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The genus Favolaschia within the family Mycenaceae is characterised by the gelatinous basidiomata with poroid hymenophore and most species inhabit monocotyledonous plants. In this study, many samples covering a wide geographic range in China were examined morphologically and phylogenetically using concatenated ITS1-5.8S-ITS2-nLSU sequence data. Three new species clustering in Favolaschia sect. Anechinus, namely Favolaschia imbricata, F. miscanthi and F. sinarundinariae, are described. Favolaschia imbricata is characterised by imbricate basidiomata with pale grey to greyish colour when fresh and broadly ellipsoid basidiospores measuring 7–9 × 5–6.8 µm; F. miscanthi is characterised by satin white basidiomata when fresh, broadly ellipsoid basidiospores measuring 7.5–10 × 5.5–7 µm and inhabit rotten Miscanthus; F. sinarundinariae is characterised by greyish-white basidiomata when fresh, dark grey near the base upon drying, broadly ellipsoid to subglobose basidiospores measuring 7–9 × 5–7 µm and inhabit dead Sinarundinaria. The differences amongst the new species and their morphologically similar and phylogenetically related species are discussed. In addition, an updated key to 19 species of Favolaschia found in China is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• NSDAHU is proposed to solve nonlinear structural dynamics problems with hybrid uncertainties. • NSDAHU easily transmits response distribution of nonlinear structural dynamic systems directly using control equations. • NSDAHU solves pure interval, pure random, and linear structural dynamics problems. • Three numerical examples verify the applicability, accuracy, and efficiency of NSDAHU. The physical systems of nonlinear structural dynamics are usually expressed mathematically as ordinary differential equations. When hybrid uncertainties are in the system, it is necessary to understand the effects of uncertainties in the system response to accurately predict its behavior using mathematical models. To address the hybrid uncertainty of random and interval parameters often encountered in engineering applications, we propose the nonlinear structural dynamics analysis with hybrid uncertainty (NSDAHU) method. The expressions for calculating the statistical characteristics (i.e., mean and variance) of nonlinear structural dynamic responses with hybrid uncertainties are derived using random interval moment and random interval perturbation methods. The applicability, accuracy, and efficiency of the NSDAHU method are verified using Monte Carlo simulation method (MCSM). The NSDAHU method can not only solve hybrid random interval problems but also solve single interval, single random, and linear structural dynamics problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shale gas is the fastest-growing energy source in the world. In USA, shale gas now contributes to more than 60% of natural gas supply. In China, annual shale gas production climbed to 800 Bcf (billion cubic feet) in 2021. However, since the dawn of petroleum industry, drilling in shale has been a challenge due to the reactive clay minerals. This paper surveys the field experiences of widely used drilling fluids in major shale plays. OBM (oil based mud) is usually made of diesel and low fraction of water phase. The oil phase in OBM provides effective shale stability, high rate of penetration (ROP), and excellent lubricity. Therefore, more than 70% of shale gas wells have been drilled with OBM, and very few wells reported wellbore instability. WBM (water-based mud) is made of water and necessary chemical additives. WBM is less costly and more environment-friendly than OBM, but some shale wells drilled with WBM reported severe instability issues. Nevertheless, recent innovations in WBM lead to successes in drilling major shale plays. WBM has great potential in shale drilling and deserves more research and improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rich diversity of morphology and behavior displayed across primate species provides an informative context in which to study the impact of genomic diversity on fundamental biological processes. Analysis of that diversity provides insight into long-standing questions in evolutionary and conservation biology and is urgent given severe threats these species are facing. Here, we present high-coverage whole-genome data from 233 primate species representing 86% of genera and all 16 families. This dataset was used, together with fossil calibration, to create a nuclear DNA phylogeny and to reassess evolutionary divergence times among primate clades. We found within-species genetic diversity across families and geographic regions to be associated with climate and sociality, but not with extinction risk. Furthermore, mutation rates differ across species, potentially influenced by effective population sizes. Lastly, we identified extensive recurrence of missense mutations previously thought to be human specific. This study will open a wide range of research avenues for future primate genomic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the widespread consensus on the sustainable development of economy and society, the environmental issues of heavy metal pollution in soils have received considerable attention. Confronted with these issues, soil washing has been widely studied, due to its advantages of simple operation, wide application, high efficiency and low costs. However, reducing the secondary contamination of the washing agents and selecting the best washing agents have been a barrier to the development of washing technology. Based on this background, this study comprehensively investigated the concentration levels of heavy metals in different types of contaminated sites, analyzed the current research status in this field, and pointed out the urgency and challenge of soil remediation for heavy metal pollution. Meanwhile, the advantages and disadvantages of different remediation techniques and their application case studies for heavy metal contaminated soils were summarized. In addition, the washing effects of different types of low molecular weight organic acids on heavy metal pollutants in soils and their key influencing factors were also fully discussed. Finally, the limitation in this field area and future research directions were pointed out. This review would be expected to provide practical engineering application and development for soil washing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Emergency medicine (EM) is a required clerkship for third-year medical students, and an elective EM acting internship (AI) is available to fourth-year students at our institution. The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine's (SAEM) National Emergency Medicine M4 Examination (EM-M4) is administered to students at the end of the EM AI experience. To prepare for the exam, students gain access to 23 practice tests available from SAEM. In this study we investigate the correlation between the number of practice tests taken and EM-M4 performance. Methods: We collected data for EM-M4 and the US Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) from students completing a MS4 EM clerkship in consecutive medical school classes from 2014-2017 at a private medical school. In addition, we collected data during the clerkship on the number of practice exams taken and whether a comprehensive practice exam was taken. We analyzed the study population three ways to determine whether the number of practice tests impacted final exam results: a binary distribution (1-11 or 12-23 tests taken); quaternary distribution (1-6, 7-12, 13-18, or 19-23 tests taken); and individual test variability (1,2,3, ... 22,23 tests taken). Complete data for 147 students was used for data analysis. Results: The EM-M4 showed moderate (r = 0.49) correlations with USMLE Step 2 CK. There was no significant difference in EM-M4 performance in the binary analysis (P ≤ 0.09), the quaternary analysis (P ≤ 0.09), or the continuous variable analysis (P ≤ 0.52). Inclusion of a comprehensive practice test also did not correlate with EM-M4 performance (P ≤ 0.78). Conclusion: Degree of utilization of SAEM practice tests did not seem to correlate with performance on the EM-M4 examination at our institution. This could be due to many factors including that the question bank is composed of items that had poor item discrimination, possible inadequate coverage of EM curriculum, and/or use of alternative study methods. While further investigation is needed, if our conclusions prove generalizable, then using the SAEM practice tests is an extraneous cognitive load from a modality without proven benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yunnan is known for its rich biodiversity and is known as the Wild Mushroom Kingdom. Boletes are a world‐renowned wild edible mushroom, with unique sensory characteristics, nutritional value and medicinal value extraordinary. However, the species and geographical origin of boletes influence their price and quality. In this study, a method was developed to identify species and geographical origin simultaneously. Therefore, Fourier transform near‐infrared (FT‐NIR) data sets of boletes were collected and converted to two‐dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D‐COS). On this basis, the species and geographic origins of boletes were identified using Residual neural network (ResNet) image analysis model. The results showed that FT‐NIR could identify boletes species and geographical origins, 7000–4000 cm−1 band was more suitable for species identification, 7000–5300 cm−1 band was more suitable for geographical origins identification. In addition, the environmental factors with high contribution to the distribution of boletes were screened based on the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model. This allows characterization of the potential geographic distribution of boletes. The results showed that precipitation factors played a vital role in its distribution and might even be responsible for the difference in chemical composition. In this study, a method was developed to identify species and geographical origin simultaneously. The species and geographic origins of boletes were identified using residual neural network image analysis model. The results showed that Fourier transform near‐infrared could identify boletes species and geographical origins; 7000–4000 cm−1 band was more suitable for species identification, and 7000–5300 cm−1 band was more suitable for geographical origins identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The toothed jelly fungus Pseudohydnum gelatinosum was originally described from Europe. The name has a broad sense and the species has been widely reported almost all over the world. We have studied samples of so-called P. gelatinosum from Asia and Oceania. Based on morphology, hosts, geography, and phylogenetic analysis using the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITSs) and the large subunit of nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (nLSU), four new species, P. himalayanum, P. orbiculare, P. sinogelatinosum, and P. tasmanicum, from China, New Zealand, and Australia are described and illustrated, and a new combination, Pseudohydnum totarae, is proposed. The five new taxa can be differentiated by the shape of their basidiomata, pileal surface color when fresh, spine size, basidiospore dimensions, shape of hyphidia, hosts, and biogeography. Phylogenetically, most of these taxa are distantly related, and different base pairs among these taxa mostly account for >2% nucleotides in the ITS regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between parental genetic differences and the quality and yield of japonica hybrid rice strongly influences japonica hybrid rice breeding. In this study, 137 parental lines of japonica hybrid rice were genotyped using 8K rice SNP-Chips to characterize their genetic diversity, population structure, and indica-genotype proportion. The genetic diversity of total parental lines averaged 0.264, with values of 0.287 for restorer lines and 0.148 for the sterile lines. The introduction of indica lineage increased the genetic diversity of restorer lines relative to that of sterile lines. By model-based population structure analysis, the 137 lines were divided into 14 groups. According to the grouping results, eight restorer lines and five sterile lines were selected from different groups for cross breeding, yielding 40 japonica hybrid rice combinations (F1). Investigation of the yield and quality of these combinations showed that highyield combinations could be obtained by increasing parental genetic distance to 0.8-0.9, a result accomplished largely by the introduction of indica genomic components of restorer lines. To further improve grain quality, the genetic distance between parents should be reduced to 0.4-0.5, suggesting an indicagenotype proportion of 30%-40% for restorer lines. This study may provide a reference for breeding of japonica hybrid rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differential cross sections (DCSs) for the H + D2 → HD(v' = 4, j') + D reaction at 3.26 eV collision energy have been measured using the photoloc technique, and the results have been compared with those from quantum and quasiclassical scattering calculations. The quantum mechanical DCSs are in good overall agreement with the experimental measurements. In common with previous results at 1.97 eV, clear interference patterns which appear as fingerlike structures have been found at 3.26 eV but in this case for vibrational states as high as v' = 4. The oscillatory structure is prominent for low rotational states and progressively disappears as j' increases. A detailed analysis, similar to that carried out at 1.97 eV, shows that the origin of these structures could be traced to interferences between well defined classical mechanisms. In addition, at this energy, we do not observe the anomalous positive j'-θ trend found for the v' = 4 manifold at lower collision energies, thus reinforcing our explanation that the anomalous distribution for HD(v' = 4, j') at 1.97 eV only takes place for those states associated with low product recoil energies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differential cross sections (DCSs) for the H + D2 → HD(u' = 4, j') + D reaction at 3.26 eV collision energy have been measured using the photoloc technique, and the results have been compared with those from quantum and quasiclassical scattering calculations. The quantum mechanical DCSs are in good overall agreement with the experimental measurements. In common with previous results at 1.97 eV, clear interference patterns which appear as fingerlike structures have been found at 3.26 eV but in this case for vibrational states as high as u'= 4. The oscillatory structure is prominent for low rotational states and progressively disappears as j' increases. A detailed analysis, similar to that carried out at 1.97 eV, shows that the origin of these structures could be traced to interferences between well defined classical mechanisms. In addition, at this energy, we do not observe the anomalous positive j'-θ trend found for the u'= 4 manifold at lower collision energies, thus reinforcing our explanation that the anomalous distribution for HD(v' = 4, j') at 1.97 eV only takes place for those states associated with low product recoil energies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentration of heavy metals (HMs) in plants is determined by the background values in soil and/or the expression of genes related to HM metabolism. To determine if the bioaccumulation of HMs in Ammopiptanthus mongolicus, an evergreen desert shrub commonly used as a traditional medicine, is related to environmental background and/or tissue (organ) specific, the HM concentrations (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Ni, and Zn) in the soil, roots, stems, and leaves of A. mongolicus in the desert of northwestern China were measured. Efficiencies of bioconcentration, bioaccumulation, and translocation to different portions of the plant were calculated. A linear mixed-effects model was used to test the effects of environmental background and tissue specificity on bioaccumulation. The results showed that most HMs did not exceed the pollution threshold in the soil samples, and the accumulation in plants did not meet the standard of worldwide averages. The phytoaccumulation of HMs was independent of the background concentration in soil but was related to plant tissues, which reflects the low mobility of HMs in the desert, and suggesting that the phytoaccumulation is related to the metabolic capacity and/or differential expression of HM-related genes in tissues of A. mongolicus. The high translocation efficiency of mercury from the underground portion to the leaves makes A. mongolicus a potential phytoremediator for mercury contamination. However, the removal efficiency in high-dose contamination soil still needs to be further examined. This study suggests that the desert environment may lack appropriate microorganisms to decompose immobile HMs effectively. In addition, when using A. mongolicus as a medicinal plant, special attention should be paid to the accumulation of HMs in different tissues, even if they have not reached the risk threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is possible that the large oil and gas fields have already been discovered. The new discoveries are smaller, remote, deep water, or buried deep underground. Drilling deep wells often have to face the challenges from high temperature. It is especially challenging for drilling fluids to maintain desirable properties under a thermally-demanding environment over extended drilling time. This paper surveys the worldwide field cases of drilling fluids for high-temperature wells. According to field experiences, oil based mud and emulsion mud provides the best wellbore stability, thermal stability and rate of penetration (ROP). Water based formate mud is an alternative to oil based mud at a lower cost and less environmental impact. Formate mud also produced good wellbore integrity and good ROP. Foam mud is most suitable for drilling low-pressure formations with wellbore instability issues. The field case demonstrated foam mud was successfully implemented in a high-temperature and low-pressure well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dioxide is a major greenhouse gas that leads to global warming. Injection of CO2 into oil reservoirs not only improves oil recovery but also stores large quantities of CO2 in the reservoir. However,the limited supply of carbon dioxide often restricts the implementation of CO2 flooding projects. Carbonated water injection (CWI) can be a good alternative when carbon dioxide is inadequate. Laboratory tests revealed that CO2 effectively improved oil recovery by increasing oil volume and reducing oil viscosity. Several field cases in the USA demonstrated that CWI not only improved oil production but also enhanced water injection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrogen abstraction reactions of fluoroalkane isomers CF2HCFHCF2H and CF3CFHCFH2 with the OH radicals have been studied theoretically by a dual-level direct dynamics method. Optimized geometries and frequencies of all the stationary points and extra points along the minimum-energy path are obtained at the BB1K/6-31+G(d,p) level of theory, and then the energy profiles are refined at G3(MP2) level of theory. Using the improved canonical variational transition-state theory (ICVT) with the small-curvature tunneling correction (SCT), the rate constants for each channel are calculated over a wide temperature range of 200–1000 K. Our results show that the tunneling correction plays an important role in the rate constant calculation in the low temperature range. The calculated ICVT/SCT rate constants are consistent with available experimental data. Our calculations indicate the contribution of the abstraction from the –CFH– group of isomeric compounds CF2HCFHCF2H and CF3CFHCFH2 to the overall reactions is quite different over the whole temperature range due to the effect of different groups at both sides of –CFH– group. Furthermore, to further reveal the thermodynamic properties, the enthalpies of formation of the two reactants CF2HCFHCF2H, and CF3CFHCFH2, and the product radicals CF2HCFCF2H, CF2HCFHCF2, CF3CFCFH2, and CF3CFHCFH are obtained by using isodesmic reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of continuous advancement of 5G mobile communication technology, school classrooms continue to introduce various new scientific and technological concepts. This article focuses on school teaching applications, such as interactive whiteboards, VR/AR technology, and holographic projection technology, and discusses how 5G networks apply professional classroom policies. This paper uses literature research methods, questionnaire survey technology and user interaction to study various aspects of teaching theory, the history of technological development and application cases, and summarizes the implementation strategy and implementation plan of the voice dialogue system in the 5G network environment; through research and education Project implementation cases to be announced, as well as professional project management methods, studied the implementation plan of the voice dialogue system in the 5G network environment to allow staged education applications; through the implementation of a stage in the project delivery process, the experiment in the entire experiment. The impact, implementation effect and experimental process are analyzed and evaluated. Finally, correspondingly, this article begins to explore the scientific significance of flip-flops, and systematically study the importance and feasibility of the application of flip-flops in vocational politics courses, as well as the theoretical basis and basic principles of its application. Take the core curriculum as an example to illustrate the design and implementation of a part of the vocational curriculum teaching process. Finally, it discusses the practical difficulties faced by the flipped classroom in the vocational politics curriculum during the implementation process, and puts forward appropriate strategies to ensure the proper development of the flipped classroom in the vocational politics curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a Landau-Ginsburg-Devonshire (LD)-type phenomenological model, the effect of misfit strain and externally applied electric field on dielectric properties of epitaxially single-domain SrTiO3 thin films is investigated by taking into account the existence of two coupled instabilities (ferroelectric and antiferrodistortive). The epitaxy-induced strain may enable the phase of films transform to ferroelectric phase that is impossible for bulk “quantum paraelectric.” At low temperature, the critical tensile strain is in favor of relative high dielectric constant along [100] direction, while the critical compressive strain is useful to that of [001] direction. A high tunability may be obtained by adjusting misfit strain, especially in the vicinity of a structural phase transition. It is also shown that the electric field is facile to induce ferroelectricity in the case of purely structural orthorhombic (SO) phase or tetragonal (ST) phase under reasonable misfit strains when the external electric field is parallel with the order parameter qi. The structural order parameter induced may explain the “weak peak anomaly” phenomenon. Furthermore, the electric field dependence of dielectric responses of different structure phases is also discussed with various misfit strains. Our theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental ones reported in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modified transverse Ising model considering double-peak probability distribution functions is constructed and applied to investigate the thermodynamic properties of compositionally graded Ba1-xSrxTiO3 thin films. Spatial nonuniformity in compositional concentration is exhibited to give rise to nonuniformity in polarization with corresponding spatial variation. It is found that the magnitude and the sign of the polarization gradients are dependent on the compositional gradient. We also find that the origin of polarization offset is strongly related to not only the compositional gradient but also the temperature. In addition, the compositional gradient plays an important role in the pyroelectric coefficient of the graded film versus temperature, where one or two broad and smooth pyroelectric peaks occur except for a sharp peak at the Curie temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prognostic significance of family with sequence similarity 83, member D (FAM83D) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients has not been well-investigated using Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) series and TCGA database, we compared FAM83D expression levels between tumor and adjacent tissues, and correlated FAM83D in tumors with outcomes and clinico-pathological features in HCC patients. Validated in GSE33006, GSE45436, GSE84402 and TCGA, FAM83D was significantly overexpressed in tumor tissues than that in adjacent tissues (all P<0.01). FAM83D up-regulation was significantly associated with worse overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in HCC patients (Log rank P=0.00583 and P=4.178E-04, respectively). Cox analysis revealed that FAM83D high expression was significantly associated with OS in HCC patients [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.005-2.063, P=0.047]. Additionally, patients deceased or recurred/progressed had significantly higher FAM83D mRNA levels than those living or disease-free (P=0.0011 and P=0.0238, respectively). FAM83D high expression group had significantly more male patients and advanced American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage cases (P=0.048 and P=0.047, respectively). FAM83D mRNA were significantly overexpressed in male (P=0.0193). Compared with patients with AJCC stage I, those with AJCC stage II and stage III-IV had significantly higher FAM83D mRNA levels (P = 0.0346 and P=0.0045, respectively). In conclusion, overexpressed in tumors, FAM83D is associated with gender, AJCC stage, tumor recurrence and survival in HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbially enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) is a unique technique, which involves the injection of live organisms and/or nutrients into underground reservoirs to improve oil production and longevity of the field. Even though MEOR remains a relatively marginal technology, field trials of MEOR have been active in North America and Asia. This paper reports 16 MEOR field projects since 2000. According to the field cases surveyed, around 70% of treated wells demonstrated positive responses. Besides, all of the projects were profitable. Traditionally, high temperature and high salinity have prohibited field applications of MEOR. Among the field cases in this survey, MEOR has been tried in low-permeability formations, high-salinity reservoirs, high-temperature reservoirs, and heavy-oil fields. MEOR proved effective for challenging reservoir conditions with careful selection of microbes and proper project execution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces FormantPro, a Praat-based tool for large-scale, systematic analysis of formant movements, especially for experimental data. The program generates a rich set of output metrics, including continuous contours like time-normalized formant trajectories and formant velocity profiles suitable for direct graphical comparisons, and discrete measurements suitable for statistical analysis. It also allows users to generate mean trajectories and discrete measurements averaged across repetitions and speakers. As an illustration of its usage, data from a preliminary study of syllable segmentation in Mandarin were presented. The alignment of continuous formant trajectories enabled by FormantPro provides evidence that the temporal scopes of consonants and vowels are very different from those based on conventional views, and that acoustic and articulatory boundaries of segments are fundamentally similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the properties of the photorefractive impurity levels in doped BaTiO3. Investigation of light-induced absorption spectroscopy, the decay process of light-induced absorption and its temperature dependence; Light-induced absorption spectra in one Rh-doped and two Ce-doped BaTiO3 crystals; Explanation of the biexponential behavior of the decay of the induced absorption.

Common primate variants generated from 233 primate species (left) were validated as benign (98.7%) in the human ClinVar database. RESULTS: Following the strategy outlined above we obtained whole-genome sequencing data for 809 individuals from 233 primate species and cataloged 4.3 million common missense variants. By generating the most comprehensive primate sequencing dataset to date and pairing this resource with a deep learning architecture that leverages 3D protein structures, we were able to achieve meaningful improvements in variant effect prediction across multiple clinical benchmarks. [Extracted from the article]

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a widely used cardiopulmonary support method that is usually implemented after anesthesia during the period of lung transplantation (LTx). In severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients, however, anesthesia induction is a high-risk phase and can result in severe cardiorespiratory failure. Herein, we describe two severe PAH patients who received ECMO support before anesthesia and whose preoperative evaluations indicated that the risk was too high to safely survive the anesthesia induction period before LTx. The strategy was successful, and in both patients, hemodynamics was stable and no ECMO-related complications occurred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As people age, geriatric syndromes characterized by frailty significantly impact both clinical practice and public health. Aging weakens people's immune functions, leading to chronic lowgrade inflammation that ultimately contributes to the development of frailty. Effectively managing geriatric syndromes and frailty can help alleviate the economic burden of an aging population. This review delves into the intricate relationship among aging, infection-induced inflammation, chronic inflammation, and frailty. In addition, it analyzes various approaches and interventions to address frailty, such as smart rehabilitation programs and stem-cell treatments, offering promising solutions in this new era. Given the importance of this topic, further research into the mechanisms of frailty is crucial. Equally essential is the devising of relevant measures to delay its onset and the formulation of comprehensive clinical, research, and public health strategies to enhance the quality of life for elderly individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zn plays a key role in controlling macrophage function during an inflammatory event. Cellular Zn homeostasis is regulated by two families of metal transporters, the SLC39A family of importers and the SLC30A family of exporters; however, the precise role of these transporters in maintaining macrophage function is poorly understood. Using macrophage-specific Slc39a10-knockout (Slc39a10fl/fl; LysM-Cre+) mice, we found that Slc39a10 plays an essential role in macrophage survival by mediating Zn homeostasis in response to LPS stimulation. Compared with Slc39a10fl/fl mice, Slc39a10fl/fl;LysMCre+ mice had significantly lower mortality following LPS stimulation as well as reduced liver damage and lower levels of circulating inflammatory cytokines. Moreover, reduced intracellular Zn concentration in Slc39a10fl/fl;LysM-Cre+ macrophages led to the stabilization of p53, which increased apoptosis upon LPS stimulation. Concomitant knockout of p53 largely rescued the phenotype of Slc39a10fl/fl;LysM-Cre+ mice. Finally, the phenotype in Slc39a10fl/fl;LysM-Cre+ mice was mimicked in wild-type mice using the Zn chelator TPEN and was reversed with Zn supplementation. Taken together, these results suggest that Slc39a10 plays a role in promoting the survival of macrophages through a Zn/p53-dependent axis in response to inflammatory stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The linear magnetoresistance (MR) effect is an interesting topic due to its potential applications. In topological insulator Bi2Se3, this effect has been reported to be dominated by the carrier mobility (l) and hence has a classical origin. Here, we study the magnetotransport properties of Bi2Se3 thin films and observe the linear MR effect, which cannot be attributed to the quantum model. Unexpectedly, the linear MR does not show the linear dependence on l, in conflict with the reported results. However, we find that the observed linear MR is dominated by the inverse disorder parameter 1/kFl, where kF and l are the Fermi wave vector and the mean free path, respectively. This suggests that its origin is also classical and that no μ-dominated linear MR effect is observed which may be due to the very small l values in our samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preautonomic neurons in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus play a large role in the regulation of hepatic functions via the autonomic nervous system. Activation of hepatic sympathetic nerves increases glucose and lipid metabolism and contributes to the elevated hepatic glucose production observed in the type 2 diabetic condition. This augmented sympathetic output could originate from altered activity of liver-related PVN neurons. Remarkably, despite the importance of the brain-liver pathway, the cellular properties of liver-related neurons are not known. In this study, we provide the first evidence of overall activity of liver-related PVN neurons. Liver-related PVN neurons were identified with a retrograde, trans-synaptic, viral tracer in male lean and db/db mice and whole-cell patch-clamp recordings were conducted. In db/db mice, the majority of liver-related PVN neurons fired spontaneously; whereas, in lean mice the majority of liver-related PVN neurons were silent, indicating that liver-related PVN neurons are more active in db/db mice. Persistent, tonic inhibition was identified in liver-related PVN neurons; although, the magnitude of tonic inhibitory control was not different between lean and db/db mice. In addition, our study revealed that the transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1-dependent increase of excitatory neurotransmission was reduced in liver-related PVN neurons of db/db mice. These findings demonstrate plasticity of liver-related PVN neurons and a shift toward excitation in a diabetic mouse model. Our study suggests altered autonomic circuits at the level of the PVN, which can contribute to autonomic dysfunction and dysregulation of neural control of hepatic functions including glucose metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient and eco-friendly procedure for the synthesis of 1-amidoalkyl-2-naphthol and tetrahydrobenzo[b]pyran derivatives has been developed through a one-pot three-component condensation of aldehydes with 2-naphthol and amides, or with malononitrile and dimedone in the presence of magnetic nanoparticle supported acidic ionic liquid (AIL@MNP) as a novel heterogeneous catalyst under solvent-free conditions. This new procedure offers several advantages such as short reaction time, excellent yields, operational simplicity and without any tedious work-up for catalyst recovery or product purification. Moreover, the catalyst could be simply separated by an external magnet and reused six times without significant loss of catalytic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intrinsic driving mechanism is of particular significance to nanoscale mass delivery and device design. Stiffness gradient-driven directional motion, i.e., nanodurotaxis, provides an intrinsic driving mechanism, but an in-depth understanding of the driving force is still required. Based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, here we investigate the motion behavior of a graphene flake on a graphene substrate with a stiffness jump. The effects of the temperature and the stiffness configuration on the driving force are discussed in detail. We show that the driving force is almost totally contributed by the unbalanced edge force and increases with the temperature and the stiffness difference but decreases with the stiffness level. We demonstrate in particular that the shuttle behavior of the flake between two stiffness jumps on the substrate can be controlled by the working temperature and stiffness configuration of the system, and the shuttle frequency can be well predicted by an analytical model. These findings may have general implications for the design of nanodevices driven by stiffness jumps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smoking has been established as a major risk factor for developing oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), but less attention has been paid to the effects of smokeless tobacco products. Our objective is to identify potential biomarkers to distinguish the biological effects of combustible tobacco products from those of non-combustible ones using oral cell lines. Normal human gingival epithelial cells (HGEC), non-metastatic (101A) and metastatic (101B) OSCC cell lines were exposed to different tobacco product preparations (TPPs) including cigarette smoke total particulate matter (TPM), whole-smoke conditioned media (WS-CM), smokeless tobacco extract in complete artificial saliva (STE), or nicotine (NIC) alone. We performed microarray-based gene expression profiling and found 3456 probe sets from 101A, 1432 probe sets from 101B, and 2717 probe sets from HGEC to be differentially expressed. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) revealed xenobiotic metabolism and steroid biosynthesis were the top two pathways that were upregulated by combustible but not by non-combustible TPPs. Notably, aldo-keto reductase genes, AKR1C1 and AKR1C2, were the core genes in the top enriched pathways and were statistically upregulated more than eight-fold by combustible TPPs. Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) results statistically support AKR1C1 as a potential biomarker for differentiating the biological effects of combustible from non-combustible tobacco products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel and convenient tandem reaction of I2-catalzyed C-N bond activation of tertiary amines and subsequent aryl thiolation has been explored. A variety of disulfides and series of tertiary amines were efficiently converted into the corresponding α,α-bis(arylthio) aldehydes in moderate to good yields. The reaction proceeded well under transition- metal-free conditions via a C-N activation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two bacterial strains that express high levels of pectinase and xylanase, named P05 and X12, were isolated from the soil of a ramie garden using pectinase and xylanase selective medium. A bioaugmentation experiment for ramie retting using these bacterial strains showed a significant increase in retting rate when equal ratios of P05 and X12 were mixed into the retting solution at 20% of the volume. Using bioaugmentation, the retting process was completed at 60 h, reducing the retting period by 50%, and the gum removal ratio improved by 79.6%. In addition, the breaking strength of the resulting fiber was increased by 52.3%. Analysis of bacterial population structure and enzyme activity levels in the bioaugmented retting system showed that P05 and X12 quickly became the dominant bacteria within the retting solution microflora, and improved the microflora’s ability to produce key retting enzymes. The maximum pectinase and xylanase activities in the bioaugmented retting system were 80.84 U/mL and 50.51 U/mL, respectively, which were 68.98% and 64.21% higher respectively when compared to the control. Thus, addition of P05 and X12 into the retting solution resulted in accelerated gum degradation and fiber separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance working-performance robustness of suspension, a vehicle suspension with permanent-magnet magnetic-valve magnetorheological damper (PMMVMD) was studied. Firstly, mechanical structure of traditional magnetorheological damper (MD) used in vehicle suspensions was redesigned through introducing a permanent magnet and a magnetic valve. Based on theories of electromagnetics and Bingham model, prediction model of damping force was built. On this basis, two-degree-of-freedom vehicle suspension model was established. In addition, fruit fly optimization algorithm- (FOA-) line quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control algorithm suitable for PMMVMD suspensions was designed on the basis of developing normal FOA. Finally, comparison simulation experiments and bench tests were conducted by taking white noise and a sine wave as the road surface input and the results indicated that working performance of PMMVMD suspension based on FOA-LQG control algorithm was good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This bio-chemical study focuses on obtaining high-quality hemp fiber. The effects of the structures and properties of hemp fibers in different treatment periods were studied. Moreover, the changes of the surface morphology, chemical composition, and breaking tenacity of hemp fibers were researched by scanning-electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), fluorescence microscopy, and fiber tensile testing. The results showed that by virtue of the enzyme scouring process, alkali refining process, and bleaching process, the pectin, lignin, and hemicellulose and other impurities were removed. Through the single factor experiment, the optimal process conditions for the bio-chemical combination of the degumming process were obtained. These conditions included 10 g of dried hemp fibers, 15% (v/v) pectinase solution, a temperature of 50 °C, a duration of 120 min, pH 8.0 (phosphate buffer), a liquor ratio (w/v) of 1:10, and 0.0625 mol/L NaOH. In these conditions, the residual gum content and breaking tenacity were 4.8% and 49.8 cN/tex, respectively, indicating that the treated hemp fibers met the requirements of the spinning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mineral composition of rock has a very important influence on the physical and mechanical properties of tunnel surrounding rock. Take Dangjinshan tunnel for example, using the mineral composition detection test, the relationship between mineral composition and rock engineering was analysed in detail. Firstly, the mineral composition and content of rock specimens were detected by X ray fluorescence spectrometer and powder diffraction. The detection results show the tunnel contains much lower hardness minerals which may exhibit large deformation characteristic after excavation in case of meeting water and weathering conditions, and the influence on surrounding rock engineering properties cannot be ignored. Secondly, the effects of mineral composition on surrounding rock were analysed in aspects of rock strength, weathering resistance, water softening property and excavation deformation through comparing the rock samples in different parts of a tunnel. The comparative results show that when the content of minerals with hardness and poor hydrophilicity is high, tunnel surrounding rock plays a better physical and mechanical performance, vice verse. Finally, the correlation between tunnel vault settlement and content of hydrophilicity mineral was studied. The logarithmic relationship was found and the correlation coeffi- cient was 0.98. It can provide a useful reference for the settlement prediction of tunnel construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen sulfide produced by sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) in sewers causes odor problems and asset deterioration due to the sulfide-induced concrete corrosion. Free nitrous acid (FNA) was recently demonstrated as a promising antimicrobial agent to alleviate hydrogen sulfide production in sewers. However, details of the antimicrobial mechanisms of FNA are largely unknown. Here, we report the multiple-targeted antimicrobial effects of FNA on the SRB Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough by determining the growth, physiological, and gene expression responses to FNA exposure. The activities of growth, respiration, and ATP generation were inhibited when exposed to FNA. These changes were reflected in the transcript levels detected during exposure. The removal of FNA was evident by nitrite reduction that likely involved nitrite reductase and the poorly characterized hybrid cluster protein, and the genes coding for these proteins were highly expressed. During FNA exposure, lowered ribosome activity and protein production were detected. Additionally, conditions within the cells were more oxidizing, and there was evidence of oxidative stress. Based on an interpretation of the measured responses, we present a model depicting the antimicrobial effects of FNA on D. vulgaris. These findings provide new insight for understanding the responses of D. vulgaris to FNA and will provide a foundation for optimal application of this antimicrobial agent for improved control of sewer corrosion and odor management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In contrast to CUT&Tag approaches for profiling bulk histone modifications, current CUT&Tag methods for analysing specific transcription factor (TF)‐DNA interactions remain technically challenging due to TFs having relatively low abundance. Moreover, an efficient CUT&Tag strategy for plant TFs is not yet available. Here, we first applied biotinylated Tn5 transposase‐mediated CUT&Tag (B‐CUT&Tag) to produce high‐quality libraries for interrogating TF‐DNA interactions. B‐CUT&Tag combines streptavidin‐biotin‐based DNA purification with routine CUT&Tag, optimizing the removal of large amounts of intact chromatin not targeted by specific TFs. The biotinylated chromatin fragments are then purified for construction of deep sequencing libraries or qPCR analysis. We applied B‐CUT&Tag to probe genome‐wide DNA targets of Squamosa promoter‐binding‐like protein 9 (SPL9), a well‐established TF in Arabidopsis; the resulting profiles were efficient and consistent in demonstrating its well‐established target genes in juvenile‐adult transition/flowering, trichome development, flavonoid biosynthesis, wax synthesis and branching. Interestingly, our results indicate functions of AtSPL9 in modulating growth‐defence trade‐offs. In addition, we established a method for applying qPCR after CUT&Tag (B‐CUT&Tag‐qPCR) and successfully validated the binding of SPL9 in Arabidopsis and PHR2 in rice. Our study thus provides a convenient and highly efficient CUT&Tag strategy for profiling TF‐chromatin interactions that is widely applicable to the annotation of cis‐regulatory elements for crop improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hedgehog (HH) is one of the key morphogens expressed in the gut mesenchyme that control animal development and tissue homeostasis. The HH gene has been shown to be closely associated with Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR) and anorectal malformations (ARMs); thus, it was hypothesized that HH signaling pathway-associated genes may be candidate genes for HSCR and ARMs. The present study aimed to evaluate whether polymorphisms in the HH gene were associated with HSCR and ARM in a Chinese population. HH gene variants (rs61730970, rs200798148 and rs146535482) were analyzed in whole blood samples from patients with HSCR and ARMs, as well as normal children (control group). The results suggested that, when the rs61730970, rs200798148 and rs146535482 alleles of the HH gene lacked particular single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the patients were associated with a greater risk of HSCR and/or ARM [HSCR: odds ratio (OR)=1.543, P=0.004; OR=1.494, P=0.007; rs146535482: OR=1.556, P=0.003, respectively. ARM: OR=1.528, P=0.045; OR=1.800, P=0.007; OR=1.743, P=0.009, respectively). Sequencing of rs61730970 and rs200798148 revealed a loss of heterozygosity and SNPs at these loci in patients with HSCR. Similarly, the sequencing of rs61730970 and rs146535482 revealed a loss of heterozygosity and SNPs at these loci in patients with ARM. Although preliminary, these results suggested that the HH gene may be involved in genetic interactions associated with the pathogenesis of HSCR and ARM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Free nitrous acid (FNA) has recently been demonstrated as an antimicrobial agent on a range of micro-organisms, especially in wastewater-treatment systems. However, the antimicrobial mechanism of FNA is largely unknown. Here, we report that the antimicrobial effects of FNA are multitargeted. The response of a model denitrifier, Pseudomnas aeruginosa PAO1 (PAO1), common in wastewater treatment, was investigated in the absence and presence of inhibitory level of FNA (0.1 mg N/L) under anaerobic denitrifying conditions. This was achieved through coupling gene expression analysis, by RNA sequencing, and with a suite of physiological analyses. Various transcripts exhibited significant changes in abundance in the presence of FNA. Respiration was likely inhibited because denitrification activity was severely depleted, and decreased transcript levels of most denitrification genes occurred. As a consequence, the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle was inhibited due to the lowered cellular redox state in the FNA-exposed cultures. Meanwhile, during FNA exposure, PAO1 rerouted its carbon metabolic pathway from the TCA cycle to pyruvate fermentation with acetate as the end product as a possible survival mechanism. Additionally, protein synthesis was significantly decreased, and ribosome preservation was evident. These findings improve our understanding of PAO1 in response tofNA and contribute toward the potential application for use of FNA as an antimicrobial agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A methodology of FeBr3-catalyzed tandem reaction of N-propargylamides with disulfides or diselenides for the formation of oxazole derivatives has been developed. The strategy includes several steps in one pot. Series of N-propargylamides and disulfides were suitable as substrates in this transformation for synthesizing the corresponding oxazole derivatives in moderate to good yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel bioflocculant MBF057 produced by a salt-tolerant Habplanus vescus HW0579 was investigated in this study. The effects of culture conditions such as initial pH, inoculum size, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of K-acid wastewater on MBF0579 production were studied, "me result showed that 8.09 g/L purified MBF0579 was extracted with the following optimized conditions: 780 mg/L COD of K-acid wastewater as carbon source, inoculum size 12.5%, and initial pH 7.0. The biopolymer contained 78.6% polysaccharides and 21.1% proteins. The highest flocculating rate of 81.86 and 95.07%for the COD and chroma of acid brilliant scarlet gelb rot (yellow/red, G R) dye wastewater were achieved at a dosage of 150 mg/L, pH 2.0 and contact time 100 min. Overall, these findings indicate bioflocculation offers an effective alternative method of decreasing acid brilliant scarlet GR during dye wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within a semantic domain, terms that can be used in a similar way to describe a similar event are members of the same class of words, or nearsynonyms. They are common in a language but difficult to distinguish from one and another. Physical action verbs such as 'throw' verbs are a typical example of this. In this study we attempted to distinguish six Chinese 'throw' verbs (rēng, diū, pāo, tóu, shuāi, shuăi) from each other within the framework of cognitive semantics. Two experiments were conducted with two groups of native Chinese speakers (60 participants in total) to examine their behavioural and perceptual responses to the throwing actions that can be typically described by each of the six verbs. The results show that the verbs the participants enacted revealed differences in terms of dimensional features. Further, visual input about the verb enacted, successfully elicited the participants' responses corresponding to the semantics of each individual verb. Typical actions and differences between five dimensions were used as discriminative features of the verbs. The validity of action performance as a paradigm for verb meaning specification was verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report rovibrationally selected differential cross sections (DCSs) of the benchmark reaction H + D2 → HD(v′ = 3, j′ = 4-10) + D at a collision energy of 3.26 eV, which exceeds the conical intersection of the H3 potential energy surface at 2.74 eV. We use the PHOTOLOC technique in which a fluorine excimer laser at 157.64 nm photodissociates hydrogen bromide (HBr) molecules to generate fast H atoms and the HD product is detected in a state-specific manner by resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization. Fully converged quantum wave packet calculations were performed for this reaction at this high collision energy without inclusion of the geometric phase (GP) effect, which takes into account coupling to the first excited state of the H3 potential energy surface. Multimodal structures can be observed in most of the DCSs up to j′ = 10, which is predicted by theory and also well-reproduced by experiment. The theoretically calculated DCSs are in good overall agreement with the experimental measurements, which indicates that the GP effect is not large enough that its existence can be verified experimentally at this collision energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrafiltration (UF) experiments were subjected to the concentration of Shiitake polyphenol(SP) with ultrasound (US) enhancement, by which the effects of the main parameters such as ultrasonic power, transmembrane pressure, temperature and axial flow-rate on the membrane fluxes were analyzed, and then the SP of the ultrafiltrate after follow-up resin adsorption by HPLC was investigated. The results indicated that US could significantly enhance the membrane fluxes. The optimal conditions obtained was as follows: 0.60 W/cm² US power, axial flow-rate of 80 L/h, operation temperature 30 transmembrane pressure 0.10 MPa. US increased the absorption capacity of the absorbent resin during the following stage. The HPLC analysis also showed that catechins were purified to some extent as the ultrafiltrate was treated by US and macroporous resin, indicating the technology of US enhancement coupled with UF showed the potential for concentration and purification of SP by absorbent resins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we report a direct synthetic route to prepare P3HT/CdS nanocomposites with cadmium acetate dihydrate (Cd(OOCCH3)2.2H2O) used as the cadmium source, sulfur powder (S) as the sulfur source, dichlorobenzene (DCB) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as cosolvents, phosphonic ester end-functionalized P3HT as a conjugated polymer template. The as-prepared P3HT/CdS nanocomposites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, transmission electron microscope (TEM), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The results showed that the size and distribution of CdS nanocrystals were not only temperature-dependent, but also greatly influenced by the S/Cd molar ratio. CdS nanocrystals were dispersed uniformly in the P3HT/CdS nanocomposites, which indicated that end-functionalized P3HT could be used as a template to prevent CdS from aggregating effectively. The occurrence of charge transfer at the P3HT/ CdS interface was evident from UV-vis absorption and PL studies, which indicated that ionic bonding between CdS nanocrystals and phosphonic ester end-functionalized P3HT can promote the transfer of charge in P3HT/ CdS nanocomposites. Therefore, it is a promising method to simplify the procedure for large-scale synthesis of organic-inorganic nanocomposites used in solar cells with high photoelectric conversion efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measuring molecular diffusion has been used to characterize the properties of living organisms and porous materials. NMR is able to detect the diffusion process in vivo and noninvasively. The fractional motion (FM) model is appropriate to describe anomalous diffusion phenomenon in crowded environments, such as living cells. However, no FM-based NMR theory has yet been established. Here, we present a general formulation of the FM-based NMR signal under the influence of arbitrary magnetic field gradient waveforms. An explicit analytic solution of the stretched exponential decay format for NMR signals with finite-width Stejskal-Tanner bipolar pulse magnetic field gradients is presented. Signals from a numerical simulation matched well with the theoretical prediction. In vivo diffusion-weighted brain images were acquired and analyzed using the proposed theory, and the resulting parametric maps exhibit remarkable contrasts between different brain tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The polypores with shallow pores from tropical Asia and America are studied. Our molecular phylogeny based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the large subunit nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (nLSU), the translation elongation factor 1-α gene (TEF1), and the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (RPB1) demonstrates six clades are formed among Porogramme and related genera. Two new genera, Cyanoporus and Pseudogrammothele, are established, and the six clades represent Porogramme, Cyanoporus, Grammothele, Epithele, Theleporus, and Pseudogrammothele, respectively. The molecular clock analyses estimate the divergence times of the six clades based on a dataset (ITS + LSU + TEF1 + RPB1 + RPB2), and we recognize the mean stem ages of the six genera are earlier than 50 Mya. Three new species in Porogramme were morphologically and phylogenetically confirmed, and they are described as P. austroasiana, P. cylindrica, and P. yunnanensis. Phylogenetic analysis shows that type species of Tinctoporellus and Porogramme are nested in the same clade, and Tinctoporellus is treated as a synonym of Porogramme. Based on our phylogeny, twelve new combinations are proposed, and the differences between the new species and similar or related species are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sidera, belonging to the Rickenella clade of Hymenochaetales, is a worldwide genus with mostly poroid hymenophore of wood-inhabiting fungi. Two new species in the genus, Sidera americana and S. borealis, are described and illustrated from China and North America based on morphological and molecular evidence. They were mainly found growing on rotten wood of Abies, Picea and Pinus. S. americana is characterized by annual, resupinate basidiomata with silk sheen when dry, round pores (9-11 per mm), a dimitic hyphal system, and allantoid basidiospores measuring 3.5-4.2 × 1 µm. S. borealis is characterized by annual, resupinate basidiomata with cream to pinkish buff dry pore surface, angular pores (6-7 per mm), a dimitic hyphal system, and allantoid basidiospores measuring 3.9-4.1 × 1-1.1 µm. Phylogenetic analysis based on a combined 2-locus dataset [ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 (ITS) + nuclear large subunit RNA (nLSU)] shows that the two species are members of Sidera, and they are compared with morphologically similar and phylogenetically related species, respectively. An identification key to 18 accepted species of Sidera in worldwide is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]