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Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a globally common cancer, often presents late and shows high resistance to chemotherapy, resulting in suboptimal treatment efficacy. Components from traditional Chinese medicines have been recognized for their anti-cancer properties. Objective: Exploring the mechanism of Schisandra chinensis lignans and acteoside in suppressing Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in hepatoma cells through the Extracellular signal-Regulated Kinases (ERK)1/2 pathway and identifying biomarkers, molecular subtypes, and targets via multi-omics for precision oncology. Methods: Proliferation was assessed using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assays, with scratch and transwell assays for evaluating invasion and migration. Flow cytometry quantified apoptosis rates. Expression levels of CCL20, p-ERK1/2, c-Myc, Vimentin, and E-cadherin/N-cadherin were analyzed by real-time PCR and Western blot. Tumor volume was calculated with a specific formula, and growth. Results: The Schisandra chinensis lignans and acteoside combination decreased CCL20 expression, inhibited hepatoma proliferation and migration, and enhanced apoptosis in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Molecular analysis revealed increased E-cadherin and decreased N-cadherin, p-ERK1/2, c-Myc, and Vimentin expression, indicating ERK1/2 pathway modulation. In vivo, treated nude mice showed significantly reduced tumor growth and volume. Conclusion: Schisandra chinensis lignans and acteoside potentially counteract CCL20-induced EMT, invasion, and migration in hepatocellular carcinoma cells via the ERK1/2 pathway, enhancing apoptosis. Multi-omics analysis further aids in pinpointing novel biomarkers for precision cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial cell factories serve as pivotal platforms for the production of high-value natural products, which tend to accumulate on the cell membrane due to their hydrophobic properties. However, the limited space of the cell membrane presents a bottleneck for the accumulation of these products. To enhance the production of intracellular natural products and alleviate the burden on the cell membrane caused by product accumulation, researchers have implemented various membrane engineering strategies. These strategies involve modifying the membrane components and structures of microbial cell factories to achieve efficient accumulation of target products. This review summarizes recent advances in the application of membrane engineering technologies in microbial cell factories, providing case studies involving Escherichia coli and yeast. Through these strategies, researchers have not only improved the tolerance of cells but also optimized intracellular storage space, significantly enhancing the production efficiency of natural products. This article aims to provide scientific evidence and references for further enhancing the efficiency of similar cell factories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A photochemical synthesis of enol ethers and furan-3(2H)-ones from 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds and aryl diazoacetates has been developed. Significantly, 1,4-dioxane promoted O-alkylation of various 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds beyond previous carbene insertion into C–H and C–C bonds has been disclosed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methyltransferase-like protein 7A (METTL7A) is an m6A RNA methyltransferase that has been linked to cancer prognosis and drug resistance. However, a comprehensive analysis of METTL7A is lacking. The expression of METTL7A, prognostic performance, correlation with microsatellite instability (MSI), tumor mutational burden (TMB), and immune infiltration was investigated in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Immunohistochemistry staining was applied to detect METTL7A in 6 tumors. METTL7A was significantly decreased in 19 cancers in TCGA including LUAD. Alterations of METTL7A include amplification and mutation, and epigenetic alterations revealed increased promoter methylation may result in down-regulation of METTL7A in LUAD. We also found that METTL7A was linked to both TMB and MSI in LUAD. METTL7A was increasingly correlated with invasive immune cells, while being negatively associated with Macrophages M0, Mast cells activated, activated memory CD4 T cells, CD8 T cells, and follicular helper T cells in several tumors. Additionally, METTL7A showed similar correlation with immune therapy-related genes across cancers. Our biological validation found that the protein levels of METTL7A were down-regulated in breast cancer (BRCA), endometrioid cancer (UCEC), colon cancer (COAD), prostate cancer (PRAD), and kidney clear cell carcinoma (KIRC), as detected by immunohistochemistry staining. Overall, our work indicates that METTL7A may serve as promising diagnostic and prognostic indicator of LUAD, and our work sheds light on the potential immunological and prognostic roles of METTL7A in human cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benefiting from large-scale pretrained vision language models (VLMs), the performance of visual question answering (VQA) has approached human oracles. However, finetuning such models on limited data often suffers from overfitting and poor generalization issues, leading to a lack of model robustness. In this paper, we aim to improve input robustness from an information bottleneck perspective when adapting pretrained VLMs to the downstream VQA task. Input robustness refers to the ability of models to defend against visual and linguistic input variations, as well as shortcut learning involved in inputs. Generally, the representations obtained by pretrained VLMs inevitably contain irrelevant and redundant information for a specific downstream task, resulting in statistically spurious correlations and insensitivity to input variations. To encourage representations to converge to a minimal sufficient statistic in multimodal learning, we propose Correlation Information Bottleneck (CIB), which seeks a tradeoff between compression and redundancy in representations by minimizing the mutual information (MI) between inputs and representations while maximizing the MI between outputs and representations. Moreover, we derive a tight theoretical upper bound for the mutual information between multimodal inputs and representations, incorporating different internal correlations that guide models to learn more robust representations and facilitate modality alignment. Extensive experiments consistently demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed CIB in terms of input robustness and accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pledges to realize a vast array of new functionalities, such as frictionless consumer payment and money-transfer systems, as well as precise supervision of money circulation, thereby enabling a number of new financial instruments and monetary policy levers. This study proposes, from a system feedback loop and cybernetics perspective, a Dynamic Issuance Mechanism (DIM) for CBDC that can theoretically enhance the vitality of economic operations. In accordance with this mechanism, the central bank implements dynamic issuance by monitoring cash leakage in real-time, so as to maintain the stability of the amount of money circulating on the market, thereby boosting the currency turnover rate and financial vitality. To demonstrate the efficacy of the DIM, we employ the Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) tool to develop a macroeconomic simulation model for qualitative analysis that includes four entities: Central Bank, households, firms, and commercial banks. The multi-cycle operation process of the model includes a variety of economic indicators demonstrating that DIM has the potential to boost economic vitality and social production efficiency without exerting an adverse effect on citizens' incomes, commodity prices, or the stability of the macroeconomic system. Finally, the function principle and potential risks of DIM are explained from a systems perspective, which offers a novel perspective for the functional design of CBDC and highlights that the hierarchical structure is a meaningful domain as the developmental direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of the renewable platform molecule 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (5‐HMF) in multi‐component reaction with a diamine and an alkynone to generate seven‐membered 1,5‐benzodiazepines is described. Due to the sensitivity of 5‐HMF to strong acidic and basic conditions, the investigation required an in‐depth revisit of reaction parameters as compared to benchmark aldehydes. Among catalysts/solvents couples, ammonium acetate in ethanol proved to be a clean and efficient system. These optimized conditions were subsequently used to investigate the scope of the reaction providing a library of 1,5‐benzodiazepines in moderate to good yields from a wide range of diversely substituted diamines and alkynones or alkyl alkynoates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using the interactive big data between enterprises and stakeholders in social media, this paper investigates the views of different stakeholders on the disclosure of enterprise digital transformation. In view of the social media platform brings together different stakeholders, this paper uses the organizational hypocrisy theory to explore the stakeholders' Reflection on the hypocritical speech, decision-making and action strategies adopted in the disclosure of enterprise digital transformation. Through data mining and computer-aided emotion analysis, the posts of sina Weibo's top 500 Chinese enterprises from December 31, 2020 to December 31, 2021 and the reactions of stakeholders are retrieved and analyzed. It is found that stakeholders have different reactions to the hypocrisy strategies of enterprises. Although stakeholders pay more attention to information related to actions, and the disclosure of such actions will cause positive and negative reactions, the inconsistency of speech and decision-making will produce positive reactions and reduce negative impressions. Overall, research shows that the use of organizational hypocrisy strategies in social media can enable enterprises to manage the views and legitimacy of stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The source strength and sink demand as well as their interaction have been demonstrated to co-regulate the synthesis of starch and determine the grain quality, but the knowledge of the underlying physiological mechanisms is limiting. An indica variety, Yangdao 6, and a japonica variety, Jinxiangyu 1, were planted with three treatments, including normal growth plant (CK), leaf-cutting (LC) and spikelet-thinning (ST). The transcript levels of starch metabolic genes, physicochemical characteristics of starch and appearance, milling, cooking and tasting qualities of rice under different treatments were determined. The ST treatment increased the relative expression of genes related to the synthesis of short branch-chains of amylopectin (SSI, BEI, BEIIb) and amylose (GBSSI) and reduced the relative expression of medium-long to long branch-chains of amylopectin synthesis genes (SSIIa, SSIIIa, SSIIIb, ISA1). When comparing ST with the CK treatment, starch granules became smoother with higher contents of short branch-chains and lower ratios of medium-long and long branch-chains of amylopectin; the crystallinity and the value of 1045/1022 cm−1 was decreased; for pasting properties, the setback and pasting temperature were decreased; the peak viscosity, hot viscosity, breakdown and final viscosity were significantly increased. Meanwhile, the ST treatment improved the appearance, milling and cooking and tasting qualities. The opposite results were observed under the LC treatment. These results indicated that source strength and sink size would regulate expression levels of starch metabolic genes, which is pivotal for the contents of amylose and short/long branch chains ratio of amylopectin, thus changing the structure and physicochemical properties of starch and grain quality. Here, we speculated that the improved source strength in terms of higher leaf/canopy photosynthesis and small sink size, such as small panicle size, would be preferred traits in high grain quality rice breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To explore the relationship between circulating IGFBP-3, IL-6, and bone mineral density and the potential diagnostic role of circulating IGFBP-3 and IL-6 in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Methods. Eighty-five postmenopausal women at Soochow University's First Affiliated Hospital, Osteoporosis and Menopause Clinics, were recruited. Forty-five of 85 women were diagnosed with osteoporosis. Circulating IL-6, PTH, 1,25(OH)2D3, osteocalcin (OST), IGF-1, IGFBP-3, and bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine (LS) and femoral neck (FN) were measured in 40 ordinary and 45 osteoporotic women. A simple regression analysis calculated the correlation between age, BMD, IL-6, and IGFBP-3. Multiple stepwise regression analyses were conducted to determine which variables were independently related to BMD. The potential role of IGFBP-3 and IL-6 in the diagnosis of postmenopausal osteoporosis was predicted using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC, AUC). Results. Age, years since menopause, and circulating IL-6, PTH, and IGFBP-3 were significantly higher in the osteoporosis group compared to the normal group. Osteoporotic women had substantially lower BMDs of the LS and FN than normal women. Age-related increases were found for IGFBP-3 and IL-6, whereas age-related decreases were observed for LS/FN BMD. IGFBP-3 and IL-6 were both negatively correlated with LS and FN BMD. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that IGFBP-3 and IL-6 were strong predictors of BMD in postmenopausal women. AUC cut-off values (IGFBP-3: 3.65, IL-6: 0.205) were best evaluated for the diagnosis of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, and the AUC for circulating IGFBP-3 and IL-6 were 0.706 (95% CI 0.594–0.818) and 0.685 (95% CI 0.571–0.798), respectively. Conclusion. In this cross-sectional study of postmenopausal women, IGFBP-3 and IL-6 were negatively related to BMD. Circulating IGFBP-3 and IL-6 might be essential predictors of postmenopausal osteoporosis and can help predict osteoporotic fracture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semiconductor photolysis of aquatic hydrogen has become a research hotspot in recent years. Cadmium sulfide (CdS) photocatalyst has been drawn widespread interest due to good visible light absorption, proper energy band potential, and excellent electron-hole pair production rate and mobility. In this work, three morphologies of CdS were synthesized successfully using different cadmium salts and sulfur sources by solvothermal methods. Compared with CdS nanospheres and nanorods, CdS nanosheets photocatalyst could suppressed the photoogenic electron holes better, resulting its high photocatalytic hydrogen generation activity. CdS nanosheets with good photostability showed the fastest photocatalytic hydrogen production rate (12.37 mmol h−1 g−1) with the support of simulated solar-light irradiation. These results indicated that the excellent photocatalytic performance of CdS nanosheets may be related to its exposed high index (002) lattice plane, which was main photocatalytic active lattice plane. This work optimized the catalytic properties of materials by regulating the morphology and the exposure of different lattice planes, which were of great significance for solar energy capture and conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) insertion is the first-line treatment for atypical hyperplasia (AH) in young women who wish to retain their fertility. However, the procedure is not always effective, and may allow AH to progress to endometrioid endometrial cancer (EEC). Two young women with AH who wished to preserve their fertility developed EEC following 52-mg LNG-IUS in insertion at our institution. One was a 34-year-old woman diagnosed with endometrial cancer 2 years after LNG-IUS insertion. The second was a 30-year-old woman diagnosed 17 months after LNG-IUS insertion. Proactive molecular risk classification for endometrial cancer (ProMisE) classification revealed that the first and second patients had p53-abnormal (p53abn) EEC and mismatch repair deficient (MMR-d) EEC, respectively. MMR-d and p 53abn were frequently observed in both AH and EEC specimens. Studies suggest that MMR-d and p53abn are predictors of the occurrence adverse effects after fertility-preserving treatment for EEC. AH is a precursor of EEC. Therefore, p53 and mismatch repair (MMR) mutation may be used to identify women with AH who will not likely benefit from progestin therapy. Molecular assays in women with AH will likely be useful for identifying novel predictive biomarkers of progestin resistance and to improve the safety of conservative treatment. Combined assessment of progesterone receptor (PR) with these predictive molecular markers may improve the predictive ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Bile acid (BA) metabolism may be influenced by gut dysbiosis and alterations of intestinal epithelium in patients with Crohn's disease (CD). Here, we aimed at investigating the alterations of serum BA profile in CD patients and analyzing the correlation between BAs and CD disease activity. Methods. A total of 62 CD patients (29 active and 33 remission) and 33 healthy volunteers (HVs) were enrolled in this retrospective study. Serum BA profiles were measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Results. Levels of primary BAs components, including cholic acid (CA) and chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), showed no significant difference when compared with HVs. Secondary BAs (SBA) were significantly decreased in CD patients compared with HVs. Importantly, the deoxycholic acid (DCA) and glycodeoxycholic acid (GDCA) levels were significantly lower in CD active than in CD remission patients. The DCA/(DCA + CA) ratio was also decreased in CD active patients than in CD remission patients while the LCA/(LCA + CDCA) ratio showed no difference between them. Principal component analysis also indicated a clear separation among the three groups, with a total variance of 93.43%. The correlation analysis showed that the SBA, DCA, GDCA levels, and DCA/(DCA + CA) ratio had an inverse relationship with Crohn's Disease Activity Index. Conclusion. The BA profile exhibits significant alterations in CD patients. The SBA, DCA, GDCA levels, and DCA/(DCA + CA) ratio were significantly decreased in CD active patients. The DCA/(DCA + CA) ratio had an inverse correlation with CD disease activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs), the compounds resulting from the non-enzymatic glycosylation between reducing sugars and proteins, are derived from food or produced de novo. Over time, more and more endogenous and exogenous AGEs accumulate in various organs such as the liver, kidneys, muscle, and bone, threatening human health. Among these organs, bone is most widely reported. AGEs accumulating in bone reduce bone strength by participating in bone structure formation and breaking bone homeostasis by binding their receptors to alter the proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis of cells involved in bone remodeling. In this review, we summarize the research about the effects of AGEs on bone health and highlight their associations with bone health in diabetes patients to provide some clues toward the discovery of new treatment and prevention strategies for bone-related diseases caused by AGEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a rare but frequently lethal bone malignancy in children and adolescents. The adjuvant chemotherapy with doxorubicin (Dox) and cisplatin remains a mainstream clinical practice though it affords only limited clinical benefits due to low tumor deposition, dose-limiting toxicity and high rate of relapse/metastasis. Here, taking advantage of high IL-11Rα expression in the OS patients, we installed IL-11Rα specific peptide (sequence: cyclic CGRRAGGSC) onto redox-responsive polymersomes encapsulating Dox (IL11-PDox) to boost the specificity and anti-OS efficacy of chemotherapy. Of note, IL-11Rα peptide at a density of 20% greatly augmented the internalization, apoptotic activity, and migration inhibition of Dox in IL-11Rα-overexpressing 143B OS cells. The active targeting effect of IL11-PDox was supported in orthotopic and relapsed 143B OS models, as shown by striking repression of tumor growth and lung metastasis, and substantial survival benefits over free Dox control. We further verified that IL11-PDox could effectively inhibit patient-derived OS xenografts. IL-11Rα-targeted nanodelivery of chemotherapeutics provides a potential therapeutic strategy for advanced osteosarcoma. [Display omitted] • IL-11Rα is overexpressed in a majority of advanced osteosarcoma (OS) patients. • IL-11Rα specific peptide-polymersome-doxorubicin (IL11-PDox) actively targets OS cells. • IL11-PDox effectively represses OS growth and lung metastasis in orthotopic and relapsed models. • IL11-PDox shows significantly better inhibition of patient-derived OS xenografts than free Dox control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a natural gas purification plant adopts open circulating water system, which cannot work properly and hinder the normal production of natural gas due to the problems such as scaling and blockage in the operation of heat exchanger device was reported. Qualities of the make‐up water and recirculating cooling water were evaluated by parameters such as hardness, alkalinity, pH, and conductivity. X‐ray diffraction (XRD), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and optical microscope were employed to study the crystal structure, composition, and morphology of the scale deposits. The flow rate of the water in the tube bundle was calculated according to the design scale of these exchangers. The Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) was used to analyze the scale tendency of the cooling water system. The scale inhibition performance of the inhibitor was verified by static inhibition method. Results show that the scale mainly contains calcium carbonate, and the quality of circulating water is reasonably controlled with a proper range. However, there are three units sharing one cooling water system, of which the flow rate cannot be adjusted according to the actual heat load. The calculation results confirmed that the circulating water velocity in the tube bundle did not exceed 0.9 m/s. Although the scale inhibitor has a scale inhibition efficiency of more than 90% for the simulated circulating water at 80°C, the LSI analysis results showed that the high local temperature on the surface of the tube bundle caused by the low flow rate of water will increase the scaling tendency of the heat exchanger. Furthermore, the untimely injection of the inhibitor in the daily management and operation also greatly increased the risk of system scaling. This paper proves that the scaling of circulating water heat exchanger in the purification plant is mainly caused by device design and poor daily management. In order to prevent future failures, potential solutions and mitigation strategies were put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide, with Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection being the leading cause. This study aims to investigate the role of HBV in HCC pathogenesis involving glucose metabolism. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) OIP5-AS1 was significantly downregulated in HBV-positive HCC patients, and its low expression indicated a poor prognosis. This lncRNA was primarily localized in the cytoplasm, acting as a tumor suppressor. HBV protein X (HBx) repressed OIP5-AS1 expression by inhibiting a ligand-activated transcriptional factor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα). Furthermore, mechanistic studies revealed that OIP5-AS1 inhibited tumor growth by suppressing Hexokinase domain component 1 (HKDC1)-mediated glycolysis. The expression of HKDC1 could be enhanced by transcriptional factor sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1). OIP5-AS1 facilitated the ubiquitination and degradation of SREBP1 to suppress HKDC1 transcription, which inhibited glycolysis. The results suggest that lncRNA OIP5-AS1 plays an anti-oncogenic role in HBV-positive HCC via the HBx/OIP5-AS1/HKDC1 axis, providing a promising diagnostic marker and therapeutic target for HBV-positive HCC patients. • HBV protein X suppresses lncRNA OIP5-AS1 expression in HBV-related HCC. • OIP5-AS1 inhibits tumor progression by suppressing the HKDC1-mediated glycolysis. • OIP5-AS1 mediated ubiquitination of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • An energy band-matched efficient photo-Fenton-like reactor was constructed. • Graphitic carbon ring induced successive built-in electric field for PMS activation. • CoWO 4 /GD-CN universally degraded representative contaminants in different fields. • The reaction mechanism enhanced by gradient graphitic carbon rings was proposed. The heterojunction with matched energy band enables efficient peroxymonosulfate (PMS)-based photo-Fenton-like reaction. Nevertheless, the rapid photogenerated charge separation and transfer has been challenging. Herein, we precisely constructed an efficient heterogeneous photo-Fenton-like reactor with successive built-in electric field by gradient doping of coplanar graphitic carbon rings (C gra) into cobalt tungstate/graphitic carbon nitride (CoWO 4 /GD-CN) heterostructure. The as-prepared CoWO 4 /GD-CN exhibited remarkable enhancement with a tetracycline hydrochloride degradation rate constant (0.776 min−1) higher than that of CoWO 4 /CN (0.507 min−1). Theoretical and experimental results demonstrated that the successive built-in electric field enhanced by gradient-doped coplanar C gra ring accelerated photogenerated electrons transfer from the innermost to the outmost layer of CoWO 4 /GD-CN. This transfer drove Co(III)/Co(II) conversion for accelerated PMS activation, leading to enhanced degradation reactivity. CoWO 4 /GD-CN had excellent degradability towards representative contaminants, including carbamazepine (1.0 min−1), 4-chlorophenol (0.920 min−1), sulfamethoxazole (0.90 min−1), bisphenol A (0.933 min−1), atrazine (0.829 min−1), ciprofloxacin (0.589 min−1) and norfloxacin (0.617 min−1) in CoWO 4 /GD-CN/PMS/vis system, respectively. This work provided a novel insight into the gradient-dope modulated photo-Fenton-like reaction and guided the design of efficient photo-Fenton-like reactor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was aimed at investigating the influence of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) hormone on oocyte maturation in the patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). A total of 54 patients with PCOS who received in vitro maturation (IVM) treatment in the Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, were divided into two groups: one group who underwent hCG injections was the observation group (OG; n = 27) and other was the control group (CG; n = 27) with no hCG injection. The oocyte development and the expression of steroid hormone synthesis-related genes including gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor (GnRHR), Conexin43, epidermal growth factor-related genes, luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotropin receptor (LHCGR), epiregulin (EREG), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were examined. The human ovarian granulosa cell line (SVOG cells) and ovarian epithelial cell line (HOSEpiC cells) were employed to analyze the effect of hCG on the biological behaviour of cells. As a result, OG showed higher normal fertilization, cleavage, and high-qualified embryo rate than CG. Expression levels of GnRHR, Cx43, LHCGR, EREG, and VEGF were significantly elevated in granulosa cells in the OG group. Western blot revealed that phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (AKT), and rapamycin (mTOR) proteins were decreased in granulosa cells under hCG intervention. A biological behaviour test indicated that the multiplication capacity of hCG-intervened SVOG and HOSEpiC was increased, while the apoptosis was decreased. In conclusion, hCG could accelerate follicular development and oocyte maturation by activating oocyte maturation genes in PCOS patients, which could significantly improve and popularize the application of IVM technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atomically dispersed metal catalysts have been widely used in electrocatalysis because of their outstanding catalytic activity and high atomic utilization efficiency. As an extension of single‐atom catalysts (SACs), dual‐atom catalysts (DACs) provide new insights for the development of atomic‐scale catalysts. Higher metal loading and more flexible active sites endow DACs with improved catalytic performance as well as optimized reaction mechanism model. In this review, DACs are firstly classified according to their configurations and metal sites. Subsequently, the synthetic strategies and characterization techniques of DACs are introduced. Furthermore, the applications of DACs are exemplified in various electrocatalytic reactions, including oxygen reduction reaction, oxygen evolution reaction and carbon dioxide reduction reaction. Finally, the prospects to be expected and challenges to be faced with are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the progress of the Internet of things technology in recent years, all aspects of people's lives have also been affected. More and more people are immersed in the virtual world and ignore the real activities. According to the survey, nearly 50% of people in China are in subhealth, mainly modern diseases caused by long-term inactivity. Therefore, to form a good habit of physical exercise, we must start from an early age. Starting from the physical education teaching in primary and secondary schools and from the perspective of modern scientific and technological facilities, this paper discusses the practical sports analysis and action optimization of physical education teaching based on the perception of the Internet of things. Starting from the practice of Internet of things sensor sensing in physical education teaching, we have successively determined the multisensor motion acquisition system algorithm, motion pattern recognition algorithm, and motion energy consumption algorithm, which provides modern equipment for motion analysis and motion optimization in physical education teaching practice, which breaks the current situation that traditional teachers spend a lot of time and energy for students. Combining sports mode with sports energy consumption can not only analyze sports data accurately and in real time but also optimize and predict students' sports behavior in time. We hope to supervise and urge primary and secondary school students to exercise through technical means to improve the quality of primary and secondary school students' exercise and improve people's health through physical exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crowdfunding, as an emerging phenomenon of enterprise after entrepreneurship financing, has maintained rapid and sustained growth in recent years. For crowdfunding environmental protection enterprises, one of the main challenges in financing is to reduce the uncertainty of public investors about the quality, management level, and products or services of crowdfunding projects. After reading the text of crowdfunding projects, the public investors have a subjective impression of the crowdfunding environmental protection projects, which determines the public investors' judgment on the risks and prospects of environmental protection projects and the willingness to invest. Therefore, the texts of crowdfunding projects are very important. In this paper, the data of 130 crowdfunding environmental protection projects on the Modian website are selected, and the ordinal logistic regression model is used. This paper explores the influence of language style in the description text and brand name in the title text on crowdfunding performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although there are many hypotheses, the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease (CD) is not completely clear so far. Exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) is a routine measure in the treatment of active CD. We aimed at investigating the impact of EEN on patients with active CD from microbial metabolomics.Methods: 16S-rDNA sequencing technology and gas chromatography-mass spectrometer analysis were employed to investigate the modification of the intestinal flora and fecal short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) during the EEN.Results: Seven patients with CD, who conducted EEN, were followed up successfully in the present study. The 8-week EEN resulted in a remission of the condition of subjects with active CD, as revealed by a significant decrease in erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (P = 0.018), C-reactive protein (CRP) (P = 0.028), and Crohn's disease activity index (CDAI) (P = 0.018). The nutrition of the subjects was improved after an 8-week treatment course with EEN, which was associated with an increase in body mess index (BMI) (P = 0.018) and serum albumin (ALB) (P = 0.018) levels. Furthermore, our investigations revealed a significantly increased abundance of Firmicutes paralleled by decreased levels of Proteobacteria. With respect to the genus, five species of bacteria including Ruminococcus (P = 0.01), Lachnospiraceae (P = 0.02), Anaerotruncus (P = 0.04), Flavonifractor (P = 0.04), and Novosphingobium (P = 0.05) showed significantly increased abundance. This was accompanied by relative changes in fecal short-chain fatty acids levels. Moreover, we successfully constructed a stable model by combining these five significantly different genera to predict the therapeutic effect of EEN on patients with CD (AUC = 0.9598).Conclusions: The findings indicated that EEN can alleviate the condition and the nutrition of patients with active CD by regulating the intestinal flora and influencing the expression level of fecal short-chain fatty acids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although there are many hypotheses, the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease (CD) is not completely clear so far. Exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) is a routine measure in the treatment of active CD. We aimed at investigating the impact of EEN on patients with active CD from microbial metabolomics. Methods: 16S-rDNA sequencing technology and gas chromatography–mass spectrometer analysis were employed to investigate the modification of the intestinal flora and fecal short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) during the EEN. Results: Seven patients with CD, who conducted EEN, were followed up successfully in the present study. The 8-week EEN resulted in a remission of the condition of subjects with active CD, as revealed by a significant decrease in erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (P = 0.018), C-reactive protein (CRP) (P = 0.028), and Crohn's disease activity index (CDAI) (P = 0.018). The nutrition of the subjects was improved after an 8-week treatment course with EEN, which was associated with an increase in body mess index (BMI) (P = 0.018) and serum albumin (ALB) (P = 0.018) levels. Furthermore, our investigations revealed a significantly increased abundance of Firmicutes paralleled by decreased levels of Proteobacteria. With respect to the genus, five species of bacteria including Ruminococcus (P = 0.01), Lachnospiraceae (P = 0.02), Anaerotruncus (P = 0.04), Flavonifractor (P = 0.04), and Novosphingobium (P = 0.05) showed significantly increased abundance. This was accompanied by relative changes in fecal short-chain fatty acids levels. Moreover, we successfully constructed a stable model by combining these five significantly different genera to predict the therapeutic effect of EEN on patients with CD (AUC = 0.9598). Conclusions: The findings indicated that EEN can alleviate the condition and the nutrition of patients with active CD by regulating the intestinal flora and influencing the expression level of fecal short-chain fatty acids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an optimization-based control framework for the autonomous forced landing of a fixed-wing unmanned aircraft (UA). A two-level model-predictive control (MPC) scheme is proposed to realize this framework, where an economic model-predictive control (EMPC) in a long piecewise constant fashion is proposed at the high level, while a short fixed-horizon linear time-varying MPC at the low level responds to fast dynamics of UA and tracks the optimal path provided by the high-level controller, alleviating computational burden compared to the high-frequency single-layer MPC scheme. Compared with a single EMPC setup with high sampling frequency, this hierarchical EMPC controller can significantly reduce the computational complexity and make it feasible to be implemented in real time. In addition, it also responds to disturbances (e.g., wind) and aircraft fast dynamics in a timely manner. The recursive feasibility and stability of the high- and low-level MPC schemes are established. The performance of the proposed EMPC forced landing function is illustrated by simulation case studies on both Aerosonde and Skywalker X8, compared favorably with competing schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many scientific fields, partly interval‐censored data, which consist of exactly observed and interval‐censored observations on the failure time of interest, appear frequently. However, methodological developments in the analysis of partly interval‐censored data are relatively limited and have mainly focused on additive or proportional hazards models. The general linear transformation model provides a highly flexible modeling framework that includes several familiar survival models as special cases. Despite such nice features, the inference procedure for this class of models has not been developed for partly interval‐censored data. We propose a fully Bayesian approach coped with efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to fill this gap. A four‐stage data augmentation procedure is introduced to tackle the challenges presented by the complex model and data structure. The proposed method is easy to implement and computationally attractive. The empirical performance of the proposed method is evaluated through two simulation studies, and the model is then applied to a dental health study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bile acid diarrhoea or BAD is a common but little recognised cause of chronic diarrhoea. Few of these patients in China have been diagnosed due to a lack of diagnostic options. Aims: To clarify the diagnostic value of serum fibroblast growth factor19 (FGF19) in BAD patients. Methods: We reported on 60 chronic diarrhoea patients and 80 healthy volunteers (HV). Based on the 90th percentile levels of serum 7a-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one (C4) of HV, these patients were divided into BAD group (C4 ≥ 90th) and non-bile acid diarrhoea group (NBAD, C4 < 90th). Serum FGF19 in the two clinical groups and HV group were compared, as was distal ileum FGF19 in clinical groups. The diagnostic value of serum FGF19 for BAD was evaluated. Results: The 90th percentile of serum C4 in HV group was 65.87 ng/ml. Serum FGF19 concentrations in BAD group (Median 69.28 pg/ml; n = 23) were significantly lower than those in HV (Median 122.18 pg/ml; n = 80) and NBAD (Median 129.57 pg/ml; n = 29) groups. FGF19 mRNA of the distal ileum in BAD group, was lower than that in NBAD group, P = 0.002. The rate of FGF19 protein low expression of distal ileum in BAD and NBAD group were 78.3% and 48.3%, P = 0.027. Using an ROC curve, statistical analysis yielded a threshold FGF19 concentration of 117.3 pg/ml (AUC, 0.906; 91.3% sensitivity, 79.3% specificity) for a clinical diagnosis of BAD. Conclusions: Serum and distal ileum expression of FGF19 significantly decreased in BAD patients. The suggested clinical ranges for serum FGF19 < 117.3 pg/ml has high sensitivity and specificity for BAD patients with a normal structural and histological ileum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We give the necessary and sufficient conditions for all weight spaces of the highest weight irreducible module V (ϕ) of the q -Klein-bottle Lie algebra B to be finite dimensional. We prove that the irreducible highest weight module V (ϕ) equals to the Verma B -module V ¯ (ϕ) if and only if V (ϕ) has at least one infinite-dimensional weight space. We also give the maximal proper submodule of the Verma module V ¯ (ϕ) and the e -character of the irreducible highest weight B -module V (ϕ) when the highest weight ϕ satisfies some natural conditions. Furthermore, we give the classification of the Harish-Chandra B -modules with nontrivial central charge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breaking hydrogen bond in metal free carbon nitride (CN) to increase peroxymonosulfate (PMS) adsorption for surface-mediated electron transfer has been challenging. Herein, we incorporated N−C N monomer into CN to break hydrogen bond by the introduction of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The developed nonradical oxidation system achieved selective decomposition of highly hydrophilic contaminants and efficient removal of chemical oxygen demand (58.0%), total phosphorus (88.1%), ammonia nitrogen (100.0%) and total nitrogen (67.8%) from the secondary effluent in a continuous flow reactor. This was attributed to that the breakage of hydrogen bond accelerated the redistribution of electron densities at C and N sites, leading to an increase in the adsorption energy of N site to PMS. This promoted the formation of PVP/CN-PMS* complex for the selective and efficient removal of organics and inorganics. This work provided a new perspective for the selective and long-term treatment of practical wastewater. [Display omitted] • Surface-mediated electron transfer system was constructed by breaking hydrogen bond. • The effect of hydrogen bond in carbon nitride on PMS activation pathway was revealed. • PVP/CN/PMS/vis system selectively remove highly hydrophilic contaminants. • The efficient and continuous flow treatment of practical wastewater was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The superoxide radical (•O 2 −)-mediated peroxymonosulfate (PMS)-based photo-Fenton-like reaction enables highly selective water decontamination. Nevertheless, the targeted construction of •O 2 −-mediated photo-Fenton-like system has been challenging. Herein, we developed an electron-rich/-poor dual sites driven •O 2 −-mediated cascade photo-Fenton-like system by modulating electron density. Experimental and theoretical results demonstrated that PMS was preferentially adsorbed on electron-poor Co site. This adsorption promoted O−O bond cleavage of PMS to generate hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2), which then migrated to electron-rich O site to extract e g electrons for O−H bond cleavage, rather than competing with PMS for Co site. The developed versatile cascade reaction system could selectively eliminate contaminants with low n-octanol/water partition constants (K OW) and dissociation constants (pKa) and remarkably resist inorganics (Cl−, H 2 PO 4 − and NO 3 −), humic acid (HA) and even real water matrices (tap water and secondary effluent). This finding provided a novel and plausible strategy to accurately and efficiently generate •O 2 − for the selective water decontamination. [Display omitted] • Redistributing electron density to construct dual sites accelerated cascade reaction. • The contaminants selective degradation behavior by •O 2 − was revealed. • The CuCoO/O-CN/PMS/vis system was stable and resistant to environmental interference. • The effect of oxygen dope on the contaminant degradation pathway was demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thyroid hormone (TH) and thyroid hormone receptor (THR) regulate stem cell proliferation and differentiation during development, as well as during tissue renewal and repair in the adult. THR undergoes posttranslational modification by small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO). We generated the THRA (K283Q/K288R)−/− mouse model for in vivo studies and used human primary preadipocytes expressing the THRA sumoylation mutant (K283R/K288R) and isolated preadipocytes from mutant mice for in vitro studies. THRA mutant mice had reduced white adipose stores and reduced adipocyte cell diameter on a chow diet, compared to wild-type, and these differences were further enhanced after a high fat diet. Reduced preadipocyte proliferation in mutant mice, compared to wt, was shown after in vivo labeling of preadipocytes with EdU and in preadipocytes isolated from mice fat stores and studied in vitro. Mice with the desumoylated THRA had disruptions in cell cycle G1/S transition and this was associated with a reduction in the availability of cyclin D2 and cyclin-dependent kinase 2. The genes coding for cyclin D1, cyclin D2, cyclin-dependent kinase 2 and Culin3 are stimulated by cAMP Response Element Binding Protein (CREB) and contain CREB Response Elements (CREs) in their regulatory regions. We demonstrate, by Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay, that in mice with the THRA K283Q/K288R mutant there was reduced CREB binding to the CRE. Mice with a THRA sumoylation mutant had reduced fat stores on chow and high fat diets and reduced adipocyte diameter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to solve the credit problems in the supply chain commodity and currency circulation links from the perspective of the ledger, while the game model method has been adopted. The research firstly reviews the relationship between distributed ledger technology and the essential functions of currency. Then, by constructing two-agent single-period and multi-period game models in the entire supply chain, the researchers analysed the incentive mechanism and equilibrium solution of distributed nodes of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The results of this study include the incentive mechanism and optimization of distributed nodes based on licensed distributed ledger technology, which is an important issue that CBDC faces when performing currency functions. The implications of this study mainly cover the limitations of the underlying technology of the public chain and its reward mechanism in the supply chain management and provide support for the rationality of the CBDC issuance mechanism based on state-owned commercial banks, which provides a reference for the CBDC practice. The main value of the research not only serves the decision-making department of the CBDC issuance but also provides ideas on the operation mode of digital currency for the field of digital currency research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background End-of-life care attracts major policy interest. Place of death is an important metric of individual experience and health system performance. Most people prefer to die at home, but hospital is the most common place of death in high-income countries. Little is known about international trends in place of death over time. Methods We aimed to collate population-level data on place of death in Europe from 2005 to 2017, and to evaluate association with national characteristics and policy choices. We sought data on hospital as the place of death from the 32 European Economic Area countries. We identified national economic, societal, demographic and health system predictors from Eurostat, OECD and the WHO. We analyzed these cross-national panel data using linear regression with panel-corrected standard errors. Results Our analytic dataset included 30 countries accounting for over 95% of Europe's population. Average national proportion of deaths occurring in hospital in the study period ranged from 26% to 68%, with a median of 52%. Trends vary markedly by region and wealth, with low and decreasing rate in the North–West, and high and increasing prevalence in the South and East. Controlling for demographic and economic factors, strong palliative care provision and generous government finance of long-term care were associated with fewer hospital deaths. Conclusions We found modifiable policy choices associated with hospital mortality, as well as wider structural economic and societal factors. Policymakers can act to reduce the proportion of dying in hospital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • MnCo 2 O 4 doped g-C 3 N 4 nanosheets were successfully synthesized. • Excellently degradation performance of pollutants was reached in PMS/vis system. • The degradation mechanism of MnCo 2 O 4 /g-C 3 N 4 /PMS/vis system was proposed. • A possible tetracycline hydrochloride degradation pathway was analyzed. Peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation by heterogeneous transition metal oxides is an effective approach for treating emerging pollutants in water. However, the low PMS activation efficiency associated with the valency conversion rate of transition metals has been a major challenge to sulfate radical-based oxidation. In this work, manganese cobaltate (MnCo 2 O 4) nanoparticles anchored on graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4) flakes (MnCo 2 O 4 /g-C 3 N 4) were successfully prepared and showed high PMS activation efficiency under visible (Vis) light. The obtained catalysts degraded 96.1% of the tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) through the synergistic effect of PMS and photocatalysis. The reaction rate constant (0.2505 min−1) was 5.3 and 1.8 times higher in the MnCo 2 O 4 /g-C 3 N 4 /PMS/Vis system than in the pristine g-C 3 N 4 (0.0471 min−1) and MnCo 2 O 4 (0.1435 min−1) systems, respectively. The characterization results verified that g-C 3 N 4 , which functions as the electron donor in the photocatalytic heterojunction system, could transmit numerous photogenerated electrons to MnCo 2 O 4 , thereby increasing the cyclability of divalent-trivalent metal ions. The composites also showed good stability, cycling capability, and cation/anion tolerance. Tentative degradation mechanism and reaction pathways were proposed based on the reactive species and degradation products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main observation and conclusion: By a strategy of fine‐tuning of packing mode between the adjacent layers in a 2D net metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) through ligand changing, two 2D sql‐type MOFs with highly selective CO2 uptake, CuHIN and CuHPB, were successfully synthesized. Compared with the precursor MOF‐2, the fine‐tuning structure of CuHIN shows selective adsorption of CO2 over N2 and CH4 with the CO2 uptake amounts as high as 4.7 wt% at 0.15 bar and at 298 K, and CO2 selectivity towards N2 and CH4 is 165.8 and 10.22 at 1 bar and at 298 K, respectively. In addition, for the 2D MOFs, the dynamic porous structure depends on the interaction of the adjacent layers. The suitable interaction is good for gliding smoothly and gas adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Uterine rhabdomyosarcoma is an extremely rare malignant tumor that usually affects young women and has a poor prognosis.Case Presentation: A 19-year-old nulliparous woman presented to the emergency department under sedation due to seizures. Imaging examination revealed cerebral venous thrombosis. During thrombolytic therapy, she developed vaginal bleeding followed by uterine inversion secondary to uterine rhabdomyosarcoma. The inverted uterus was mistaken for a cervical tumour and was removed vaginally. The patient's disease progressed despite chemotherapy with vincristine, actinomycin D and cyclophosphamide and she died within 6 months. To our knowledge, this is the first case of uterine rhabdomyosarcoma complicated with cerebral venous thrombosis.Conclusions: Malignancy is an important diagnostic in patients with cerebral venous thrombosis with no obvious cause. This case demonstrates the importance of considering uterine neoplasms in the differential diagnosis of adolescent girls with abnormal uterine bleeding. Further, careful anatomical evaluation of vaginal masses should be performed prior to surgical intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Magnetic p-n Bi 2 WO 6 /CuFe 2 O 4 for efficient photo-Fenton-like was fabricated. • Different ROS-dominated dark-and photo-Fenton-like reactions were explored. • Possible degradation pathways of TCH and products toxicity were analyzed. The extensive use of tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) poses a threat to human health and the aquatic environment. Here, magnetic p-n Bi 2 WO 6 /CuFe 2 O 4 catalyst was fabricated to efficiently remove TCH. The obtained Bi 2 WO 6 /CuFe 2 O 4 exhibited 92.1% TCH degradation efficiency and 50.7% and 35.1% mineralization performance for TCH and raw secondary effluent from a wastewater treatment plant in a photo-Fenton-like system, respectively. The remarkable performance was attributed to the fact that photogenerated electrons accelerated the Fe(III)/Fe(II) and Cu(II)/Cu(I) conversion for the Fenton-like reaction between Fe(II)/Cu(I) and H 2 O 2 , thereby generating abundant •OH for pollutant oxidation. Various environmental factors including H 2 O 2 concentration, initial pH, catalyst dosage, TCH concentration and inorganic ions were explored. The reactive oxidation species (ROS) quenching results and electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra confirmed that •O 2 − and •OH were responsible for the dark and photo-Fenton-like systems, respectively. The degradation mechanisms and pathways of TCH were proposed, and the toxicity of products was evaluated. This work contributes a highly efficient and environmentally friendly catalyst and provides a clear mechanistic explanation for the removal of antibiotic pollutants in environmental remediation. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multimedia is inconvenient to use, difficult to maintain, and redundant in data storage. In order to solve the above problems and apply cloud storage to the integration of university teaching resources, this paper designs a virtualized cloud storage platform for university multimedia classrooms. The platform has many advantages, such as reducing the initial investment in multimedia classrooms, simplifying management tasks, making maximum use of actual resources and easy access to resources. Experiments and analysis show the feasibility and effectiveness of the platform. Aiming at the problems of the single-node repair algorithm of the existing multimedia cloud storage system, the limited domain is large, the codec complexity is high, the disk I/O (Input/Output) cost is high, the storage overhead and the repair bandwidth are unbalanced, and a network coding-based approach is proposed. Multimedia cloud storage. System single node repair algorithm. The algorithm stores the grouped multimedia file data in groups in the system, and performs XOR (exclusive OR) on the data in the group on the GF(2) finite field. When some nodes fail, the new node only needs to be connected. Two to three non-faulty nodes in the same group can accurately repair the data in the failed node. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the algorithm can reduce the complexity and repair of the codec, and reduce the disk I/O overhead. In this case, the storage cost of the algorithm is consistent with the storage cost based on the minimum storage regeneration code algorithm, and the repair bandwidth cost is close to the minimum bandwidth regeneration code algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss the inference problem about the Box-Cox transformation model when one faces left-truncated and right-censored data, which often occur in studies, for example, involving the cross-sectional sampling scheme. It is well-known that the Box-Cox transformation model includes many commonly used models as special cases such as the proportional hazards model and the additive hazards model. For inference, a Bayesian estimation approach is proposed and in the method, the piecewise function is used to approximate the baseline hazards function. Also the conditional marginal prior, whose marginal part is free of any constraints, is employed to deal with many computational challenges caused by the constraints on the parameters, and a MCMC sampling procedure is developed. A simulation study is conducted to assess the finite sample performance of the proposed method and indicates that it works well for practical situations. We apply the approach to a set of data arising from a retirement center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Structure engineering of solution-processed precursor films enables fabrication of highly efficient CISSe solar cells under low temperature selenization. • Extra layer of Cu 2 S is inserted into precursor film for forming enough Cu 2−x Se to facilitate grain growth at low temperature. • Characterizations show that new structure improves the quality of CISSe absorber. • An efficiency of 6.13% is achieved from the new structure which is only 3.83% for normal structure. Fabrication of flexible Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se) 2 (CIGS) thin-film solar cell via precursor solution is a promising approach due to its perfect compatibility with roll-to-roll production. So far, polyimide (PI) is the most suitable substrate for flexible CIGS solar cell because of many advantages such as low cost, light weight, good insulativity and free of metallic impurities. However, PI has not been used in solution-processed approach because PI cannot tolerate the annealing process (selenization) at high temperature (≥550 °C) which is normally required for most of highly efficient CIGS solar cells fabricated via precursor solution. Here, we report low temperature (450 °C) fabrication of CuIn(S,Se) 2 (CISSe) absorber by carefully engineering the structure of solution-processed precursor film. By adding extra Cu 2 S into solution-processed CuInS 2 (CIS) precursor films through structure engineering of Mo/In 2 S 3 /Cu 2 S (bilayer), Mo/CIS/Cu 2 S/(CIS/Cu 2 S) 3 /CIS (multilayer), enough Cu 2−x Se is formed in low temperature selenization which facilitates the formation process of CISSe absorber. Characterizations using XRD, Raman, SEM and EDX show that absorbers fabricated from precursor films with new structures favor the sufficient selenization, resulting in much better morphology and higher photovoltaic performance than the absorber fabricated from precursor film with normal structure of Mo/CIS (single layer). After preliminary optimization, efficiencies of 5.01% and 6.13% have been achieved in CISSe solar cells fabricated from precursor films with new structures which is only 3.83% from normal structure. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of fabricating efficient chalcopyrite solar cells via precursor solution in low temperature selenization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Comprehensive understanding glioma metabolic characters is of great help for patient management. We aimed to compare amide proton transfer imaging (APTw) and magnetization transfer imaging (MT) in predicting glioma malignancy and reflecting tumor proliferation. Methods: Thirty low-grade gliomas (LGGs) and 39 high-grade gliomas (HGGs) were prospectively included, of which 58 samples Ki-67 levels were quantified. Anatomical MRI, APTw, and MT were scanned, and magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) and asymmetric magnetic transfer ratio at 3.5 ppm (MTRasym(3.5ppm)) were calculated. ROIs were semi-automatically drawn with ImageJ, from which histogram features, including 5th, 25th, 50th, mean, 70th, 90th, and 95th percentiles were extracted. The independent t test was used to test differences in LGGs and HGGs, and correlations between histogram features and tumor grades, Ki-67 were revealed by Spearman's rank or Pearson's correlation analysis. Results: The maximum correlation coefficient (R) values of APTw were 0.526 (p < 0.001) with tumor grades and 0.397 (p < 0.001) with Ki-67 at 90th percentiles, while only 5th and 25th percentiles of MT significantly correlated with tumor grades. Moreover, APTw features were significantly different in LGGs and HGGs, except 5th percentile. The most significantly different feature was 95th percentile, providing the excellent AUC of 0.808. However, the best feature in MTR was 5th percentiles with AUC of 0.703. Combing 5th and 95th of APTw achieved highest AUC Of 0.837. Conclusions: Both APTw and MT provide quantitative information for tumor metabolite imaging. However, APTw supplys more specific information in reflecting glioma biological behaviors than MT, and well differentiates glioma malignancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antidepressant effect of hyperoside (HYP), which is the main component of Hypericum perforatum , is not established. This study aimed to determine the effects of HYP on depression. The antidepressant-like effect of HYP was studied in mice induced by chronic restraint stress (CRS). The effects of HYP on behavior, inflammation, neurotransmitters, gut microbiota, and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were studied in CRS mice. HYP improved depressive-like behavior in mice induced by CRS. Nissl staining analysis showed that HYP improved neuronal damage in CRS mice. Western blot (WB) analysis showed that HYP increased the expression levels of BDNF and PSD95 in the hippocampus of CRS mice. The results of ELISA showed that HYP down-regulated the expression levels of IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, and CORT in the hippocampus, blood, and intestinal tissues of mice and up-regulated the expression levels of 5-HT and BDNF. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining results indicate that HYP can improve the intestinal histopathological injury of CRS mice. The results of 16S rRNA demonstrated that HYP attenuated the dysbiosis of the gut microbiota of depressed mice, along with altering the concentration of SCFAs. In the present study, direct evidence that HYP improves depressive behaviors via gut microbiota and SCFAs is lacking, and only female mice were evaluated, which limits the understanding of the effects of HYP on both sexes. HYP can improve CRS-induced depressive-like behaviors in mice, which is associated with regulating the gut microbiota and SCFAs concentration. [Display omitted] • Hyperoside can improve CRS-induced depressive-like behaviors in mice. • Hyperoside can improve gut microbiota and SCFAs concentrations in CRS mice. • SCFAs and the gut microbiota play a role in hyperoside's antidepressant action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human intention prediction is of great significance in many applications, such as human-robot interaction, intelligent rehabilitation robots. This paper studies the problem of short-term next-active-object prediction in egocentric images. The short-term next-active-object refers to the object that a human is going to interact with in the short-term future, which is an embodiment of human intention. Most current methods usually use object-centered cues, such as the deviation of object appearance change and the unique shape of the egocentric object trajectory, to predict the next-active-object. In this paper, inspired by the fact that human intention is also revealed by human-centered cues, we propose a deep neural network model that integrates the cues from visual attention and hand positions to predict the next-active-object. Firstly, the probability maps of visual attention and hand positions are constructed, and then the probability distribution of next-active-object is generated. We experimentally compare our method with several baseline methods using two datasets and confirm its effectiveness. In addition, ablation experiments are conducted, and crucial points concerning the next-active-object are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional nitrogen-doped graphene (3D-NG) networks, yielded by hydrothermal reaction and freeze-drying treatment, were used as building blocks to construct a metal-free quadruplet electrochemical sensor for simultaneous detection of ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA), uric acid (UA), and acetaminophen (AP). The introduced 3D-NG materials with a 3D porous structure and a nitrogen doping effect were beneficial for the generation of multidimensional electron transfer pathways and the improvement of electrocatalytic activities by modulating their electronic properties, which could contribute to the effective differentiation of the four analytes in their quaternary mixture. Well-resolved oxidation peaks and enhanced response currents of AA, DA, UA, and AP were obtained from the 3D-NG-based electrodes. For the individual determination of one analyte, the linear concentration ranges of AA, DA, UA, and AP were 20–10 000, 1–1000, 0.5–1000, and 0.1–600 μM with detection limits of 3.91, 0.26, 0.12, and 0.02 μM (S/N = 3), respectively. After the synchronous change of the concentrations of AA, DA, UA, and AP, desirable linear relationships were observed in the ranges of 100–7000, 2–600, 1–800, and 10–550 μM with detection limits of 24.33, 0.37, 0.21, and 1.87 μM (S/N = 3), respectively. This sensitive sensing platform was successfully used to monitor AA, DA, UA, and AP in human urine samples, which indicated that 3D-NG could become a promising electrode material for the simultaneous monitoring of multiple electroactive species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conversion of CO 2 into useable energy materials through photocatalytic reactions has attracted much attention. In this paper, 2D BiOIO 3 /rod-shaped Zn-MOF type II heterojunction was constructed for efficient photocatalytic CO 2 reduction. XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, and photoelectrochemical characterization tests were used to investigate the physicochemical properties of the prepared photocatalysts. Under 300 W Xenon lamp without any sacrificial reagents, the composite material BiOIO 3 /Zn-MOF-15(BOIOZ-15) showed the best photocatalytic efficiency, with a CO generation rate of 58.82 μmol/g/h, which is 1.7 times that of BiOIO 3. The formation of a type II heterojunction between BiOIO 3 and Zn-MOF-15 reduced the photogenerated electron-hole pair compounding, enhanced the separation and transport of photogenerated carriers, and improved the photocatalytic reaction performance of the composites. BiOIO 3 /Zn-MOF possible photocatalytic mechanisms. [Display omitted] • The photocatalytic rate of BiOIO 3 /Zn-MOF-15 reduction to CO is 58.82 μmol/g/h, which is 1.7 times that of BiOIO 3. • BiOIO 3 /Zn-MOF-15 photocatalysts are successfully synthesized. • A type II heterojunction was formed between BiOIO 3 and Zn-MOF-15, which improved the photocatalytic reaction performance of the composite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Efficient 1O 2 nanogenerator was precisely constructed by regulating Fe spin state. • Low spin-state Fe induced nonradical conversion from H 2 O 2 to 1O 2. • The 1O 2 -dominated system selectively removed low ionization potential contaminants. • Stable Fh/BiOI transformed high-toxic contaminant into low-toxic products. • Fh/BiOI exhibited excellent mineralization performance towards secondary effluent. The hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2)-based photo-Fenton-like was a promising technology for the generation of singlet oxygen (1O 2), which was highly desirable in water purification. However, the yield of 1O 2 in traditional radical system was low due to the radical competition. Targeted construction of the non-radical system could solve the above issue, but it has been a challenge. In this study, we targetedly regulated the Fe spin state to efficiently generate 1O 2 in a nonradical path. The experimental and theoretical results demonstrated that low-spin FeIII enhanced H 2 O 2 adsorption, directly extracted electrons from H 2 O 2 to Fe center, and rapidly cleaved O–H bond to accelerate the recombination of *OOH with H 2 O 2 for efficient 1O 2 generation. This unique nonradical process differed obviously from the traditional radical pathway for 1O 2 generation. The developed 1O 2 -dominant 50Fh/BiOI/H 2 O 2 /vis system degraded 98.4% of TCH, which was higher than that in •OH-dominant Fh/H 2 O 2 /vis system (84.2%) and it had excellent resistance to various substances, including inorganic ions, dissolved organic matter and real water matrix (tap water and secondary effluent). This study enhanced our understanding of spin-state-dependent photo-Fenton-like reaction and inspired the targeted development of a new-generation selective wastewater treatment technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a crucial risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its underlying mechanism remains understudied. Methods: Microarray analysis was conducted to compare the genes and miRNAs in liver tissue from HBV-positive and HBV-negative HCC patients. Biological functions of these biomarkers in HBV-related HCC were validated via in vitro and in vivo experiments. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of HBV on the proliferation and migration of tumor cells in HBV-positive HCC tissue. Bioinformatics analysis was then performed to validate the clinical value of the biomarkers in a large HCC cohort. Results: We found that a gene, MINPP1 from the glycolytic bypass metabolic pathway, has an important biological function in the development of HBV-positive HCC. MINPP1 is down-regulated in HBV-positive HCC and could inhibit the proliferation and migration of the tumor cells. Meanwhile, miRNA-30b-5p was found to be a stimulator for the proliferation of tumor cell through glycolytic bypass in HBV-positive HCC. More importantly, miRNA-30b-5p could significantly downregulate MINPP1 expression. Metabolic experiments showed that the miRNA-30b-5p/MINPP1 axis is able to accelerate the conversion of glucose to lactate and 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate (2,3-BPG). In the HBV-negative HCC cells, miRNA-30b-5p/MINPP1 could not regulate the glycolytic bypass to promote the tumorigenesis. However, once HBV was introduced into these cells, miRNA-30b-5p/MINPP1 significantly enhanced the proliferation, migration of tumor cells, and promoted the glycolytic bypass. We further revealed that HBV infection promoted the expression of miRNA-30b-5p through the interaction of HBV protein P (HBp) with FOXO3. Bioinformatics analysis on a large cohort dataset showed that high expression of MINPP1 was associated with favorable survival of HBV-positive HCC patients, which could lead to a slower progress of this disease. Conclusion: Our study found that the HBp/FOXO3/miRNA-30b-5p/MINPP1 axis contributes to the development of HBV-positive HCC cells through the glycolytic bypass. We also presented miRNA-30b-5p/MINPP1 as a novel biomarker for HBV-positive HCC early diagnosis and a potential pharmaceutical target for antitumor therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]