation coefficient test within certain confidence intervals. Therefore, the implementation of China's Environmental Protection Tax Law should be improved in the following ways: the accuracy of the environmental protection departments' supervision of pollutant emissions as well as the scientificity and rationality of preferential tax policies should be improved, the construction of environmental protection tax information-sharing platforms should be strengthened, and compound tax collection and management talent should be created.

Objective: Aortic dissection, a rare but serious condition, requires timely diagnosis and treatment. Case report: A case report involving a 33-year-old female with Stanford type B aortic dissection at 32 + 3 weeks gestational age highlights the importance of being alert to the symptoms and signs of this condition, particularly in patients with hypertension or a history of connective tissue disorders. The case report suggests a delivery first strategy followed by TEVAR procedure as the preferred approach for managing aortic dissection in pregnancy. This approach can alleviate pressure on the aorta, reduce the risk of rupture, and provide time for stabilization and preparation for the TEVAR procedure. Conclusion: The case report emphasizes the criticality of recognizing and treating aortic dissection in pregnant patients promptly, given its potential life-threatening impact on both mother and fetus.

C46H64N2O28S2Zn, monoclinic, P21/c (no. 14), a = 18.155(2) Å, b = 9.0872(11) Å, c = 16.373(2) Å, β = 108.095(13)°, V = 2567.6(6) Å3, Z = 2, R gt(F) = 0.0712, wR ref(F 2) = 0.1295, T = 296.15 K.

Abstract Background The link between low grip strength, diminished physical performance, and adverse health outcomes in older adults has been well-established. However, the impact of older adults who cannot complete these tests on disability and mortality rates remains unexplored without longitudinal study. Methods We collected data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Participants aged 60–101 were enrolled at baseline. We analyzed the prevalence of populations unable to complete handgrip strength (HGS), gait speed (GS), and five times chair stand test (FTCST). Completing risk models were used to estimate the risk of mortality and disability over seven years. Results A total of 3,768 participants were included in the analysis. The percentage of older adults unable to complete the GS and FTCST tests increased notably with age, from 2.68 to 8.90% and 2.60–20.42%, respectively. The proportion of older people unable to perform the HGS was relatively stable, ranging from 1.40 to 3.66%. Compared to older adults who can complete these tests, those who cannot perform FTCST face a significantly higher risk of mortality, with 49.1% higher risk [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.491, 95% CI = 1.156, 1.922; subdistribution hazard ratio (SHR) = 1.491, 95%CI = 1.135,1.958)]. Participants who were unable to complete the GS test had a higher risk of developing ADL disability, regardless of whether they were compared to the lowest-performing group (HR = 1.411, 95%CI = 1.037,1.920; SHR = 1.356, 95%CI = 1.030,1.785) or those who can complete the GS (HR = 1.727, 95%CI = 1.302,2.292; SHR = 1.541, 95%CI = 1.196,1.986). No statistically significant difference in the risk of developing ADL disability among older adults who were unable to complete the HGS test compared with either the poorest performing group (HR = 0.982, 95% CI = 0.578, 1.666; SHR = 1.025, 95% CI = 0.639, 1.642) or those who were able to complete the HGS test (HR = 1.008, 95% CI = 0.601, 1.688; SHR = 0.981, 95% CI = 0.619, 1.553). The risk of all-cause mortality was not significantly different for older adults who were unable to complete the HGS test compared to those with the worst performance (HR = 1.196, 95%CI = 0.709–2.020; SHR = 1.196, 95%CI = 0.674, 2.124) or those who were able to complete the test (HR = 1.462, 95%CI = 0.872–2.450; SHR = 1.462, 95%CI = 0.821,2.605). Conclusion The risks of adverse events faced by older adults unable to complete the tests vary, indicating the necessity for future research to conduct separate analyses on this high-risk population.

Abstract Targeted delivery of anti‐tumor drugs and overcoming drug resistance in malignant tumor cells remain significant clinical challenges. However, there are only few effective methods to address these issues. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), actively secreted by cells, play a crucial role in intercellular information transmission and cargo transportation. Recent studies have demonstrated that engineered EVs can serve as drug delivery carriers and showed promising application prospects. Nevertheless, there is an urgent need for further improvements in the isolation and purification of EVs, surface modification techniques, drug assembly processes, and precise recognition of tumor cells for targeted drug delivery purposes. In this review, we summarize the applications of engineered EVs in cancer treatment and overcoming drug resistance, and current challenges associated with engineered EVs are also discussed. This review aims to provide new insights and potential directions for utilizing engineered EVs as targeted delivery systems for anti‐tumor drugs and overcoming drug resistance in the near future.

Abstract The implementation of the Environmental Protection Tax Law was seriously affected by strict pandemic control. The Environmental Protection Tax Law imposed environmental taxes on enterprises based on measuring their pollution emissions to restrain their bad environmental behaviour and stimulate their green technological innovation ability. However, during the pandemic control period, the green technological innovation ability of enterprises was not developed. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the environmental regulation effect of the environmental protection tax. This study is based on sample data covering heavily polluting enterprises in China collected from December 20, 2022, to January 7, 2023. It finds that the follow cost effect existed, but the value compensation effect obviously declined, which leading to a decline in the green technological innovation ability of heavily polluting enterprises. The study shows that although strict pandemic control maintained the environmental protection function of the environmental protection tax, it weakened the economic driving function, which will not only damage the long-term economic development potential but also make the environmental protection function unsustainable. Graphical Abstract

Abstract The flexible thermoelectric technique, which can convert heat from the human body to electricity via the Seebeck effect, is expected to provide a peerless solution for the power supply of wearables. The recent discovery of ductile semiconductors has opened a new avenue for flexible thermoelectric technology, but their power factor and figure-of-merit values are still much lower than those of classic thermoelectric materials. Herein, we demonstrate the presence of morphotropic phase boundary in Ag2Se-Ag2S pseudobinary compounds. The morphotropic phase boundary can be freely tuned by adjusting the material thermal treatment processes. High-performance ductile thermoelectric materials with excellent power factor (22 μWcm−1 K−2) and figure-of-merit (0.61) values are realized near the morphotropic phase boundary at 300 K. These materials perform better than all existing ductile inorganic semiconductors and organic materials. Furthermore, the in-plane flexible thermoelectric device based on these high-performance thermoelectric materials demonstrates a normalized maximum power density reaching 0.26 Wm−1 under a temperature gradient of 20 K, which is at least two orders of magnitude higher than those of flexible organic thermoelectric devices. This work can greatly accelerate the development of flexible thermoelectric technology.

Flow rate and holdup are two essential parameters to describe oil-water two-phase flow. The distribution of oil-water two-phase flow in the pipeline is very uneven, and there is a significant slippage between the phases. This makes it difficult to measure these two flow parameters. In this paper, a new measurement method of flow rate and holdup based on phase state regulation is proposed. The oil-water two-phase flow is adjusted to oil or water single-phase flow according to the time sequence by the phase state regulation, and the oil-water phase interface is measured with a conductance sensor. A wavelet transform based phase inflection point detection model is proposed to detect the oil-water phase change point. The experimental results show that the maximum measurement error of the flow rate of water is 3.73%, the maximum measurement error of the flow rate of oil is 3.68%, and the flow rate measurement repeatability is 0.0002. The accuracy of the measurement holdup is better than 3.23%, and the repeatability of the measurement holdup is 0.0003. The prototype designed based on this method has two advantages. One is that it is small in size, the other is that it does not depend on the accuracy of the sensor. Therefore, it can be widely used in oilfield ground measurement.

Rice quality and safety is important for achieving national food security and social stability. Rice has been contaminated with heavy metals, pesticide residues, and fungal toxins, which has affected the healthy development of China’s rice industry and raised public concerns about the quality and safety of rice. Studies on risk assessment and early warning techniques for rice quality and safety can not only contribute to formulating rice-related policies, regulations and standards, but also can timely identify and prevent the potential risks, which have become an important field in rice quality and safety control. In this article, the main hazards including heavy metals, pesticide residues, and fungal toxins in rice and their possible sources were analyzed. Moreover, rice risk assessment techniques including hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure assessment and risk characterization, as well as rice early warning technologies including pre-harvest warning, post-harvest warning and whole course warning were summarized, aiming to provide reference for scientific supervision and effective control of hazards in rice.

In order to study the quality variation of Longjing 31 rice in ordinary and negative-pressed rice bucket put in the environment with high temperature and high humidity and room temperature during storage, rice color parameters, fatty acid value, taste value, amylose content, protein content, fatty acid compositions, gelatinization characteristics of rice flour were measured. Two dimensions of rice quality under storage conditions and storage time were analyzed by radar analysis. It showed that high temperature, high humidity and storage time could step up the deterioration of rice quality. Different storage conditions and time had significant effects on peak (1 991~2 859 cP), final (2 650~3 334 cP) and trough viscosity (1 459~2 182 cP), fatty acid value (2.74~32.58 mg/100 g), oleic (1.12~1.81 mg/g) and linoleic acid (2.68~3.53 mg/g), as well as the taste value (68.72~80.30 score) (P < 0.05). The radar map analysis showed that quality deterioration indexes of rice stored in high temperature and high humidity ordinary rice bucket were mainly reflected in fatty acid value, oleic acid and linoleic acid; quality deterioration indexes of rice stored in high temperature and high humidity negative-pressed rice bucket were mainly reflected in peak viscosity and final viscosity; quality deterioration indexes of rice stored in common rice bucket at room temperature and negative-pressed rice bucket at room temperature were mainly reflected in peak viscosity and trough viscosity, respectively. For different storage time, the peak and trough viscosity showed a trend of first increase and second decrease, the fatty acid value increased continually, the oleic acid and linoleic acid contents sharply decreased after storage for a certain time, and the taste value gradually decreased. To sum up, it showed that the negative-pressed rice bucket could better maintain the rice quality for short time (15 days) storage, and there were no significant differences between ordinary and negative-pressed rice buckets for long periods (15 days or more) of rice storage.

Based on the analysis of rice quality characteristics of indica rice varieties from regional trials in recent 10 years, we hope to provide references for quality improvement of indica rice varieties in the next stage. We analyzed 2 701 samples of early season, medium season and late season indica rice samples in 17 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) from 2011 to 2020, and divided them into 8 groups according to maturity and regional trials group. Based on the agricultural industry standard “Cooking rice variety quality” NY/T 593, we analyzed the development trend of qualified rate and rice quality index of indica rice varieties in recent 10 years. The results showed that the quality of indica rice varieties in China presented a steady upward trend in recent 10 years, especially for late season indica rice, which improved the most significantly after 2017. The rice quality of mid-late ripe of late season indica rice and sensitive late season indica rice in south China was better than early ripe of late season indica rice; rice quality of medium season indica rice in the middle was better than that of medium season indica rice in the upper Yangtze River; the rice quality of early season indica rice in south China was better than that of other two early season indica rice varieties and has been improved steadily in recent years. Chalkiness degree, alkali spreading value and amylose content of quality indexes have been increasing steadily, gel consistency and brown rice rate keep high standard rate in recent 10 years, the variation of qualified rate in head rice rate and translucency above one level changed greatly from year to year, and there was no obvious trend of improvement. For rice quality index, in addition to keeping on reducing the amylose content and chalkiness degree of indica rice, it is also needed o strengthen the study on inter annual stability of head rice rate and transparency of indica rice. And the improvement of rice quality of medium season indica rice is the key direction for the improvement of indica rice quality in the future.

A detection method for five selenium species in Se-enriched rice was established using HPLC-ICP MS/MS. The ion pair concentration of mobile phase, elution salt concentration, pH value were optimized by using a reverse C18 chromatographic column, and the final mobile phase composition was determined to consist of 15 mmol/L ammonium acetate solution, pH5.5and 0.2 mmol/L TBAH, the baseline separation of SeMeCys,SeCys, SeMet, Se(VI) and Se(IV) was obtained. Selenium species in rice were extracted by enzyme extraction method. The effects of enzyme selection, enzyme dosage and extraction time on extraction efficiency were investigated. The optimal ratio of sample to protein XIV enzyme content was determined to be 20∶1, and the optimal enzymatic hydrolysis time was 20 h. The method has high separation efficiency, good linearity, good precision, and high sensitivity, and the recovery was 77.1%~107.3%. The limits of detection and the limits of quantitation of SeMeCys (methylselenocysteine), SeCys (selenocystine), and SeMet (selenomethionine) were 0.001 5 mg/kg and 0.005 mg/kg, respectively, while the limits of detection and the limits of quantitation of Se (VI) and Se (IV) were 0.002 5 mg/kg and 0.009 mg/kg. The method provide technical support for objective and comprehensive evaluation of the quality of Se-enriched rice and subsequent assessment of dietary exposure to Se-enriched rice.

The incorporation of ductile reinforcements into ceramics helps restrain crack deflection, which can enhance ceramics’ toughness and overcome the matrix’s brittleness. In this paper, we produced a ceramic composite reinforced by carbon fibers coated by multi-wall carbon nanotubes (shortened by Cf-MWCNT/SiC composites) for enhanced impact resistance at a high strain rate that commonly occurs in composite materials used in astronautics, marine, and other engineering fields. The fabrication process involves growing multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on a carbon fiber woven fabric (Cf) to create the fibril/fabric hybrid reinforcement. It is then impregnated by polymer solution (precursor of the ceramics), forming composites after the pyrolysis process, known as the liquid polymer infiltration and pyrolysis (PIP) technique. To assess the impact resistance of the Cf-MWCNT/SiC under high-strain rate compressions, the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) technique is employed. Since the failure behavior of the Cf-MWCNT/SiC composites in the absence of the ductile phase is not well understood, the study employs the Hilbert–Huang transform (HHT) to analyze the stress–time curves obtained from the SHPB experiments. By applying the HHT, we obtained the frequency–time spectrum and the marginal Hilbert spectrum of the stress signals. These analyses reveal the frequency characteristics of the Cf-MWCNT/SiC composite and provide insights into the relationship between transformed signal frequency and fracture behavior. By understanding the dynamic fracture behavior and frequency response of the Cf-MWCNT/SiC, it becomes possible to enhance its impact resistance and tailor its performance for specific protective requirements. Therefore, the findings of this study can guide the future design and optimization of Cf-MWCNT/SiC structures for various protective applications, such as body armor, civil structures, and protections for vehicles and aircraft.

Crop plant breeding involves selecting and developing new plant varieties with desirable traits such as increased yield, improved disease resistance, and enhanced nutritional value. With the development of high-throughput technologies, such as genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics, crop breeding has entered a new era. However, to effectively use these technologies, integration of multi-omics data from different databases is required. Integration of omics data provides a comprehensive understanding of the biological processes underlying plant traits and their interactions. This review highlights the importance of integrating omics databases in crop plant breeding, discusses available omics data and databases, describes integration challenges, and highlights recent developments and potential benefits. Taken together, the integration of omics databases is a critical step towards enhancing crop plant breeding and improving global food security.

Piezoelectric damping composites with excellent damping properties were prepared from carbon black (CB), lead magnesium niobate (PMN), epoxy resin, and polyether amine D-400. The tanδ{\rm{\tan }}\delta area (TA) analysis method is used to evaluate the leading factors of damping enhancement. This method clearly shows the influence of the maximum loss factor (tanδ{\rm{\tan }}\delta max) and effective damping temperature range on damping performance, and the damping enhancement factors are quantitatively analyzed by TA values. When CB content is less than 8 wt%, viscoelastic damping and frictional energy dissipation are the main factors affecting polymer properties. When CB content reaches 8 wt%, the conductive network gradually forms, and the electric energy generated by PMN through the piezoelectric effect is dissipated by the conductive network, and the piezoelectric effect of PMN becomes the dominant factor. In this case, the maximum tanδ\tan \delta max and TA values of the composite are 1.93 and 27.58, respectively. The damping contribution of PMN and CB reaches 40.21% and 34.41%, respectively.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), particularly late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD), is a prevalent form of dementia that significantly affects patients’ cognitive and behavioral capacities and longevity. Although approximately 70 genetic risk factors linked with AD have been identified, their influence on patient longevity remains unclear. Further, recent studies have associated copy number variations (CNVs) with the longevity of healthy individuals and immune-related pathways in AD patients. This study aims to investigate the role of CNVs on the longevity of AD patients by integrating the Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) and transcriptomics data from the Religious Orders Study/Memory and Aging Project (ROSMAP) cohort through causality network inference. Our comprehensive analysis led to the construction of a CNV-Gene-Age of Death (AOD) causality network. We successfully identified three key CNVs (DEL5006, mCNV14192, and DUP42180) and seven AD-longevity causal genes (PLGRKT, TLR1, PLAU, CALB2, SYTL2, OTOF, and NT5DC1) impacting AD patient longevity, independent of disease severity. This outcome emphasizes the potential role of plasminogen activation and chemotaxis in longevity. We propose several hypotheses regarding the role of identified CNVs and the plasminogen system on patient longevity. However, experimental validation is required to further corroborate these findings and uncover precise mechanisms. Despite these limitations, our study offers promising insights into the genetic influence on AD patient longevity and contributes to paving the way for potential therapeutic interventions.

Abstract The vibration of the ball mill foundation will seriously affect the operation stability of the ball mill. According to the connection relationship between the ball mill and the foundation, the mill-foundation transient shock model is established. The effects of shock force, concrete grade and shock angle on the transient response of the foundation were studied. And based on the problem of the mill foundation, the reinforcement scheme of the foundation was put forward. The following conclusions are drawn: with the increase of shock force and shock angle, the displacement of foundation joints increases, and the maximum stress also increases; concrete grade has little effect on foundation stability; after the foundation reinforcement scheme is used, the vibration caused by the shock of the ball mill is effectively reduced, and the stability of the foundation is increased. Finally, the correctness of the model and the scheme is verified through the comparison with the test data. The calculation results provide a reference for the improvement of the ball mill foundation.

Trafficability gives tracked vehicles adaptability, stability, and propulsion for various purposes, including deep-sea research in rough terrain. Terrain characteristics affect tracked vehicle mobility. This paper investigates the soil mechanical interaction dynamics between rubber-tracked vehicles and sedimental soils through controlled laboratory-simulated experiments. Focusing on Bentonite and Diatom sedimental soils, which possess distinct shear properties from typical land soils, the study employs innovative user-written subroutines to characterize mechanical models linked to the RecurDyn simulation environment. The experiment is centered around a dual-tracked crawler, which in itself represents a fully independent vehicle. A new three-dimensional multi-body dynamic simulation model of the tracked vehicle is developed, integrating the moist terrain’s mechanical model. Simulations assess the vehicle’s trafficability and performance, revealing optimal slip ratios for maximum traction force. Additionally, a mathematical model evaluates the vehicle’s tractive trafficability based on slip ratio and primary design parameters. The study offers valuable insights and a practical simulation modeling approach for assessing trafficability, predicting locomotion, optimizing design, and controlling the motion of tracked vehicles across diverse moist terrain conditions. The focus is on the critical factors influencing the mobility of tracked vehicles, precisely the sinkage speed and its relationship with pressure. The study introduces a rubber-tracked vehicle, pressure, and moisture sensors to monitor pressure sinkage and moisture, evaluating cohesive soils (Bentonite/Diatom) in combination with sand and gravel mixtures. Findings reveal that higher moisture content in Bentonite correlates with increased track slippage and sinkage, contrasting with Diatom’s notable compaction and sinkage characteristics. This research enhances precision in terrain assessment, improves tracked vehicle design, and advances terrain mechanics comprehension for off-road exploration, offering valuable insights for vehicle design practices and exploration endeavors.

In recent years, the digital economy has become an important driving force to promote the sound and fast growth of Chinese economy. The development of the digital economy and manufacturing industry in Jiangsu Province is facing new situations and new tasks. Manufacturing industry is the main battlefield of the digital economy, and the direction of upgrading the manufacturing industry enabled by the digital economy is becoming increasingly clear. Through the low-end transformation of the manufacturing industry, the reshaping of the demand side and the formation of high-end manufacturing, the digital economy can solve the key issues in the upgrading of the manufacturing industry in Jiangsu Province and promote the upgrading of the industrial economy. We will accelerate the pace of global industrialization.

Scientific research and education is an important part of the three-whole education system, and scientific and technological innovation is the core driving force of national development. Colleges and universities should grasp the scientific concept of scientific and technological innovation, and cultivate college students with innovation ability. Through the construction of “scientific research and education” platform and the close cooperation between enterprises and teachers and students of higher vocational colleges, it can not only improve students ‘cooperation ability, innovation ability and independent learning ability, but also bring theoretical and technical support to local enterprises, playing a positive role in promoting the formation of enterprises’ technological achievements.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has brought new opportunities for cancer prevention and control. This review give a brief overview of the origin and basic elements of AI. Then it comprehensively carded the application of AI systems in the field of cancer, reviewed the important research progress of AI in several major types of cancer around image-based cancer screening and diagnosis. Finally, this review summarized the challenges in algorithm, implementation and ethics and future development as well as more ideas for the application of AI technology in the oncological research.

Federated learning is proposed to solve the contradiction between data sharing and privacy-preserving.It aims to build collaborative models by securely interacting irreversible information (e.g.,model parameters or gradient updates).However,the risks of privacy leakage and malicious attacks in the process of model local training,information interaction and parameter transmission have brought major challenges to the practical application of federated learning.This paper summarizes the Attack beha-viors and corresponding defense strategies in the modeling and deployment process of federated learning.Firstly,this paper briefly reviews the development process of federated learning and the basic modeling process.Next,it classifies attack behaviors in fede-ral learning training and deployment from three aspects:confidentiality,availability and integrity,and combs the latest research on privacy theft and malicious attacks.Then,it summarizes defense countermeasures from two directions: honest-but-curious attac-kers and malicious attackers,and analyzes the defense capabilities of different strategies.Finally,it presents some discussions about the problems and challenges of attack and defense methods in the practice of federated learning.Besides,it looks forward to their future development direction of federated learning in defense strategy and system design.

ObjectiveTo reduce the content of cadmium in rice， the method of cadmium removal from rice was established and the extraction conditions were optimized by response surface methodology.MethodsThe cadmium extraction rate was used as the index to screen the cadmium removal methods. Commercially available cadmium positive rice was chosen as the test sample and four kinds of food grade organic weak acids were chosen as extractants. The concentration of acid solution， extraction time， solid-liquid ratio and rice powder particle size were used as independent variables to carry out the single factor extraction. And the optimal conditions for removing cadmium from rice was obtained by response surface design.ResultsThe optimal conditions for removing cadmium from rice were 4.2% acetic acid solution， 11 min extraction， liquid-to-material ratio 13：1 （mL/g）， and at least 50 mesh for rice flour. Under these conditions， the average removal rate of cadmium in rice was 98.67%.ConclusionThe experimental model is reasonable and the optimized extraction method is feasible. The removal or reduction of cadmium in raw rice is realized with optimal cadmium extraction conditions， which provides a scientific method for the research on cadmium removal from cadmium-contaminated rice.

Ultrasensitive trace-detection of toxic and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can ceaselessly propel the environmental surveillance in aqueous ecosystems. Due to the intrinsic nonadsorptive feature of PAHs, the promising technique of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy has been restricted to diverse functional ligands-based surface modifications of nano-substrates. However, it is not suitable for practical ultralow liquid analysis. Herein, we propose an extraordinary strategy to boost liquid-near infrared (NIR)-SERS activity of plasmonic Au/Ag nano-urchins (NUs) by introducing extra 808 nm laser-triggered an additional strong electromagnetic enhancement into routine 785 nm laser-Raman system. The synergistic double laser-excited NIR-SERS of colloidal Au/Ag NUs enables the Raman signals of crystal violet to be significantly enhanced, approaching a maximum of ∼34-fold increase than that of traditional bare 785 nm laser-excitation. More importantly, the improved liquid-NIR-SERS enables the in-situ detection limit of pyrene molecules in lake water to be achieved at ∼10−9 M, which is already better than many previous SERS results based on the complicated functionalized nano-substrates. The established double laser-boosted NIR-SERS can also be easily extended to the simultaneous trace-detection of three PAHs-contaminated mixtures, supporting well distinguishable capability. Undoubtedly, the present work opens a new versatile and innovative avenue for ultrasensitive NIR-SERS monitoring of nonadsorptive toxic pollutants in wastewater.

Abstract Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, characterized by progressive cognitive impairment and neurodegeneration. Extensive clinical and genomic studies have revealed biomarkers, risk factors, pathways, and targets of AD in the past decade. However, the exact molecular basis of AD development and progression remains elusive. The emerging single-cell sequencing technology can potentially provide cell-level insights into the disease. Here we systematically review the state-of-the-art bioinformatics approaches to analyze single-cell sequencing data and their applications to AD in 14 major directions, including 1) quality control and normalization, 2) dimension reduction and feature extraction, 3) cell clustering analysis, 4) cell type inference and annotation, 5) differential expression, 6) trajectory inference, 7) copy number variation analysis, 8) integration of single-cell multi-omics, 9) epigenomic analysis, 10) gene network inference, 11) prioritization of cell subpopulations, 12) integrative analysis of human and mouse sc-RNA-seq data, 13) spatial transcriptomics, and 14) comparison of single cell AD mouse model studies and single cell human AD studies. We also address challenges in using human postmortem and mouse tissues and outline future developments in single cell sequencing data analysis. Importantly, we have implemented our recommended workflow for each major analytic direction and applied them to a large single nucleus RNA-sequencing (snRNA-seq) dataset in AD. Key analytic results are reported while the scripts and the data are shared with the research community through GitHub. In summary, this comprehensive review provides insights into various approaches to analyze single cell sequencing data and offers specific guidelines for study design and a variety of analytic directions. The review and the accompanied software tools will serve as a valuable resource for studying cellular and molecular mechanisms of AD, other diseases, or biological systems at the single cell level.

Objective: This study focused on the antioxidant activities of eight edible fungiproteins and their hydrolysates. Methods: Eight edible fungi proteins were hydrolyzed using alkaline protease. DPPH free radical scavenging activity, ABTS free radical scavenging activity, Fe2+ chelation rate and reducing power were used to evaluate antioxidant activity. Results: SDS-PAGE electrophoretic profile results indicated that alkaline protease was efficient in hydrolyzing proteins into low molecular weight peptides and amino acid; the antioxidant activity of the alkaline proteolysis product of Volvariellavolvacea was the highest with DPPH free radical scavenging ability （5 140.45±5.35） μg Trolox/g, ABTS free radical scavenging ability （6.97±0.27） mmol Trolox/L, and Fe2+ chelation rate （79.86±0.45）% and the reducing power （0.350±0.001）. Moreover, the amino acid composition was also determined, containing eight essential amino acids （230.43±5.35） mg/g and hydrophobic （209.95±4.95） mg/g, negatively charged （115.89±2.32） mg/g and aromatic amino acids （57.86±1.74） mg/g with high antioxidant activity. Conclusion: The alkaline proteolysis product of Volvariellavolvacea has good antioxidant activity and was rich in essential, hydrophobic, negatively charged and aromatic amino acids.

Outbreaks of COVID-19 caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is still a threat to global human health. In order to understand the biology of SARS-CoV-2 and developing drug against COVID-19, a vast amount of genomic, proteomic, interatomic, and clinical data is being generated, and the bioinformatics researchers produced databases, webservers and tools to gather those publicly available data and provide an opportunity of analyzing such data. However, these bioinformatics resources are scattered and researchers need to find them from different resources discretely. To facilitate researchers in finding the resources in one frame, we have developed an integrated web portal called OverCOVID (http://bis.zju.edu.cn/overcovid/). The publicly available webservers, databases and tools associated with SARS-CoV-2 have been incorporated in the resource page. In addition, a network view of the resources is provided to display the scope of the research. Other information like SARS-CoV-2 strains is visualized and various layers of interaction resources is listed in distinct pages of the web portal. As an integrative web portal, the OverCOVID will help the scientist to search the resources and accelerate the clinical research of SARS-CoV-2.

A linear k-coloring of a graph is a proper k-coloring of the graph such that any subgraph induced by the vertices of any pair of color classes is a union of vertex-disjoint paths. A graph G is linearly L-colorable if there is a linear coloring c of G for a given list assignment L = {L(v) : v ∈ V (G)} such that c(v) ∈ L(v) for all v ∈ V (G), and G is linearly k-choosable if G is linearly L-colorable for any list assignment with |L(v)| ≥ k. The smallest integer k such that G is linearly k-choosable is called the linear list chromatic number, denoted by lcl(G). It is clear that lcl(G)≥⌈Δ(G)1⌉+1{lc}_l(G) \ge \left\lceil {{{\Delta (G)} \over 1}} \right\rceil + 1 for any graph G with maximum degree Δ(G). The maximum average degree of a graph G, denoted by mad(G), is the maximum of the average degrees of all subgraphs of G. In this note, we shall prove the following. Let G be a graph, (1) if mad(G)

Adaptive radiotherapy (ART) allows control of dosimetric impact of patient anatomical and functional variations over the treatment course, to minimize normal tissue exposure and maximize dose delivery to tumor. We present the first reported case of fan beam computed tomography (FBCT)-guided online ART for the treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC). A 62-year-old woman was diagnosed with histologically proven limited-stage SCLC. During definitive radiochemotherapy (50 Gy in daily fractions of 2.5 Gy), the tumor shrinkage resulted in an unexpected dose escalation to organs at risk (OAR). To correct the dose change, she received an online ART treatment session in our center with four-dimensional FBCT before the 12th fraction was delivered. The application of online ART, including imaging, recontouring and replanning, was feasible as the total treatment time was

Peripheral nerve injury is a life-changing disability with significant socioeconomic consequences. In this rat model, we propose that partial enzyme digestion can facilitate the functional recovery of a crushed nerve. The sciatic nerves were harvested and in vitro cultured with the addition of Liberase to determine the appropriate enzyme amount in the hyaluronic acid (HA) membrane. Then, the sciatic nerve of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats was exposed, crushed, and then treated with partial enzyme digestion (either 0.001 or 0.002 unit/mm2 Liberase-HA membrane). The sciatic function index (SFI) for functional recovery of the sciatic nerve was evaluated. After 2 h of in vitro digestion, fascicles and axons were separated from each other, with the cells mobilized. Greater destruction of histology structures occurred in the high enzyme (Liberase-HA membrane at 0.002 unit/mm2) group at 24 h than in the low enzyme (0.001 unit/mm2) group at 48 h. In the SFI evaluation, the improvement in 0.001 unit/mm2 Liberase group was significantly better than control and 0.002 unit/mm2 Liberase group. Our study demonstrated that appropriate enzyme digestion had a significantly faster and earlier recovery.

Objective To screen the possible risk factors and protective factors for prostate cancer early (in 2 years)progressing to castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Methods A total of 71 patients who had progressed to CRPC in 2 years were classified as case group and 71 patients without progressing to CRPC in 2 years were classified as control group. Logistic regression analysis and survival analysis were applied to screen the risk or protective factors. Results PSA nadir and Time to PSA nadir (TTN) were statistically significant between case group and control group in logistic regression analysis (P < 0.05). Median CRPC occurrence time was 8.29 and 16 months in TTN≤9 months group and TTN > 9 months group, respectively. Median CRPC occurrence time was 12 and 9 months in PSA nadir≤0.2 ng/ml group and PSA nadir > 0.2 ng/ml group, respectively. Conclusion TTN may be a protective factor and PSA nadir may be an independent risk factor for prostate cancer early progressing to CRPC. TTN≤9 months and PSA nadir > 0.2 ng/ml are the risk factors of CRPC.

Background There are two main choices of administration route of recombinant human endostatin (Endostar) available and the treatment options of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) have changed over time. The aim of this study was to observe the long‐term efficacy and safety of different administration routes of Endostar combined with CCRT. Methods Patients with unresectable stage III non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from two phase II trials were included as two cohorts. Both were treated with Endostar combined with CCRT. Endostar was administrated by intravenous injection (7.5 mg/m2/day, seven days) in the IV arm and by continuous intravenous pumping (7.5 mg/m2/24 hours, 120 hours) in the CIV arm. Results A total of 48 patients were included in the IV arm and 67 patients in the CIV arm. The median progression‐free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), local recurrence‐free survival (LRFS) and distant metastasis‐free survival (DMFS) in the IV arm and CIV arm were 9.9 months versus 15.4 months (HR = 0.751, 95% CI 0.487–1.160, P = 0.200), 24.0 months versus 38.5 months (HR = 0.746, 95% CI 0.473–1.178, P = 0.209), 32.3 months versus 27.1 months (HR = 1.193, 95% CI 0.673–2.115, P = 0.546), 20.1 months versus 49.7 months (HR = 0.603, 95% CI 0.351–1.036, P = 0.067). The one, three, five‐year PFS in the IV arm and CIV arm was 45.8% versus 52.9%, 18.3% versus 31.4%, and 18.3% versus 27.7% and the one, three, five‐year OS was 81.2% versus 82.1%, 31.1% versus 50.3%, and 31.1% versus 41%, respectively. Incidence of hematological adverse reactions were numerically lower in the CIV arm than the IV arm. Conclusions Endostar delivered by CIV with CCRT may be a better option than IV in terms of potential survival and safety for unresectable stage III NSCLC. Key points Significant findings of the study Endostar delivered by continuous intravenous pumping might achieve more favorable survival over intravenous injection and reduce adverse hematological reactions in patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC treated with Endostar combined with CCRT.What this study adds The administration route of recombinant human endostatin is also one key factor for survival and safety to consider when treating patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC.

Time-domain digital coding metasurfaces have been proposed recently to achieve efficient frequency conversion and harmonic control simultaneously; they show considerable potential for a broad range of electromagnetic applications such as wireless communications. However, achieving flexible and continuous harmonic wavefront control remains an urgent problem. To address this problem, we present Fourier operations on a time-domain digital coding metasurface and propose a principle of nonlinear scattering-pattern shift using a convolution theorem that facilitates the steering of scattering patterns of harmonics to arbitrarily predesigned directions. Introducing a time-delay gradient into a time-domain digital coding metasurface allows us to successfully deviate anomalous single-beam scattering in any direction, and thus, the corresponding formula for the calculation of the scattering angle can be derived. We expect this work to pave the way for controlling energy radiations of harmonics by combining a nonlinear convolution theorem with a time-domain digital coding metasurface, thereby achieving more efficient control of electromagnetic waves.

Abstract Background To assess the efficacy of Nimotuzumab in combination with first-line chemoradiotherapy treatment in Chinese patients with primary III-IVb stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods Patients with primary locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma who were treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy between January 2008 and December 2013 at a single institution were retrospectively reviewed. Group A received at least 6 doses of Nimotuzumab, while Group B did not receive Nimotuzumab. A propensity score matching method was used to match patients from each group in a 1:3 ratio. Results In total, 730 eligible patients were propensity matched, with 184 patients in Group A and 546 patients in Group B. Significant differences were not observed in the patient and tumor characteristics between Group A and Group B. At a median follow-up of 74.78 months (range 3.53–117.83 months), locoregional recurrence, distant failure and death were observed in 10.68, 11.10 and 16.03% of all patients, respectively. The estimated 5-year locoregional relapse–free survival, distant metastasis–free survival, progression-free survival and overall survival in the Group A versus Group B were 85.34% versus 89.79% (P = 0.156), 93.09% versus 85.61% (P = 0.012), 79.96% versus 77.99% (P = 0.117) and 88.91% versus 78.30% (P = 0.006), respectively. Conclusions This nimotuzumab-containing regimen resulted in improved long-term survival of III-IVb stage NPC patients and warrants further prospective evaluation.

In the current application of RFID vehicle management, its management scheme is basically to stick RFID label on the front windshield. However, with the popularity of heating wire windshields, this type of installation can no longer cover all models, and sometimes the labels can′t be recognized after installing on some cars. Based on the present situation, this paper presents a new type of antenna design, and relying on the car license plate, which the traffic administration must control, develops a new kind of RFID label that doesn′t remove the license plate and easy to install. It can solve the problems that the labels can′t be recognized and the reading distance is uneven due to the differentiation of cars.It also provides great convenience for traffic administration supervision and management of social vehicles.

Summary: We challenged four big brown bats to maneuver through abrupt turns in narrow corridors surrounded by dense acoustic clutter. We quantified bats' performance, sonar beam focus, and sensory acquisition rate. Performance was excellent in straight corridors, with sonar beam aim deviating less than 5° from the corridor midline. Bats anticipated an upcoming abrupt turn to the right or left by slowing flight speed and shifting beam aim to “look” proactively into one side of the corridor to identify the new flightpath. All bats mastered the right turn, but two bats consistently failed the left turn. Bats increased their sensory acquisition rate when confronting abrupt turns in both successful and failed flights. Limitations on biosonar performance reflected failures to switch beam aim and to modify a learned spatial map, rather than failures to update acquisition rate.