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Abstract Tin-based perovskite solar cells have garnered attention for their biocompatibility, narrow bandgap, and long thermal carrier lifetime. However, nip-type tin-based perovskite solar cells have underperformed largely due to the indiscriminate use of metal oxide electron transport layers originally designed for nip-type lead-based perovskite solar cells. Here, we reveal that this underperformance is caused by oxygen vacancies and deeper energy levels in metal oxide. To address these issues, we propose a metal chalcogenide electron transport layer, specifically Sn(S0.92Se0.08)2, which circumvents the oxygen molecules desorption and impedes the Sn2+ oxidation. As a result, tin-based perovskite solar cells with Sn(S0.92Se0.08)2 demonstrate a V OC increase from 0.48 – 0.73 V and a power conversion efficiency boost from 6.98 – 11.78%. Additionally, these cells exhibit improved stability, retaining over 95% of their initial efficiency after 1632 h. Our findings showcase metal chalcogenides as promising candidates for future nip-type tin-based perovskite solar cell applications.

AIM: To investigate Omicron's impact on clinical presentation of acute primary angle closure (APAC) in China. METHODS: A consecutive case series with historical controls was conducted at Shenzhen Eye Hospital, the largest specialized hospital in Shenzhen, China. Medical records from a two-month period during the Omicron pandemic (December 1, 2022, to January 31, 2023) were compared with records from two control groups (12/2018–1/2019 and 12/2021–1/2022) before pandemic. Patients with APAC were included, and the prevalence of APAC and demographic characteristics in Omicron-infected and non-infected patients were compared. RESULTS: Seventy-one (23.43%) out of 303 patients were diagnosed with APAC in the pandemic cohort, which was 2.98 and 2.61 times higher than that in control cohorts (7.87% in 2019, 8.96% in 2022, P

Constructing microstructures on smooth surfaces is significant for 3D printing technology and surface self-cleaning effects in engineering applications. This paper uses the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to study the droplet impact behavior on different microstructured surfaces: right-triangle, semicircular, and rectangular microstructures. The formulas for calculating the surface wetting characteristics of different microstructures are derived theoretically, the difference between simulation results and those from theoretical analyses is less than 5 %. The increase of the microstructure column height h may eventually lead to the disappearance of the Wenzel mode. The droplet impact on the microstructured hydrophilic surface can accelerate the droplet to the stable stage and reduce the excessive impact effect. The droplet impacts on the superhydrophobic microstructured surface can accelerate the rebound separation and shorten the time to reach the stable stage. When droplets impact the superhydrophobic surface of the right-triangle microstructure, a secondary separation phenomenon will occur, resulting in the maximum rebound height and the maximum reduction of the near-wall density. The superhydrophobic right-triangle microstructured surface can more effectively promote self-cleaning.

BackgroundBreast cancer, particularly triple-negative (TNBC), is a leading malignancy with aggressive traits and high metastasis rates. Clinical trial is an important tool for optimizing therapeutic strategies in the evaluation of the safety and efficacy for TNBC. Our bibliometric study of TNBC clinical trials aims to assess therapeutic strategies, identify trends, and explore advancements in treatment. We focus on mapping knowledge development, including key research entities and topics, and analyzing research trends and emerging methods. This analysis intends to inform future research, especially in personalized and precision medicine for TNBC.MethodsWe selected publications on clinical trials for the treatment of TNBC from 1997 to 2024 in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). After an initial screening, we downloaded key data including titles, publication years, authors, countries, institutional affiliations, journals, keywords, and abstracts, and saved them in BibTex format. We then conducted a bibliometric analysis using Bibliometrix in R and VOSviewer to illustrate the prospects, highlights, and trends of TNBC treatment options. Furthermore, to emphasize the hot topics in TNBC treatment strategies, we performed a bibliometric analysis of immunotherapy using the same approach.Results1907 publications were included, most of which were from China, Italy, and the United States. The number of annual publications has increased dramatically since 2010. The focus of TNBC clinical trial research has shifted from understanding the biology, such as breast cancer subtyping and genotyping, to novel therapeutic approaches. The major advancement in clinical trials is the switch from late-stage palliative treatment to early preoperative neoadjuvant therapy, as more TNBC cases are discovered at an early stage. Immunotherapy is also highlighted with additional alternatives for advanced or metastasized TNBC, such as targeted inhibitors with unusual mutation rates and antibody drug conjugates (ADC).ConclusionsThis investigation made it apparent how immunotherapy has recently made major advancements in TNBC treatment plans and how ADCs, or targeted therapies, are currently popular for TNBC. By identifying significant papers, comprehending trending topics, and collaborating across multiple disciplines, this study may accelerate research on TNBC therapy options.

Abstract Background We examined the trajectory of estimated glomerular filtrate rate (eGFR), associated risk factors, and its relationship with end‐stage kidney disease (ESKD) among a multiethnic patient population with type 2 diabetes in Singapore. Methods A follow‐up study included 62 080 individuals with type 2 diabetes aged ≥18 years in a multi‐institutional SingHealth Diabetes Registry between 2013 and 2019. eGFR trajectories were analyzed using latent class linear mixed models. Factors associated with eGFR trajectories were evaluated using multinomial logistic regression. The association of eGFR trajectories with ESKD was assessed via competing risk models. Results Trajectory of kidney function, determined by eGFR, was nonlinear. The trajectory pattern was classified as stable initially then gradual decline (75%), progressive decline (21.9%), and rapid decline (3.1%). Younger age, female sex, Malay ethnicity, lower‐income housing type, current smoking, higher glycated hemoglobin, lower low‐density lipoprotein, higher triglyceride, uncontrolled blood pressure, albuminuria, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and higher eGFR levels each were associated with progressive or rapid decline. Compared with the trajectory of stable initially then gradual eGFR decline, progressive decline increased the hazard of ESKD by 6.14‐fold (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.96–7.61)) and rapid decline by 82.55 folds (95% CI: 55.90–121.89). Conclusions Three nonlinear trajectory classes of kidney function were identified among multiethnic individuals with type 2 diabetes in Singapore. About one in four individuals had a progressive or rapid decline in eGFR. Our results suggest that eGFR trajectories are correlated with multiple social and modifiable risk factors and inform the risk of ESKD.

Oxide particles with suitable size can refine the microstructure and improve the strength and toughness of steel. In this study, the particles containing Al2O3 were successfully introduced into H13 steel by vacuum casting. The micro-sized Al2O3-containg particles were randomly distributed in the dendritic structure and their number was increased by almost a factor of one. The secondary dendritic arm spacing of the ingot was decreased, which might be attributed to the heterogeneous nucleation of these oxides during solidification. Meanwhile, the alloying element segregation of the ingot was also alleviated. The micro-sized primary carbides were refined as the oxide particles were introduced to H13 steel, especially for V-rich carbides. After hot rolling and heat treatment, the size of austenitic grain was reduced by up to 75% (7.2 ± 1.8 μm), which was due to the particle stimulated nucleation and Zener pinning of micro- and nanoscale oxides in the oxide-added steel. The mechanical properties were obviously modified with the ultimate tensile strength of 1835 MPa, yield strength of 1479 MPa, tensile elongation of 13.4% and impact toughness of 24 J/cm2 after the introduction of oxide particles. It is expected that the introduction of oxide particles by vacuum casting can be applied widely in other die steel for superior performance.

Automatic detection technology provides a reliable method for civil engineering distress detection. However, to overcome limitations of computational resources and the significant cost of image acquisition, this study proposes a simplified network parameter-based pavement crack classification network (PCCNet) to achieve efficient and robust crack classification. Firstly, a lightweight classification model is developed based on a shuffle unit and inverted residual architecture, designed to deliver high-performance pavement crack classification with limited computing resources. Secondly, a novel training method is proposed to accurately identify pavement defects on small-sample pavement images datasets. Additionally, the interpretability of neural network in pavement defect detection is enhanced by visualizing training process. The results demonstrate that the model achieved a classification accuracy of 97.89 % on the augmented pavement image dataset and a classification accuracy of over 83 % on multi-source asphalt pavement images. Furthermore, visualizing intermediate features further enhanced the high-precision recognition ability of the lightweight model.

Glioblastoma-derived exosomes (GDEs), containing nucleic acids, proteins, fatty acids and other substances, perform multiple important functions in glioblastoma microenvironment. Tumor-derived exosomes serve as carriers of fatty acids and induce a shift in metabolism towards oxidative phosphorylation, thus driving immune dysfunction of dendritic cells (DCs). Lipid peroxidation is an important characteristic of ferroptosis. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether GDEs can induce lipid accumulation and lipid oxidation to trigger ferroptosis in DCs. In our study, we investigate the impact of GDEs on lipid accumulation and oxidation in DCs by inhibiting GDEs secretion through knocking down the expression of Rab27a using a rat orthotopic glioblastoma model. The results show that inhibiting the secretion of GDEs can reduce lipid accumulation in infiltrating DCs in the brain and decrease mature dendritic cells (mDCs) lipid peroxidation levels, thereby suppressing glioblastoma growth. Mechanistically, we employed in vitro treatments of bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) with GDEs. The results indicate that GDEs decrease the viability of mDCs compared to immature dendritic cells (imDCs) and trigger ferroptosis in mDCs via the NRF2/GPX4 pathway. Overall, these findings provide new insights into the development of immune-suppressive glioblastoma microenvironment through the interaction of GDEs with DCs.

In Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) recognition tasks, due to its special imaging principle, SAR images acquired from different viewpoints contain target features that may carry a large amount of information. However, if recognition is forced by fusion of multiview features when raw data is scarce, feature redundancy will be formed, which in turn will lead to a decrease in recognition accuracy. To remedy the above problem, a multiview inter-class dissimilarity feature fusion (MIDFF) network is proposed in this study. The proposed network has multiple parallel inputs and can extract multiview features and heterogeneous features. Firstly, a method for rapidly generating sufficient training data for MIDFF is proposed, which generates training data by repeatedly combining images from different views and classes to ensure that a large number of training inputs are available even when raw SAR images are scarce. Secondly, a method of calculating and enhancing of inter-class dissimilarity (ICD) features is proposed to increase the inter-class distance and improve the inter-class separability. Then, the ICD and multiview features are fused to increase the features learned by the network and reduce feature redundancy. Finally, a multiview heterogeneous weighted loss function is proposed, which combines the calculation of inter-class similarity and heterogeneous loss. Through the gradual convergence of the loss function, the inter-class similarity decreases as the loss decreases, which further improves the target recognition performance. Experimental results on MSTAR and Civilian Vehicle SAR datasets show that our proposed method performs better than the state-of-the-art methods within sample scarcity conditions.

Abstract Background We aimed to explore the three-way interaction among age, gender, and kidney function on the risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods In a retrospective cohort study, patients aged > 40 years with T2D with serum creatinine and urine albumin measured from 2013 to 2019 were included from a multi-institutional diabetes registry. The exposure was estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), outcomes were all-cause mortality (primary outcome) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality (secondary outcome). We applied multivariable cox proportional hazards regression analysis to compute the association between eGFR and mortality. Results A total of 36,556 patients were followed for up to 6 years during which 2492 (6.82%) died from all causes, and 690 (1.9%) died from CVD. We observed a significant three-way interaction (p = 0.021) among age (younger,

Lithium–sulfur batteries (Li-S batteries) have attracted wide attention due to their high theoretical energy density and the low cost of sulfur cathode material. However, the poor conductivity of the sulfur cathode, the polysulfide shuttle effect, and the slow redox kinetics severely affect their cycling performance and Coulombic efficiencies, especially under low-temperature conditions, where these effects are more exacerbated. To address these issues, this study designs and synthesizes a microspherical cobalt molybdate@reduced graphene oxide (CoMoO4@rGO) composite material as the cathode material for Li-S batteries. By growing CoMoO4 nanoparticles on the rGO surface, the composite material not only provides a good conductive network but also significantly enhances the adsorption capacity to polysulfides, effectively suppressing the shuttle effect. After 100 cycles at room temperature with a current density of 1 C, the reversible specific capacity of the battery stabilizes at 805 mAh g−1. Notably, at −20 °C, the S/CoMoO4@rGO composite achieves a reversible specific capacity of 840 mAh g−1. This study demonstrates that the CoMoO4@rGO composite has significant advantages in suppressing polysulfide diffusion and expanding the working temperature range of Li-S batteries, showing great potential for applications in next-generation high-performance Li-S batteries.

Rapid expansion of irrigated agriculture in semi-arid regions alters the global carbon cycle and terrestrial soil carbon pools, in particular the potential for inorganic carbon sequestration in soils. Current research on soil inorganic carbon (SIC) pools in irrigated farmland focuses on local scale. The impact of irrigated agriculture on soil inorganic carbon pools and sequestration potential at the regional scale should be addressed. This study investigates soil carbon pools and inorganic carbon sequestration potential under intensive irrigated agriculture in alluvial plains in semi-arid climates. We chose the North China Plain (NCP), a traditional intensive agricultural region in China with long-term irrigation practices. Appling the national soil field survey data, we calculated soil inorganic carbon, organic carbon, estimated the content of the total soil carbon pool and the inorganic carbon sequestration potential and assessed the distribution characteristics. The SIC density and storage in fluvisols of irrigated farmland in the NCP were estimated to be 13.21 kgC·m−2 and 2.58 PgC, respectively. SIC densities accounts for 70% of the soil carbon pool. It is inferred that irrigated dryland in semi-arid regions has a considerable soil inorganic carbon pool and inorganic carbon sequestration potentials. The SIC pools in mineral soil horizon beneath plough horizon account for 75.8–78.11% of the total SIC storages. Soil inorganic carbon pools are easily lost through leaching and deposition in the lower part of the soil due to irrigation. We find that due to irrigation and atmospheric precipitation, the top layer of the soil is constantly being replenished with carbonate. Spatial distribution of inorganic carbon pools on floodplains is related to river-related geomorphology. This study provides a SIC perspective for the study of soil carbon pools in agricultural fields and complements the knowledge of carbon sequestration potential.

Magnesium (Mg) alloys have great potential as biodegradable materials for medical device. However, their susceptibility to corrosion poses a significant challenge for practical applications. In this study, the poly(trimethylene carbonate)-dimethacrylate (PTMC-dMA) was employed as a coating material for ZE21B magnesium alloys. Upon UV irradiation, the PTMC-dMA macromer undergoes cross-linking to form a uniform PTMC coating with a thickness of approximately 5 μm, effectively protecting the magnesium alloy. The corrosion resistance in simulated body fluid (SBF) was evaluated through immersion testing, which showed minimal hydrogen generation (0.16 mL/cm2) during the initial 24-h period and slight corrosion observed on the PTMC-coated magnesium alloy surface after continuous immersion for 21 days. The silane coupling agent significantly enhanced the adhesive performance between the polymer and alloy. Micro-scratch tests revealed adhesion forces of 3.79 N and 5.75 N for coatings without and with the silane agent, respectively. Electrochemical tests also demonstrated the efficacy of silane treatment, showing corrosion currents of 2.100 × 108 A/cm2 for silane-treated samples compared 6.263 × 107 A/cm2 for untreated ones. Given its exceptional tensile and protective properties, this coated material is ideal for intricate bioresorbable applications, like endovascular bioresorbable stents.

Summary: Magnesium alloy is an excellent material for biodegradable cerebrovascular stents. However, the rapid degradation rate of magnesium alloy will make stent unstable. To improve the biocompatibility of magnesium alloy, in this study, biodegradable sodium alginate and carboxymethyl chitosan (SA/CMCS) was used to coat onto hydrothermally treated the surface of magnesium alloy by a dipping coating method. The results show that the SA/CMCS coating facilitates the growth, proliferation, and migration of endothelial cells and promotes neovascularization. Moreover, the SA/CMCS coating suppresses macrophage activation while promoting their transformation into M2 type macrophages. Overall, the SA/CMCS coating demonstrates positive effects on the safety and biocompatibility of magnesium alloy after implantation, and provide a promising therapy for the treatment of intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis in the future.

Abstract Insulin resistance (IR) is associated with a variety of cardiovascular diseases, but there are few studies on the correlation between IR and calcified aortic stenosis (CAS). In this study, the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index, which reflects IR, was used to investigate the correlation between IR and CAS. The study included 183 elderly patients who were diagnosed with CAS by transthoracic echocardiography. The patients were matched 1:1 according to age and sex, and elderly patients who were hospitalized during the same period and underwent transthoracic echocardiography without aortic stenosis were included as the control group. The relationship between the TyG index and CAS was analyzed by a multivariable logistic regression model, curve fitting and trend test. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the TyG index as a continuous variable was negatively associated with CAS (P

Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene/polyether (HT-PB/PE), serving as binders and fuel for rocket propellants, has been widely studied and applied. To meet the developing demand of industrialization, the modification of HT-PB/PE based on their structural and functional characteristics has become one of the hot topics. In this study, the modified HTPB and the modified HTPE were prepared by modification of end groups and main chains. After the preparation, the characteristic functional groups of the binders were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to determine the effective end-group modification. Nuclear magnetic resonance hydrogen spectroscopy (1H-NMR) was used to characterize the main chain on modified binders through the variation of chemical environment of hydrogen. The analysis of the pyrolysis properties of the modified binders was performed by thermo gravimetric analyzer (TGA). The results effectively reflected the initial and maximum decomposition temperatures, as well as the pyrolysis stage of the above binders. The above characterization results confirmed the effective synthesis of modified binders and their good thermal properties. However, the present reports lacked the studies on the pyrolysis mechanism of these modified binders. To further investigate the effect of end group and main chain modification on the pyrolysis properties of binders, the pyrolysis of modified binders was conducted in a U-shaped fixed-bed reactor, which was connected to photoionization mass spectrometry (SPI-MS). SPI-MS was used to monitor the dynamic evolution of the pyrolysis product as a function of temperature in real-time. The mechanism of the pyrolysis process of the modified binders was studied based on the above tests. The results showed that the end-groups and main-chain modified binders of HTPB exhibited different thermal stabilities. The influence of main chain modification on the pyrolysis behavior was greater than that of end group modification. The pyrolysis mechanism of modified binders followed random bond breaking of C—C and C—O bonds and the increasing varieties of products. The esters and acids were found in the pyrolysis products of the end-group modified binders. The epoxides and alcohols were found in the pyrolysis products of the main-chain modified binder, showing the more pathways during their pyrolysis process.

Objective To analyze the clinical efficacy and safety of the extended endoscopic endonasal approach (EEEA) in the resection of suprasellar invasive pituitary adenoma. Methods and Results A total of 68 patients with suprasellar invasive pituitary adenoma admitted to The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University from June 2019 to June 2022 were treated with EEEA for tumor resection, of whom 73.53% (50/68) achieved gross total resection (GTR), 17.65% (12/68) achieved subtotal resection, and 8.82% (6/68) achieved partial resection. The GTR rate of giant adenoma was 37.40% (10/27). The average follow⁃up was (12 ± 6) months, 75.81% (47/62) improved visual acuity, 19.35% (12/62) had no change after surgery, 4.84% (3/62) deteriorated visual acuity. The improvement rate of visual field defect was 74.14% (43/58), no change was 15.52% (9/58), and symptom aggravation was 10.34% (6/58). The symptoms of diplopia disappeared completely in the patients with oculomotor nerve palsy at the last follow ⁃ up (3 cases). Postoperative complications included cerebrospinal fluid leakage [1.47% (1/68)], central diabetes insipidus [16.18% (1/68)], intraoperative hematoma [4.41% (3/68)], delayed nasal hemorrhage [4.41% (3/68)] and intracranial infection [7.35% (5/68)], with no death. Conclusions EEEA for large or giant pituitary adenomas invading the anterior skull base, suprasellar region and the third ventricle has a high GTR rate, less trauma and fewer complications, and is worthy of clinical promotion.

Abstract Purpose This study aimed to explore the survival significance of surgery and age on the prognosis of patients with primary trachea malignancies. Methods The entire cohort of 637 patients with primary malignant trachea tumors was used to perform the main analyses. The data of those patients were from a public database. Overall survival (OS) curves were drawn by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by the Log-rank test. The univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses calculated the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for overall mortality. The propensity-score matching analysis was used to reduce the selection bias. Results Age, surgery, histological type, N classification, M classification, marital status, and tumor grading were identified as independent prognostic factors after eliminating confounding factors. The results of the Kaplan-Meier method revealed that patients with age

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological, therapeutic, and survival data on pediatric major salivary gland cancers. Materials and Methods: National Cancer Database (NCDB) query from 2004 to 2018. Results: In total, 967 cases of individuals under the age of 21 were identified. Most cancers affected the parotid gland (86%). Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (41.3%) and acinic cell adenocarcinoma (33.6%) were the most common. Tumors occurred more often from age 11 to 21, and females were more affected. Histology varied by age, gender, and race. In the 0–5 age group, mucoepidermoid carcinoma and myoepithelial carcinoma/sarcoma/rhabdomyosarcoma were the most common pathologies. In patients over 5 years old, mucoepidermoid carcinoma was the most frequent tumor in boys, while acinic cell adenocarcinoma was more common in girls. African American patients had a higher incidence of mucoepidermoid carcinoma, while White patients in the 0–5 age group had a higher incidence of myoepithelial carcinoma/sarcoma/rhabdomyosarcoma tumors. Low-grade tumors were commonly diagnosed at stage I, but the 0–5 age group had a high frequency of stage IV tumors. The overall 5-year survival rate was 94.9%, with 90% for the 0–5 years age group and 96% for the 11–15 years age group. Negative margins were associated with higher 5-year survival rates in high-stage tumors (93%) compared to positive margins (80%). Submandibular malignancies had worse 5-year survival rates across all age groups. Conclusions: Major salivary gland malignancies in pediatric patients exhibit variations in histopathologic characteristics by age, gender, and race. Negative margins impact 5-year survival rates, especially in high-stage tumors.

To explore the influence of interlocking depth and block number on the compressive performance of interlocking block masonry, seven kinds of interlocking depth and three kinds of block number are selected, and ABAQUS software is used to carry out numerical simulation analysis. The results show that when the interlocking depth is 10 mm, the compressive performance of masonry is better. With the increase in the number of blocks, the compressive strength of masonry decreases gradually. Based on the numerical simulation results, a recommended formula for the average compressive strength of interlocking block masonry is proposed.

Background Cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) is a major contributing factor to ischemic stroke and dementia. However, the vascular pathologies of cSVD remain inconclusive. The aim of this systematic review and meta‐analysis was to characterize the associations between cSVD and cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR), cerebral autoregulation, and arterial stiffness (AS). Methods and Results MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Embase were searched from inception to September 2023 for studies reporting CVR, cerebral autoregulation, or AS in relation to radiological markers of cSVD. Data were extracted in predefined tables, reviewed, and meta‐analyses performed using inverse‐variance random effects models to determine pooled odds ratios (ORs). A total of 1611 studies were identified; 142 were included in the systematic review, of which 60 had data available for meta‐analyses. Systematic review revealed that CVR, cerebral autoregulation, and AS were consistently associated with cSVD (80.4%, 78.6%, and 85.4% of studies, respectively). Meta‐analysis in 7 studies (536 participants, 32.9% women) revealed a borderline association between impaired CVR and cSVD (OR, 2.26 [95% CI, 0.99–5.14]; P=0.05). In 37 studies (27 952 participants, 53.0% women) increased AS, per SD, was associated with cSVD (OR, 1.24 [95% CI, 1.15–1.33]; P

Obesity can lead to excessive lipid accumulation in non-adipose tissues, such as the liver and skeletal muscles, leading to ectopic lipid deposition and damaging target organ function through lipotoxicity. FGF-21 is a key factor in regulating lipid metabolism, so we aim to explore whether FGF-21 is involved in improving ectopic lipid deposition. We observed the characteristics of ectopic lipid deposition in the liver and skeletal muscles of obesity-resistant mice, detected the expression of FGF-21 and perilipin, and found that obesity-resistant mice showed a decrease in ectopic lipid deposition in the liver and skeletal muscles and increased expression of FGF-21. After inhibiting the expression of FGF-21, a more severe lipid deposition in liver cells and skeletal muscle cells was found. The results indicate that inhibiting FGF-21 can exacerbate ectopic lipid deposition via regulating lipid droplet synthesis and decomposition, as well as free fatty acid translocation and oxidation. In conclusion, FGF-21 is involved in improving ectopic lipid deposition caused by obesity in the liver and skeletal muscles.

Multi-rotor aircraft have the advantages of a simple structure, low cost, and flexible operation in the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) family, and have developed rapidly in recent years. Radar surveillance and classification of the growing number of multi-rotor aircraft has become a challenging problem due to their low-slow-small (LSS) characteristics. Estimation of the blade number is an important step in distinguishing LSS targets. However, most of the current research on micro-motion parameters estimation has focused on the analysis of rotational frequency, length, and the initial phase of blades with a prior of blade number, affecting its ability to identify LSS targets. In this article, a micro-motion parameters estimation method for multi-rotor targets without a prior is proposed. On the basis of estimating the flashing frequency of the blades, a validation function is constructed through spectral analysis to judge the number of blades, and then the rotational frequency is estimated. The blade length is calculated by estimating the maximum Doppler shift. Moreover, the variational mode decomposition (VMD)-based atomic scaling orthogonal matching pursuit (AS-OMP) method is jointly applied to estimate the blade length when suffering from the low PRF and insufficient SNR conditions. Extensive experiments on the simulated and measured data demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms robust micro-motion parameter estimation capability in low PRF and insufficient SNR conditions compared to the traditional time-frequency analysis methods.

Summary: Ischemic brain injury is a severe medical condition with high incidences in elderly people without effective treatment for the resulting neural damages. Using a unilateral mouse stroke model, we analyze single-cell transcriptomes of ipsilateral and contralateral cortical penumbra regions to objectively reveal molecular events with single-cell resolution at 4 h and 1, 3, and 7 days post-injury. Here, we report that neurons are among the first cells that sense the lack of blood supplies by elevated expression of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β (C/EBPβ). To our surprise, the canonical inflammatory cytokine gene targets for C/EBPβ, including interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), are subsequently induced also in neuronal cells. Neuronal-specific silencing of C/EBPβ or IL-1β and TNF-α substantially alleviates downstream inflammatory injury responses and is profoundly neural protective. Taken together, our findings reveal a neuronal inflammatory mechanism underlying early pathological triggers of ischemic brain injury.

Optimization of ecological security patterns (ESP) is an important way to implement land space restoration and maintain regional sustainable development. How to comprehensively identify regional ESP while maintaining the balanced development of each ecosystem service is the key issue in the identification and construction of ESP at present. Using data on land use, meteorology, vegetation biomass and socio-economic statistics, the quality of six typical ecosystem services in the Shule River basin (SRB) in 2010 and 2020 were calculated for food supply, water conservation, carbon fixation and oxygen release, habitat quality, soil conservation and culture and leisure. The ordered weighted averaging (OWA) model was introduced to identify the priority conservation areas of ecosystem services as ecological source, and the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model was used to extract ecological corridors and ecological nodes. Based on the ant colony algorithm model to identify the optimal paths of corridors in the study area, identify the spatial scope of ecological corridors, potential corridors and key recovery points, and construct the optimization model of basin ESP. The results show that the spatial and temporal differences of ecosystem services in the SRB is significant, showing the characteristics of overall dispersion and small regional concentration. 76 ecological source patches with a total area of 2.29 × 104 km2; 54 ecological corridors with a total length of 3161.87 km; and 36 ecological nodes in the study area were identified. Overall, the basin ESP shows that the network is complete but there is still room for optimization, and local problems are prominent. The total area of key ecological corridors extracted is 4.21 × 104 km2, and there are 4 key recovery points. Finally, the optimization model of the ESP of the SRB of “two corridors, two belts, and three areas” was determined.

IntroductionPhotoreceptor degenerative diseases are characterized by the progressive death of photoreceptor cells, resulting in irreversible visual impairment. However, the role of competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) in photoreceptor degeneration is unclear. We aimed to explore the shared ceRNA regulation network and potential molecular mechanisms between primary and secondary photoreceptor degenerations.MethodsWe established animal models for both types of photoreceptor degenerations and conducted retina RNA sequencing to identify shared differentially expressed long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs), and messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Using ceRNA regulatory principles, we constructed a shared ceRNA network and performed function enrichment and protein–protein interaction (PPI) analyses to identify hub genes and key pathways. Immune cell infiltration and drug–gene interaction analyses were conducted, and hub gene expression was validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).ResultsWe identified 37 shared differentially expressed lncRNAs, 34 miRNAs, and 247 mRNAs and constructed a ceRNA network consisting of 3 lncRNAs, 5 miRNAs, and 109 mRNAs. Furthermore, we examined 109 common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) through functional annotation, PPI analysis, and regulatory network analysis. We discovered that these diseases shared the complement and coagulation cascades pathway. Eight hub genes were identified and enriched in the immune system process. Immune infiltration analysis revealed increased T cells and decreased B cells in both photoreceptor degenerations. The expression of hub genes was closely associated with the quantities of immune cell types. Additionally, we identified 7 immune therapeutical drugs that target the hub genes.DiscussionOur findings provide new insights and directions for understanding the common mechanisms underlying the development of photoreceptor degeneration. The hub genes and related ceRNA networks we identified may offer new perspectives for elucidating the mechanisms and hold promise for the development of innovative treatment strategies.

An on-line pyrolysis-vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometer was built for the analysis of pyrolysis products of tobacco. Vacuum ultraviolet photoionization is a “soft” ionization method producing few or no fragments of molecular ions, and identifing the complex pyrolysis products in real time. In this work, the pyrolysis of tobacco leaves from various stalk positions (B2F, C3F and X2F) at 300, 400, 500, 600 and 700 ℃, and the effects of reaction temperature on the pyrolysis products intensity were studied. A series of mass spectra of pyrolysis products were obtained, and the changes of products at different pyrolysis temperatures were compared. The analysis results of products at different pyrolysis temperatures were helpful to reveal the formation mechanism of compounds in different parts of cut tobacco during pyrolysis/combustion. The dynamic curves of pyrolysis products such as vinylamine (m/z 43), isoprene (m/z 68) and dimethylfuran (m/z 96) with time were further observed at 500 ℃, so as to master the dynamic change process of pyrolysis reaction. It was found that the increase of temperature can dramatically shorten the reaction time. Generally, the primary products will be formed at the medium cracking temperature, and gradually pyrolyzed into secondary products with the increase of temperature, the secondary products will be accompanied by higher temperature cracking and thermal synthesis to form tertiary products. In order to quickly screen and identify different parts of tobacco, principal component analysis (PCA) was used to analyze the mass spectra of pyrolysis products, and the differences of chemical components in different parts of tobacco were identified. Then, the components with m/z 58, 96, 110 were the typical products of X2F, the components with m/z 43, 126 were the representative products of C3F, and the main representative product of B2F was the component with m/z 84. Based on the above results, photoionization mass spectrometry was important to study the dynamic changes of tobacco pyrolysis products, the pyrolysis products of different parts of tobacco were quickly identified at 300-700 ℃, and the main pyrolysis products were summarized. By comprehensively evaluating the main components and relative content of pyrolysis products, tobacco samples from different parts can be quickly distinguished.

Recent research on the underlying mechanisms of cerebral ischemia indicates that the neurovascular unit can be used as a novel subject for general surveys of neuronal damage and protein mechanisms. Fingolimod (FTY-720) is a newly developed immunosuppressant isolated from Cordyceps sinensis that exhibits a wide range of biological activities, and has recently attracted much attention for the treatment of ischemic cerebrovascular diseases. In the current research, the role of FTY-720 and its possible mechanisms were assessed from an neurovascular unit perspective using a rat cerebral ischemia model. Our results revealed that FTY-720 markedly decreased infarct volume, promoted neurological function recovery, and weakened the blood-brain barrier permeability of ischemic rats. The protective roles of FTY-720 in ischemic stroke are ascribed to a combination of sphingosin-1-phosphate receptor-1 and reduced expression of sphingosin-1-phosphate receptor-1 in microvessels and reduction of interleukin-17A protein levels. These findings indicate that FTY-720 has promise as a new therapy for neurovascular protection and functional recovery after ischemic stroke.

A lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) based on Shan-Chen pseudo-potential model is used to investigate the process of droplets merging and shedding on a gradient wetting circular surface. The effects of wetting gradient, radius, and radius ratio on droplet merging and shedding were mainly explored. The results show that applying a wetting gradient on the circumferential surface can accelerate the process of droplet merging and shedding. The velocity of droplets merging and shedding increase with the increase of the wetting gradient. The more hydrophilic the original surface, the better the optimization effect of accelerating drainage is by applying a wetting gradient. The radius and radius ratio significantly affect droplets merging and shedding on the gradient wetting surface. The larger the radius and radius ratio, the shorter the droplets merging and shedding time.

With the extensive use of plastic products and the sharp increase of plastic waste, microplastics produced by degradation in the natural environment and artificially added by industry have been detected in food, air, ocean, and even extreme geographical environment. The environmental pollution and the biological health hazards caused by this new type of pollutant has become a global scientific problem to be solved urgently. Zebrafish (Danio rerio), as a typical model organism, has been widely used to evaluate the environmental pollution and health hazards caused by microplastics. This review on the research progress of model animal zebrafish in toxicity evaluation of microplastics mainly emphasized the toxic effects of microplastics on selected organs of zebrafish, briefly introduced the influencing factors of toxicity induced by microplastics, discussed the standardization of experiments for the evaluation of microplastic toxicity using zebrafish, and finally explored the future research directions.

The creep test is used as the main method of evaluating the rutting resistance of asphalt mixtures, but the variability has rarely been studied. Based on creep tests, this study investigated the stochastic nature of the mixture creep through mechanical modeling. First, creep tests were carried out on mixtures under different conditions. Consequently, the creep behavior was characterized using a fractional creep damage model (FCDM) and a variability analysis was performed. Second, a proposed creep stochastic damage model (CSDM), developed using a meso-mechanical approach, was utilized to characterize the variability behavior of the damage evolution, and the range of variation in damage evolution was predicted within a certain confidence interval. Subsequently, combined with FCDM, the variation of mixtures during creep was predicted. This study confirmed that the creep variability of mixtures is related to rutting resistance, and the better rutting resistance implies lower variability. The validation and prediction results show that the CSDM can well describe the stochasticity of damage, and that the variability of creep behavior for asphalt mixtures can be well predicted on the basis of the stochasticity of damage evolution. The physical mechanism of damage stochasticity in the mixture creep was clearly demonstrated on the mesoscopic scale.

Perovskite (PVK) solar cells (PSCs) have garnered considerable research interest owing to their cost-effectiveness and high efficiency. A systematic annual review of the research on PSCs is essential for gaining a comprehensive understanding of the current research trends. Herein, systematic analysis of the research papers on PSCs reporting key findings in 2023 was conducted. Based on the results, the papers were categorized into six classifications, including regular n–i–p PSCs, inverted p–i–n PSCs, PVK-based tandem solar cells, PVK solar modules, device stability, and lead toxicity and green solvents. Subsequently, a detailed overview and summary of the annual research advancements within each classification were presented. Overall, this review serves as a valuable resource for guiding future research endeavors in the field of PSCs.

Resveratrol (3,5,4′-trihydroxystilbene), a naturally occurring polyphenol that is widely utilized in functional food due to its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and anti-aging properties. In the present study, the antioxidant capacity and oxidation products of resveratrol in soybean oil were investigated. The antioxidant activity of resveratrol was evaluated by employing various in vitro antioxidant assays such as DPPH scavenging activities, ferric reducing abilities (FRAP) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). Furthermore, monitoring the peroxide value and the acid value of soybean oil with the addition of 200–1000 μg/g of resveratrol at 60 and 180 °C. It was found that when the concentration of resveratrol in soybean oil was 600 µg/g, the antioxidant capacity was most effective. Resveratrol and its thermal degradation products were identified using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). There were seven nonvolatile oxidation products with mass-to-charge ratios of 138.03, 171.04, 185.10, 157.03, 436.13, 244.07 and 306.09 kg/C and two volatile oxidation products with mass-to-charge ratios of 100.05 and 158.13 kg/C were identified. The research findings may provide essential information for the development of resveratrol as functional oils in future.

Abstract Nitinol (NiTi) alloy is an ideal material for preparing neurointerventional stents due to its excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility. However, NiTi stents without surface‐specific functionalization cause a high rate of stent thrombosis and in‐stent restenosis after implantation. In ischemic stroke, exosomes have a role in regulating nervous system development, regeneration, vascular remodeling, and neuroinflammation. In this work, the effect of exosome coating on the biocompatibility of NiTi alloy is evaluated. NiTi alloy is successively immersed in relevant solution (sodium alginate, 3‐aminophenylboronic acid, distearoylphosphatidylethanolamine, and exosomes) to form ROS‐responsive exosome coated surfaces. In vitro experiments (platelets, endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and macrophages) and in vivo subcutaneous implantation experiments are performed to test coatings for biocompatibility. The results show that the modified NiTi alloy surface has high hydrophilicity, which has the functions of inhibiting platelet aggregation, promoting endothelialization, inhibiting smooth muscle cell migration, anti‐inflammatory, and good tissue biocompatibility. This study develops exosome neurointerventional stent coating as a bioactive drug via reactive oxygen species accumulation in lesions, thus targeting drug release, inhibiting intimal hyperplasia, and reducing inflammation and thrombosis.

Estimating the variation of carbon emissions and vegetation carbon sequestration, and understanding the coupling coordination relationships between carbon emissions and the eco-environment are essential for promoting sustainable development. To analyze the distribution of carbon emissions, a calculation model for carbon emissions was proposed through integrating nighttime light datasets and land use data. The results showed that the model proposed was appropriate and reliable for carbon emissions on land of different utilization types. The distribution of vegetation carbon sequestration was estimated by the CASA model. The combined results showed that carbon emissions have been greater than vegetation carbon sinks in Beijing from 2003 to 2019, with the difference reaching a maximum in 2007 and showing an overall trend of first increasing and then decreasing from 2003 to 2019. The northern and southwestern area in Beijing had a stronger carbon sink capacity, and carbon emissions were mainly concentrated in the southwest region of Beijing. Additionally, we analyzed the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between carbon emissions (CE) and the eco-environment (EE). The CCD showed a fluctuating upward trend in Beijing from 2003 to 2019, and 16 districts were all out of a moderate-decoupled state in 2015. This study will enrich the body of carbon emission and vegetation NPP research at the district level and will provide scientific support to the achievement of “Dual Carbon” targets in Beijing and other Chinese cities.

Abstract Background The exchange of mitochondria reportedly plays an important role in cell–cell communication in the central nervous system (CNS). The transfer of fragmented and dysfunctional astrocytic mitochondria into neurons and subsequent mitochondrial fusion often cause serious neuronal damage and cerebral ischaemic injury. Methods In this study, we prepared macrophage-derived exosomes laden with heptapeptide (Hep) as a dynamin-related protein-1 (Drp1)–fission 1 (Fis1) peptide inhibitor P110 to alleviate cerebral ischemia–reperfusion injury by reducing mitochondrial Drp1/Fis1 interaction-mediated astrocytic mitochondrial disorder and promoting the transfer of astrocyte-derived healthy mitochondria into neurons. Results The results demonstrated that Hep-loaded macrophage-derived exosomes (EXO-Hep) reduced mitochondrial damage in astrocytes by inhibiting the Drp1/Fis1 interaction after ischemia–reperfusion, ensuring the release of heathy astrocytic mitochondria and their subsequent transmission to neurons, alleviating mitochondria-mediated neuronal damage. Conclusion EXO-Hep significantly mitigated ischemic injury in a model of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) by reducing the infarct area and improving neurological performance during the process of cerebral ischemia–reperfusion. Graphical Abstract

Abstract An effective task scheduling method is the premise and guarantee for cooperative imaging in radar network. In this article, an adaptive task scheduling algorithm for three-dimensional (3-D) target imaging in radar network is investigated. The aim of our strategy is to achieve the multiple 3-D target imaging tasks with the minimal task time. Firstly, the 3-D target image can be reconstructed by high-resolution inverse imaging aperture radar (ISAR) images from three views, and the sparse imaging algorithm based on compressed sensing (CS) is adopted to acquire the ISAR images of the targets. Then, the adaptive task scheduling optimization model is constructed. Through the steps of target Information perception, radar selection and adjustment of imaging terminal time, the optimal task scheduling strategy is obtained and the resource utilization of radar network is significantly improved. Finally, the experiments highlight the effectiveness of our proposed task scheduling method.

Supervising the process of garbage collection and transportation is a very crucial task with significance implication to the reusing and the recycle of the garbage. Previous works mainly focus on the detection of certain kind of garbage instead of overseeing the whole process. This paper proposed a supervision approach based on the improved YOLOv3 to decrease the incidence of unexpected mixing of the different kinds of garbage during the transportation and the collection which will cause the inferior performance of waste classification. Firstly, to reduce the parameters and arithmetic operations of YOLOv3 and improving the model’s detection speed, we displaced the standard convolution in YOLOv3 by depth-wise separable convolution. Secondly, to solve the problem that YOLOv3 has poor location accuracy and performs poorly in muti-targets, triplet attention is introduced into the backbone, which increases almost no parameters to automatically learn cross-dimensional interactions, enhance the effective feature channel weights, and strengthen the feature extraction capability. Finally, we built a dataset of waste classification supervision using the images provided by a city environmental protection bureau on which we did massive experiments. The experimental result shows that compared with other detection algorithms, the improved YOLOv3 algorithm has better performance. The mAP is 98.5%, which is 0.7% and 1.1% higher than the YOLOv5l and the EfficientDet-B0, respectively, and the average detection speed of the model is 14.6ms/it, which meets the requirements of regulatory real-time and environment complexity of the supervision system.

The complex interactions between a tropical cyclone (TC) and the midlatitude upper-level trough or cutoff low (sometimes called a cold-core vortex) can lead to an unusual track, such as sudden turning motion, and intensity change of the tropical cyclone, often leading to large forecast errors. In this study, the track and intensity changes of Typhoon Bavi (2020) under the influence of the upper-level trough and the detached cutoff low from its base are investigated based on numerical experiments using the advanced Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Bavi formed over the western North Pacific between Taiwan and Okinawa Islands on 23 August 2020. Under the influence of an upper-level trough to the north, Bavi initially moved northeastward. As the trough propagated eastward, a cutoff low was detached from the base of the trough on the next day. The downward penetration of the upper-level cutoff low led to a sudden northwestward turning motion of Bavi when it intensified to a severe typhoon and then moved almost due north and made landfall over North Korea. These changes and processes are well captured in a control numerical experiment. In a sensitivity experiment with the mid-latitude upper-level trough removed in the initial conditions, the tropical cyclone moved primarily north-northeastward after 1-day simulation without the sudden northwestward turning. This track change led to an earlier landfall of the storm over South Korea and, thus, an earlier weakening than in the control experiment, which is termed as the indirect effect on the storm intensity due to the change in the tropical cyclone track. The results also show that eddy angular momentum flux convergence associated with the upper-level trough contributed little to the simulated tropical cyclone intensification, while the environmental vertical wind shear is key to the intensity change of Bavi.

Abstract The vortex electromagnetic (EM) wave radar has the potential to obtain more accurate micro‐motion parameters for target recognition. However, with the existing algorithms of micro‐motion parameter extraction it is difficult to obtain the real rotation radius and tilt angle of a rotational target in the presence of multiple scattering points in the radar beam. A micro‐motion parameter extraction algorithm for rotating targets based on the vortex EM wave radar is proposed in this article. The angular Doppler is obtained from the dual‐mode vortex EM echoes. The time interval between the maximum and minimum angular Doppler frequency is derived. The relationship between the time interval and micro‐motion parameters is shown. By combining the linear Doppler and the angular Doppler, the micro‐motion parameters are roughly estimated. Then, fine micro‐motion parameters are obtained by using an iterative soft threshold algorithm. The proposed algorithm can extract the real rotation radius and tilt angle in the case of multiple scattering points. The performance and robustness of the algorithm are proved by simulations.

Background: Neuroinflammation plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of Central Nervous System (CNS) diseases. The phenolic glucoside gastrodin (GAS), has been known to treat CNS disorders by exerting anti-inflammatory activities. Our aim was to investigate the potential neuroprotective mechanisms of GAS on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced mice.Methods: Male C57BL/6J mice were treated by LPS, before which GAS was adminisrated. The behavior tests such as forced swim test, tail suspension test, and elevated plus maze were performed to evaluate depressive-anxiety-like behaviors. A high-throughput sequencing (HTS) analysis was performed to screen out distinctive miRNAs which were validated using quantitative real-time PCR. Then, miRNA agomir or NC was injected stereotaxically into hippocampus of mice to explore the role of miRNA on GAS in response to LPS. Furthermore, Immunofluorescence and the hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining were employed to observe the cellular morphology. The protein levels of pro-inflammatory factors were evaluated by western blot. Finally, the target mRNA of miRNA was predicted using bioinformatics analysis. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were conducted to clarify the potential function of target protein, which were visualized by bubble charts.Results: The behavioral data showed that mice in the LPS group had obvious depressive-anxiety-like behaviors, and 100 mg/kg GAS could improve these behavioral changes and alleviate the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the hippocampus when mice were exposed to LPS for 6 h. Meanwhile, LPS-induced microglia and astrocyte activation in the CA1, CA2, CA3, and DG regions of the hippocampus were also reversed by GAS. Furthermore, miR-107-3p were screened out and verified for GAS in response to LPS. Importantly, miR-107-3p overexpression negatively abrogated the neuroprotective effects of GAS. Moreover, KPNA1 might be the target molecular of miR-107-3p. KPNA1 might regulate 12 neuroinflammation-related genes, which were mainly involved in cytokine−mediated signaling pathway.Conclusion: These results suggested that GAS might alleviate the LPS-induced neuroinflammation and depressive-anxiety-like behaviors in mice by downregulating miR-107-3p and upregulating the downstream target KPNA1. The indicates miR-107-3p may provide a new strategy for the treatment of CNS diseases.

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical features and factors affecting the prognosis of children with profound sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL).MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 147 children with profound SSNHL who received inpatient treatment at our department from January 2016 to January 2021. All children were administered with systemic steroid therapy and/or intratympanic steroid (ITS) treatment for 2 weeks. Statistical analyses were performed for the clinical features, treatment effectiveness, and factors affecting the prognosis using SPSS 23.0.ResultsThe median age of the study population was 8 (6–10) years. The median treatment onset time was 8 (4–20) days. The most common concomitant symptom was tinnitus (45.58%). Laboratory findings showed that the percentages of children with abnormal leukocytes was 25.85%, abnormal platelet counts was 17.01%, abnormal cytomegalovirus IgG antibodies was 36.73% and abnormal Epstein–Barr (EB) virus IgG antibodies was 41.50%. The overall recovery rate of the treatment was 20.04%. The univariate analysis showed that age, treatment onset time, tinnitus, and ITS treatment were associated with the prognosis (p

Abstract Background Tooth agenesis (TA) is a congenital abnormality that may present as syndromic or nonsyndromic. Considering its complex genetic aetiology, the aim of this study was to uncover the pathogenic mutants in patients with nonsyndromic TA and analyse the characteristics of these mutants. Methods Exome sequencing was performed to detect pathogenic variants in 72 patients from 43 unrelated families with nonsyndromic TA. All candidate variants were validated using Sanger sequencing. Bioinformatics and conformational analyses were performed to determine the pathogenic mechanisms of the mutants. Results The following eight mutations (six novel and two known) in six genes were identified in eight families: WNT10A [c.742C > T (p.R248*)], LRP6 [c.1518G > A (p.W506*), c.2791 + 1G > T], AXIN2 [c.133_134insGCCAGG (p.44_45insGQ)], PAX9 [c.439C > T (p.Q147*), c.453_454insCCAGC (p.L154QfsTer60)], MSX1 [c.603_604del (p.A203GfsTer10)] and PITX2 [c.522C > G (p.Y174*)]. Bioinformatics and conformational analyses showed that the protein structures were severely altered in these mutants, and indicated that these structural abnormalities may cause functional disabilities. Conclusions Our study extends the mutation spectrum in patients with nonsyndromic TA and provides valuable data for genetic counselling. The pathogenic mechanisms of TA in patients/families with unknown causative variants need to be explored further.

The construction industry has become one of the main drivers of the increase in carbon emissions and subsequent climate change. In this study, we focused on building carbon neutrality design and used CiteSpace V.6.2.R2 to conduct bibliometric analysis of published papers (2008–2023). After the initial screening, 280 pieces of relevant literature were obtained, including reviews, research papers, and case studies. Following further screening and excluding duplicate literature articles, 50 pieces of literature were ultimately selected as references for this paper, covering various aspects of key scientific issues, implementation approaches, and emerging research frontiers in carbon-neutral design for buildings. The research results show that significant progress has been made in energy conservation, materials, structures, systems, and operations in the research on carbon-neutral design for buildings. However, there are still issues, such as unclear implementation paths for carbon-neutral design, incomplete lifecycle assessment of carbon-neutral design, and high cost of carbon neutrality technologies in current research. Therefore, further research on the overall concept of carbon-neutral design, the progress and implementation of carbon neutrality technologies, and the integration of carbon-neutral design with sustainable development concepts are necessary. To sum up, this paper presents a thorough overview of the advancements in carbon-neutral design for buildings, examines the existing research challenges, and suggests potential avenues for future research. This paper’s findings can provide guidance for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to promote the development and application of carbon-neutral design for buildings and to achieve sustainable development goals.

Vortex electromagnetic (EM) waves, with different orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes, have the ability to distinguish the azimuth of radar targets, and then the two-dimensional reconstruction of the targets can be achieved. However, the vortex EM wave imaging methods in published research have no ability to obtain the elevation of the targets, and thus, the three-dimensional spatial structure and richer feature information of the radar target cannot be obtained. Therefore, a three-dimensional imaging method of vortex EM waves with integer- and fractional-order OAM modes is proposed in this paper, which can realize a three-dimensional reconstruction of a radar target based on a uniform circular array (UCA) with two-step imaging. First, the vortex EM wave with integer- and fractional-order OAM modes is generated, and the echo model with different OAM mode types is established. Thereafter, the echo with integer order is processed to obtain the range-azimuth image by fast Fourier transform (FFT). Then, in order to realize the three-dimensional reconstruction, the echo with fractional order is processed by utilizing the butterfly operation and analyzing the characteristics of the fractional Bessel function. Moreover, the resolution and reconstruction precision of the azimuth and elevation are analyzed. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by simulation experiments.

Abstract Background Sorafenib is a kinase inhibitor that is used as a first-line therapy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. However, the existence of sorafenib resistance has limited its therapeutic effect. Through RNA sequencing, we demonstrated that miR-138-1-3p was downregulated in sorafenib resistant HCC cell lines. This study aimed to investigate the role of miR-138-1-3p in sorafenib resistance of HCC. Methods In this study, quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and Western Blot were utilized to detect the levels of PAK5 in sorafenib-resistant HCC cells and parental cells. The biological functions of miR-138-1-3p and PAK5 in sorafenib-resistant cells and their parental cells were explored by cell viability assays and flow cytometric analyses. The mechanisms for the involvement of PAK5 were examined via co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP), immunofluorescence, dual luciferase reporter assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). The effects of miR-138-1-3p and PAK5 on HCC sorafenib resistant characteristics were investigated by a xenotransplantation model. Results We detected significant down-regulation of miR-138-1-3p and up-regulation of PAK5 in sorafenib-resistance HCC cell lines. Mechanistic studies revealed that miR-138-1-3p reduced the protein expression of PAK5 by directly targeting the 3′-UTR of PAK5 mRNA. In addition, we verified that PAK5 enhanced the phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of β-catenin that increased the transcriptional activity of a multidrug resistance protein ABCB1. Conclusions PAK5 contributed to the sorafenib resistant characteristics of HCC via β-catenin/ABCB1 signaling pathway. Our findings identified the correlation between miR-138-1-3p and PAK5 and the molecular mechanisms of PAK5-mediated sorafenib resistance in HCC, which provided a potential therapeutic target in advanced HCC patients.

ObjectiveThe present study was developed to explore risk factors related to the incidence and severity of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) in children.MethodsThe present study enrolled pediatric patients who admitted to our department for snoring and/or open-mouth breathing. All children completed a questionnaire and underwent physical examination and polysomnography (PSG). The cases were separated into OSAS and primary snoring (PS) groups. Factors associated with these two groups were analyzed, with risk factors significantly associated with OSAS then being identified through logistic regression analyses. OSAS was further subdivided into mild, moderate, and severe subgroups, with correlations between risk factors and OSAS severity then being analyzed.ResultsIn total, 1,550 children were included in the present study, of which 852 and 698 were enrolled in the OSAS and PS groups. In univariate analyses, obesity, family passive smoking, a family history of snoring, allergic rhinitis, asthma, adenoid hypertrophy, and tonsil hypertrophy were all related to pediatric OSAS (P < 0.05). In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, adenoid hypertrophy (OR:1.835, 95% CI: 1.482–2.271) and tonsil hypertrophy (OR:1.283, 95% CI:1.014–1.622) were independently associated with the risk of pediatric OSAS (P < 0.05). Stratification analyses revealed that OSAS incidence increased in a stepwise manner with increases in adenoid and tonsil grading (P < 0.01). Correlation analyses revealed that adenoid hypertrophy and tonsilar hypertrophy were not significantly associated with OSAS severity (r = 0.253, 0.069, respectively, P < 0.05), and tonsil and adenoid size were no correlation with obstructive apnea-hypopnea index (OAHI) (r = 0.237,0.193, respectively, P < 0.001).ConclusionObesity, family passive smoking, a family history of snoring, allergic rhinitis, asthma, tonsil hypertrophy, and adenoid hypertrophy may be potential risk factors for pediatric OSAS. Adenoid hypertrophy and tonsil hypertrophy were independently related to the risk of pediatric OSAS, with OSAS incidence increasing with the size of the adenoid and tonsil, while the severity of OSAS is not parallel related to the adenoid or tonsil size.

Abstract Background The incidence of ischemic stroke in the context of vascular disease is high, and the expression of growth-associated protein-43 (GAP43) increases when neurons are damaged or stimulated, especially in a rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R). Experimental design We bioengineered neuron-targeting exosomes (Exo) conjugated to a monoclonal antibody against GAP43 (mAb GAP43) to promote the targeted delivery of quercetin (Que) to ischemic neurons with high GAP43 expression and investigated the ability of Exo to treat cerebral ischemia by scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS). Results Our results suggested that Que loaded mAb GAP43 conjugated exosomes (Que/mAb GAP43-Exo) can specifically target damaged neurons through the interaction between Exo-delivered mAb GAP43 and GAP43 expressed in damaged neurons and improve survival of neurons by inhibiting ROS production through the activation of the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway. The brain infarct volume is smaller, and neurological recovery is more markedly improved following Que/mAb GAP43-Exo treatment than following free Que or Que-carrying exosome (Que-Exo) treatment in a rat induced by MCAO/R. Conclusions Que/mAb GAP43-Exo may serve a promising dual targeting and therapeutic drug delivery system for alleviating cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury.

AIM: To study the clinical efficacy, complications and visual related quality of life(VRQoL)of Ozurdex in the treatment of macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion(RVO-ME). METHODS: Totally 30 patients with ME, which had developed secondary to either CRVO(13 eyes)or BRVO(17 eyes), were monitored for 6mo after treatment with Ozurdex in the Department of Ophthalmology of our Hospital. We measured the best corrected visual acuity(BCVA), intraocular pressure(IOP), central macular thickness(CMT)at different time after treatment(1wk, 1mo, 2mo, 3mo, 4mo, 5mo, and 6mo after treatment), and we also measured the Chinese version vision related quality of life questionnaire-25(CVRQoL-25)at 3mo after treatment and compared them separately with the ones measured before treatment to evaluate the efficacy, adverse reactions and the visual related quality of life. RESULTS: Generalized estimation equation results showed that BCVA, CMT and IOP all had differences at different time points(P

Through formation flying, the distributed spaceborne SAR(synthetic aperture radar) system can increase the number of spatial degree of freedoms (DOFs) and provide flexible multi-baselines for SAR-GMTI (ground moving target indication), which improves the system performance. This paper proposes an a priori knowledge-based adaptive clutter cancellation and moving target detection technique applied to the distributed spaceborne SAR-GMTI systems. Firstly, the adaptive clutter cancellation technique is exploited to suppress the ground clutter. A priori knowledge, such as road network information, is integrated to the adaptive clutter cancellation processor to reduce any moving target steering vector mismatch. Secondly, adaptive matched filter (AMF) and adaptive beamformer orthogonal rejection test (ABORT) are exploited as adaptive detection techniques for moving target detection. Due to the dense road network, the moving target steering vector estimation may be ambiguous for the different position and orientation of the roads. The multiple hypothesis testing (MHT) technique is proposed to detect the moving targets and resolve the potential ambiguities. A scheme is exploited to detect, classify, and relocate the moving targets. Finally, simulation experiments and performance analysis have demonstrated the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed technique.