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Abstract Both anaesthesiologists and surgeons experience challenges in managing airway stenosis and scar contracture in the face and neck. Herein, we report the case of a 38-year-old woman (BMI 23.1 kg/m2, third-degree burns covering 40% of her body, an American Society of Anaesthesiologists physical status III) with an unusual case of airway constriction. This patient had a predictable difficult airway (mouth opening of 2 cm, bilateral nostril scar hyperplasia, Mallampatti score III, scarring of the head and neck, and severe tracheal stenosis). Tracheal stenosis measuring 5.5 mm in width as observed 8 cm below the glottis, and the bronchoscope could not pass through it. After two failed attempts at laryngeal mask insertion, we decided to instead insert a custom-made tracheal tube under the guidance of a fiberoptic bronchoscope. The operation was successful, and the patient was transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU).

The global maritime trade plays a key role in propagating alien aquatic invasive species, which incurs side effects in terms of environment, human health and economy. The existing biosecurity methods did not take into account the invaded risk as well as the diffusion of invasive species at the same time, which may lead to inadequate bioinvasion control. In addition, the lack of considering the impact of bioinvasion control on shipping also makes their methods cost-ineffective. To solve the problems of the existing methods, we employ the automatic identification system (AIS) data, the ballast water data and the water temperature & salinity data to construct two networks: the species invasion network (SIN) and the global shipping network (GSN). The former is used to analyze the potential of a port in propagating marine invasive species while the latter is employed to evaluate the shipping importance of ports. Based on the analysis of SIN and GSN, two categories of biosecurity triggering mechanisms are proposed. The first category takes into consideration both being bioinvaded and spreading invasive species and the second one concerns the shipping value of each port besides its invasion risk. A lot of case studies have been done to discover the key ports needed to be controlled preferentially under the guide of the proposed biosecurity triggering mechanisms. Finally, our correlation analysis shows that closeness is most highly correlated to the invasion risk.

Oleanolic acid (OA) is a pentacyclic triterpene with reported protective effects against various diseases, including diabetes, hepatitis, and different cancers. However, the effects of OA on obesity‐induced muscle atrophy remain largely unknown. This study investigated the effects of OA on skeletal muscle production and proliferation of C2C12 cells. We report that OA significantly increased skeletal muscle mass and improved glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. OA inhibited dexamethasone (Dex)‐induced muscle atrophy in C2C12 myoblasts by regulating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. In addition, it also inhibited expression of MuRF1 and Atrogin1 genes in skeletal muscle of obese mice suffering from muscle atrophy, and increased the activation of PI3K and Akt, thereby promoting protein synthesis, and eventually alleviating muscle atrophy. Taken together, these findings suggest OA may have potential for the prevention and treatment of muscle atrophy.

Herein, we study comparatively the crystal structure, orientation, and residual stress of polypropylene (PP) films processed by uniaxial constant width (UCW) and uniaxial free width (UFW) stretching modes, respectively. Compared with UFW PP film, UCW PP film exhibits broad lamellar thickness distribution with thinner average lamellar thickness, and accordingly lower melting temperature region. UCW PP film also has larger lateral lamellar size with high orientation along stretching direction. In addition, a preferential orientation of b-axis perpendicular to the surface exists in the UCW PP film, while a cylindrical symmetry around the stretching direction is in UFW PP film. A new single tilt X-ray diffraction method is utilized to measure the residual stress of PP films. The direction of maximum principal tensile residual stress is approximately along stretching direction for both films, while tensile residual stress occurs in UCW PP film and compressive residual stress in UFW PP film in transverse direction. Good correlation of the direction of maximum residual stress with crystal orientation is found in both PP films.

Mobile networks are facing unprecedented challenges due to the traits of large scale, heterogeneity, and high mobility. Fortunately, the emergence of fog computing offers surprisingly perfect solutions considering the features of consumer proximity, wide-spread geographical distribution, and elastic resource sharing. In this paper, we propose a novel mobile networking framework based on fog computing which outperforms others in resilience. Our scheme is constituted of two parts: the personalized customization mobility management (MM) and the market-driven resource management (RM). The former provides a dynamically customized MM framework for any specific mobile node to optimize the handoff performance according to its traffic and mobility traits; the latter makes room for economic tussles to find out the competitive service providers offering a high level of service quality at sound prices. Synergistically, our proposed MM and RM schemes can holistically support a full-fledged resilient mobile network, which has been practically corroborated by numerical experiments.

Polypropylene (PP) is considered to be a rather promising material for HVDC cable insulation. Grafting modi-fication has proved to be an effective method on the electrical property improvements of PP. This paper reports on the highly-enhanced electrical properties of styrene-grafted polypropylene (PP-g-St) and their related mechanism. The influence of grafting styrene on crystallization structures, thermal properties and electrical properties of PP-g-St are characterized and analyzed. These results show that PP-g-St exhibits remarkably enhanced DC volume resistivity, suppressed space charge accumulation and improved DC breakdown strengths as compared to PP. Crystallization observation shows PP-g-St has small, imperfect spherulites with indistinct boundaries, which is strongly correlated to enhanced electrical properties. This study provides an effective grafting strategy to design high-performance HVDC cable insulation materials for bulk power transmission systems.

Underwater object detection is a challenging task with profound implications for fields such as aquaculture, marine ecological protection, and maritime rescue operations. The presence of numerous small aquatic organisms in the underwater environment often leads to issues of missed detections and false positives. Additionally, factors such as the water quality result in weak target features, which adversely affect the extraction of target feature information. Furthermore, the lack of illumination underwater causes image blur and low contrast, thereby increasing the difficulty of the detection task. To address these issues, we propose a novel underwater object detection algorithm called YOLO-GE (GCNet-EMA). First, we introduce an image enhancement module to mitigate the impact of underwater image quality issues on the detection task. Second, a high-resolution feature layer is added into the network to improve the problems of missed detections and false positives for small targets. Third, we propose GEBlock, an attention-based fusion module that captures long-range contextual information and suppresses noise from lower-level feature layers. Finally, we combine an adaptive spatial fusion module with the detection head to filter out conflicting feature information from different feature layers. Experiments on the UTDAC2020, DUO and RUOD datasets show that the proposed method achieves an optimal detection accuracy.

The efficient allocation of data elements is particularly important for achieving digital transformation in traditional industries.Network supply capabilities not only require low latency and high bandwidth for data packets, but also require low jitter and certainty in data packets.Deterministic networking technology is the key to build lossless, reliable, and deterministic wide-area communication capabilities.The key control technologies and design concepts for wide-area deterministic networking were proposed, and the specific plans for achieving deterministic networking perception, service planning, and traffic scheduling were elaborated on.Through experimental verification and application testing, the effectiveness of the system structure is proven and it meets the management and scheduling needs of deterministic networking.

Obesity is a common chronic metabolic disease that induces chronic systemic inflammation in the body, eventually leading to related complications such as insulin resistance (IR), type 2 diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndromes such as cardiovascular disease. Exosomes transfer bioactive substances to neighboring or distal cells through autosomal, paracrine, or distant secretion, regulating the gene and protein expression levels of receptor cells. In this study, we investigated the effect of mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell‐derived exosomes (BMSC‐Exos) on high‐fat diet obese mice and mature 3T3‐L1 adipocyte models of IR. BMSC‐Exo treatment of obese mice promoted their metabolic homeostasis, including reduction of obesity, inhibition of M1‐type proinflammatory factor expression, and improvement of insulin sensitivity. In vitro analysis revealed that BMSC‐Exos improved IR and lipid droplet accumulation in mature 3T3‐L1 adipocytes treated with palmitate (PA). Mechanistically, BMSC‐Exos cause increased glucose uptake and improved IR in high‐fat chow‐fed mice and PA‐acting 3T3‐L1 adipocytes by activating the phosphoinositide 3‐kinases/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway and upregulating glucose transporter protein 4 (GLUT4) expression. This study offers a new perspective for the development of treatments for IR in obese and diabetic patients.

The use of fully premixed combustion in small gas boilers can improve denitrification efficiency. On the basis of fully premixed combustion, adding flame stabilizers inside the boiler can further reduce production of oxides of nitrogen. Four types of flame-stabilizing baffles were added at a certain position inside the furnace after the fully premixed burner. Experiments were conducted separately on the Noporous baffle, and numerical calculations were performed for 36 operating conditions of the four baffles. The experimental results and numerical calculations indicate that under experimental conditions, NOx emissions were all below 40 mg/m3, and the net heat efficiency of the boiler was above 80%. Under a maximum firing rate, CO emissions are below 20 ppm, and the minimum error between the calculated and experimental values is 2.2%. The calculation error of CO emissions under various working conditions does not exceed 6.8%, indicating that the impact of different-shaped baffles on CO emissions is relatively small. When installing a Nonporous baffle, the error between the experimental and calculated exhaust temperature values under minimum firing rates is 6.6%, the error between the calculated and measured values under middle firing conditions is 2.9%, and the error between the calculated and measured values under maximum firing rate conditions is 3.0%. Among the four different partition conditions, the exhaust temperature of the Nonporous baffle is the lowest. Under the same excess air coefficient, the pressure in the furnace for the middle and maximum firing rate is higher than that of the minimum firing rate, and the experimental values are in good agreement with the calculated values. When installing the Strip baffle, the calculated CO2 emission is the lowest. The experimental results show that the NOx in the flue gas inside the furnace is mainly NO, and the NO content exceeds 75%, reaching a maximum of 85%. The experimental results show that the minimum NOx emission value is 26.9 mg/m3. The error between the measured and calculated NOx values when installing a Nonporous baffle is 20.4%. All of the above indicate that installing a flame-stabilizing baffle at an appropriate position in the furnace can further reduce NOx emissions, and the optimization amplitude is related to the shape of the baffle.

Abstract This study presents a specialized mixer design for gas burners aimed at improving the efficiency of phase mixing while minimizing system resistance and energy consumption. The proposed design utilizes a multi‐cavity mixer employing both radial and axial mixing techniques, eliminating the need for additional power supply. Full premixed combustion of small gas‐fired industrial boiler has the function of “inhibiting” NOx emission from the source, and good mixing of fuel and combustion supporting air in the early stage is the primary prerequisite for realizing full premixed combustion denitration. In this article, a radial multichamber static mixer is designed following the characteristics of full premixed mixing in gas‐fired industrial boilers. The results demonstrate that the maximum pressure drop of the static mixer is 806 Pa; for gas and air branch pipes, the resistance coefficient f decreases rapidly with the increase in Reynolds number; when Re ≥ 1.2 × 103, the resistance coefficient in the air branch pipe decreases slowly; when Re ≥ 4.5 × 103, the resistance coefficient of gas branch pipe decreases slowly. Additionally, the maximum calculation error of symmetrical gas branch pipe is 9.1%. The static mixer's inlet exhibits a converted velocity of 24 m/s, and the outlet demonstrates an airflow velocity of 23.2 m/s. As a result, a kinetic energy loss of 6.5% is observed. The static mixing chamber makes the airflow rotate and causes different gases to shear and mix. The mixing channel has the function of correcting the airflow deviation, especially for the sudden expansion section. Generally, the two gases can be mixed evenly at the outlet of the mixer. The standard k‐e model and realizable k‐e model are employed to simulate the sudden expansion channel, and indicate that the standard k‐e has a wider range of influence. Further investigation is recommended to better comprehend and optimize this particular area of influence.

AbstractBackground Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common and serious complication after the repair of Type A acute aortic dissection (TA-AAD). However, previous models have failed to account for the impact of blood pressure fluctuations on predictive performance. This study aims to develop machine learning (ML) models combined with intraoperative medicine and blood pressure time-series data to improve the accuracy of early prediction for postoperative AKI risk.Methods Indicators reflecting the duration and depth of hypotension were obtained by analyzing continuous mean arterial pressure (MAP) monitored intraoperatively with multiple thresholds (

Abstract The iron core in the circuit breaker of oil dashpot is mainly affected by the electromagnetic force, spring force and oil damping force, which can play the function of anti‐time protection when overload current is excited. At low temperature, the viscosity of the methyl silicone oil damping fluid will change, and the parameters of spring and iron core will also change with temperature. The change of these parameters will lead to the change of the resultant force on the iron core, which will affect the operation time. To analyze this problem, a correlation model is established. Through the measurement of parameters at low temperature, numerical calculation, electromagnetic analysis, simulation analysis and compared with the experimental results, the study found that the viscosity of the damping fluid increases, the iron core is deformed, and the spring stiffness increases at low temperature. The influence of a single factor on the operation characteristics of the tripper is not enough to reflect its overall characteristics, and the comprehensive effect of each factor needs to be considered. After comprehensively considering all factors, the results are closer to the experimental results. The results provide a theoretical basis for the optimization design of the circuit breaker.

Abstract Background Despite evidence that high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy (HFNC) promotes oxygenation, its application in sedated gastroscopy in elderly patients has received little attention. This study investigated the effect of different inhaled oxygen concentrations (FiO2) of HFNC during sedated gastroscopy in elderly patients. Methods In a prospective randomized single-blinded study, 369 outpatients undergoing regular gastroscopy with propofol sedation delivered by an anesthesiologist were randomly divided into three groups (n = 123): nasal cannula oxygen group (Group C), 100% FiO2 of HFNC group (Group H100), and 50% FiO2 of HFNC (Group H50). The primary endpoint in this study was the incidence of hypoxia events with pulse oxygen saturation (SpO2) ≤ 92%. The secondary endpoints included the incidence of other varying degrees of hypoxia and adverse events associated with ventilation and hypoxia. Results The incidence of hypoxia, paradoxical response, choking, jaw lift, and mask ventilation was lower in both Group H100 and Group H50 than in Group C (P 0.05). No patients were mechanically ventilated with endotracheal intubation or found to have complications from HFNC. Conclusion HFNC prevented hypoxia during gastroscopy with propofol in elderly patients, and there was no significant difference in the incidence of hypoxia when FiO2 was 50% or 100%. Trial registration This single-blind, prospective, randomized controlled trial was approved by the Ethics Committee of Nanjing First Hospital (KY20201102-04) and registered in the China Clinical Trial Center (20/10/2021, ChiCTR2100052144) before patients enrollment. All patients signed an informed consent form.

Bismuth ferrite–based ferroelectric ceramics are considered strong competitors in high–temperature piezoelectric applications that benefits from their high depolarization temperature (Td), but problems of large conductivity and low piezoelectric coefficient (d33) should be tackled. BiFeO3PbTiO3–x(Sr0.7Bi0.2□0.1)TiO3 (BF–PT–xSBT) ternary system are designed in this work that successfully resolves this tough paradox. Rietveld refinements show that this system exhibits multiphase coexistence with complex structural transition among rhombohedral, tetragonal and pseudocubic phase. Interestingly, a high Td ∼320 °C and d33 ∼ 236 pC/N are synergistically optimized in x=0.20 composition near pseudo–phase boundary, which are indicated by multi–scale techniques (phase structure, dielectric analysis etc.). What's more, dual electrostrain peaks appear at separate phase boundaries for x=0.20 and 0.66 compositions with distinct piezo/ferroelectric properties. Rayleigh law and piezoelectric force microscopy analysis clarify that the optimal electrostrain performance for both critical compositions are dominated by intrinsic (x=0.20) and extrinsic (x=0.66) contributions, respectively. This work not only provides a new BF–PT–xSBT system with a high Td and superior d33 that are promising candidates in high–temperature actuator and sensor applications, but also presents a possibility of multiphase–coexistence established exotic macroscopic performances.

Abstract The coal mining process is affected by various water sources such as groundwater and coal seam water injection. Understanding the dynamic mechanical parameters of water-immersed coal is helpful for coalmine safe production. The impact compression tests were performed on coal with different moisture contents by using the ϕ50 mm Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) experimental system, and the dynamic characteristics and energy loss laws of water-immersed coal with different compositions and water contents were analyzed. Through analysis and discussion, it is found that: (1) When the moisture content of the coal sample is 0%, 30%, 60%, the stress, strain rate and energy first increase and then decrease with time. (2) When the moisture content of the coal sample increases from 30% to 60%, the stress “plateau” of the coal sample becomes more obvious, resulting in an increase in the compressive stress stage and a decrease in the expansion stress stage. (3) The increase of moisture content of the coal sample will affect its impact deformation and failure mode. When the moisture content is 60%, the incident rod end and the transmission rod end of the coal sample will have obvious compression failure, and the middle part of the coal sample will also experience expansion and deformation. (4) The coal composition ratio suitable for the coal immersion softening impact experiment is optimized.

The development of anti-tumor drugs has notably enhanced the survival rates and quality of life for patients with malignant tumors. However, the side effects of these drugs, especially cardiotoxicity, significantly limit their clinical application. The cardiotoxicity associated with anti-tumor drugs has been a subject of extensive attention and research. Traditional to mitigate these side effects have included reducing drug dosages, shortening treatment duration, modifying administration methods, and opting for drugs with lower toxicity. However, either approach may potentially compromise the anti-tumor efficacy of the medications. Therefore, exploring other effective methods for anti-cardiotoxicity will be the focus of future research. The potential of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in managing cardiovascular diseases and cancer treatment has gained widespread recognition. TCM is valued for its minimal side effects, affordability, and accessibility, offering promising avenues in the prevention and treatment of cardiotoxicity caused by anti-tumor drugs. Among its constituents, flavonoids, which are present in many TCMs, are particularly notable. These monomeric compounds with distinct structural components have been shown to possess both cardiovascular protective properties and anti-tumor capabilities. In this discussion, we will delve into the classification of anti-tumor drugs and explore the underlying mechanisms of their associated cardiotoxicity. Additionally, we will examine flavonoids found in TCM and investigate their mechanisms of cardiovascular protection. This will include an analysis of how these natural compounds can mitigate the cardiac side effects of anti-tumor therapies while potentially enhancing overall patient health and treatment outcomes.

Senescence is a cellular response characterized by cells irreversibly stopping dividing and entering a state of permanent growth arrest. One of the underlying pathophysiological causes of senescence is the oxidative stress-induced damage, indicating that eliminating the reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) may be beneficial to prevent and/or alleviate senescence. Herein, we developed ultra-small polydopamine nanoparticles (UPDA NPs) with superoxide dismutase (SOD)/catalase (CAT) enzyme-mimic activities, featuring broad-spectrum RONS-scavenging capability for inducing cytoprotective effects against RONS-mediated damage. The engineered UPDA NPs can restore senescence-related renal function, tissue homeostasis, fur density, and motor ability in mice, potentially associated with the regulation of multiple genes involved in lipid metabolism, mitochondrial function, energy homeostasis, telomerase activity, neuroprotection, and inflammatory responses. Importantly, the dietary UPDA NPs can enhance the antioxidant capacity, improve the climbing ability, and prolong the lifespan of Drosophila. Notably, UPDA NPs possess excellent biocompatibility stemming from the ultra-small size, ensuring quick clearance out of the body. These findings reveal that UPDA NPs can delay aging through reducing oxidative stress and provide a paradigm and practical strategy for treating senescence and senescence-related diseases.

The Dadong site, located in the Changbaishan region of Jilin province, China, is an important Upper Paleolithic site characterized by its large distribution area and abundant stone artifacts. This study presents a geoarchaeological study of a newly excavated area of this site. Soil micromorphology, particle size analysis, and pH measurements were used to reconstruct the site formation process from around 60 ka to the present. Additionally, this study examines the impact of volcanic eruptions and local geomorphology on ancient human adaptation in this area. This paper also investigates the effects of post-depositional processes, particularly freeze-thaw, on the distribution of lithics. This study is the first soil micromorphological study of a Paleolithic site in Northeast China, and is important for studying the changes of the Pleistocene environment in this region as well as the development of microblade technology in Northeast Asia.

Deprivation of one sense can be followed by enhanced development of other senses via cross-modal plasticity mechanisms. To study the effect of whisker tactile deprivation on vision during the early stages of development, we clipped the bilateral whiskers of young mice and found that their vision was impaired but later recovered to normal levels. Our results demonstrate that inhibition of the PI3K/AKT/ERK signaling pathway caused short-term visual impairment during early development, while high expression levels of Crystallin Alpha A (CRYAA) and Gap Junction Protein Alpha 8 (GJA8) in the retina led to the recovery of developmental visual acuity. Interestingly, analysis of single-cell sequencing results from human embryonic retinas at 9–19 gestational weeks (GW) revealed that CRYAA and GJA8 display stage-specific peak expression during human embryonic retinal development, suggesting potential functions in visual development. Our data show that high expression levels of CRYAA and GJA8 in the retina after whisker deprivation rescue impaired visual development, which may provide a foundation for further research on the mechanisms of cross-modal plasticity and in particular, offer new insights into the mechanisms underlying tactile-visual cross-modal development.

Syntheses of anilines occur through a variety of methods, most requiring transition metals or multiple steps. Here the authors disclose a protocol to form anilines from benzyl alcohols via an aza-Hock rearrangement that uses only a sulfonyl hydroxylamine and solvent.

The participation of villagers in rural public affairs is vital for the sustainable development of rural communities and the improvement of villagers’ quality of life. Various factors, including individual characteristics, village environment, social forces, and national policies, influence villagers’ willingness to participate. However, empirical research on the determinants of villagers’ participation in public affairs often overlooks the role of grassroots leadership. To address this gap, this study proposes a theoretical model examining the relationship between transformational leadership and villagers’ willingness to participate in public affairs. Using a sample of 438 villagers from Jiangsu Province in eastern China, structural equation modeling and regression are employed to analyze the data. The findings indicate that moral modeling, leadership charm, and personalized care directly impact villagers’ willingness to participate in public affairs or indirectly influence it through leadership identification, which acts as a mediator. Furthermore, shared vision enhances the positive relationship between leadership identification and villagers’ awareness of public affairs participation. These findings provide valuable insights for village cadres seeking to promote active participation in public affairs among villagers. Specifically, gaining recognition through virtuous conduct, capabilities, and strong cadre–villager relationships serves as a foundation for influencing villagers’ willingness to participate in public affairs, while shared vision plays a strategic role in mobilizing villagers based on their identification with leaders.

This work examines corrosion behavior of EQ70 high-strength steel under anaerobic conditions in artificial seawater containing sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB). Polarization and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) tests were conducted. The results reveal that corrosion rate initially decreased at the beginning of immersion. However, as the immersion time progressed, the corrosion rate of the high-strength steel increased, attributed to SRB reproduction. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results demonstrate that the corrosion was more severe in artificial seawater containing SRB compared to that of seawater without SRB. The morphologies of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) demonstrate that, after 15 days of immersion, the average depth of the corrosion pits on the sample in the artificial seawater containing SRB was nearly double that of the sample in the SRB-free seawater.

Abstract Background To investigate the diagnostic efficacy of sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) in breast cancer by percutaneous contrast‐enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) through pooled analysis of relevant studies published before June 2021. Methods We conducted a systematic review and meta‐analysis of relevant studies by searching the electronic databases of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang and VIP and the studies were screened according to their inclusion and exclusion criteria. Sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), positive likelihood ratio (+LR), negative likelihood ratio (−LR) and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were calculated by Meta‐disc 1.4 software and the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve and area under the curve of ROC (AUC) were constructed. Results Twenty‐two publications evaluating the diagnostic efficacy of SLN in breast cancer under percutaneous CEUS were included in the meta‐analysis. The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity were 0.86 (95% CI: 0.83–0.88) and 0.89 (95% CI: 0.87–0.91) for SLN in breast cancer detected by percutaneous CEUS respectively using a random effect model. The +LR and –LR were combined in a random effect model due to significant statistical heterogeneity (p

Abstract Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SEMs) are the important part of economic society whose innovation activities are of great significance for building innovative country. In order to investigate how technological innovation (TI) and business model design (BMD) affect the business performance of SMEs, samples of 268 SMEs in the artificial intelligence industry and hierarchical regression models are used in the analysis. The results indicate that TI, BMD, and the matching of them have different effects on the innovation of SMEs of different sizes. These findings are helpful for enriching the theory of the fit between TI and BMD and providing theoretical guidance for the innovation activities in SEMs.

The identification of the water level time lag (WLTL) under the regulation processes is of great significance for environmental impact, flood control, and sediment transport of huge reservoirs. The traditional hydrodynamic method can calculate the flood inflow process and the water level change process along the river channel, but it is difficult to estimate the time difference of the reservoir water level fluctuation to the dispatching process. To quantitatively evaluate the reservoir regulation effect on the WLTL in the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), the daily water level data from 2011 to 2017 of five stations in the TGR are analyzed in this paper. The results revealed that there is a significant water level difference along the reservoir from April 1 to October 31. The gap between the end of the reservoir and the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) is the largest, reaching 23.67 m on July 2. The longer the distance from the TGD, the longer the time lag. Furthermore, the WLTL is also different at the four different operating periods of the reservoir in a year. During the low water level operation period and high water level operation period, the time lag is 3 days which is the greatest, while in the water level decline period and water level rise period, the time lag is within 2 days. HIGHLIGHTS Wavelet analysis is as an analysis tool for the time lag in the different hydrological process.; The water level in the whole reservoir showed an obvious difference from April to October.; The water level time lag in the reservoir area is related to the distance from the dam, the river channel landform, and the annual operation process of the TGR.; The time lag is not more than 3 days under the annual operation process.;

Prosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a prevalent and severe complication characterized by high diagnostic challenges. Currently, a unified diagnostic standard incorporating both computed tomography (CT) images and numerical text data for PJI remains unestablished, owing to the substantial noise in CT images and the disparity in data volume between CT images and text data. This study introduces a diagnostic method, HGT, based on deep learning and multimodal techniques. It effectively merges features from CT scan images and patients’ numerical text data via a Unidirectional Selective Attention (USA) mechanism and a graph convolutional network (GCN)-based Feature Fusion network. We evaluated the proposed method on a custom-built multimodal PJI dataset, assessing its performance through ablation experiments and interpretability evaluations. Our method achieved an accuracy (ACC) of 91.4% and an area under the curve (AUC) of 95.9%, outperforming recent multimodal approaches by 2.9% in ACC and 2.2% in AUC, with a parameter count of only 68 M. Notably, the interpretability results highlighted our model’s strong focus and localization capabilities at lesion sites. This proposed method could provide clinicians with additional diagnostic tools to enhance accuracy and efficiency in clinical practice.

In this paper, it is first demonstrated that Aluminum (Al) contamination is present; H2O2 plasma sterilization is widely used for sterilization of surgical instruments. The contamination amount of Al can reach as high as 7.9 × 1012 atoms/cm2. Aluminum is well known as a harmful element to human health, which may damage bones and the brain. During the use of the surgical instruments after H2O2 plasma sterilization in surgery, the contaminated Al may enter and reside in the human body and threaten the health and even life safety. Therefore, it is necessary to study the Al contamination present in H2O2 plasma sterilization to arouse public attention and take countermeasures. The physical mechanism of the Al contamination presented in H2O2 plasma sterilization is diffusion. In our previous study, we developed two physical models for calculating the diffusion coefficient. In this study, both models are used to calculate the diffusion coefficient of the contaminated Al in sterilized Si samples. From the calculation results, it is inferred that the contamination mechanism of Al presented in H2O2 plasma sterilization is closer to the model, where the diffusion coefficient value is a function of the plasma treatment time.

COVID-19 has created havoc in the world by causing thousands of demises in a short period of time. Up till now, several attempts have been made for potential therapeutics against SARS-COV2. In this retrospective, single-center study, we extracted data from 122 COVID-19, RT-PCR confirmed patients. who were treated with a new treatment strategy of lianhuaqingwen with Arbidol Hydrochloride. The patients were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms for COVID-19 disease. Of 122 patients 21 (17.21%) patients developed severe conditions of COVID-19, while total 111 (90.9%) experienced mild symptoms such as fever in 93 (76.22%) patients, cough in 23 (20.17%) and muscle pain were observed in total 8 (7%) patients. Furthermore our newly applied drugs combination (Lianhuaqingwen and Arbidol Hydrochloride) showed therapeutic effects in 5–7 days in patients with mild symptoms with 98% recovery rate. These results indicate that COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms can be treated with Lianhuaqingwen and Arbidol Hydrochloride. However, extensive clinical investigations are required to confirm the effectiveness of these drugs.

As a global cooling event, many of the climatic and socio-cultural mechanisms that resulted in changes after the 2. 8 ka BP event remain unclear. In China, this period roughly corresponds with the Zhou Dynasty (1046-212 BC), a critical period when ancient Chinese civilization was experiencing significant cultural and technological changes, including the movement of people to modern-day Jiangsu Province, where they intensively used the natural resources found in this the coastal area. Recent archaeobotanical evidence, and two radiocarbon dates on wheat and foxtail millet, indicate that the Datongpu site, which dates around 2,600 cal a BP, was occupied during this period of transition around the 2.8 ka BP climate event. In total, our investigations recovered 3,399 carbonized seeds from seventy-four flotation samples, of which rice, foxtail millet, broomcorn millet, and wheat seeds where predominant along with 2,296 weed seeds. Additionally, we identified several rice spikelets and wheat rachises. The high number of carbonized rice grains indicates that rice farming was the primary crop in an otherwise mixed rice-dry farming system at Datongpu. In addition, we argue that the “2.8 ka BP cold event” probably influenced population growth and caused food shortages throughout Central China, leading people to migrate southeastward along the Huai River to the coastal areas of Jianghuai Region. We argue that this abrupt shift in the climate indirectly facilitated the exploitation and emergence of large-scale agriculture in this area. Our study provides an example for the indirect impact of climate change in areas with relatively favorable climate conditions.

BiFeO3–based ceramics possess an advantage over large spontaneous polarization and high Curie temperature, and are thus widely explored in the field of high–temperature lead–free piezoelectrics and actuators. However, poor piezoelectricity/resistivity and thermal stability of electrostrain make them less competitive. To address this problem, (1 − x) (0.65BiFeO3–0.35BaTiO3)–xLa0.5Na0.5TiO3 (BF–BT–xLNT) systems are designed in this work. It is found that piezoelectricity is significantly improved with LNT addition, which is contributed by the phase boundary effect of rhombohedral and pseudocubic phase coexistence. The small–signal and large–signal piezoelectric coefficient (d33 and d33*) peaks at x = 0.02 with 97 pC/N and 303 pm/V, respectively. The relaxor property and resistivity are enhanced as well. This is verified by Rietveld refinement, dielectric/impedance spectroscopy and piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM) technique. Interestingly, a good thermal stability of electrostrain is obtained at x = 0.04 composition with fluctuation η = 31% (Smax'−SRTSRT×100%), in a wide temperature range of 25–180 °C, which is considered as a compromise of negative temperature dependent electrostrain for relaxors and the positive one for ferroelectric matrix. This work provides an implication for designing high–temperature piezoelectrics and stable electrostrain materials.

Objective: Pirarubicin (THP), one of the anthracycline anticancer drugs, is widely used in the treatment of various cancers, but its cardiotoxicity cannot be ignored. Schisandrin B (SchB) has the ability to upregulate cellular antioxidant defense mechanism and promote mitochondrial function and antioxidant status. However, it has not been reported whether it can resist THP-induced cardiotoxicity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of SchB on THP cardiotoxicity and its mechanism.Methods: The rat model of cardiotoxicity induced by THP was established, and SchB treatment was performed at the same time. The changes of ECG, cardiac coefficient, and echocardiogram were observed. The changes of myocardial tissue morphology were observed by H&E staining. Apoptosis was detected by TUNEL. The levels of LDH, BNP, CK-MB, cTnT, SOD, and MDA in serum were measured to observe the heart damage and oxidative stress state of rats. The expression of cleaved-caspase 9, pro/cleaved-caspase 3, Bcl-2/Bax, and cytosol and mitochondrial Cyt C and Bax was evaluated by western blot. H9c2 cardiomyocytes were cocultured with THP, SchB, and mPTP inhibitor CsA to detect the production of ROS and verify the above signaling pathways. The opening of mPTP and mitochondrial swelling were detected by mPTP kit and purified mitochondrial swelling kit.Results: After 8 weeks, a series of cardiotoxicity manifestations were observed in THP rats. These adverse effects can be effectively alleviated by SchB treatment. Further studies showed that SchB had strong antioxidant and antiapoptotic abilities in THP cardiotoxicity.Conclusion: SchB has an obvious protective effect on THP-induced cardiotoxicity. The mechanism may be closely related to the protection of mitochondrial function, inhibition of mPTP opening, and alleviation of oxidative stress and apoptosis of cardiomyocytes.

Abstract In this paper, we present several new oscillation criteria for a second order nonlinear differential equation with mixed neutral terms of the form (r(t)(z′(t))α)′+q(t)xβ(σ(t))=0,t≥t0, $$ \bigl(r(t) \bigl(z'(t)\bigr)^{\alpha }\bigr)'+q(t)x^{\beta } \bigl(\sigma (t)\bigr)=0,\quad t\geq t_{0}, $$ where z(t)=x(t)+p1(t)x(τ(t))+p2(t)x(λ(t)) $z(t)=x(t)+p_{1}(t)x(\tau (t))+p_{2}(t)x(\lambda (t))$ and α, β are ratios of two positive odd integers. Our results improve and complement some well-known results which were published recently in the literature. Two examples are given to illustrate the efficiency of our results.

Calmodulin-binding proteins belong to the IQ67 domain (IQD) gene family and play essential roles in plant development and stress responses. However, the role of IQD gene family in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is yet to be known. In the present study, 23 StIQDs were identified in the potato genome and named StIQD1 to StIQD23. They were unevenly distributed on 10 of the 12 chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis divided the IQDs into four subfamilies (IQD I–IV). StIQDs found in three of the four subfamilies. Synteny analysis confirmed that potato and tomato shared a close evolutionary relationship. Besides, RNA-Seq data analysis revealed that the expression of 19 of the 23 StIQDs was detected in at least one of the 12 tissues, and some of which showed a tissue-specific pattern. Quantitative reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction results further confirmed that 14 StIQDs responded differently to various abiotic stresses, including drought, extreme temperature, and CaCl2 treatment, suggesting their significance in stress response. This study presents a comprehensive overview of the potato IQD gene family and lays a foundation for further analysis of the StIQDs functions in plant development and stress response.

The development and adoption of agriculture has been investigated for decades, and remains a central topic within archaeology. However, most previous studies focus on the crop’s domestication centers, leading to gaps in knowledge, particularly in transitional zones between these centers. This paper reviews published archaeobotanical evidence and historical documents to reconstruct the trajectory of agricultural systems in Holocene Jiangsu Province. Comparing these new results to paleoclimate information, historical documents, and archaeological data enables us to better understand the underlying influences of past agricultural development. Our results indicate that a warm and wet climate may have promoted ancient peoples to first settle in Jiangsu between 8,500 and 6,000 BP and adopt rice farming. The continuous warm and wet climate may have facilitated the rapid development and expansion of rice agriculture, ultimately contributing to large-scale human settlement in 6,000–4,000 BP in Jiangsu Province. Between 4,000 and 2,300 BP during a cooler and drier climate millet agriculture diffused southward, facilitating a mixed rice and millet agricultural system. This mixed farming supported a continuesd widespread settlement and population growth in Jiangsu. After 2,300 BP, political instability in north China resulted in further southeastward migration, advanced planting technology was brought about to south China, facilitating highly developed agricultural systems and rapid population expansion in Jiangsu. Population growth led to the establishment of Jiangnan as the regional economic center, where people chose high-yielding rice and wheat rather than millet.

Building an innovative country is a clear strategy for my country to promote economic, industrial, and social development. Mastering the status quo and late-comer advantages of technological innovation in my country's provinces is an important prerequisite for accurately positioning the innovation mission of each province. This article innovatively uses innovation concentration and innovation potential to measure and analyze the provincial scientific and technological innovation level at the inventory and incremental level. Taking the cross-sectional data of 31 provinces in my country in 2019 as a sample, construct the provincial "innovation potential-innovation concentration" evaluation The index system, through the entropy weight method, determines the weight of each evaluation index, and uses the TOPSIS method to conduct multi-objective evaluation of each province. According to the calculation results of provincial scientific and technological innovation concentration and innovation potential, an in-depth interpretation of the spatial distribution of my country's provincial scientific and technological innovation echelon is carried out. The study found that: the innovation concentration and innovation potential matrix echelon division of my country's provinces is divided into four echelons, namely high innovation. The echelon of drivers with high concentration and high innovation potential, the echelon of followers with high innovation concentration and low innovation potential, the echelon of dark horses with low innovation concentration and high innovation potential, and the echelon of latecomers with low innovation concentration and low innovation potential. Finally, the positioning strategy of the innovation mission of each echelon province is put forward to provide reference and enlightenment for the construction of innovative provinces and the promotion of a scientific and technological power.

The microbiota-gut-brain axis has attracted significant attention with respect to studying the mechanisms of brain aging; however, the specific connection between gut microbiota and aging remains unclear. The abnormal expression and mutation of proteins belonging to the P4-ATPase family, including Atp11b, results in a variety of neurological diseases. The results of our analysis demonstrate that there was a shift in the abundance of certain gut microbiota in Atp11b-knockout (KO) mice. Specifically, there was an increase in pro-inflammatory bacteria that accelerate aging and a decrease in probiotics that delay aging. Consequently, an enhanced oxidative stress response was observed, which was characterized by a reduction in the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and an increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. In addition, our data demonstrate that there was a decrease in the number of cells in the dentate gyrus (DG) region of the hippocampus, and aggravation of aging-related pathological features such as senescence β-galactosidase (SA-β-Gal), p-HistoneH2AX (Ser139), and p16INK4. Moreover, KO mice show typical aging-associated behavior, such as memory impairment and slow pain perception. Taken together, we demonstrate a possible mechanism of aging induced by gut microbiota in Atp11b-KO mice, which provides a novel perspective for the treatment of aging through the microbiota-gut-brain axis.