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Holographic imaging as one of promising image techniques reconstructs object image using the amplitude and phase information scattered from objects. Programmable metasurface composed of digitally coding unit cells can arbitrarily manipulate amplitude and phase of the scattering wave by tailoring operation states of the unit cells, and thus achieves high‐resolution imaging reconstruction. However, the conventional metasurface can only achieves a desired holographic image on an imaging plane. This paper presented a time‐space coding 2‐bit metasurface to overcome this challenge. By rapidly switching PIN diodes loaded in metasurface unit cell according to the customized time sequences, the magnitude and phase of the ±1st order harmonic fields can be fully controlled, achieving the hologram imaging at the higher order harmonics. The proof‐of‐concept measurements are given to demonstrate the versatile holographic imaging functions at the ±1st order harmonics including two different holographic images on an imaging plane, holographic imaging and beam scanning, and holographic imaging and orbital angular momentum (OAM) wave generation, which undoubtedly enriches the applications of the programmable metasurfaces in the field of the holographic imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel kind of open‐shelled covalent–organic framework (TPAPL‐COF‐OX) is fabricated based on organic mixed‐valence (MV) systems, which is used for aromatic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) adsorption and activation without the artificial energy consumption. The triphenylamine nucleus endow TPAPL‐COF with an abundance of nitrogen‐active sites. A mild oxidation process on TPAPL‐COF results in the generation of MV structures (TPAPL‐COF‐OX), enhancing its absorption capacity into the NIR‐II region. The nitrogen‐rich TPAPL‐COF‐OX exhibits exceptional adsorption capabilities for VOCs. Its broad light absorption spanning from UV to NIR‐II regions endow it with remarkable photothermal properties, enabling it to attain activation temperatures under sunlight without artificial energy consumption. It is expected that this study may present a novel strategy for managing VOCs by solar‐heating activation with energy‐efficient advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction in the rheological parameters and dissolution rate of precursors in geopolymer coatings during early hydration significantly contributes to sagging. This study aims to improve the sag resistance of these coatings by incorporating diatomite filler. Rheological testing was conducted to assess the impact of diatomite and its concentration on the yield stress, plastic viscosity, and thixotropy of the geopolymer coatings. The results indicated that diatomite's large specific surface area and high reactivity have a significant influence on the rheological parameters and early dissolution rate of precursors. With a diatomite concentration of 1.1%, the coating exhibited a yield stress of 2.749 Pa and a plastic viscosity of 0.921 Pa·s, maintaining stability, homogeneity, and no sagging at a thickness of 600 μm. Furthermore, the highly active SiO2 in diatomite participates in the secondary hydration reaction of the geopolymer materials led to the formation of substantial C-(A)-S-H gel. This gel enhances internal interconnectivity within the coating, thereby improving its rheological and mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global navigation satellite system reflectometry (GNSS-R) technique has shown promise in retrieving sea levels using signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) data. However, its accuracy and performance are often limited compared to conventional tide gauges, particularly due to constraints in satellite elevation angles. To address these limitations, we propose a methodology integrating Long Short-Term Memory Deep Neural Networks (LSTM-DNN) models, utilising SNR residual sequences as key feature inputs. Our study focuses on the SC02 station, examining elevation angles ranging from 5° to 10°, 5° to 15°, and 5° to 20°. Results reveal notable reductions in root mean square errors (RMSE) of 2.855%, 17.519%, and 15.756%, respectively, showcasing improvements in accuracy across varying elevation angles. Of particular significance is the enhancement in precision observed at higher elevation angles. This underscores the valuable contribution of our approach to nearshore sea level wave height retrieval, promising advancements in the GNSS-R technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of urban resilience plays great significance and value for the sustainable development of cities, which has attracted increasing attention from scholars and governments, especially in the western region of China. Based on the Production-Living-Ecological (PLE) system, this study attempts to describe urban resilience by the combination system that contains with P,L,E subsystem. The integrated approach including FAHP-EM,GRA-TOPSIS, CCDM, and ODM is proposed to reveal the urban resilience level and seek out the key constraints' indicators. Then, an empirical analysis of panel data of 18 cities in Sichuan Province from 2011 to 2021 was conducted to analyze the development process. The valuation results suggested that:(1)for urban resilience level, most cities at the moderate imbalance level and basically maintained at this level, only Chengdu is reaching the basic coordination level since in 2013.(2)The insufficient development of P,L,E subsystem is the reason for the moderate imbalance development, especially the key limiting factor is the P subsystem's low development level.(3)the most prominent obstacle indicators are x1(per capita local financial expenditure on science and technology), x2(per capita of R&D spending), x8(total export-import per capita), x14(number of people with basic medical insurance), x22(length of urban drainage pipeline), x23(number of public toilets per person) and the contribution values reach 7.56%,7.49%,11.02%, 9.14%,12.53%, 12.60% respectively. The detailed reference suggestions and effective measures put forwarded for policy makers and planners to promote urban resilience in Western China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robust Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) factors are introduced into a factor graph optimisation based integrated navigation system to address the challenge of occluded GNSS signals during ship navigation, which leads to increased errors in positioning results. To enhance the robustness of the GNSS tracking loop, a vector tracking method is applied to receiver tracking loop. Then, the Mahalanobis distance was employed to assess the pseudorange residual and identify and reject signals that exhibit anomalies. Specifically, the pseudorange residual is computed as the difference between the predicted pseudorange of the GNSS receiver and the measured pseudorange. Using the historical information in the window, robust GNSS factors were constructed for use in the factor graph. The robust factor graph optimisation method for a shipborne GNSS/Inertial Navigation System integrated navigation system was implemented by constructing robust GNSS factors and Inertial Measurement Unit factors. The experimental results confirm that the positioning accuracy of the proposed method is superior to those of the factor graph optimization and extended Kalman filter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a unified gas kinetic particle (UGKP) method is developed for radiative transfer in both absorbing and anisotropic scattering media. This numerical method is constructed based on our theoretical work on the model reduction for an anisotropic scattering system. The macroscopic solver of this method directly solves the macroscopic anisotropic diffusion equations, eliminating the need to solve higher-order moment equations. The reconstruction of macroscopic scattering source in the microscopic solver, based on the multiscale equivalent phase function we proposed in this work, has also been simplified as one single scattering process, significantly reducing the computational costs. The proposed method has also the property of asymptotic preserving. In the optically thick regime, the proposed method solves the diffusion limit equations for an anisotropic system. In the optically thin regime, the kinetic processes of photon transport are simulated. The consistency and efficiency of the proposed method have been validated by numerical tests in a wide range of flow regimes. The novel equivalent scattering source reconstruction can be used for various transport processes, and the proposed numerical scheme is widely applicable in high-energy density engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mesoscopic particle transport mechanics is bridged to the macroscopic fluid dynamics through the asymptotic theory. The construction of a concise model in the asymptotic regime is a major objective of kinetic theory. In this work, we propose a reduced-order model to bridge the particle transport mechanics and the macroscopic fluid dynamics in the highly scattered regime. A rigorous mathematical derivation and a concise physical interpretation are presented for an anisotropic-scattering transport process with arbitrary order of scattering kernel. The prediction of the theoretical model perfectly agrees with the numerical experiments. A clear picture of the diffusion physics is revealed for the neutral particle transport in the asymptotic optically thick regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea ice is an important component of the polar circle and influences atmospheric change. Global navigation satellite system reflectometry (GNSS-R) not only realizes time-continuous and wide-area sea ice detection, but also greatly reduces the cost of sea ice remote sensing research, which has been a hot topic in recent years. To tackle the challenges of noise interference and the reduced accuracy of sea ice detection during the melting period, this paper proposes a sea ice detection method based on a residual neural network (ResNet). ResNet addresses the issue of vanishing gradients in deep neural networks and introduces residual connections, which allows the network to reuse learned features from previous layers. Delay-Doppler maps (DDMs) collected from TechDemoSat-1 (TDS-1) are used as input, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) surface-type data above 60°N are selected as the true values. Based on ResNet, the sea ice detection achieved an accuracy of 98.61%, demonstrating high robustness to noise and strong stability during the sea ice melting period (June to September). In comparison to other sea ice detection algorithms, it stands out with its advantages of high accuracy, stability, and insensitivity to noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R), SNR spectrum analysis is widely used for surface altimetry inversion because of its low cost and easy operation. However, this method is somewhat limited in environmental situations with large tidal variations in sea level. In this paper, we implemented a machine learning approach to retrieve sea level height using three feature parameters of frequency, amplitude, and phase extracted by GNSS-R as inputs for the support vector regression (SVR) model, achieving better robustness in environments with large tidal variations. In this experiment, two stations, SC02 and BRST, were selected for research comparison, in which the sea surface fluctuation at the SC02 station was smaller at around 3 m while the sea surface fluctuation at the BRST station was larger at around 7 m. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations were selected for 6 months for use to perform the assessment. The SC02 station improved 25.64% and 24.05% in the accuracy of RMSE (14.5 cm) and MAE (12.0 cm), respectively, using the SVR model compared to the conventional method (CM). In the environment with large sea level tidal fluctuations, the BRST station improved accuracy by 17.32% and 15.81% using the SVR model compared to the CM for RMSE (25.3 cm) and MAE (21.3 cm), respectively. It is shown that the SVR model is robust for sea level height retrieval with large tidal variations and that these three feature parameters, including frequency, amplitude, and phase extracted by GNSS-R, are crucial for optimizing sea surface height retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable polymers from biomass with a nonhydrolytic backbone are highly desirable because they meet performance requirements. However, their inert nature hinders chemical recycling under mild conditions. In this work, we report a series of recyclable lignin-based sustainable polymers with an all-hydrocarbon backbone showing excellent thermal stability (decomposition temperature up to 380 °C) and tunable mechanical properties. These renewable polyolefins from lignin can be depolymerized back to pristine monomers with a quantitative (>90%) recovery rate under gentle heating (50 °C) by using a Grubbs II catalyst within several minutes. These polyolefins are prepared by the ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of cyclooctene with a trans-dioxolane ketal installed at the 5,6-positions and lignin derivatives as pendants. The additional fused ring significantly reduces the ring-strain energy of the cyclooctene monomer to ∼5.0 kcal mol−1, inducing the resulting polymer to be depolymerizable to establish a closed-loop life cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's Dementia (AD) and Vascular Dementia (VaD) are two main types of dementias for which no specific treatment is available. Chronic Cerebral Hypoperfusion (CCH) is a pathogenesis underlying AD and VaD that promotes neuroinflammatory responses and oxidative stress. Honokiol (HNK) is a natural compound isolated from magnolia leaves that can easily cross blood brain barrier and has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. In the present study, the effects of HNK on astrocyte polarization and neurological damage in in vivo and in vitro models of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion were explored. We found that HNK was able to inhibit the phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of STAT3, A1 polarization, and reduce conditioned medium's neuronal toxicity of astrocyte under chronic hypoxia induced by cobalt chloride; STAT3 phosphorylation inhibitor C188-9 was able to mimic the above effects of HNK, suggesting that HNK may inhibit chronic hypoxia-induced A1 polarization in astrocytes via STAT3. SIRT3 inhibitor 3-TYP reversed, while Sirt3 overexpression mimicked the inhibitory effects of HNK on oxidative stress, STAT3 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation, A1 polarization and neuronal toxicity of astrocyte under chronic hypoxic conditions. For in vivo research, continuous intraperitoneal injection of HNK (1 mg/kg) for 21 days ameliorated the decrease in SIRT3 activity and oxidative stress, inhibited astrocytic STAT3 nuclear translocation and A1 polarization, and prevented neuron and synaptic loss in the hippocampal of CCH rats. Besides, HNK application improved the spatial memory impairment of CCH rats, as assessed with Morris Water Maze. In conclusion, these results suggest that the phytochemical HNK can inhibit astrocyte A1 polarization via regulating SIRT3-STAT3 axis, thus improving CCH-induced neurological damage. These results highlight HNK as novel treatment for dementia with underlying vascular mechanisms. [Display omitted] • Honokiol prevented chronic hypoxia induced A1 polarization and neuronal toxicity in astrocytes through inhibiting STAT3. • SIRT3 mediated Honokiol's inhibitory effect on chronic hypoxia-induced STAT3 activation and astrocyte A1 polarization. • SIRT3 overexpression mimics the inhibitory effect of Honokiol on A1 polarization in astrocytes under chronic hypoxia. • Honokiol prevents chronic hypoperfusion induced hippocampal astrocyte A1 polarization and neural damage in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the limited network bandwidth and low-quality end-user devices, the images in distance education videos are transferred in low resolution. It results in low clarity, which badly affects video visibility and leads to poor learning effects. Therefore, a video-enhancing mechanism is required in distance education to ensure quality visualization. The quality is enhanced using a multi-scale Gabor filter, where a color image in the video is converted from the RGB space to the HSI space. A grey-level objective optimization function is constructed to attain a grey-scale image by the gradient conjugate solution method. The attained grey-scale image is used as the basis to obtain the grey-level change information of an image in different directions by using the multi-scale Gabor filter. The image texture is completed and enhanced by using the fractional order differential mask. The local information of the grey-scale images in educational videos is selected and a video image is obtained after the construction of the adaptive mask operator. The experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively grey-scale the images in distance education videos, which improves the sharpness and contrast, and effectively extract the local information. Moreover, the difference between the actual pixels is small, where the maximum difference is 144 and the minimum difference is 55, which shows the extraction results are more accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present PolyBuilding, a polygon Transformer for building extraction. PolyBuilding direct predicts vector representation of buildings from remote sensing images. It builds upon an encoder–decoder transformer architecture and simultaneously predicts the bounding boxes and polygons for the building instances. Given a set of polygon queries, the model learns the relations among them and encodes context information from the image to predict the final set of building polygons with a fixed vertex number. Considering that predicting a fixed number of vertices would cause vertex redundancy and reduce polygon regularity, we design a corner classification head to distinguish the building corners. By taking advantage of the corner classification scores, a polygon refinement scheme is designed to remove the redundant vertices and produce the final polygons with regular contours and low complexity. In addition, although the PolyBuilding model is fully end-to-end trainable, we propose a two-phase training strategy to decompose the coordinate regression and corner classification into two stages to alleviate the difficulty of multi-task learning. Comprehensive experiments are conducted on the CrowdAI dataset and Inria dataset. PolyBuilding achieves a new state-of-the-art in terms of pixel-level coverage, instance-level detection performance, and geometry-level properties. Quantitative and qualitative results verify the superiority and effectiveness of our model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCHL1) is a unique component of the ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS), which has multiple activities in maintaining intracellular ubiquitin levels. We previously reported the aberrant low expression of UCHL1 in podocytes of non-immune complex-mediated glomerulonephritis, and recent studies indicate that anti-UCHL1 antibody was responsible for the refractory minimal change disease (MCD), but the specific effect of UCHL1 to the podocytopathy has not been determined. Therefore, we generated podocyte-specific UCHL1 gene knockout (UCHL1cre/cre) rats model. Podocyte-specific UCHL1 knockout rats exhibited severe kidney damage, including segmental/global glomerulosclerosis, kidney function damage and severe proteinuria, compared with littermate control. Subsequently, by carrying out mass spectrometry analysis of isolated glomeruli of rats, abnormal protein accumulation of ECM-receptor Interaction was found in UCHL1cre/cre rats. Mechanistic studies in vivo and in vitro revealed that aberrant protein accumulation after UCHL1 deficiency induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, unfolded protein reaction (UPR) to reduce the protein level of podocyte skeleton proteins, and CHOP mediated apoptosis as well, which related to the dysfunction of the ubiquitin–proteasome system with decreased free monomeric ubiquitin level, thereby affecting protein ubiquitination and degradation. In addition, inhibition of ER stress by 4-PBA could attenuate the degree of ER stress and podocyte dysfunction. Our study indicates that UCHL1 is a potential target for preventing podocytes injury in some non-immune complex-mediated glomerulopathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The loss of podocyte is crucial for diagnosis and prognosis of diabetic kidney disease, whereas commonly two-dimensional methods for quantifying podocyte number existed with issues of low fidelity and accuracy. In this study, clear, unobstructed brain imaging cocktails and computational analysis (CUBIC), one of three-dimensional optical clearing approaches, was used which combines tissue clearing, immunolabeling, and a light-sheet microscope to image and evaluate podocytes in C57BL/6 (C57) and db/db mice. We discovered that 77 podocytes per glomerulus were in C57 mice. On the subject of db/db mice, there were 74 podocytes by the age of 8 w, 72 podocytes by the age of 12 w, and 66 podocytes by the age of 16 w, compared with 76 podocytes in the control group, suggesting that there was a significant decrease in podocyte number in db/db mice with the age of 16 w, showing a trend which positively correlated to the deterioration of kidney function. Sample size estimation using the PASS software revealed that taking 5%, 7.5%, and 10% of the mean podocyte number per glomerulus as the statistical allowable error and 95% as total confidence interval, 33, 15, and 9 glomeruli were independently needed to be sampled in C57 mice to represent the overall glomeruli to calculate podocyte number. Furthermore, in the control group of db/db mice, 36, 18, and 11 glomeruli were needed, compared with 46, 24, and 14 glomeruli in db/db mice by the age of 8 w, 43, 21, and 12 glomeruli by the age of 12 w, and 52, 27, and 16 by the age of 16 w. These findings indicated that precise quantification of podocyte number could judge the progression of diabetic kidney disease. In addition, a small number of glomeruli could be actually representative of the whole sample size, which indicated apparent practicability of CUBIC for clinical use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The data‐driven approaches for medium‐range weather forecasting are recently shown to be extraordinarily promising for ensemble forecasting due to their fast inference speed compared to the traditional numerical weather prediction models. However, their forecast accuracy can hardly match the state‐of‐the‐art operational ECMWF Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) model. Previous data‐driven approaches perform ensemble forecasting using some simple perturbation methods, like the initial condition perturbation and the Monte Carlo dropout. However, their ensemble performance is often limited arguably by the sub‐optimal ways of applying perturbation. We propose a Swin Transformer‐based Variational Recurrent Neural Network (SwinVRNN), which is a stochastic weather forecasting model combining a SwinRNN predictor with a perturbation module. SwinRNN is designed as a Swin Transformer‐based recurrent neural network, which predicts the future states deterministically. Furthermore, to model the stochasticity in the prediction, we design a perturbation module following the Variational Auto‐Encoder paradigm to learn the multivariate Gaussian distributions of a time‐variant stochastic latent variable from the data. Ensemble forecasting can be easily performed by perturbing the model features leveraging the noise sampled from the learned distribution. We also compare four categories of perturbation methods for ensemble forecasting, that is, fixed distribution perturbation, learned distribution perturbation, MC dropout, and multi model ensemble. Comparisons on the WeatherBench data set show that the learned distribution perturbation method using our SwinVRNN model achieves remarkably improved forecasting accuracy and reasonable ensemble spread due to the joint optimization of the two targets. More notably, SwinVRNN surpasses operational IFS on the surface variables of the 2‐m temperature and the 6‐hourly total precipitation at all lead times up to 5 days (Code is available at https://github.com/tpys/wwprediction). Plain Language Summary: Ensemble forecasting plays a crucial role in numerical weather prediction (NWP), since a single deterministic model is hard to forecast the chaotic atmosphere conditions. Recent works have begun to explore the data‐driven based ensemble methods due to their rapid prediction speed over traditional NWP. We develop an efficient and effective deep learning model capable of generating large ensemble forecasts with high prediction accuracy and low prediction time cost. The predicted ensemble members have much greater and more reasonable ensemble spread, and better coverage of the ground truth, compared to the prior data‐driven methods. Moreover, our model surpasses the state‐of‐the‐art operational NWP model on the surface atmospheric variables of the 2‐m temperature and the 6‐hourly total precipitation, offering an impressive probability weather prediction baseline. Key Points: A transformer‐based variational model called SwinVRNN is developed for medium‐range weather predictionThe proposed SwinVRNN can effectively generate large ensemble forecasts with great prediction accuracy and reasonable ensemble spreadThe model sets a new state‐of‐the‐art among data‐driven models and surpasses the Integrated Forecast System on key atmospheric variables [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: An unintended consequence following lumbar fusion is the development of adjacent segment disease (ASD). Oblique lumbar interbody fusion combined with posterior decompression (OLIF-PD) is another feasible option for ASD, and there is no literature report on this combined surgical strategy. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 18 ASD patients requiring direct decompression in our hospital between September 2017 and January 2022. Among them, eight patients underwent OLIF-PD revision and ten underwent PLIF revision. There were no significant differences in the baseline data between the two groups. The clinical outcomes and complications were compared between the two groups. Results: The operation time, operative blood loss and postoperative hospital stay in the OLIF-PD group were significantly lower than those in the PLIF group. The VAS of low back pain in the OLIF-PD group was significantly better than that in the PLIF group during the postoperative follow-up. The ODI at the last follow-up in the OLIF-PD group and the PLIF group were significantly relieved compared with those before operation. The excellent and good rate of the modified MacNab standard at the last follow-up was 87.5% in the OLIF-PD group and 70% in the PLIF group. There was a statistically significant difference in the incidence of complications between the two groups. Conclusion: For ASD requiring direct decompression after posterior lumbar fusion, compared with traditional PLIF revision surgery, OLIF-PD has a similar clinical effect, but has a reduced operation time, blood loss, hospital stay and complications. OLIF-PD may be an alternative revision strategy for ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional broadband UV optical designs often have complex structural problems and cannot meet the current requirements of light and miniaturization. In this study, we first design the substrate material of double-layer diffractive optical elements (DOEs) in the 0.23–0.8 μm band, optimize the diffraction efficiency and analyze the effect of the angle of incidence on the diffraction efficiency of double-layer DOEs. Second, we design a refractive lens system and a refractive/diffractive hybrid lens system with double-layer DOEs designed for a wide UV wavelength range of 0.23–0.8 μm, a half field of view of 15 mm, an objective aperture of 0.1 and a magnification of 1. The refractive/diffractive hybrid lens system designed with seven lenses produces a higher image quality than the refractive lens system. The novel design is an effective solution to the problem of the low transmission rate of traditional UV refractive lens systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the grid-connected inverter, grid voltage sag can be a typical phenomenon. From the prospective of safe and robust operation, the inverter should be stable when the grid voltage sag (or large disturbance) occurs. Although the inverter stability in this case has attracted considerable attentions, few studies have given suggestions on the system stability boundary and parameter design. To fill this gap, this article deeply discusses the large-signal stability of the system under different situations and reveals the quantified impact of the phase-locked loop (PLL) on the large-signal stability of the system based on the fundamental current-source model. The large-signal stability criterion and boundaries for grid voltage sags are established, which are instructive to the design of PLL parameters. Besides, a novel design guideline for the PLL parameters is proposed to ensure the robust operation of the system both under the steady-state and grid voltage sags, as well as to achieve good dynamic performance after large disturbance occurs. The theoretical, simulation, and experimental results show that the proposed stability boundary has certain accuracy and the PLL parameters design guideline can ensure the system stability both under steady-state and grid voltage sag conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlling the variability in mat structure and properties in bamboo scrimber (BS) is key to producing the product for structural applications, and wide strip scrimber (WBS) is an effective approach. In this study, the effects of scrimmed bamboo bundle morphology and product density on the properties of WBS were investigated. WBS panels were manufactured and tested using wide (200 to 250 mm) bamboo strips with different fiberization intensity. Maximum strength properties (flexural, compressive, and shear strength), and lowest thickness swelling and water absorption were achieved with three or four passes due to the higher resin absorption by strips. For balanced product cost and performance, we recommend 1–2 fiberization passes and a panel density of 0.9–1.0 g/cm3. Panel mechanical properties were compared with other common bamboo composites. Bamboo scrimber products were highly variable in properties due to differing manufacturing processes, element treatments, and suboptimal mat structure. Products including laminated bamboo lumber and flattened bamboo made from nonfiberized elements show markedly different relationships between strength and elastic properties mostly due to inadequate bonding between the laminae, which causes premature bond-line failure. This study helped improve the understanding of the structure–property relationship of engineered bamboo products while providing insights into process optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Atrial septal defect is one of the most common types of congenital heart disease. This study aims to explore the surgical and cosmetic effects of open-heart surgery with right vertical axillary incision for simple congenital heart disease in infants.Methods: From June 2018 to October 2021, children who underwent direct surgery of atrial septal defect in our department were selected for a propensity score matched study. Those with direct surgery through the right vertical axillary incision were included in the right vertical axillary incision group. According to age and weight, propensity score matching method was employed to match children from the right vertical axillary incision group with those undergoing direct surgery through median sternotomy (median sternotomy group) at a 1:2 ratio. Surgery outcomes between two groups were compared to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of right vertical axillary incision group.Results: The median incision length (median, [interquartile range]) in right vertical axillary incision group (4.8 cm, [4.0-5.0]) was shorter than that in median sternotomy group (p < 0.001). The median drainage volume of drainage tube of the right vertical axillary incision group (117.5 ml, [92.8,152.8]) was smaller than that of median sternotomy group (p = 0.021). While no residual bubbles cases in the left and right ventricles and outflow tract were present in the right vertical axillary incision group, 44% of residual air bubble rate in right ventricular outflow tract was detected in median sternotomy group (p = 0.001). Additional sedation and analgesia (p = 0.003), wound infection or poor healing (p = 0.047), thoracic deformity healing (p = 0.029) and appearance satisfaction questionnaire (p = 0.018) in the right vertical axillary incision group were better than those in the median sternotomy group.Conclusion: Right axillary vertical incision can effectively reduce surgical trauma, accelerate postoperative rehabilitation. This surgical approach also provides better cosmetic effect, which is easily accepted by children's families and worthy of further clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilms tumor (WT) is the most common genitourinary renal tumor that typically occurs in children under 15 and is thought to be linked to somatic and germline mutations. However, the specific functional role of competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) and their potential implications in WT remain unclear. In this study, we developed an lncRNA-mediated (long noncoding RNA-mediated) ceRNA network via the R packages for WT with expression data obtained from the tumor alterations relevant for genomics-driven therapy (TARGET) database. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis revealed that the WT specimens could be clearly distinguished from healthy specimens with respect to the expression of disordered RNAs. A total of 1,607 differentially expressed (DE) lncRNAs, 116 DE microRNAs (DEmiRNAs), and 3,262 DE messenger RNAs (DEmRNAs) were identified as WT-specific RNAs, and a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA network with 159 DElncRNAs, 18 DEmiRNAs, 131 DEmRNAs, and 792 interactions was constructed. According to the clinical survival data, 12 DElncRNAs, 5 DEmRNAs, and 2 DEmiRNAs were selected from the ceRNA network that could significantly impact the overall survival of WT patients (P < 0.05). Functional enrichment analysis showed that the biological processes and pathways of DEmRNAs, such as cell cycle and virus infection, may be associated with WT. The present study constructed a dysregulated lncRNA-mediated ceRNA network in WT and discovered that lncRNA-mediated ceRNAs may serve as important regulators in WT development and progression. Survival-associated RNAs may serve as new potential biomarkers, suggesting that the constructed ceRNA network in WT might be important for determining optimal therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a new triazatruxene‐based donor Tr‐iBu bearing branched alkyl groups is reported to suppress the aggregation found in a previously reported methyl‐substituted counterpart Tr‐Me. The effects of a steric factor on the propensity of exciplex formation were examined by respectively mixing these triazatruxene‐based donors with PO‐T2T and two new acceptors PO‐T2P and PO‐Pyr, all bearing phosphine oxide as the peripheral groups and N‐heteroarene cores with different numbers of nitrogen. Based on the steric hindrance of side groups and their corresponding molecular orbitals alignments of donors and acceptors, the characteristics of exciplex‐forming systems were analyzed. Among them, the exciplex‐forming blends Tr‐iBu:PO‐T2P and Tr‐iBu:PO‐Pyr were selected to serve as the emitting layer (EML) to achieve OLED devices with a moderate maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) of 8.27 and 7.54%, respectively. Adopting the Förster resonance energy transfer strategy, the exciplex cohost was doped with a fluorescence emitter, DPy2CN, to realize a deep‐red OLED device with the emission peak centered at 674 nm while retaining EQEmax of 6.28%. Our results highlight the importance of suppressing the donor aggregation, adequate donor: acceptor combination, and a suitable triplet state of composing the materials for giving efficient exciplex‐based OLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article titled "Space-Time Coding Metasurface for Multifunctional Holographic Imaging" by Yan Shi and co-workers introduces a space-time coding metasurface that allows for multiple hologram imaging. The metasurface utilizes a coding scheme to control the magnitude and phase of higher-order harmonics, enabling accurate and rapid control. This design enables the near-field holographic reconstruction of two different images on an imaging plane, as well as the simultaneous realization of functions such as beam steering or orbital angular momentum wave generation. The authors of the article are Yuan Hu, Shao Nan Chen, Yan Shi, Xi Liu, and Jia Yi Wang. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are usually conducted as single trait, rather than a simultaneous analysis of the related traits. Therefore, the overlapping genetic mechanisms underlying those traits were largely unknown.This study aims to investigate the overlapping genetic mechanisms between type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome and discover the novel pleiotropic variants between those two traits.We used an established genetic pleiotropic conditional false discovery rate (cFDR) approach to discover novel loci associated with PCOS and T2D by incorporating the summary statistics from existing GWASs of these two traits. Lab experiment was also conducted to verify the identified pleiotropic loci. Mendelian randomization approach was also performed to clarify the causal relationship between those two.Both conditional Q-Q and fold enrichment plots were present to demonstrate the pleiotropic enrichment between PCOS and T2D. Using the cFDR level of 0.05, we identified 5 loci for PCOS, 1441 loci for T2D, and five of them were associated with both and were validated in the lab experiment. Significant pleiotropic enrichment was observed between PCOS and T2D. However, we did not observe any causal association between PCOS and T2D.These findings may provide novel insights into the etiology of PCOS and T2D and may further influence the disease development both individually and jointly.Objective: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are usually conducted as single trait, rather than a simultaneous analysis of the related traits. Therefore, the overlapping genetic mechanisms underlying those traits were largely unknown.This study aims to investigate the overlapping genetic mechanisms between type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome and discover the novel pleiotropic variants between those two traits.We used an established genetic pleiotropic conditional false discovery rate (cFDR) approach to discover novel loci associated with PCOS and T2D by incorporating the summary statistics from existing GWASs of these two traits. Lab experiment was also conducted to verify the identified pleiotropic loci. Mendelian randomization approach was also performed to clarify the causal relationship between those two.Both conditional Q-Q and fold enrichment plots were present to demonstrate the pleiotropic enrichment between PCOS and T2D. Using the cFDR level of 0.05, we identified 5 loci for PCOS, 1441 loci for T2D, and five of them were associated with both and were validated in the lab experiment. Significant pleiotropic enrichment was observed between PCOS and T2D. However, we did not observe any causal association between PCOS and T2D.These findings may provide novel insights into the etiology of PCOS and T2D and may further influence the disease development both individually and jointly.Methods: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are usually conducted as single trait, rather than a simultaneous analysis of the related traits. Therefore, the overlapping genetic mechanisms underlying those traits were largely unknown.This study aims to investigate the overlapping genetic mechanisms between type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome and discover the novel pleiotropic variants between those two traits.We used an established genetic pleiotropic conditional false discovery rate (cFDR) approach to discover novel loci associated with PCOS and T2D by incorporating the summary statistics from existing GWASs of these two traits. Lab experiment was also conducted to verify the identified pleiotropic loci. Mendelian randomization approach was also performed to clarify the causal relationship between those two.Both conditional Q-Q and fold enrichment plots were present to demonstrate the pleiotropic enrichment between PCOS and T2D. Using the cFDR level of 0.05, we identified 5 loci for PCOS, 1441 loci for T2D, and five of them were associated with both and were validated in the lab experiment. Significant pleiotropic enrichment was observed between PCOS and T2D. However, we did not observe any causal association between PCOS and T2D.These findings may provide novel insights into the etiology of PCOS and T2D and may further influence the disease development both individually and jointly.Results: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are usually conducted as single trait, rather than a simultaneous analysis of the related traits. Therefore, the overlapping genetic mechanisms underlying those traits were largely unknown.This study aims to investigate the overlapping genetic mechanisms between type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome and discover the novel pleiotropic variants between those two traits.We used an established genetic pleiotropic conditional false discovery rate (cFDR) approach to discover novel loci associated with PCOS and T2D by incorporating the summary statistics from existing GWASs of these two traits. Lab experiment was also conducted to verify the identified pleiotropic loci. Mendelian randomization approach was also performed to clarify the causal relationship between those two.Both conditional Q-Q and fold enrichment plots were present to demonstrate the pleiotropic enrichment between PCOS and T2D. Using the cFDR level of 0.05, we identified 5 loci for PCOS, 1441 loci for T2D, and five of them were associated with both and were validated in the lab experiment. Significant pleiotropic enrichment was observed between PCOS and T2D. However, we did not observe any causal association between PCOS and T2D.These findings may provide novel insights into the etiology of PCOS and T2D and may further influence the disease development both individually and jointly.Conclusions: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are usually conducted as single trait, rather than a simultaneous analysis of the related traits. Therefore, the overlapping genetic mechanisms underlying those traits were largely unknown.This study aims to investigate the overlapping genetic mechanisms between type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome and discover the novel pleiotropic variants between those two traits.We used an established genetic pleiotropic conditional false discovery rate (cFDR) approach to discover novel loci associated with PCOS and T2D by incorporating the summary statistics from existing GWASs of these two traits. Lab experiment was also conducted to verify the identified pleiotropic loci. Mendelian randomization approach was also performed to clarify the causal relationship between those two.Both conditional Q-Q and fold enrichment plots were present to demonstrate the pleiotropic enrichment between PCOS and T2D. Using the cFDR level of 0.05, we identified 5 loci for PCOS, 1441 loci for T2D, and five of them were associated with both and were validated in the lab experiment. Significant pleiotropic enrichment was observed between PCOS and T2D. However, we did not observe any causal association between PCOS and T2D.These findings may provide novel insights into the etiology of PCOS and T2D and may further influence the disease development both individually and jointly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the feasibility of using transition metal doped C 9 N 4 as an efficient gas sensor is comprehensively investigated by density functional theory methods. Firstly, the calculated E f and U diss values show that most of M-C 9 N 4 and M 2 -C 9 N 4 have good thermodynamic and electrochemical stability. Secondly, for CO, NO, NO 2 , NH 3 , and H 2 S on Cr-C 9 N 4 , the E ads values are −2.07, −3.05, −2.53, −1.76, and −2.14 eV, respectively. For these gases on Fe 2 -C 9 N 4 , the E ads values are −2.60, −3.07, −2.45, −2.39, and −2.21 eV, respectively. The results show that Cr-C 9 N 4 and Fe 2 -C 9 N 4 have good adsorption strengths for all gases, which can provide good theoretical guidance for the design of excellent sensing materials. Finally, by calculating band structures of all catalysts, they all have small band gap values, such as, Fe 2 -C 9 N 4 with the 0.10 eV, which all shows stable catalysts possess good conductive properties. The DOS results show that there is an obvious orbital hybridization between metal, N, C, and O atoms, indicating that there is a certain interaction between them, which is an important factor leading to the good adsorption of the catalyst to the molecular gas. This work can provide theoretical guidance for searching efficient sensor materials. [Display omitted] • The adsorption performance of gas molecules on C 9 N 4 is explored by DFT. • Most of M-C 9 N 4 and M 2 -C 9 N 4 have good stability. • Cr-C 9 N 4 and Fe 2 -C 9 N 4 have good adsorption strength for all gases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aluminum-rich hierarchical MFI-type zeolites with high acidic-site density exhibit excellent activity and selectivity in bulky molecule-involved reactions. However, it is challenging to develop a facile and environmentally benign method for fabricating them. Herein, we employ a polymer that does not contain nitrogen and halogen elements to successfully synthesize aluminum-rich hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite with a Si/Al ratio of 8 and a significant number of mesopores comprised of oriented-assembled nanocrystals. It is demonstrated that the nitrogen- and halogen-free polymer is instrumental in the formation of the ZSM-5 zeolite by serving as a template for constructing the hierarchical micro/mesoporous structure. Moreover, this polymer also acts as a crystal growth modifier to form a single-crystalline zeolite. Notably, the resultant zeolite shows a better catalytic performance in converting waste plastic into hydrocarbons than a commercial one. Our work enables the synthesis of high-quality hierarchical zeolites without requiring quaternary ammonium templates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interdisciplinary scientific collaboration promotes the innovative development of scientific research. Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE) is a typical interdisciplinary subject. This study aims to explore the characteristics of discipline interaction and the temporal evolution in the field. Bibliometric analysis could be used to understand the stage of research in a particular subject. In this work, the publications on the topic in Web of Science (WoS) platform from 1999 to 2020 were selected. On the basis of social network theory, the characteristics of interdisciplinary were revealed from three perspectives. First, the disciplinary interaction network is constructed through disciplinary co-occurrence to detect the characteristics of interaction structure among different disciplines. Then the node centrality index is employed to explore the influence of disciplines in the interactive network by using network centrality analysis. Moreover, the dynamic of discipline interaction evolution is studied using blockmodeling analysis. In the field of PHE, the number of disciplines and the intensity of interaction among different subjects gradually increased in the past 20 years. Chemistry and Material Sciences are the core discipline, and they play an important role in the network. The whole network is divided into different discipline groups. The scale of the discipline group is becoming large, and the disciplinary interaction is becoming more complex. The obtained results are helpful for guiding scholars to carry out interdisciplinary interaction. The methods of detecting interdisciplinary interactive relationship could provide paths for interdisciplinary research in other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fractured carbonate reservoirs are different from conventional reservoirs and generally develop fractures. Conventional reservoir well test performance analysis can only obtain the formation parameters and discharge radius around a single well. For vertical wells in fractured carbonate reservoirs, we can establish a dual-porosity composite reservoir model for well testing interpretation and analysis based on the actual conditions of the reservoir and combined with geological knowledge. The model can be applied to formations with different reservoir properties in the near-well and far-well areas around a single well to analyze the fracture parameters (elastic reserve ratio and channeling coefficient) and the effective flow capacity of formation fluids in the two areas. On this basis, we use the interpretation of actual production wells to verify the accuracy of the model and analyze the influence of reservoir parameters and fracture parameters on the theoretical curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a comprehensive understanding of the influence mechanism of prestress on the low‐velocity impact behavior and damage tolerance of carbon fiber‐reinforced polymer composite laminate toughened with ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fiber. Two kinds of prestress: uniaxial tension and uniaxial compression, were loaded by an innovative preloading apparatus, which has been patented with the number CN110426278A. Central composite design was adopted to design drop‐weight impact test matrix considering both impact energy and preloading two factors. After the low‐velocity impact test, residual bending stiffness and tension after impact (TAI) strength of the impacted laminates were tested. It was observed that the residual bending modulus and TAI strength of the impact specimens under preloading were higher than those without prestress. Through‐the‐thickness distribution of internal damage obtained by X‐ray scanning and electron microscope analysis, together with fracture toughness analysis, were employed to explain the experimental findings and relevant mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A novel dual-layer membrane combining a PSF bottom layer and a PH surface layer incorporated with ZIF-71 nanoparticles was developed. • The dual-layer ZIF-71/PH-PSF membrane possessed high permeate flux. • The dual-layer ZIF-71/PH-PSF membrane exhibited high efficiency for dyeingwastewater treatment. • The mechanism underlying the enhanced MD performance of the ZIF-71/PH-PSF membrane was elucidated. Membrane distillation (MD) is a promising technology for the treatment of hypersaline dyeing wastewater. However, commercial membranes still have limitations such as low permeate flux, membrane fouling, and membrane wetting issue in MD process. Herein, a dual-layer MD membrane was fabricated with a polysulfone (PSF) bottom layer and a poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PH) hydrophobic surface layer incorporated with ZIF-71 nanoparticles. The addition of ZIF-71 was optimized based on the results of surface morphology, contact angle, and MD performance. The incorporation of ZIF-71 nanoparticles into PH nanofiber membranes, along with their dual-layer structure, has led to notable improvements in both permeate flux and rejection performance. The fouling resistance of membrane was further evaluated with model dyeing wastewater as feed solution, which contained four types of dyes and heavy metal antimony. The MD performance of the optimized membranes was also measured with real dyeing wastewater as feed solution. The dual-layer membrane decorated with ZIF-71 nanoparticles significantly outperformed the pristine membrane in treating real dyeing wastewater, exhibiting potential for practical applications. Finally, the underlying mechanism on the improved permeate flux and rejection was elucidated systematically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precise determination of thermal diffusivity at high temperatures is crucial for aerospace and energy industries. Periodic heating techniques such as Å ngström's method are data-rich and commonly used for measuring thermal diffusivity of a solid material. In previous Å ngström's method studies, regression techniques have been used to solve the associated inverse problem and to estimate thermal diffusivity by minimizing the residual between measurements and model predictions. This approach lacks rigorous uncertainty quantification and does not allow incorporation of prior knowledge for parameters. Adopting a Bayesian framework addresses these issues; however, probing the Bayesian posterior distribution is prohibitively expensive using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods, especially when the physical model is computationally expensive, as in the present study for which an analytical solution does not exist. This study employs a parametric surrogate model in the form of polynomial chaos to accelerate the physical model by several orders of magnitude to support Bayesian analysis. Moreover, high-temperature testing environments are difficult to control precisely, and many unknown parameters exist beyond the quantity of interest. Previous studies have employed random walks to set new parameters in the MCMC sampling process. However, random walks are inefficient in exploring high-dimensional parameter spaces and thus suffer high auto-correlation and poor convergence. To improve the efficiency of the MCMC sampler, this study employs a No-U-Turn sampler that explores the parameter space thoroughly and efficiently. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this Bayesian framework by analyzing experimental results on a graphite sample at approximately 1000 K. [Display omitted] • Polynomial Chaos surrogate model accelerates computation speed 10000-fold. • No-U-turn sampler enables high sampling efficiency compared to traditional approaches. • Rigorous uncertainty quantification for non-linear heat transfer problem. • Direct optical heating for rapid non-contact high-T thermal diffusivity measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the most common form of epigenetic regulation by RNA, N6 methyladenosine (m6A) modification is closely involved in physiological processes, such as growth and development, stem cell renewal and differentiation, and DNA damage response. Meanwhile, its aberrant expression in cancer tissues promotes the development of malignant tumors, as well as plays important roles in proliferation, metastasis, drug resistance, immunity and prognosis. This close association between m6A and cancers has garnered substantial attention in recent years. An increasing number of small molecules have emerged as potential agents to target m6A regulators for cancer treatment. These molecules target the epigenetic level, enabling precise intervention in RNA modifications and efficiently disrupting the survival mechanisms of tumor cells, thus paving the way for novel approaches in cancer treatment. However, there is currently a lack of a comprehensive review on small molecules targeting m6A regulators for anti-tumor. Here, we have comprehensively summarized the classification and functions of m6A regulators, elucidating their interactions with the proliferation, metastasis, drug resistance, and immune responses in common cancers. Furthermore, we have provided a comprehensive overview on the development, mode of action, pharmacology and structure–activity relationships of small molecules targeting m6A regulators. Our aim is to offer insights for subsequent drug design and optimization, while also providing an outlook on future prospects for small molecule development targeting m6A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clostridium butyricum is a good probiotic additive, which can effectively improve the growth performance of piglets, improve the diarrhea of piglets, improve the antioxidant capacity and immune function of piglets, and reduce the mortality of piglets. Clostridium butyricum can produce short-chain fatty acids mainly butyric acid, cooperate with other probiotics to regulate the digestive environment, improve the intestinal microstructure, and help maintain the microecological balance, thus improving the digestion and absorption capacity of piglets. With the gradual application of Clostridium butyricum in piglet feeding, it is necessary to further study the specific mechanism of Clostridium butyricum's probiotic effect on piglets. This paper reviewed the biological function of Clostridium butyricum and its probiotic effect on piglets and its mechanism, which provided a reference for improving the feeding effect of Clostridium butyricum on piglets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new dynamic photogrammetry method using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is proposed and the UAV-based operational modal analysis method is established. The presented dynamic photogrammetry method can measure the dynamic displacements of structure using one or two cameras. However, it is difficult to use fixed cameras or handheld cameras to measure the dynamic responses for some outdoor structures, because it is hard to reach for measurement or maintenance sometimes. Therefore, UAV is an effective alternative and the homography-based perspective rectification method can be used to correct the UAV images. However, the presented methods use only four calibration points. Additionally, there is still obvious signal drift in the extracted dynamic responses. In this paper, a new time varying homography matrix, calculated using n calibration points, is proposed here for the first time to correct the perspective distortion for image at different time and the relative displacements are used to eliminate the influence of UAV in-plane motion. The influence analysis of UAV vibration and the method to eliminate the UAV vibration are the novelty of this paper. And then, the UAV-based operational modal analysis method is proposed. The proposed method is verified using a plane frame structure in laboratory. The results show that the proposed method can effectively eliminate the vibration of UAV and identify the structural modal parameters. Under the impulse excitation and white noise excitation, when the calibration points n is larger than 60, the relative errors of natural frequency and damping ratio are less than 0.4% and 5.45%, respectively. And the MAC values are all greater than 0.99. Meanwhile, the influence of the number of adopted calibration points on modal parameters identification is considered in the experiment and the advised value is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammation is a common manifestation of body immunity and mediates a cascade of cytokines. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), as a multi-effect cytokine, plays an important role in the inflammatory response by interacting with its receptor (TNFR). In this study, Pf _TNF-α, Pf _TNFR1 and Pf _TNFR2 genes were cloned from yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco), and bioinformatics analyses showed that the three genes were conserved and possessed similar sequence characteristics as those of other vertebrates. The qPCR results showed that Pf _TNF-α, Pf _TNFR1 and Pf _TNFR2 mRNAs were constitutively expressed in 14 tissues and the lymphocytes of four tissues from healthy adults. The mRNA expression levels of Pf _TNF-α and Pf _TNFR1 genes were significantly up-regulated in the spleen, liver, trunk kidney, head kidney and gill after Edwardsiella ictaluri infection, while the mRNA expression of Pf _TNFR2 was significantly up-regulated in the spleen, and down-regulated in the liver and gill. In the isolated peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) of yellow catfish, the expression of Pf _TNF-α mRNA was notably up-regulated and the two Pf _TNFR transcripts were distinctly down-regulated after stimulation with lipopolysaccharides (LPS), peptidoglycan (PGN), polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (Poly I:C) and phytohaemagglutinin (PHA). After stimulated by recombinant (r) Pf _sTNF protein, the mRNA expressions of various inflammatory factors genes were up-regulated in the PBLs. Meanwhile, r Pf _sTNF promoted the phagocytic activity of leukocytes, whereas the activity mediated by r Pf _sTNF could be inhibited by r Pf _TNFR1CRD2/3 and r Pf _TNFR2CRD2/3. The up-regulation of TNF-α and IL-1β mRNAs expression triggered by r Pf _sTNF could be inhibited by MAPK inhibitor (VX-702) and NF-κB inhibitor (PDTC). r Pf _sTNF induced the expression of FADD mRNA in PBLs and increased the apoptotic rate of PBLs, and inhibiting the NF-κB and MAPK signal pathways could enhance the apoptosis of PBLs. The results indicate that Pf _TNF-α, Pf _TNFR1 and Pf _TNFR2 play important roles in the immune response of yellow catfish to bacterial invasion. • The three genes played vital immunoregulatory roles in resisting invading pathogens. • r Pf _sTNF could induce the inflammatory cytokines mRNA expressions in PBLs. • r Pf _sTNF protein could promote the phagocytic activity of PBLs. • The phagocytic activity of PBLs mediated by r Pf _sTNF was inhibited by two r Pf _TNFRCRD2/3. • r Pf _sTNF could activate the apoptosis pathway and enhance cell apoptotic rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Atherosclerosis is recognized as a chronic immuno-inflammatory disease that is characterized by the accumulation of immune cells and lipids in the vascular wall. In this review, we focus on the latest advance regarding the regulation and signaling pathways of IL-22 and highlight its impacts on atherosclerosis. Main body: IL-22, an important member of the IL-10 family of cytokines, is released by cells of the adaptive and innate immune system and plays a key role in the development of inflammatory diseases. The binding of IL-22 to its receptor complex can trigger a diverse array of downstream signaling pathways, in particular the JAK/STAT, to induce the expression of chemokines and proinflammatory cytokines. Recently, numerous studies suggest that IL-22 is involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis by regulation of VSMC proliferation and migration, angiogenesis, inflammatory response, hypertension, and cholesterol metabolism. Conclusion: IL-22 promotes the development of atherosclerosis by multiple mechanisms, which may be a promising therapeutic target in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Axisymmetric fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations are carried out to study the expansion of plasma in a propulsive magnetic nozzle (MN). The simulation results reveal that the MN can boost the total thrust while the on-axis ion acceleration may be suppressed, demonstrating the necessity of including two-dimensional effects if the propulsive performance is the primary concern. The magnetic thrust resulting from the interaction of azimuthal electric current with the applied magnetic field is identified as the only source of enhancing the plasma plume thrust. It is found that the role of electron transport, in connection with the stress tensor, cannot be neglected in fluid modeling. The electron transport effects will induce a paramagnetic drift current and thus undermine the propulsive performance of MN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By comparing the usage of structural equation model (SEM) and tetra-class model (TCM) in the model structure, data analysis method, and result presentation when evaluating Chinese academic libraries, this study aims to illustrate the strategies in evaluating satisfaction of academic library services. The study sample consists of 353 academic library users who are asked to evaluate 27 Chinese typical academic library service elements. The findings show that SEM could reveal the influence relations among constructs by path coefficients, while TCM focuses on the visual classification and comparison of specific service elements based on their contributions to user satisfaction. These two models are complementary to each other. They can be used for comprehensively showing the influence factors and current situation of service satisfaction, which are valuable and instructive for improving the service quality of a digital library. The results also indicate that a digital library needs to ensure the quality of retrieval service elements and to improve the service capability of information-organizing service elements. Meanwhile, the developments of characteristic resources and library community are critical to the promotion of user satisfaction of academic library service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing steel slag and recycled concrete as fine aggregate could save the consumption of natural resource and reduce the environmental pollution. In this work, the effect of steel slag aggregate and recycled aggregate on the compressive strength and chloride migration coefficient of three types of concretes were investigated and compared with natural aggregate. The interfacial transition zone (ITZ) microstructure and the connection between aggregate and bulk cement matrix was determined by using a quantitative backscattered electron (BSE) image analysis, N2 adsorption–desorption and X‐ray diffraction analysis. Results showed that the compressive strength and chloride resistance ability of natural aggregate concrete (NAC) and steel slag aggregate concrete (SAC) was highly dependent on aggregate volume content. The performance of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) were much poorer than that of SAC and NAC. Pore structure and phase analysis confirmed that the improved properties of SAC can be partially attributed to the densified ITZ. Regarding RAC, a porous ITZ was observed in BSE image and pore structure analysis, which caused a poor compressive strength and a large chloride migration coefficient. It was found that the improvement of chloride resistance ability by using supplementary cementitious materials in NAC was more remarkable than that in SAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neodymium‑iron‑boron (NdFeB) scraps contained 20–30 % rare earth elements such as neodymium, iron, boron, dysprosium, and praseodymium, which are valuable untapped rare earth resource. Hydrometallurgical extraction through hydrochloric acid treatment is often used to separate the rare earth metals and impurities in the NdFeB scraps, resulting in large amounts of acidic lixiviate and high-salinity brine, challenging to further treatment and detrimental to the environment if directly discarded. In this work, direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) was explored to treat NdFeB scraps precipitation wastewater (NPW) by testing systematically three different hydrophobic commercial membranes. The impact of the membrane surface properties on the recovery performance and membrane scaling were investigated. The results showed that the membranes with strong hydrophobic properties and smaller pore size distributions possessed greater anti-scaling potential compared to the other materials. Additionally, the membranes with greater porosity offered longer stable operation at high flux, with the PTFE-0.22 membrane maintaining a flux over 20 kg/m2·h for up to 8 h. Membrane scaling caused by calcium carbonate during DCMD treatment was significantly mitigated by systematic chemical cleaning and after four cycles of testing, >75 % initial flux was restored via a simple acid cleaning. An average of 53.4 g/L sodium chloride with the purity of 99.3 % was obtained from the concentrated NPW by evaporation crystallization. This work demonstrated the potential of DCMD to act as a resource concentration and recovery tool on industrial effluents. [Display omitted] • NPW treated by DCMD achieved near-zero liquid discharge. • Membrane with high porosity provided long-term stability for high flux. • Membrane with strong hydrophobic and smaller pores showed superior resistance to scaling. • Membrane scaling was effectively mitigated by acid cleaning. • Sodium chloride with purity above 99.3 % was recovered from NPW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To secure effective and sustainable climate change policies, it is of the utmost importance to create synergies between socioeconomic and environmental development goals. Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs are being promoted as a suitable mechanism furthering, among others, carbon offsetting and poverty reduction in ecologically fragile areas of developing countries. Rural households are compensated for the loss of property and business income through income transfers and potential job opportunities connected to environmental programs. While the potential pro-poor effects of such policies are well recognized, the impact of PES on extremely poor households has not been systematically reviewed. Drawing on a pooled cross-sectional dataset of 5225 households in the Province of Sichuan, this paper analyzes the income and distributional effects among poor households in rural China participating in a forest carbon sink (FCS) program. To be able to make causal inferences, we employ an Instrumental Variable (IV) approach to control for potential endogeneity and self-selection. Our results indicate a strong need to adjust the PES program: While moderately poor rural households benefit from program participation, extremely poor rural households, in fact, suffer net losses. The main reason is that income reduction resulting from limited access to forest resources is compensated mainly via wage income from participating in forest tending work. Extremely poor households with low labor ability cannot make use of these job opportunities, and thus they'll not only fail to benefit but even incur losses from a PES program. While PES programs can be a viable tool for poverty reduction in underdeveloped regions due to their overall pro-poorness, they need to be accompanied by additional benefits for extremely poor rural households to avoid net losses among marginalized population groups especially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The roof sheathing panels on low-rise buildings have suffered serious damage under strong winds. Fast and accurate damage assessments for roof sheathing panels are desired for damage mitigation and risk management. However, existing models rarely take into account wind directionality effect. Few models that consider this effect by some authors of this paper involve Monte Carlo simulation method, which is cumbersome and has less flexibility in terms of simulation efficiency. This study presents a probabilistic analysis framework for wind damage assessment with various mean recurrence intervals (MRIs) considering directionality. To achieve these estimations more efficiently, a novel moment-based estimation approach is developed, in which a set of formulas to determine damage ratio's first four moments and panels' failure probabilities are derived. For easy application in practice, a simplified approach for modeling directionality effect in estimation of damage ratio with a given MRI is further proposed. Performances of proposed approaches are evaluated by a comprehensive numerical example. Results showed the proposed moment-based approach can present satisfactory estimation accuracy. It is also confirmed the wind directionality effects on damage ratio estimations with a given MRI can be simply but well modeled using the proposed simplified approach. • A novel moment-based wind damage estimation approach considering directionality is developed. • Formulas to determine first four moments of damage ratio and multiple panels' failure probabilities are derived. • A simplified approach for modeling wind directionality effect is further proposed. • The performances of the proposed approaches are verified by a comprehensive numerical example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Halloysite nanotube (HNT) is often used as a microcapsule loaded with corrosion inhibitors due to its cavity structure. However, the strong van der Waals forces between halloysite nanotubes can cause aggregation in organic coatings. Therefore, in this study, a new type of modified halloysite nano-filler (PDA@T-AHNT) was synthesized by a step-by-step method using the characteristics of self-polymerization of dopamine under an alkaline environment to achieve surface coating of halloysite nanotubes by polydopamine (PDA) to improve the dispersion of halloysite nanotubes in waterborne epoxy resin. UV-Vis was used to characterize the pH-responsive release properties of the modified nanofillers. Composite coatings were formed by adding PDA@T-AHNT into the water-based epoxy resin. FE-SEM was used to observe the morphology of the coatings, and EIS was used to test the electrochemical behavior of the coatings soaked in 3.5 wt% NaCl for 60 days to characterize the corrosion resistance of the coatings. The final results show that the 3 wt% PDA@T-AHNT composite coating (EPP-3) has the best corrosion resistance with a low-frequency impedance of 2.81 * 106 Ohm.cm2 after 60 days of immersion, which is much higher than the 1.45 * 106 Ohm.cm2of the pure epoxy resin coating (WEP). In conclusion, the results of this study demonstrated the application potential of PDA@T-AHNT nano-filler in corrosion protection of steel, especially in metal corrosion protection under acidic environment. [Display omitted] • Gentle selective etching of the inner cavity of the HNT using acetic acid. • TTA as a retardant is loaded into the AHNT cavity using a vacuum loading method. • Dispersibility of T-AHNT in waterborne epoxy resins enhanced by PDA encapsulation. • The pH-responsive release of TTA achieves active corrosion protection of composite coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A strategy integrating comparative metabolomics and network pharmacology was proposed to discover key active ingredients in GCP. • 386 metabolites were characterized and 8 small molecule compounds were identified as the active ingredients of GCP. • Significant changes in the secondary metabolites occurred over 30-year-storage time. • Xeromyces dominated in the whole 30-year aging process. • The dominant bacterial and fungal species in GCP showed strong associations with the key active ingredients. GuangChenpi (GCP), the dried pericarps of Citrus reticulata 'Chachi', has been consumed daily as a food and dietary supplement in China for centuries. Its health benefits are generally recognized to be dependent on storage time. However, the specific roles of microorganisms and metabolites during long-term storage are still unclear. In this study, comparative metabolomics and high-throughput sequencing techniques were used to investigate the effects of co-existing microorganisms on the metabolites in GCP stored from 1 to 30 years. In total, 386 metabolites were identified and characterized. Most compounds were flavonoids (37%), followed by phenolic acids (20%). Seventeen differentially upregulated metabolites were identified as potential key metabolites in GCP, and 8 of them were screened out as key active ingredients by Venn diagram comparative analyses and verified by network pharmacology and molecular docking. In addition, long-term storage could promote the accumulation of secondary metabolites. Regarding the GCP microbiota, Xeromyces dominated the whole 30-year aging process.Moreover, Spearman correlation analysis indicated that Bacillus thuringiensis and Xeromyces bisporus , the dominant bacterial and fungal species, were strongly associated with the key active metabolites. Our results suggested that the change of active ingredients caused by the dominant microbial is one of the mechanisms affecting the GCP aging process. Our study provides novel functional insights and research perspectives on microorganism-associated metabolite changes that may improve the GCP aging process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are essential nutrients for all living organisms. PUFA synthesis is mediated by Δ12 desaturases in plants and microorganisms, whereas animals usually obtain PUFAs through their diet. The whitefly Bemisia tabaci is an extremely polyphagous agricultural pest that feeds on phloem sap of many plants that do not always provide them with sufficient PUFAs. Here, a plant‐derived Δ12 desaturase gene family BtFAD2 is characterized in B. tabaci and it shows that the BtFAD2‐9 gene enables the pest to synthesize PUFAs, thereby significantly enhancing its fecundity. The role of BtFAD2‐9 in reproduction is further confirmed by transferring the gene to Drosophila melanogaster, which also increases the fruit fly's reproduction. These findings reveal an extraordinary evolutionary scenario whereby a phytophagous insect acquired a family of plant genes that enables it to synthesize essential nutrients, thereby lessening its nutritional dependency and allowing it to feed and reproduce on many host plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Since reforms were introduced to incentivize drug innovation in 2015, the Chinese pharmaceutical market has experienced unprecedented prosperity, with more new drugs than ever before, especially anticancer treatments. In 2021, Chinese regulatory agencies issued the new guideline for clinical research and development of antitumor drugs, triggering a series of responses on the drug market. Limited research has outlined the nature of the original new drugs in China to understand the dynamic response of the market. Methods: The objective of this article was to map the clinical development of approved new oncology drugs in China from 2015 to 2021 and differed from previous studies by focusing on original new drugs, using the United States as a benchmark, and elaborating the endogenous features of clinical trials. Results: Clinical trials conducted in China have risen to a level similar to that of the United States in many aspects of trial design, but there is still distance between the implementation and operational details of clinical trials. In the meantime, China has made significant breakthroughs in drug approval. Greater than 60% of novel anticancer drugs in China received accelerated approved for their first listing. Approximately 90% of the pivotal clinical trials supporting initial drug approval used surrogate measures as end points, and one half were nonrandomized or did not have a control group. However, duplicate development without evidence of a clinical advantage compared with current therapies was widely observed. Conclusions: By presenting a multidimensional landscape of clinical trials and approvals in the real world, this review allows interested researchers, developers, and even regulators to understand what has been done and what should be done next in anticancer drug development in China. The availability of oncology therapeutic drugs in China has increased significantly since 2015, not only because of the amelioration of drug lag issues but also because of the accelerated approval of original new drugs. By using the United States as a benchmark to depict the characteristics of these original new drugs and their clinical development status, the authors report that the development of original new drugs in China shares clinical designs similar to those used in the United States; however, the Chinese designs lack international plans, and the excess of me‐too strategies needs to be further improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations are carried out to study ion acceleration in a geometrically expanding plasma beam. The ion acceleration is demonstrated to be essentially self-similar. An analytical model is developed for ion acceleration evaluation. The plasma plume is found to be fully expanded after about 20 times of the beam radius (R0) downstream of the beam exit, where the ion velocity reaches the maximum. The maximum ion velocity increase is about twice of the initial ion acoustic speed. Hence, to minimize the facility effects on plasma plume experiments in a vacuum chamber, the chamber needs to provide a plume expansion region of at least 20R0 along the beam direction so the expansion process is not terminated prematurely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a novel phlebovirus in the Bunyaviridae family, causing SFTS with high mortality rate. Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks has been demonstrated as a competent vector of SFTSV by experimental transmission study and field study. However, there has been query whether other tick species that infest human beings in the SFTS endemic regions are capable of transmitting the pathogen. Here by performing experimental transmission study, we compared the capable of transmitting SFTSV among Ixodes sinensis, Ixodes persulcatus and Dermacentor silvarum ticks. The transovarial transmission was seen in the I. sinensis ticks with a rate of 40%, but neither in I. persulcatus nor in D. silvarum ticks. I. sinensis ticks also have the ability to transmit SFTSV horizontally to uninfected mice at 7 days after feeding, but not for I. persalcatus or D. silvarum ticks. In the transstadial transmission of I. persulcatus and D. silvarum ticks, I. persulcatus ticks were tested negative from larvae to adults. But the D. silvarum ticks were tested positive from larvae to nymphs, with the positive rate of 100% (10/10) for engorged larval ticks and 81.25% (13/16) for molted nymphs. However, the mice bitten by SFTSV-infected D. silvarum nymphs were negative for SFTSV detection. Therefore, there is not enough evidence to prove the transstadial transmission of SFTSV in I. persalcatus and D. silvarum ticks. Author summary: Due to its wide distribution and high fatality rate (16%-30%), severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) has been listed in the top 10 priority diseases blueprint by the world health organization (WHO) in 2017. SFTSV is a novel phlebovirus in the Bunyaviridae family, and Haemaphysalis longicornis tick has been demonstrated as a competent vector of SFTSV by experimental transmission study and field study. However, there are many other tick species that infest human beings in the SFTS endemic regions. Therefore, it's neccessary to query whether these tick species are capable of transmitting SFTSV. The authors found that in addition to H. longicornis ticks, Ixodes sinensis ticks also served as an efficient vector capable of transovarial transmitting SFTSV, therefore posing as a potential threat in causing the circulation of SFTSV. In contrast, Dermacentor silvarum and Ixodes persulcatus ticks might not serve as an efficient vector of transmitting SFTSV. This research will provide important reference for the surveillance of SFTSV and the disease prevention and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]