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Abstract Objective To analyze the effect of transvesical laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (TVLRP) on sexual function and urinary continence. Method The data of 72 patients diagnosed with low-risk and localized prostate cancer, who underwent treatment at our hospital between January 2017 and June 2022, were retrospectively analyzed. All these patients underwent TVLRP under general anesthesia. Their serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA), urinary continence and erectile function were statistically analyzed. Results The operation went well with no intraoperative difficulties. The average surgical duration of 102 ± 22 min, coupled with the minimal intraoperative blood loss of 100 ± 32 mL, underscored the precision and efficacy of the surgical techniques employed. Following surgery, postoperative pathological assessments confirmed staging, revealing pT2a in 18 cases and pT2b in 54 cases, suggestive of localized tumors. Gleason scores ≤ 6 further indicated well-differentiated tumors, while consistently negative surgical margins affirmed the complete resection of tumors, reducing the likelihood of disease recurrence. Subsequent to the surgical intervention, the the average hospital stay was 13.94.1 days. A comprehensive 12-month follow-up revealed exceptionally high urinary continence rates, with 97.8% and 100% of patients achieving continence at 1 and 3 months postoperatively, respectively. Moreover, progressive improvement in erectile function recovery was observed, with recovery rates at 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively reaching 82.2%, 88.4%, and 93.5%, respectively. There was no biochemical regression. Conclusion Treatment of low-risk and localized prostate cancer by TVLRP has a satisfactory urinary continence and recovery of erectile function after operation, less and complications and definite tumor-control effect.

Abstract The mineralization mechanism responsible for the fossilization of archaeological textiles in close proximity to metal artifacts presents a sophisticated preservation process at both macro and micro levels. This study examines archaeological textiles dating from 2200 BC to AD 1900, sourced from three distinct archaeological sites. The focus is on understanding the microstructural degradation of fibers within a specific burial environment and the preservation achieved through mineralization. These archaeological fibers of archaeological textiles exhibit morphological preservation in the immediate vicinity of copper-based objects. Utilizing tools such as a digital camera, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM–EDS), high-resolution synchrotron-based microtomography (μCT), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), we examined fiber morphology, conducted elemental analysis, identified fiber types, and analyzed fiber characteristics. Our findings reveal the presence of smooth-surfaced wools and silks, fibers covered with calculi, and fiber impressions—all subjected to mineralization. These mineralized fibers can be categorized into three distinct stages of mineralization, each exhibiting varying carbon content. We inferred a correlation between mineralization rate and carbon content while also identifying mineralization density distribution on these textiles. Lastly, this study provides insights into the preservation states of textiles across three different mineralization stages, enriching our understanding of the deterioration of organic archaeological material.

IntroductionCitrus fruit is rich in important functional constituents such as flavonoids, phenolic acids terpenes and other functional substances that play an important role for treating clinical diseases or controlling major agricultural diseases and pests. Plant secondary metabolites have become one of the most important resources of novel lead compounds, especially young citrus fruits contain multiple functional substances. ‘Orah’, a type of citrus reticulata, is known for its fine appearance, productivity, delicious sweetness, late-maturing characteristics, and is widely cultivated in China. Fruit thinning and rootstock selection are commonly used agronomic measures in its production to ensure its quality and tree vigor. However, few studies have demonstrated the effects of these agronomic measures on the functional substances of ‘Orah’.MethodsIn this study, we used HPLC coupled with UV to detect the dynamic changes of fruit quality, 13 main flavonoids, 7 phenolic acids, 2 terpenes, synephrine and antioxidant capacity in both peel and pulp of citrus fruits grafted on four rootstocks (Red orange Citrus reticulata Blanco cv. red tangerine, Ziyang xiangcheng Citrus junos Sieb. ex Tanaka, Trifoliate orange Poncirus trifoliata L. Raf, and Carrizo citrange Citrus sinensis Osb.×P.trifoliate Raf) at six different developmental stages (from 90 DAF to 240 DAF).ResultsThe results indicated that rootstock can significantly affect the contents of functional constituents and antioxidant capacity in ‘Orah’. Additionally, it was found that pruning at either 90 DAF (days after flowering) or 150 DAF produced the most favorable outcomes for extracting functional substances. We also identified rootstock ‘Trifoliate orange’ has the highest total soluble solids (TSS) and ‘Ziyang xiangcheng’ to be the optimal in terms of comprehensive sensory of fruit quality, while ‘Red orange’ and ‘Ziyang xiangcheng’ are optimal in terms of functional substance quality, and ‘Red orange’ excels in antioxidant capacity.DiscussionOverall, the findings demonstrate the important role of rootstocks and developmental stage in shaping fruit sensory quality and functional substance synthesis, providing valuable insights for guiding rootstock selection, determining thinning time, and utilizing pruned fruits in a more informed manner.

The photonics-assisted millimeter-wave (MMW) communication technology is attractive to facilitate the MMW application in the upcoming B5G and 6G networks. However, its generated MMW signal by optical heterodyne detection usually suffers from serious laser phase noise, which will severely deteriorate the system performance. In this paper, based on a single dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator and a single-end photodetector, we first present a simple and spectrally efficient hybrid fiber-wireless double-sideband transmission by employing an overlapping frequency multiplexing scheme. That is, two independent wireless signals with an identical carrier frequency can be simultaneously transmitted in the hybrid fiber-wireless links. To recover the above two overlapped signals, and cancel the concomitant laser phase noise at the same time, a novel digital signal processing method for carrier extraction and signal recovery is further proposed. A proof-of-concept experiment using two independent 3-GBd quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) signals at W band (92.5 GHz) is performed. After up to 80-km fiber and 3-m wireless transmission, the two QPSK signals can be successfully demodulated, without using the traditional carrier phase estimation algorithm. The proposed scheme not only can double the spectral efficiency of conventional double sideband transmission scheme, but also is immune to its power fading phenomenon induced by chromatic dispersion and robust to the laser phase noise resulting from two free-running lasers in the photonics-assisted MMW communication link.

Background and objectiveCurrent data on the optimal treatment modality for ruptured anterior communicating artery (AComA) aneurysms are limited. We conducted this multicenter retrospective study to evaluate the safety and clinical outcomes of endovascular treatment (EVT) and microsurgical clipping (MC) for the treatment of ruptured AComA patients.MethodsPatients with ruptured AComA aneurysms were screened from the Chinese Multicenter Cerebral Aneurysm Database. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to adjust for baseline characteristic imbalances between the EVT and MC groups. The safety outcomes included total procedural complications, procedure-related morbidity/death and remedial procedure for complication. The primary clinical outcome was 2-year functional independence measured by the modified Rankin scale (mRS) score.ResultsThe analysis included 893 patients with ruptured AComA aneurysms (EVT: 549; MC: 346). PSM yielded 275 pairs of patients in the EVT and MC cohorts for comparison. Decompressive craniectomy being more prevalent in the MC group (19.3% vs. 1.5%, p < 0.001). Safety data revealed a lower rate of total procedural complications (odds ratio [OR] = 0.62, 95% CI 0.39–0.99; p = 0.044) in the EVT group and similar rates of procedure-related morbidity/death (OR = 0.91, 95% CI 0.48–1.73; p = 0.880) and remedial procedure for complication (OR = 1.35, 95% CI 0.51–3.69, p = 0.657) between the groups. Compared with that of MC patients, EVT patients had a greater likelihood of functional independence (mRS score 0–2) at discharge (OR = 1.68, 95% CI 1.14–2.50; p = 0.008) and at 2 years (OR = 1.89, 95% CI 1.20–3.00; p = 0.005), a lower incidence of 2-year all-cause mortality (OR = 0.54, 95% CI 0.31–0.93; p = 0.023) and a similar rate of retreatment (OR = 1.00, 95% CI 0.23–4.40; p = 1.000).ConclusionClinical outcomes after treatment for ruptured AComA aneurysms appear to be superior to those after treatment with MC, with fewer overall procedure-related complications and no increase in the retreatment rate. Additional studies in other countries are needed to verify these findings.

Dissection of neural circuitry underlying behaviors is a central theme in neurobiology. We have previously proposed the concept of chemoconnectome (CCT) to cover the entire chemical transmission between neurons and target cells in an organism and created tools for studying it (CCTomics) by targeting all genes related to the CCT in Drosophila. Here we have created lines targeting the CCT in a conditional manner after modifying GFP RNA interference, Flp-out, and CRISPR/Cas9 technologies. All three strategies have been validated to be highly effective, with the best using chromatin-peptide fused Cas9 variants and scaffold optimized sgRNAs. As a proof of principle, we conducted a comprehensive intersection analysis of CCT genes expression profiles in the clock neurons, uncovering 43 CCT genes present in clock neurons. Specific elimination of each from clock neurons revealed that loss of the neuropeptide CNMa in two posterior dorsal clock neurons (DN1ps) or its receptor (CNMaR) caused advanced morning activity, indicating a suppressive role of CNMa-CNMaR on morning anticipation, opposite to the promoting role of PDF-PDFR on morning anticipation. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of conditional CCTomics and its tools created here and establish an antagonistic relationship between CNMa-CNMaR and PDF-PDFR signaling in regulating morning anticipation.

Gas absorption and emission characteristics are very important for the prediction, inspection and prevention of coal and gas outburst disasters, which are related to the structural distribution characteristics of coal fractures closely. In this paper, the coal samples of No.2, No.4, No.8 and No.9 coal seams in Dongqu Coal Mine are selected, and the fractal dimension is used to quantitatively characterize the distribution of coal surface fractures. The relationship is studied between the characteristic parameters of fracture distribution and gas absorption and emission. The results show that the fractal dimension parameters of the fracture distribution on the coal surface are solved by fitting based on the fractal theory. The value range of the fractal dimension parameters is 1.4-1.5, and the development degree of primary fractures is No.9 coal seam>No.4 coal seam>No.8 coal seam>No.2 coal seam. The isothermal adsorption constants of coal and the initial velocity of gas emission are analyzed through the gas adsorption and emission experiment. The value range of adsorption constants a is 34.180-36.920 m3/t, while the value range of initial velocity of gas emission is 12-18 mL/s, which is consistent with the fractal dimension value. The correlation between fractal dimension parameters and gas adsorption and emission parameters of coal in Dongqu Coal Mine are statistically analyzed. It shows that there is a significant positive correlation between them. The fractal dimension value can characterize the values and capabilities of gas adsorption and emission of coal in this coal mine.

The benefits of citrus fruits are strongly associated with their secondary metabolites. In this study, we conducted widely targeted metabolomics analyses to compare the variability of the ingredients in four scion–rootstock combinations. A total of 376 differential metabolites were obtained by a multivariate statistical analysis, and a KEGG pathway analysis showed that the enriched metabolic pathways were mainly related to the biosynthesis of flavonoids as well as lipid metabolism. The anthocyanin-targeted metabolomic features showed that cyanidin 3-O-glucoside, cyanidin 3-O-(6-O-malonyl-beta-D-glucoside), cyanidin 3-O-sophoroside, and cyanidin 3-O-xyloside were the pigments responsible for the red color of Tarocco. A lipid metabolomics analysis revealed that when Tarocco was hetero-grafted with rootstock H, there was an increase in the content of each lipid subclass, accompanied by an increase in the levels of unsaturated fatty acids, including polyunsaturated linoleic and linolenic acids, thus impacting the ratio of unsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids. Additionally, we determined their antioxidant capacity (‘Trifoliate orange’ (Z) > ‘Citrange’ (ZC) > ‘Hongju’ (H) > ‘Ziyang Xiangcheng’ (X)) using in vitro assays. Finally, we utilized a network pharmacology analysis to explore the antioxidant mechanisms and potential pharmacological ingredients; we obtained 26 core targets proteins and 42 core metabolites associated with oxidative damage, providing a basis for future preventive and therapeutic applications of these metabolites.

We successfully demonstrate 32-Gbaud Probabilistically Shaped 4096-ary Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (PS-4096QAM) TeraHertz (THz) signal wired transmission at 325 ​GHz over the 1-m Hollow-Core Fiber (HCF) in a photon-assisted THz-wave communication system. By employing advanced Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and the PS technique, the 352-Gbit/s line rate (288-Gbit/s net rate) delivery with a net Spectral Efficiency (SE) of 9 bit/s/Hz is realized in the experiment, satisfying the 0.86-Normalized Generalized Mutual Information (NGMI) Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) threshold. © 2021 Elsevier Science. All rights reserved.

Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) is an intermediate in biosynthesis pathway of Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), an essential cofactor in all living cells involved in fundamental biological processes. Evidence stemming from recent studies have unveiled numerous roles of NAD+ metabolism on aging, longevity, delaying the progression of age-related diseases. A three-study genetic toxicity (genetox) battery (bacterial mutagenesis, in vitro cytogenetics, and in vivo mammalian test) is usually required to confirm safety of a new dietary ingredient and this study showed the data from in vivo mutagenicity test for the first time.The acute oral LD50 of NMN was greater than 2000 mg/kg body weight with 5000 mg/kg body weight as LD50 cut-off value and was classified under “Category 5 or Unclassified” as per Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). Based on 90 days repeated dose toxicity test the NOAEL was considered to be NLT 800 mg NMN/kg body weight in Wistar rats. The bacterial reverse mutation test, the in vitro and in vivo chromosomal aberration test, found NMN to be non-mutagenic. In the mammalian bone marrow chromosomal aberration test, it was concluded that NMN is non clastogenic at and up to 2,000 mg/kg body weight in all the animals tested to confirm safety of a new dietary ingredient and this study showed the data from in vivo mutagenicity test for the first time.

Abstract Background New data are accumulating on gut microbial dysbiosis in Parkinson’s disease (PD), while the specific mechanism remains uncharacterized. This study aims to investigate the potential role and pathophysiological mechanism of dysbiosis of gut microbiota in 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced PD rat models. Methods The shotgun metagenome sequencing data of fecal samples from PD patients and healthy individuals were obtained from the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) database. The diversity, abundance, and functional composition of gut microbiota were further analyzed in these data. After the exploration of the functional pathway-related genes, KEGG and GEO databases were used to obtain PD-related microarray datasets for differential expression analysis. Finally, in vivo experiments were performed to confirm the roles of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and upregulated NMNAT2 in neurobehavioral symptoms and oxidative stress response in 6-OHDA-lesioned rats. Results Significant differences were found in the diversity, abundance, and functional composition of gut microbiota between PD patients and healthy individuals. Dysbiosis of gut microbiota could regulate NAD+ anabolic pathway to affect the occurrence and development of PD. As a NAD+ anabolic pathway-related gene, NMNAT2 was poorly expressed in the brain tissues of PD patients. More importantly, FMT or overexpression of NMNAT2 alleviated neurobehavioral deficits and reduced oxidative stress in 6-OHDA-lesioned rats. Conclusions Taken together, we demonstrated that dysbiosis of gut microbiota suppressed NMNAT2 expression, thus exacerbating neurobehavioral deficits and oxidative stress response in 6-OHDA-lesioned rats, which could be rescued by FMT or NMNAT2 restoration.

The use of different rootstocks has a significant effect on the content of flavor components and overall fruit quality. However, little information is available about the metabolic basis of the nutritional value of citrus plants. In this study, UPLC-MS/MS (ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry) was performed to analyze the metabolites of three late-maturing hybrid mandarin varieties (‘Gold Nugget’, ‘Tango’ and ‘Orah’) grafted on four rootstocks (‘Trifoliate orange’, ‘Carrizo citrange’, ‘Red tangerine’ and ‘Ziyang Xiangcheng’). A total of 1006 metabolites were identified through OPLS-DA (Orthogonal Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis) analysis. KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) analysis revealed the most critical pathways among the different pathways associated with genes grafted on the four rootstocks that were differentially activated, including tryptophan metabolism and sphingolipid metabolism in ‘Gold Nugget’; tryptophan metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and sphingolipid metabolism in ‘Tango’; and pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis- and photosynthesis-related biosynthesis in ‘Orah’. A considerable difference between the different rootstocks was also observed in the accumulation of lipids, phenolic acids and flavonoids; further analysis revealed that the rootstocks regulated specific metabolites, including deacetylnomylinic acid, sudachinoid A, amoenin evodol, rutaevin, cyclo (phenylalanine-glutamic acid), cyclo (proline-phenylalanine), 2-hydroxyisocaproic acid, and 2-hydroxy-3-phenylpropanoic acid. The results of this study provide a useful foundation for further investigation of rootstock selection for late-maturation hybrid mandarin varieties.

BackgroundPoor outcomes have been widely reported for younger vs. older breast cancer patients, but whether this is due to age itself or the enrichment of aggressive clinical features remains controversial. We have evaluated the clinicopathologic characteristics and genomic profiles of real-world hormone receptor-positive (HR+)/HER2-negative (HER2-) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients to examine the determinants of outcome for younger vs. older patients in a single clinical subtype undergoing treatment in the same clinic.Patients and methodsThis study included patients presenting at the Peking University Cancer Hospital with primary stage IV or first-line metastatic HR+/HER2- breast cancer who consented to an additional blood draw for genomic profiling prior to treatment. Plasma samples were analyzed with a targeted 152-gene NGS panel to assess somatic circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) alterations. Genomic DNA (gDNA) extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells was analyzed for germline variants using a targeted 600-gene NGS panel. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to analyze disease free survival (DFS), progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in association with clinicopathologic and genomic variables.ResultsSixty-three patients presenting with HR+/HER2- MBC were enrolled in this study. Fourteen patients were < 40 years, 19 were 40-50 years, and 30 were > 50 years at the time of primary cancer diagnosis. No significant associations were observed between age and DFS, PFS or OS. Shorter OS was associated with de novo Stage IV disease (p = 0.002), Luminal B subtype (p = 0.006), high Ki67 index (p = 0.036), resistance to adjuvant endocrine therapy (p = 0.0001) and clinical stage (p = 0.015). Reduced OS was also observed in association with somatic alterations in FGFR1 (p = 0.008), CCND2 (p = 0.012), RB1 (p = 0.029) or TP53 (p = 0.029) genes, but not in association with germline variants.ConclusionIn this group of real-world HR+/HER2- MBC breast cancer patients younger age was not associated with poor outcomes. While current guidelines recommend treatment decisions based on tumor biology rather than age, young HR+ breast cancer patients are more likely to receive chemotherapy. Our findings support the development of biomarker-driven treatment strategies for these patients.

Abstract Background The correlations between circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA)-derived genomic markers and treatment response and survival outcome in Chinese patients with advanced breast cancer (ABC) have not been extensively characterized. Methods Blood samples from 141 ABC patients who underwent first-line standard treatment in Peking University Cancer Hospital were collected. A next-generation sequencing based liquid biopsy assay (PredicineCARE) was used to detect somatic mutations and copy number variations (CNVs) in ctDNA. A subset of matched blood samples and tumour tissue biopsies were compared to evaluate the concordance. Results Overall, TP53 (44.0%) and PIK3CA (28.4%) were the top two altered genes. Frequent CNVs included amplifications of ERBB2 (24.8%) and FGFR1 (8.5%) and deletions of CDKN2A (3.5%). PIK3CA/TP53 and FGFR1/2/3 variants were associated with drug resistance in hormone receptor-positive (HR +) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2 +) patients. The comparison of genomic variants across matched tumour tissue and ctDNA samples revealed a moderate to high concordance that was gene dependent. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients harbouring TP53 or PIK3CA alterations had a shorter overall survival than those without corresponding mutations (P = 0.03 and 0.008). A high ctDNA fraction was correlated with a shorter progression-free survival (PFS) (P = 0.005) in TNBC patients. High blood-based tumor mutation burden (bTMB) was associated with a shorter PFS for HER2 + and TNBC patients (P = 0.009 and 0.05). Moreover, disease monitoring revealed several acquired genomic variants such as ESR1 mutations, CDKN2A deletions, and FGFR1 amplifications. Conclusions This study revealed the molecular profiles of Chinese patients with ABC and the clinical validity of ctDNA-derived markers, including the ctDNA fraction and bTMB, for predicting treatment response, prognosis, and disease progression. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03792529. Registered January 3rd 2019, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03792529 .

Abstract Docetaxel chemotherapy is a standard treatment option for metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients. To date, the genomic perturbations underlying the emergence of resistance in mCRPC patients during chemotherapy treatment have not been fully characterized. Previous studies have established that AR, TP53, RB1 and PTEN gene alterations are frequent at this stage of progression and that TP53, RB1 and PTEN, but not AR alterations are associated with poor outcome. However, the clonal dynamics of these key driver cancer genes during chemotherapy in mCRPC patients have not been described. Toward this goal, we performed a retrospective analysis of serially profiled cell-free DNA (cfDNA) alterations in blood samples collected from mCRPC patients before and after starting chemotherapy who were followed for response and clinical outcomes. While AR alterations and measures of mutational load were significantly reduced in patients with stable or decreased PSA levels after 3 cycles of chemotherapy, reductions in RB1, TP53 and PTEN alterations were relatively modest, which may represent the persistence of a clonal signature associated with the emergence of treatment-induced lineage plasticity (TILP) underlying resistance. The ability to monitor these driver gene clonal dynamics during chemotherapy may have utility in the clinical setting.

Abstract Background Both changes in circulating lipids represented by a validated poor prognostic 3-lipid signature (3LS) and somatic tumour genetic aberrations are individually associated with worse clinical outcomes in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). A key question is how the lipid environment and the cancer genome are interrelated in order to exploit this therapeutically. We assessed the association between the poor prognostic 3-lipid signature (3LS), somatic genetic aberrations and clinical outcomes in mCRPC. Methods We performed plasma lipidomic analysis and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) sequencing on 106 men with mCRPC commencing docetaxel, cabazitaxel, abiraterone or enzalutamide (discovery cohort) and 94 men with mCRPC commencing docetaxel (validation cohort). Differences in lipid levels between men ± somatic genetic aberrations were assessed with t-tests. Associations between the 3LS and genetic aberrations with overall survival (OS) were examined using Kaplan-Meier methods and Cox proportional hazard models. Results The 3LS was associated with shorter OS in the discovery (hazard ratio [HR] 2.15, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.4-3.3, p < 0.001) and validation cohorts (HR 2.32, 95% CI 1.59–3.38, p < 0.001). Elevated plasma sphingolipids were associated with AR, TP53, RB1 and PI3K aberrations (p < 0.05). Men with both the 3LS and aberrations in AR, TP53, RB1 or PI3K had shorter OS than men with neither in both cohorts (p ≤ 0.001). The presence of 3LS and/or genetic aberration was independently associated with shorter OS for men with AR, TP53, RB1 and PI3K aberrations (p < 0.02). Furthermore, aggressive-variant prostate cancer (AVPC), defined as 2 or more aberrations in TP53, RB1 and/or PTEN, was associated with elevated sphingolipids. The combination of AVPC and 3LS predicted for a median survival of ~12 months. The relatively small sample size of the cohorts limits clinical applicability and warrants future studies. Conclusions Elevated circulating sphingolipids were associated with AR, TP53, RB1, PI3K and AVPC aberrations in mCRPC, and the combination of lipid and genetic abnormalities conferred a worse prognosis. These findings suggest that certain genotypes in mCRPC may benefit from metabolic therapies.

Citrus fruit, the most abundant global fruit, is primarily concentrated in China. Mulching techniques have demonstrated a favorable effect on the soil’s hydrothermal environment, resulting in enhanced plant growth, yield, and quality. Nevertheless, the impact of mulching on the soil microbiome and fruit quality of Beni Madonna tangor (Citrus nanko × C. amakusa) remains unknown. This study aimed to examine the impact of different mulching techniques, namely traditional flat planting (CK), reflective film mulching (RM), black film mulching (BM), corn stalk mulching (CS), green film mulching (GM), and transparent plastic film mulching (TM), on the bacterial diversity, composition, cooccurrence networks, and bulk soil assembly during the ripening stage of Beni Madonna tangor. The various treatments employed in this study exhibited distinct impacts on fruit quality and soil temperature and humidity. Through comprehensively evaluating fruit quality and soil properties, it was found that RM treatment had the best effect, while CK treatment was the worst. The mulching results in a significant decrease in the Shannon indexcompared to the control group. Specifically, mulching with RM, CS, and GM led to a significant increase in Chloroflexi abundance (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the interaction complexity between bacteria was found to be lower under GM and TM treatments compared to the other mulching treatments. At the genus level, Chloroflexi exhibited a positive correlation with total soluble solid (TSS) and Vitamin C (Vc) contents, however, GP13 showed a converse result. It was determined that Chloroflexi, with a high abundance of RM, promoted an improvement in soil and fruit quality. Ultimately, it can be concluded that various mulching techniques yield distinct impacts on both the soil bacterial composition and citrus quality, with these effects being intricately linked to the core biota’s functionalities within each treatment.

Firstly, the key technologies in photonics-aided broadband terahertz communication systems were introduced, and then the research progress in large-capacity and long-distance terahertz communication technologies was introduced.Using these key technologies, wireless transmission of THz signals had been successively achieved exceeding 1 Tbit/s, wireless transmission of THz signals exceeding 100 Gb/s for 54.6 meters without a THz amplifier.The use of air-core optical fiber to transmit terahertz signals exceeding 100 Gbit/s was also introduced.

Abstract Glioma is the most common and fatal primary brain tumor in humans. Myosin binding protein H (MYBPH), which was first identified as an important myofibrillar constituent of vertebrate skeletal and cardiac muscles, reduces cell motility and metastasis. However, its role in gliomas remains unclear. We evaluated the expression of MYBPH in glioma using Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis ( http://gepia.cancer-pku.cn/ ) and Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas ( https://www.cgga.org.cn/ ). The results showed that MYBPH was highly expressed in glioma tissues. Moreover, MYBPH expression was significantly associated with high tumor aggressiveness and poor outcomes in glioma patients. Mechanistically, the results suggested that MYBPH might promote tumor progression by improving tumor invasion and migration. Our results establish MYBPH as an important prognostic biomarker that could be considered a potential epigenetic and immunotherapeutic target for treatment. We showed that MYBPH is a novel biomarker that is variably expressed in glioblastoma (GBM). The association of high MYBPH expression with poor prognosis in newly diagnosed GBM patients and increased expression in recurrent GBM is indicative of its role in tumor aggressiveness.

The quantization technique with a low-bit resolution can significantly reduce the cost and power consumption of analog-to-digital converter (ADC). It will play an important role in energy conservation and cost reduction for the incoming B5G millimeter-wave (MMW) communication systems. In this paper, we propose and demonstrated experimentally a low-bit Gaussian mixture model (GMM) based non-uniform adaptive vector quantization (AVQ) scheme for the low-cost intensity modulated envelope detection photonics-assisted 28 GHz MMW communication system for the first time. The principles of GMM-based one-dimensional adaptive scalar quantization (ASQ) and multi-dimensional AVQ are first introduced, and then are used to realize the low-bit non-uniform adaptive quantization for reducing the ADC bit resolution of MMW receiver. Furthermore, the performance of traditional uniform quantization, the present K-means and proposed GMM-based non-uniform ASQ/AVQ schemes are evaluated and compared in detail. Utilizing the proposed GMM-based AVQ scheme, the ADC quantization resolution in our MMW receiver can be reduced from 5 bits of the traditional uniform quantization to as low as 2 bits, without noticeable performance penalty. Moreover, as compared with the K-means-based quantization scheme, the MMW receiver enabled by GMM-based ASQ/AVQ scheme can save about half of the quantization time under similar performance. This is mainly because the clustering based on probability converges faster than the Euclidean distance, which significantly reduces the number of iterations required. Therefore, the GMM-based AVQ scheme is a promising solution to realize high performance ADCs with low-bit resolution for future MMW-enabled optical fiber wireless access networks.

Protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) methylate a range of histone and non-histone substrates and participate in multiple biological processes by regulating gene transcription and post-translational modifications. To date, most studies on PRMTs have focused on their roles in tumors and in the physiological and pathological conditions of other organs. Emerging evidence indicates that PRMTs are expressed in the kidney and contribute to renal development, injury, repair, and fibrosis. In this review, we summarize the role and the mechanisms of PRMTs in regulating these renal processes and provide a perspective for future clinical applications.

Background and Objective: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a safe and less invasive technique that uses an electric current to damage nerve tissue to stop it from sending pain signals. This study was aimed to determine the molecular mechanism of neuropathologic damage induced by RFA at different temperatures.Methods: A total of 36 Sprague Dawley rats were used as model with neuropathological injury. These rats were divided into six groups based on the temperature stimulation at 42°C, 47°C, 52°C, 57°C, 62°C, and 67°C. Conduction time, distance, and velocity were recorded after thermal injury. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was used to observe the histopathological changes of sciatic nerve. Neural ion channel proteins such as sodium voltage-gated channel alpha subunit 9 (SCN9A), sodium channel B3 subunit (SCN3B) and neurofascin (NFASC) expression in sciatic nerve tissue were detected detected by Western Blot.Results: Nerve conduction velocity (NCV) gradually decreased with the increase in temperature and neuronal damage was seen at 67°C. H&E staining showed increased degeneration of neurons with an increase in temperature from 47°C to 67°C. SCN9A and SCN3B expression at 57°C, 62°C, and 67°C was much higher; however, NFASC expression was lower at same temperatures.Conclusion: Neuropathological damage caused by RFA at different temperatures shows positive correlation with NCV. Heat transfer injury affects the expression of SCN9A, SCN3B, and NFASC in sciatic nerve tissue.

Histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) has been shown to be involved in cell proliferation, differentiation, and migration and is associated with a variety of cancers. However, the role of HDAC4 in renal fibrogenesis and its mechanisms are unclear. We assessed the role of HDAC4 and possible mechanisms of fibrosis in a murine model of kidney injury induced by unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) using tasquinimod, a highly selective HDAC4 inhibitor, and knockout mice with depletion of HDAC4 in renal tubular cells. UUO injury resulted in increased expression of HDAC4 and fibrotic proteins fibronectin and α-smooth muscle actin, while treatment with tasquinimod or knockout of HDAC4 significantly reduced their expression. Pharmacological and genetic inhibition of HDAC4 also decreased tubular epithelial cell arrest in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle, expression of transforming growth factor-β1 and phosphorylation of Smad3, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 in the injured kidney. Moreover, tasquinimod treatment or HDAC4 deletion inhibited UUO-induced renal tubular cell injury and apoptosis as indicated by reduced expression of neutrophil gelatinase–associated lipocalin, Bax, and inhibition of caspase-3. Finally, administration of tasquinimod or knockdown of HDAC4 prevented injury-related repression of Klotho, a renoprotective protein. Our results indicate that HDAC4 is critically involved in renal tubular injury and fibrosis and suggest that HDAC4 is a potential therapeutic target for treatment of chronic fibrotic kidney disease.

Abstract Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), a technology that analyzes transcriptomes of complex tissues at single-cell levels, can identify differential gene expression and epigenetic factors caused by mutations in unicellular genomes, as well as new cell-specific markers and cell types. scRNA-seq plays an important role in various aspects of tumor research. It reveals the heterogeneity of tumor cells and monitors the progress of tumor development, thereby preventing further cellular deterioration. Furthermore, the transcriptome analysis of immune cells in tumor tissue can be used to classify immune cells, their immune escape mechanisms and drug resistance mechanisms, and to develop effective clinical targeted therapies combined with immunotherapy. Moreover, this method enables the study of intercellular communication and the interaction of tumor cells and non-malignant cells to reveal their role in carcinogenesis. scRNA-seq provides new technical means for further development of tumor research and is expected to make significant breakthroughs in this field. This review focuses on the principles of scRNA-seq, with an emphasis on the application of scRNA-seq in tumor heterogeneity, pathogenesis, and treatment.

BackgroundGenetic testing for breast cancer (BC) patients may shift the paradigm towards more personalized management and treatment strategies. While gene alterations may be ethnic-specific in breast cancer, our understanding of genetic epidemiology of BC remains mainly driven by data from Caucasian populations and further limited to selected handful of genes.MethodsWe collected whole blood samples from 356 BC patients at metastatic first line BC and primary stage IV disease at Beijing Cancer Hospital between Jan. 2013 to Dec. 2019. A comprehensive 600-gene cancer panel was used to detect germline variants in the covered genes with a median 300x sequencing depth. Variants were classified into pathogenic, likely pathogenic, variant of uncertain significance, likely benign and benign groups according to the ACMG/AMP Standards and Guidelines. Pathogenic and likely pathogenic variants were considered as deleterious mutations.ResultsThe median age of 356 BC patients was 49 years (range, 21-87 years) at the first diagnosis of BC. Deleterious germline mutations across 48 cancer-related genes were identified in 21.6% (77/356) of the patients. The most prevalent mutations were BRCA1/2 mutations (7.0%), followed by ATM and RAD50 mutations (1.4% each). In addition, patients with family history were more likely to carry BRCA1 mutations (P=0.04). Moreover, patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) were more likely to harbor BRCA1 mutations than those with HR+ or HER2+ breast cancer (P=0.006). While there was no significant survival difference observed in BRCA1/2 carriers relative to non-carriers, patients with DNA damage repair (DDR) gene mutations (mostly frequently BRCA, ATM, RAD50) had worse disease-free survival (P=0.02).ConclusionsThe most prevalent germline mutations in a large cohort of Chinese patients with advanced BC were BRCA1/2 mutations, followed by ATM and RAD50 mutations. In total, approximately 16.0% (57/356) of patients carry deleterious mutations in DDR pathway. Patients with breast or ovarian cancer family history were more likely to carry BRCA1/2 mutations, and ones with DDR mutations had worse survival. These findings suggest that DDR mutations are prevalent in Chinese BC patients who may potentially benefit from treatment with Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors.

ObjectiveProstate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common malignant tumors, accounting for 20% of total tumors ranked first in males. PCa is usually asymptomatic at the early stage and the specificity of the current biomarkers for the detection of PCa is low. The present study evaluates circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in blood or urine, which can be used as biomarkers of PCa and the combination of these markers may increase the sensitivity and specificity of the detection of PCa.MethodsTissue, blood, and urine samples were collected from patients with PCa. All prostate tissue specimens underwent pathological examination. A hybrid-capture-based next-generation sequencing assay was used for plasma and urinary ctDNA profiling. Sequencing data were analyzed by an in-house pipeline for mutation calling. Mutational profiles of PCa and BPH were compared in both plasma and urine samples. Associations of detected mutations and clinical characteristics were statistically analyzed.ResultsA significant association of mutation allele frequencies (MAFs) in the blood samples with patients with metastatic PCa rather than patients with primary PCa, and MAFs are changed after treatment in patients with PCa. Further, the number of mutations in urine is not associated with clinical characteristics of PCa patients, but the frequencies of mutation alleles in the urine are associated with patient age. Comparison of cfDNA aberration profiles between urine and blood reveals more alterations in urine than in blood, including TP53, AR, ATM, MYC, and SPOP mutations.ConclusionThis work provides the potential clinical application of urine, in addition to blood, as a powerful and convenient non-invasive approach in personalized medicine for patients with PCa.

In order to provide more flexible and convenient service for users in the hybrid transmission network,a novel system using a single optical modulator to provide wired and single side band (SSB) wireless signal was proposed.By combining the application of dual-polarization binary phase shift keying modulator (DP-BPSK),phase shifter and other devices,wired and SSB wireless signals were directly generated to suppress the walk-off effect caused by dispersion,and the effective transmission of 5 Gbit/s SSB wireless signal carried on 40 GHz millimeter wave and 10 Gbit/s wired signal over 65 km single-mode fiber (SMF) were successfully achieved.The experiments show that the application of polarization multiplexing technology and optical subcarrier multiplexing technology can make the signal have a greater improvement in transmission rate and performance,and play an important role in the future broadband communication network.

We experimentally demonstrate the transmission performance of the bit-loading discrete multi-tone (DMT) signal in intensity modulation and direct detection (IM-DD) system with a transmission distance of 2km and a net data rate of 108-Gb/s by two different shaping methods. A detailed comparison between the application of geometric shaping (GS) and probabilistic shaping (PS) in bit-loading DMT is presented. With continuous entropy loading for better channel fitting, probabilistically shaped bit-loading DMT achieves 1-dB receiver sensitivity gain compared to the conventional bit-loading DMT and outperforms geometrically shaped bit-loading DMT in the transmission experiment.

We demonstrate a four-lane wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) system at O-band. The 3-dB bandwidth of directly modulated lasers (DMLs) in this experiment is only 15 GHz. To support 100-Gbit/s/lane PAM-4 transmission in each lane, digital pre-equalization and advanced receiver-side DSPs are adopted to compensate for bandwidth limitation. Moreover, semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is utilized at the receiver to compensate for the optical power loss during fiber transmission so that 40-km transmission distance can be achieved. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time to successfully transmit 400-Gbit/s PAM-4 signals over 40-km SSMF with 15-GHz DMLs.

A D-band vector millimeter wave (mm-wave) signal generation and propagation scheme employing cascaded intensity modulator (IM) and in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) modulator is proposed and implemented. In experiment, both the IM and I/Q modulator are operating on optical-carrier-suppressing (OCS) mode to generate two pairs of dual single-sideband (SSB) signals, and the undesired optical sidebands are not eliminated by an optical filter. For each pair of dual SSB signals, one is unmodulated the other is vector-modulated, they are located on both sides of the center suppressed carrier. After optical fiber transmission, SSB signals will beat with each other at the photoelectric detection end, thus the electrical mm-wave signals are generated. We experimentally demonstrated 2-Gbaud 16QAM, 4-Gbaud QPSK, and 8-Gbaud QPSK Radio-over-Fiber (RoF) transmission at 130-GHz over 22.5 km standard single mode fiber and 1 m wireless link with a Bit-Error-Rate (BER) under 3.8 × 10-3.

Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) are extensively used in the world to provide information on the vessel's spatiotemporal distribution, monitor the fishing activities of marine fishery and manage the safety of vessel navigation. In the traditional VMS, there are some deficiencies in the interaction and real-time communication between the land system and marine vessel. We present an edge computing-based adaptable trajectory transmission policy (EC-ATT) for VMS to improve the communication efficiency in this paper. Firstly, a novel VMS framework named EC-VMS is proposed which composed of four layers. Each vessel has an edge computing intelligent node to collect data, process and transmit data. Meanwhile, the edge computing server is set up to enhance collaborative computing between the cloud and the edge, that transmits data through the Beidou navigation satellite system. Secondly, the EC-ATT utilizes the computing power of edge nodes to establish an adaptive data transmission mechanism, which reduces redundant data and satellite communication frequency. Besides, the packet loss feedback mechanism and error checking strategy are used to ensure the reliability of data transmission. The experimental results show that EC-ATT has better performance in typical cases, which not only reduces the average communication time but also strengthens the real-time availability of the VMS.

Background: Intrinsic resistance to androgen receptor signalling inhibitors (ARSI) occurs in 20–30% of men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Ceramide metabolism may have a role in ARSI resistance. Our study's aim is to investigate the association of the ceramide-sphingosine-1-phosphate (ceramide-S1P) signalling axis with ARSI resistance in mCRPC. Methods: Lipidomic analysis (∼700 lipids) was performed on plasma collected from 132 men with mCRPC, before commencing enzalutamide or abiraterone. AR gene aberrations in 77 of these men were identified by deep sequencing of circulating tumour DNA. Associations between circulating lipids, radiological progression-free survival (rPFS) and overall survival (OS) were examined by Cox regression. Inhibition of ceramide-S1P signalling with sphingosine kinase (SPHK) inhibitors (PF-543 and ABC294640) on enzalutamide efficacy was investigated with in vitro assays, and transcriptomic and lipidomic analyses of prostate cancer (PC) cell lines (LNCaP, C42B, 22Rv1). Findings: Men with elevated circulating ceramide levels had shorter rPFS (HR=2·3, 95% CI=1·5–3·6, p = 0·0004) and shorter OS (HR=2·3, 95% CI=1·4–36, p = 0·0005). The combined presence of an AR aberration with elevated ceramide levels conferred a worse prognosis than the presence of only one or none of these characteristics (median rPFS time = 3·9 vs 8·3 vs 17·7 months; median OS time = 8·9 vs 19·8 vs 34·4 months). SPHK inhibitors enhanced enzalutamide efficacy in PC cell lines. Transcriptomic and lipidomic analyses indicated that enzalutamide combined with SPHK inhibition enhanced PC cell death by SREBP-induced lipotoxicity. Interpretation: Ceramide-S1P signalling promotes ARSI resistance, which can be reversed with SPHK inhibitors. Funding: None.

Robotic systems frequently need to plan consecutive similar manipulation in some scenarios (e.g., pick-and-place tasks), leading to similar motion plans. Moreover, the workspace of a robot changes with the difference in operation actions, which affects subsequent tasks. Therefore, it is significant to reuse information from previous solutions for new motion planning instances to adapt to workplace changes. This paper proposes the Lazy Demonstration Graph (LDG) planner, a novel motion planner that exploits successful and high-quality planning cases as prior knowledge. In addition, a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) is established by learning the distribution of samples in the planning cases. Through the trained GMM, more samples are placed in a promising location related to the planning tasks for achieving the purpose of adaptive sampling. This adaptive sampling strategy is combined with the Lazy Probabilistic Roadmap (LazyPRM) algorithm; in the subsequent planning tasks, this paper uses the multi-query property of a road map to solve motion planning problems without planning from scratch. The lazy collision detection of the LazyPRM algorithm helps overcome changes in the workplace by searching candidate paths. Our method also improves the quality and success rate of the path planning of LazyPRM. Compared with other state-of-the-art motion planning algorithms, our method achieved better performance in the planning time and path quality. In the repetitive motion planning experiment of the manipulator for pick-and-place tasks, we designed two different experimental scenarios in the simulation environment. The physical experiments are also carried out in AUBO−i5 robot arm. Accordingly, the experimental results verified our method’s validity and robustness.

For the millimeter wave (mm-Wave) and terahertz (THz) indoor wireless communication system, the reflection channels need to be characterized and modeled. In this paper, the reflection measurements of the parallel polarized wave are carried out under multiple incident angles and five kinds of materials in the D-band (110–170 GHz). A modified reflection model with two parameters estimated by the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion is proposed. The results show that the measurements are in good agreement with the proposed model. Furthermore, a set of measured properties is demonstrated and it can be concluded that both the reflection coefficients and relative permittivity gradually decrease, whereas the surface roughness increases slightly with the increasing frequency, indicating a weak frequency dependence. Interestingly, the concrete board with high surface roughness, which means more power loss in a specular direction, has the lowest reflection loss at a certain frequency and incident angle. It implies that the reflection characteristics of indoor building materials are determined not only by surface roughness, but also by many other factors, such as relative permittivity, frequency, and incident angle. Our work suggests that the reflection measurements of indoor D-band wireless links have a prospective application for future indoor wireless communication systems.

Current liquid biopsy assays lack sufficient sensitivity to detect copy number loss, which limits the interrogation of critical tumor suppressor gene deletions during cancer progression and treatment. Here we describe a liquid biopsy assay with improved sensitivity for detection of copy number loss in blood samples with low levels of circulating tumor DNA, and demonstrate its utility by profiling PTEN, RB1, and TP53 genetic loss in metastatic prostate cancer patients.

Abstract Our study presents the genetic landscape betel quid chewing‐associated tongue carcinomas (BQ‐TCs). We compared the genetic landscape and mutational signatures of 15 BQ‐TCs, five nonbetel quid chewing‐associated tongue carcinomas (nBQ‐TCs), and 82 tongue carcinomas in general population from the TCGA (TCGA‐TCs) project. The highlights of this research mainly include: (a) The genetic landscape of BQ‐TC was characterized with frequent mutations in RASA1 gene and in CpG islands throughout the genome. (b) The BQ‐TC had a distinct mutational signature from that of nBQ‐TC and tongue carcinomas in the general population, and this signature was associated with the mutations in RASA1 and in CpG islands. (c) Our study indicates that betel quid (BQ) chewing classifies a distinct group of tongue carcinoma. The BQ chewing might not contribute to the tumorigenesis of tongue carcinomas as a mutagen.

We experimentally demonstrate the transmission of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals with polar codes FEC in a W-band MMW system. The BER performances of the M-QAM OFDM signal with FEC and without FEC are investigated, respectively. The experimental results show that the polar codes have a net gain of 7.9 dB compare with that of the LDPC code (7.4 dB). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that the polar codes FEC are used in a W-band MMW system with OFDM modulation.

We propose a new scheme to generate multi-frequency vector mm-wave signals based on cascaded phase modulator and I/Q modulator by adopting independent-sideband (ISB) modulation scheme. Driven by a single frequency RF (Radio frequency) source, the phase modulator (PM) generates multi-frequency optical carriers with a constant frequency interval, which is used as optical input of the I/Q modulator. The electrical signal driving the I/Q modulator is composed of one vector-modulated single side-band (SSB) QAM signal and one unmodulated SSB RF signal, the two signals locate at different sides of zero frequency. The output of I/Q modulator contains several multi-frequencies optical side-bands and suppressed optical carriers. The optical carriers are suppressed by using the ISB modulation scheme. Two optical sidebands at different frequencies are selected by a wavelength select switch (WSS) and beaten in the photodetector (PD). The multi-frequency vector mm-wave signals are generated with high flexibility, and the frequency can be up to 400 GHz. We experimentally demonstrate 133-GHz D-band multi-frequency vector mm-wave signal over 80-km SMF-28 wireline transmission and 10-m wireless delivery with bit rate up 18.4 × 2 = 36.8 Gb/s.

Forests provide important ecosystem services but are being affected by climate change, not only changes in temperature and precipitation but potentially also directly through the plant-physiological effects of increases in atmospheric CO2. We applied a tree-species-based dynamic model (LPJ-GUESS) at a high 5-km spatial resolution to project climate and CO2 impacts on tree species and thus forests in Great Britain. Climatic inputs consisted of a novel large climate scenario ensemble derived from a regional climate model (RCM) under an RCP 8.5 emission scenario. The climate change impacts were assessed using leaf area index (LAI) and net primary productivity (NPP) for the 2030s and the 2080s compared to baseline (1975–2004). The potential CO2 effects, which are highly uncertain, were examined using a constant CO2 level scenario for comparison. Also, a climate vulnerability index was developed to assess the potential drought impact on modeled tree species. In spite of substantial future reductions in rainfall, the mean projected LAI and NPP generally showed an increase over Britain, with a larger increment in Scotland, northwest England, and west Wales. The CO2 increase led to higher projected LAI and NPP, especially in northern Britain, but with little effect on overall geographical patterns. However, without accounting for plant-physiological effects of elevated CO2, NPP in Southern and Central Britain and easternmost parts of Wales showed a decrease relative to 2011, implying less ecosystem service provisioning, e.g., in terms of timber yields and carbon storage. The projected change of LAI and NPP varied from 5 to 100% of the mean change, due to the uncertainty arising from natural weather-induced variability, with Southeast England being most sensitive to this. It was also the most susceptible to climate change and drought, with reduced suitability for broad-leaved trees such as beech, small-leaved lime, and hornbeam. These could lead to important changes in woodland composition across Great Britain.

Long-term exposure to UVB (280–320 nm) can cause oxidative skin damage, inflammatory injury, and skin cancer. Research on nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with regard to antioxidation, anti-inflammation, and prevention of other age-related diseases has received increasing attention. In the present study, the in vitro antioxidant analysis showed that NMN combined with Lactobacillus fermentum TKSN041 (L. fermentum TKSN041) has a high scavenging ability on hydroxyl (OH), 2, 2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) and 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and it also possess a good total antioxidant capacity. The animal experimental results show that NMN combined with LAB maintained normal liver morphology of mice and reduced pathological damage to murine skin. NMN combined with LAB significantly increased the serum levels of total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), catalase (CAT), and interleukin (IL)-10, but reduced the levels of malondialdehyde, advanced glycation end products, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and IL-6. NMN combined with LAB increased T-SOD, CAT, IL-10, Na+-K+-ATPase, and NAD+ levels in the skin, but reduced TNF-α level in the skin. NMN combined with LAB increased the mRNA expression levels of SOD1, CAT, glutathione (GSH), inhibitor of NF-κB (IκB-α), IL-10, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), adaptor protein, phosphotyros ineinteraction, PH domain and leucine zipper containing 1 (APPL1), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ co-activator-1α (PGC-1α), and forkhead transcription factor O (FOXO) in the skin and liver, but decreased the mRNA expression levels of nuclear factor (NF)-κBp65, TNF-α, IL-6, and rapamycin target protein (mTOR). NMN combined with LAB increased the protein expression levels of AMPK, IκB-α, SOD1, and CAT in the skin tissues and reduced protein expression of NF-κBp65. NMN combined with L. fermentum TKSN041 improved murine skin damage caused by UVB irradiation, and the protective mechanism may be related to activation of the AMPK signaling pathway. The results of this study are expected to provide a reference for preventing and the treating skin photoaging.

Pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs) are expected to play an important role in endowing the advanced robot with the compliant manipulation, which is very important for a robot to coexist and cooperate with humans. However, the strong nonlinear characteristics of PAMs hinder its wide application in robots, and therefore, advanced control algorithms are urgently needed for making the best use of the advantages and bypassing the disadvantages of PAMs. In this article, we propose a full-order sliding mode control extended state observer (fSMC-ESO) algorithm that combines the ESO and the fSMC for a robotic joint actuated by a pair of antagonistic PAMs. The fSMC is employed to eliminate the chattering and to guarantee the finite-time convergence, and the ESO is adopted to observe both the total disturbance and the states of the robot system, so that we can inhibit the disturbance and compensate the nonlinearity efficiently. Both simulations and physical experiments are conducted to validate the proposed method. We suggest that the proposed method can be applied to the robotic systems actuated by PAMs and remarkably improve the performance of the robot system.

Background: Metastatic prostate cancer is a clonally heterogeneous disease state characterized by progressive somatic perturbations. The aim of this study was to identify cell free DNA- (cfDNA-) based alterations and their associations with outcomes in progressive metastatic prostate cancer. Methods: In this longitudinal prospective cohort study plasma cfDNA/circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) was analyzed before, during, and after androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in 4 independent patient groups ranging from untreated metastatic hormone sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) to metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Next generation sequencing was performed on ctDNA and germline DNA to characterize alterations and associations with clinical outcomes were determined for each group. Findings: cfDNA yields were different in progressive mHSPC and mCRPC states (P

Migraine is a chronic brain disease that leads to periodic neurological attacks. Parishin A and isorhynchophylline (PI) is the active monomer component extracted from the traditional antimigraine Chinese medicinal combination of Gastrodia and Uncaria, respectively. In this study, using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) technology, we performed pharmacokinetic and lipidomic study on migraine model rats after administration of PI. For the detection of the compounds in plasma, AB Sciex Triple Quad™ 4500 was applied for quantitative analysis, and the COSMOSIL C18 column (2.1 × 100 mm, 2.6 μm) was used for separation. Isorhynchophylline (ISO: m/z 384.8–241.2) and its main metabolite rhynchophylline (RHY: m/z 384.8–160.2) were simultaneously detected under positive ion modes. Besides, parishin A (PA: m/z 995.1–726.9) and its main metabolite gastrodin (GAS: m/z 331.1–123.0) were simultaneously detected with negative ion modes. For the analysis of endogenous lipid components, Dionex Ultimate 3000 (UHPLC) Thermo Orbitrap Elite was applied for the detection, and the Waters UPLCRBEH C18 column (1.7 μm 100 ∗ 2.1 mm) was used for separation. Chloroform/methanol (2 : 1, v : v) was used for extraction. The results demonstrated that PI exists significant difference in metabolism between single- and coadministration and can regulate lipid levels associated with migraine.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate vector signals seamless integration delivery over fiber-THz-fiber link. Up to 13 Gb/s quadrature-phase-shift-keying signals are transmitted over 10 km single mode fiber-28 (SMF-28), 3.8 m wireless link, and 2.2 km SMF-28 link. At the transmitter, we use a photonics-aided scheme to generate 450 GHz THz signal. While at the receiver side, we employ analog down-conversion by one electrical mixer, and then the down-converted signals are used to drive one directly modulated laser to realize electrical-to-optical conversion.

In this paper, a modified lookup table (LUT) nonlinear predistortion method is proposed. With the modified LUT method, the number of patterns and the computational complexity can be reduced by half with a similar system performance comparing with normal LUT. We experimentally demonstrate an 8-ary pulse amplitude modulation (PAM-8) intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) transmission over 15-km fiber using a directly modulated laser (DML) based on modified LUT. Around 1-dB receiver sensitivity improvement at bit-error ratio of 3.8 × 10 -3 is achieved by adopting a modified LUT over 15-km fiber transmission at 2 Gbaud based on a commercial DML. In addition, we also experimentally demonstrate Mach-Zehnder modulator based 40 Gbaud PAM-8 IM/DD transmission under back-to-back case, about 1-dB receiver sensitivity can also be improved.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate one novel scheme to improve the performance of the vector millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signal generated by intensity modulator based on optical carrier suppression. The phase distribution of the vector mm-wave signal after one square-law photodiode detection becomes nonuniform. We optimize the phase factor at the transmitter side and make the phase distribution of the quadrature phase-shift keying signal to be symmetrical at the receiver.

In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a millimeter-wave (mm-wave) system at 75 GHz with discrete Fourier transform spread (DFT-S) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal transmission. The baseband signal is modulated by a directly modulated laser at the transmitter, and the mm-wave signal is converted to a lower frequency one by an envelope detector at the receiver. The intrasymbol frequency-domain averaging (ISFA) is used for channel estimation and a Volterra nonlinear equalizer is adopted to mitigate the nonlinearity caused by signal-signal beat interference. In this system, a 2-Gbd 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) DFT-S OFDM signal is delivered over 4-m wireless link under the bit error ratio of 3.8 × 10-3. Our experimental results show that the ISFA and the Volterra nonlinear equalizer can improve the system performance by about 2-dB and 1-dB receiving sensitivity, respectively. This is the first time the Volterra nonlinear equalizer has been used in a W-band mm-wave system to improve wireless transmission performance.

We experimentally demonstrate a real-time optical heterodyning and envelope detection-enabled orthogonal frequency-division-multiplexing-based Q-band radio-over-fiber (OFDM-RoF) system. Envelope-detector-based down-conversion is applied to the mobile terminal (MT), which makes MT insensitive to the phase noise of the beating millimeter wave signal and enables the generation of RoF signals using two free-running non-narrow line-width distributed feedback lasers in the central office. The error-free transmission real-time Reed-Solomon- coded 16-quadrature-amplitude modulation(16-QAM)-OFDM-RoF signals with a net bit rate of 1.2 Gb/s at 35/40 GHz over 4.5-km single-mode fiber (SMF) and 0.8-m wireless distance is reported in this paper. Additionally, the transmission performance of the signals at 35 GHz with the net bit rate from 1.5 to 5.9 Gb/s is also investigated by offline digital signal processing approaches. It indicates that the BER of the signal with the net rate up to 4.4 Gb/s after the SMF and wireless link transmission is below a 7% hard-decision forward error correction (FEC) threshold of 3.8 × 10-3.

In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate 10 GBaud intensity modulation direct detection pulse amplitude modulation 4 transmission over 48-km single mode fiber (SMF). Look-up table predistortion and chromatic dispersion precompensation are employed to mitigate channel bandwidth constraint and nonlinear impairment. At the receiver side, decision-directed least mean square and cascaded multimodule algorithm are employed to improve the decision precision. By combining these techniques, link budgets of 5.3 and 4 dB are achieved at bit error rate of 1 × 10−3 for the back-to-back case and after transmission over 48-km SMF, respectively.

The recently reported high spectral efficiency (SE) and high-baud-rate signal transmission are all based on digital coherent optical communications and digital signal processing (DSP). DSP simplifies the reception of advanced modulation formats and also enables the major electrical and optical impairments to be processed and compensated in the digital domain, at the transmitter or receiver side. In this paper, we summarize the research progress on high-speed signal generation and detection and also show the progress on DSP for high-speed signal detection. We also report the latest progress on multi-core and multi-mode multiplexing.