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With the recent progress in electronic skin, wearable medical devices and robotic systems, efforts have been devoted to capacitive proximity sensor and organic semiconductor proximity sensor. The former shows the proximity perception ability towards the conductor, and the latter enables proximity detection of the electrically charged objects. Here, by embedding rubrene organic semiconductor proximity sensor (insulator detector) and a parallel plate capacitive proximity sensor (metal detector) on the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastic substrate, we merge two-type proximity sensors in a single platform to realize a flexible, conformal composite proximity sensor, which enables good adherence onto the curved objects and detection of fingers, metal, and insulators, showing the strong application potential in wearable electronics.

PtCu alloy supported on acid-treated multi-walled carbon nanotube (PtCu/MWCNT) catalysts were prepared through polyol reduction method. The prepared PtCu/MWCNT composites were annealed at different temperatures to study the effects of annealing temperatures on the particle size, structure, surface morphology, and the activity and stability of methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to study the structure and physical characteristics of the catalyst. These physical characterization analyses all confirmed the formation of PtCu alloy, and the particle size of the catalysts rose with the increase of annealing temperature. The activity and stability of catalysts were further measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and accelerated durability tests (ADTs), respectively. It was found after annealing at 400℃ that the PtCu/MWCNT catalyst has higher activity and longer durability toward MOR. This work demonstrated that PtCu catalysts after annealing in a H2 atmosphere will cause a change in the surface atomic configuration and degree of alloying of PtCu catalysts, which determines the activity and long-term durability of PtCu/MWCNT catalyst.

In this work, Ru-doped Ta2O5 was firstly synthesized as support for Pt nanoparticles by calcination and chemical precipitation. The prepared Pt/Ru-Ta2O5 catalysts were characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). These characterization methods confirm that Pt nanoparticles were successfully supported on Ru-doped Ta2O5 (Ru-Ta2O5). The TEM reveals that Pt nanoparticles with an average diameter of ca. 4.0 ± 0.5 nm were uniformly distributed on the Ru-Ta2O5. The further electrochemical characterizations including cyclic voltammograms (CV), chronoamperometry (CA), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods show that Pt/Ru-Ta2O5 catalysts have larger electrochemical surface area, better electrocatalytic activity, and higher stability toward the methanol oxidation reaction compared to the pure Ta2O5 supported Pt catalysts. The excellent electrocatalytic performance is mainly contributed to the improvement of Ru for the dispersion of Pt nanoparticles, the increased conductivity of Ta2O5, as well as the promotion of oxidation reactivity by Ru. This work demonstrated that Ru-Ta2O5 is a promising anode catalyst support for direct methanol fuel cells.

An oxfendazole (OFZ) nanocrystal suspension was prepared by acid–base neutralization and crystallization combined with ultrasonic dispersion to overcome the challenge of its poor oral bioavailability. The nanosuspensions were screened and optimized by single-factor experiments and an orthogonal design using size and appearance as indices. The morphology (differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD)) properties and pharmacokinetics of the best formulation were further developed. The results showed that the best cosolvent and stabilizer were malic acid and hydrogenated castor oil polyoxyethylene ether (HEL-40), respectively. Scanning electron microscopy demonstrated that the oxfendazole nanocrystals are irregular sheets with relative uniformity. The prepared nanocrystals have an average particle diameter of 431 ± 18 nm, a polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.376 ± 0.128, a zeta potential of 2.30 ± 0.44 mV, and a sedimentation coefficient of 0.993. The equilibrium solubility of nanocrystals in different solvents was significantly improved by 2.02–109.99-fold compared to OFZ crude. In 0.5% SDS-PBS (pH 2) and 0.5% SDS-PBS (pH 8) solution, oxfendazole nanocrystals were completely released within 5 min, while the OFZ crude only released 60.26% and 28.31%, respectively. The pharmacokinetics showed that the Cmax, Tmax, and AUC0–∞ of OFZ nanosuspension and OFZ granules in rats after oral dosage at 50 mg/kg were 4.23 and 13.63 μg/mL, 2.04 and 1.67 h, and 111.36 and 295.80 μg*h/mL, respectively. The relative bioavailability of the oxfendazole nanosuspension was 265.61% compared to the OFZ granules. These results showed that the nanosuspension might be a promising oral formulation for the hardly soluble OFZ.

This study aimed to depict the clinical features, including myositis specific or associated antibody (MSA/MAA) profile of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with muscle involvement in a Chinese cohort.We retrospectively studied a cohort of 1696 SLE inpatients and screened for concurrent myositis features from January 2013 to June 2021. Propensity score matching was applied to enroll controls without myositis features from our cohort. Demographic, clinical and laboratory variables were collected. MSA/MAA panels containing 16 autoantibodies (TIF1-γ, MDA5, NXP2, Mi-2α/β, SAE1, Jo-1, PL-7, PL-12, EJ, OJ, SRP, HMGCR, cN-1A, PM-Scl75/100, Ku and Ro52) were tested by line-blotting assay. Binary logistic regression and K-means clustering were applied.Forty-one of 1696 (2.42%) SLE patients in our SLE inpatient cohort showed features of myositis. Binary logistic regression revealed that new-onset SLE (odds ratio [OR] = 4.77, 95% CI = 1.10-20.57), interstitial lung disease (ILD) (OR = 10.07, 95% CI = 1.65-61.51), positive anti-U1RNP antibody (OR = 4.38, 95% CI = 1.08-17.75), and Raynaud's phenomenon (OR = 7.94, 95% CI = 1.41-44.69) were associated with muscle involvement. Except for anti-Ro52 (50%), anti-Ku antibody (38.2%) was the next frequently detected MSA/MAA in the panel, followed by anti-NXP2 antibody (11.8%). It was noteworthy that multiple MSA/MAAs (≥2, excluding anti-Ro52) coexisted in 9 patients. Patients with myositis features were clustered into 2 subgroups. Cluster 1 was characterized by anti-Ku or anti-Ro52 with high SLE Disease Activity Index, whereas cluster 2 presented with anti-U1RNP, Raynaud's phenomenon and pulmonary arterial hypertension resembling mixed connective tissue disease.In our Chinese SLE inpatient cohort, muscle involvement was infrequent. Nevertheless, distinct features in these SLE patients deserve further study.

Characterizing the microbial communities associated with soil-borne disease incidence is a key approach in understanding the potential role of microbes in protecting crops from pathogens. In this study, we compared the soil properties and microbial composition of the rhizosphere soil and roots of healthy and bacterial wilt-infected tobacco plants to assess their potential influence on plant health. Our results revealed that the relative abundance of pathogens was higher in diseased plants than in healthy plants. Moreover, compared with healthy plants, there was a significantly higher microbial alpha diversity in the roots and rhizosphere soil of diseased plants. In addition, we detected a lower abundance of certain plant microbiota, including species in the genera Penicillium, Trichoderma, and Burkholderia in the rhizosphere of diseased plants, which were found to be significantly negatively associated with the relative abundance of Ralstonia. Indeed, compared with healthy plants, the co-occurrence networks of diseased plants included a larger number of associations linked to plant health. Furthermore, structural equation modeling revealed that these specific microbes were correlated with disease suppression, thereby implying that they may play important roles in maintaining plant health. In conclusion, our findings provide important insights into the relationships between soil-borne disease incidence and changes in the belowground microbial community. These findings will serve as a basis for further research investigating the use of specific plant-associated genera to inhibit soil-borne diseases.

Although black tea and dark tea are both fermented teas, their fermentation processes are varied a lot and strongly affect their chemical components. The flavonoids which are the major active compounds in teas play an important role in their refreshing effect and health benefit. The differential flavonoid glycosides in these two fermented teas were investigated using nontargeted modification-specific metabolomics UHPLC–MS method. Principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal projection on latent structure-discriminant analysis (OPLS–DA) showed that these two types of fermented teas could be clearly distinguished according to their characteristic secondary metabolites. 218 glycosylated records were found out through six specific glycosylated neutral loss calculations. After intersection calculations between glycosylated metabolites and differential secondary metabolites, seven flavonoid glycosides markers were identified which contribute to the classification of two kinds of fermented teas. According to the experimental results, the contents of flavonoid glycosides may strongly relate to the fermented processing technology and microbial fermentation of dark tea would decrease the contents of flavonoid glycosides. The proposed strategy could provide a feasible and reliable technique to understand the glycosylation level under different treatments.

Background: As a prototypic cytokine storm syndrome (CSS), secondary haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (sHLH), or macrophage activation syndrome in the context of rheumatic disease, is characterized by profound hyperinflammation and multisystem dysfunction. Caloric restriction and intermittent fasting (IF) are known to ameliorate inflammatory response. However, their in vivo roles and mechanistic importance in CSS remain largely elusive. Herein, by using a Poly I:C and lipopolysaccharide sequential challenging HLH mice model, we explore the anti-inflammatory effect of IF.Findings: Compared to mice feeding with regular diet, IF treated HLH model showed improved survival and less systemic inflammation, as evidenced by alleviatived splenomegaly and acute lung injury and downregulated serum pro-inflammatory cytokines. Mechanistically, IF down-modulated glycolysis, the fueling process in cytokine storm. In addition, we underscored the relevance of ferroptosis, a special form of programmed cell death, to the HLH-related acute lung injury. Notably, combination of IF and ferroptosis inhibition synergistically provided robust protection against lethal HLH in mice. Conclusions: Our study revealed the nexus between hyperinflammation and tissue injury in cytokine storm, and highlighted that non-immunosuppressive metabolic modulations might have translational values in relevant diseases.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the risk of major infections and the relationship between major infections and mortality in patients with newly diagnosed SLE.MethodsA newly diagnosed (ResultsAmong the 494 patients enrolled in the hSLIC cohort, there were 69 documented episodes of major infections during the first year of follow-up in 67 (14%) patients. The major infection events predominantly occurred within the first 4 months since enrolment (94%, 65/69) and were associated with all-cause mortality. After adjustments for glucocorticoid and immunosuppressant exposure, a prediction model based on SLE Disease Activity Index >10, peripheral lymphocyte count 9/L and serum creatinine >104 µmol/L was established to identify patients at low risk (3%–5%) or high risk (37%–39%) of major infections within the first 4 months.ConclusionsNewly onset active SLE is susceptible to major infections, which is probably due to underlying profound immune disturbance. Identifying high-risk patients using an appropriate prediction tool might lead to better tailored management and better outcome.

Local signaling events at synapses or axon terminals are communicated to the nucleus to elicit transcriptional responses, and thereby translate information about the external environment into internal neuronal representations. This retrograde signaling is critical to dendritic growth, synapse development, and neuronal plasticity. Here, we demonstrate that neuronal activity induces retrograde translocation and nuclear accumulation of endosomal adaptor APPL1. Disrupting the interaction of APPL1 with Importin α1 abolishes nuclear accumulation of APPL1, which in turn decreases the levels of histone acetylation. We further demonstrate that retrograde translocation of APPL1 is required for the regulation of gene transcription and then maintenance of hippocampal late-phase long-term potentiation. Thus, these results illustrate an APPL1-mediated pathway that contributes to the modulation of synaptic plasticity via coupling neuronal activity with chromatin remodeling.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have recently emerged as promising electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, poor electrical conductivity in most MOFs limits their electrochemical performance. In this work, the integration of flaky cobalt 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate (Co-BDC) MOF with conductive polypyrrole (PPy) nanofibers via in-situ growth strategy was explored for developing novel anode materials for LIBs. Electrochemical studies showed that PPy/Co-BDC composites exhibited enhanced cycling performance (a reversible capacity of ca. 364 mA h g–1 at a current density of 50 mA g–1 after 100 cycles) and rate capability, com- pared with the pristine Co-BDC. The well dispersion of Co-BDC on polypyrrole nanofibers and the decrease in charge-transfer resistance of the composite electrodes accounted for the improvement of electrochemical properties.

Stretchable lithium ion batteries receive considerable attention due to their promising application to meet the growing demand of wearable portable electronics. Despite tremendous efforts being made to fabricate stretchable lithium ion batteries, challenges remain due to the complicated fabrication process, high fabrication cost, and low mass loading. Herein, a simple design concept for all-stretchable-component lithium ion batteries via an all solution process is reported. All components are stretchable, including Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) and LiFePO4 (LFP) electrodes based on the 3D polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) porous framework, poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexa-fluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) gel separator, and PDMS package. The prepared electrodes based on the versatile 3D PDMS/SWCNT porous framework show many superior merits, such as high mass loading, good stretchability, outstanding mechanical durability, and high conductivity. More impressively, the mass loading of our electrode materials is as high as 7 mg cm−2, which is higher than that of all the reported all-stretchable-component lithium ion batteries. The resulting practical capacity is improved significantly up to 0.81 mA h cm−2 at 0.069C. The full cell delivers a high capacity of 0.66 mA h cm−2 even after 100 stretch–release cycles of 50% tensile strain at 0.075C, and shows a stable power supply during various extreme deformations. This work opens a feasible route to construct all-stretchable-component lithium ion batteries with high electrochemical performance and high stretchability, presenting promising potential for application in new-generation wearable and portable energy storage devices.

Laodelphax striatellus is a sap-feeding pest and the main insect vector of rice stripe virus (RSV). There is an urgent need to identify molecular targets to control this insect pest and plant arboviruses. In this study, we identified a L. striatellus gene (named LsGrpE) encoding a GroP-E-like protein. We found that the LsGrpE protein localized to mitochondria. Using gene-specific dsRNA to interfere with the expression of LsGrpE led to a significant increase in insect mortality, and most of the surviving insects could not develop into adults. Further analyses revealed that LsGrpE deficiency caused mitochondrial dysfunction and inhibited the insulin pathway, resulting in diabetes-like symptoms such as elevated blood sugar, inactive behaviour, developmental delay, and death. In addition, LsGrpE deficiency significantly reduced the RSV titre in surviving L. striatellus, and indirectly prevented viral vertical transmission by reducing the number of adults. We generated transgenic rice plants expressing LsGrpE-specific dsRNA, and the dsRNA was acquired by L. striatellus during feeding, resulting in increased insect mortality and the prevention of arboviral transmission. This study clarifies the function of LsGrpE and demonstrates that LsGrpE can be used as a molecular target of plant-generated dsRNA to resist this sap-feeding pest, a17nd therefore, its transmitted arboviruses.

Dry eye disease (DED) is the most common eye disease in ophthalmic consultation except for refractive errors. Therefore, an exploration of valid and alternative therapeutic interventions is essential to feed the urgent medical need. It has been demonstrated that oxidative stress causes multiple adverse effects in the pathogenesis of DED, thence alleviating oxidative stress is an effective therapeutic strategy for the DED treatment. Herein, we developed a cerium oxide nanozyme combined with branched poly(ethylene imine)-graft-poly(ethylene glycol) (bPEI-g-PEG). Owing to its stable hydrophilic chains on the surface reducing the cytotoxicity and loads of amines groups that be combined with cerium ions through coordination bonds, the modified nanozymes (referred to as CNP@bPEI-g-PEG) are water soluble and highly biocompatible. Meanwhile, due to its excellent antioxidant activity, CNP@bPEI-g-PEG nanozymes can mimic the activity of superoxide dismutase and catalase to scavenge intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Experimental studies firmly demonstrated that the modified nanozymes were auto-regenerative and more active in scavenging excessive ROS and alleviating oxidative stress by cerium-element valence state recycling, recovering the morphology of corneal, conjunctival epithelium and the number of goblet cells. The advanced combination may offer a superior therapeutic strategy to deal with oxidative stress for effective treatment of DED.

Understanding the mechanisms that govern microbial community assembly across soil-plant continuum is crucial for predicting the response of ecosystems to environmental changes. However, the impact of the health status of plant on microbial assembly across this continuum still remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated how wheat yellow mosaic (WYM), caused by the wheat mosaic virus transmitted by Polymyxa graminis, affected microbial assembly across soil (bulk soil, rhizosphere soil), and plant (roots and leaves) continuum in a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) system in northern China, using null model analysis. The results showed that deterministic processes dominated the bacterial community assembly, whereas stochastic processes were primarily responsible for the assembly of the fungal communities. With increasing levels of WYM, deterministic processes were greatly enhanced for bacterial community assembly, accompanied by a decrease in community niche breadth. Intensified competition between bacteria and fungi and increased soil total nitrogen (TN) and soil organic carbon (SOC) contents were mainly responsible for the enhanced deterministic processes for bacterial community assembly. Random forest modeling indicated a strong potential of rhizosphere bacterial community assembly for predicting the pathological conditions of wheat. Structural equation modeling showed that disease level was positively correlated with SOC and TN contents, competitions between bacteria and fungi, and the contribution of variable selection processes to the bacterial community assembly in the wheat rhizosphere. Our study revealed the ecological mechanisms underlying the associations between microbial communities and soil-borne disease, and highlighted the significance of microbial community assembly for maintaining soil and plant health.

Low disease activity status and remission are crucial treat-to-target (T2T) endpoints in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). To evaluate the efficacy of metformin add-on in attaining T2T among Chinese patients with mild-to-moderate lupus, a post-hoc analysis combining our previous two randomised trials was carried out.Data from the open-labeled proof-of-concept trial (ChiCTR-TRC-12002419) and placebo-controlled trial (NCT02741960) were integrated together. Disease flares were compared between patients attaining T2T or not at baseline. The efficacy of metformin versus placebo/nil add-on to standard therapy in SLE patients who did not meet the T2T criteria at baseline was evaluated in terms of attaining T2T at 12-month follow-up.Of 253 SLE patients, 43.8% (n=89) attained T2T at baseline. During the 12 months, 15 patients flared in the T2T group, which was significantly lower than that in the non-T2T group (16.9% vs. 36.0%, p=0.001). For 164 patients who did not meet the T2T criteria at entry, 59.0% and 43.6% of the 78 patients taking metformin in this population attained the lupus low disease activity status (LLDAS) and remission endpoints at last visit, respectively, as compared to 37.2% and 24.4% of the 86 patients in the placebo/nil group (LLDAS p=0.008; remission p=0.013). Over time, metformin helped patients achieving T2T earlier and maintain longer T2T duration over placebo/nil (LLDAS duration: 44.9% vs. 26.4%, p=0.002; remission duration:19.1% vs. 10.7%, p=0.014).This post-hoc analysis suggested that metformin might be an adjuvant therapy in achieving treat-to-target in SLE patients.

The scribe line (also known as kerf or frame) is an area in the silicon wafer which is used to separate individual die at the end of wafer processing. The scribe line also contains features which assist in the manufacturing process but are not present in the final product. Examples of such features include lithography alignment and overlay marks, thickness measurement pads, and electrical test macros. The overall design of scribe line features can be drastically different from the die layout. In the chemical mechanical polishing process, regions of low pattern density have higher polishing rates compared to those of high pattern density, leading to overpolishing or “dishing”. The scribe line, with intermittent regions of low and high pattern density, is naturally more prone to dishing, an issue which is exacerbated by thickness variation at the wafer edge. In this work, we present examples of unforeseen defects caused by interaction between process variation and scribe line design, which can eventually lead to yield loss in the prime die. The findings in this paper pertain to “common platform” FINFET technology but can be extended to other technologies due to similar process steps employed in semiconductor manufacturing.

The cause of hysteresis in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) and its application in organic synaptic transistors are studied. Benefiting from the slow polarization process of dipoles in organosilicone (Dow Corning 1–2577) dielectric, the devices exhibit the desirable synaptic behaviors, including excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC), memory function, potentiation/depression characteristics, endurance characteristics and spike-amplitude-dependent plasticity. Further, combining the DC 1–2577 dielectric with the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) support, a flexible conformable DC 1–2577 dielectric organic synapse transistor is fabricated, which provides a great potential for the wearable and implantable artificial neuromorphic systems for artificial intelligence and new-generation computers.

An ultrasensitive flexible organic sensor that uses the microsized rubrene crystal as the sensing element is demonstrated. The organic sensor with facile two-terminal device configuration can accurately perceive external charged objects, such as human hair, fiber cloth, plastic sheet, and paper scrap. The touch of these charged objects causes the effect of “gate” voltage of the traditional field-effect transistor, which modulates the carrier transport characteristics in the rubrene crystal. Benefiting from the unique sensing mechanism, the organic sensor is capable to resist the effect of gravity with high orientation stability. Our sensor shows a feasible route to realize the charged objects perception, making it a promising candidate for possible applications in artificial intelligence and human–machine interactive.

Based on a pre-grown rubrene bulk crystal, a large-scale rubrene single-crystal transistor array is fabricated with photolithography-compatible flexible electrodes on bulk crystal. The resulting organic single-crystal transistor array exhibits a high yield with 100% device operation. The average mobility in an array with an area of $560\,\,\mu \text{m}\,\,\times 400\,\,\mu \text{m}$ is 13.8 ± 5.9 ${\mathrm {cm}}^{\textsf {2}}/\text{V}\cdot \text{s}$ , the highest mobility obtained is 25.1 ${\mathrm {cm}}^{\textsf {2}}/\text{V}\cdot \text{s}$ , and the current ON/OFF ratio can reach $7.2\,\,\times \,\, 10^{\textsf {5}}$ . These results offer a novel approach for obtaining high-integration, high-precision organic single-crystal device arrays. It also enables an effective method to study the intrinsic properties and circuit design based on an organic crystal.

Understanding the deformation behavior of metallic materials containing nanotwins (NTs), which can enhance both strength and ductility, is useful for tailoring microstructures at the micro- and nano- scale to enhance mechanical properties. Here, we construct a clear deformation pattern of NTs in austenitic stainless steel by combining in situ tensile tests with a dislocation-based theoretical model and molecular dynamics simulations. Deformation NTs are observed in situ using a transmission electron microscope in different sample regions containing NTs with twin-lamella-spacing (λ) varying from a few nanometers to hundreds of nanometers. Two deformation transitions are found experimentally: from coactivated twinning/detwinning (λ 129 nm). The simulation results are highly consistent with the observed strong λ-effect, and reveal the intrinsic transition mechanisms induced by partial dislocation slip., The deformation mechanisms of twin boundaries in nanotwinned metallic materials are still unclear. Here the authors combine in situ transmission electron microscopy tensile tests and molecular dynamics simulations with a dislocation-based theoretical model to reveal the deformation mechanism of nanotwins.

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus is a disorder of immune regulation characterized by overproduction of autoantibodies. D-mannose is a C-2 epimer of glucose that exhibits immunoregulatory effects in models of autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, induced rheumatoid arthritis, and airway inflammation. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of D-mannose treatment in mouse models of lupus.Methods: The effect of D-Mannose was evaluated by flow cytometry on the in vitro activation of C57BL/6 (B6) murine bone marrow derived dendritic cells and their ability to induce antigen specific CD4+ T cell proliferation and activation. The effect of D-mannose administration in vivo on the frequency of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in B6 mice was assessed by flow cytometry. D-mannose was administered to two models of lupus: the chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) induced model and the B6.lpr spontaneous model. Autoantibody production was measured by ELISA and immune activation by flow cytometry. Results were compared by two-tailed statistics: unpaired or paired t tests, or Mann-Whitney U tests depending on whether the data was normally distributed.Results: D-mannose inhibited the maturation of bone marrow dendritic cells and their induction of antigen-specific T cell proliferation and activation in vitro. In vivo, D-mannose increased the frequency of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in unmanipulated control mice. In the cGVHD model of induced lupus, D-mannose treatment decreased autoantibody production, with a concomitant reduction of the frequency of effector memory and follicular helper T cells as well as germinal center B cells and plasma cells. These results were partially validated in the B6.lpr model of spontaneous lupus. Conclusion: Overall, our results suggest that D-mannose ameliorates autoimmune activation in models of lupus, at least partially due to its expansion of Treg cells, the induction of immature conventional dendritic cells and the downregulation of effector T cells activation. D-Mannose showed however a weaker immunomodulatory effect in lupus than in other autoimmune diseases.

In contrast to traditional transformer blocks using a set of pre-defined parameters as positional embeddings, we propose the input-aware positional embedding (IPE) which is dynamically generated according to the input feature. We implement this idea by designing the IPE transformer, which enjoys stronger generalization powers across arbitrary input sizes. To verify its effectiveness, we integrate the newly-designed transformer into NLSPN and GuideNet, two remarkable depth completion networks. The experimental result on a large scale outdoor depth completion dataset shows that the proposed transformer can effectively model long-range dependency with a manageable memory overhead.

ObjectiveTo confirm that metformin prevents flares in patients with SLE with low disease activity, we performed a post hoc analysis combining our previous two randomised trials.MethodsPost hoc analyses were performed on data from the open-labelled proof-of-concept trial (n=113, ChiCTR-TRC-12002419) and placebo-controlled ‘Met Lupus’ trial (n=140, NCT02741960) comparing the efficacy of metformin versus placebo/nil add-on to standard therapy in patients with SLE with low disease activity (SELENA-SLEDAI ≤4). The primary endpoint was defined by the SELENA-SLEDAI Flare Index at 12-month follow-up. A subgroup analysis was performed.ResultsOverall, 201 eligible patients were included, with 99 allocated to metformin group and 102 allocated to the placebo/nil group. By 12 months of follow-up, 21 patients (21.2%) flared in the metformin group, as compared with 36 (35.3%) in the placebo/nil group (p=0.027, risk ratio=0.68, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.96). Subgroup analysis showed that patients with negative anti-dsDNA antibody and normal complement at baseline, and a disease duration ConclusionPost hoc pooled analyses suggested that metformin reduced subsequent disease flares in patients with SLE with low disease activity, especially for serologically quiescent patients.