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In this paper, the exponential synchronization problem of a class of neural networks with mixed delays under impulsive control is studied. Combining the impulsive comparison principle and the concept of an average impulsive interval, two impulsive differential inequalities with mixed delays are discussed, and the sufficient conditions for the existence of exponential decay are obtained. Based on two different impulsive control strategies, and then by means of the Lyapunov function, the inequality technique, and these two new inequalities, a set of sufficient conditions are derived to ensure the synchronization of the drive and response systems. In order to prove the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme, two numerical examples are given to prove its practicability and effectiveness.

Abstract Background High-fat diets (HFD) are known to enhance feed conversion ratio in broiler chickens, yet they can also result in hepatic fat accumulation. Bile acids (BAs) and gut microbiota also play key roles in the formation of fatty liver. In this study, our objective was to elucidate the mechanisms through which BA supplementation reduces hepatic fat deposition in broiler chickens, with a focus on the involvement of gut microbiota and liver BA composition. Results Newly hatched broiler chickens were allocated to either a low-fat diet (LFD) or HFD, supplemented with or without BAs, and subsequently assessed their impacts on gut microbiota, hepatic lipid metabolism, and hepatic BA composition. Our findings showed that BA supplementation significantly reduced plasma and liver tissue triglyceride (TG) levels in 42-day-old broiler chickens (P

Abstract Deletion of the maternal UBE3A allele causes Angelman syndrome (AS); because paternal UBE3A is epigenetically silenced by a long non-coding antisense (UBE3A-ATS) in neurons, this nearly eliminates UBE3A protein in the brain. Reactivating paternal UBE3A holds promise for treating AS. We previously showed topoisomerase inhibitors can reactivate paternal UBE3A, but their therapeutic challenges prompted our search for small molecule unsilencers with a different mechanism of action. Here, we found that (S)-PHA533533 acts through a novel mechanism to significantly increase paternal Ube3a mRNA and UBE3A protein levels while downregulating Ube3a-ATS in primary neurons derived from AS model mice. Furthermore, peripheral delivery of (S)-PHA533533 in AS model mice induces widespread neuronal UBE3A expression. Finally, we show that (S)-PHA533533 unsilences paternal UBE3A in AS patient-derived neurons, highlighting its translational potential. Our findings provide a lead for developing a small molecule treatment for AS that could be safe, non-invasively delivered, and capable of brain-wide unsilencing of paternal UBE3A.

Some properties of the constant in asymptotic expansion of iterates of a cubic function were investigated. This paper analyzed the monotonicity, differentiability of the constant with respect to the initial value and the functional equation that is satisfied.

IntroductionOdontoid incidence (OI) is an important parameter that has recently been developed. However, there are currently no studies on OI in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients. We aimed to examine the significance of OI in describing cervical sagittal alignment in AIS patients, explore the differences in cervical sagittal parameters among these patients with different curve types, and investigate the correlations between coronal deformity and cervical sagittal parameters in AIS patients.MethodsThe whole-spine anteroposterior and lateral plain radiographs of AIS patients were retrospectively analyzed. The parameters, including OI, odontoid tilt (OT), C2 slope, cervical lordosis (CL), T1 slope (T1S), and others, were measured. The AIS patients were grouped based on different curve types. Measurement parameters were compared between different groups. Pearson correlation analysis was performed for cervical sagittal parameters and Cobb angle.ResultsNinety AIS patients were included, consisting of 14 males and 76 females. The main thoracic curve group exhibited a smaller OI compared to the main thoracolumbar/lumbar curve group (P

Biodegradable active packaging has recently attracted attention owing to its ability to solve environmental and food safety problems associated with traditional petroleum-based packaging. Herein, novel active food-packaging films were prepared using konjac glucomannan (KGM)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/citric acid (CA) composites containing Polygonatum sibiricum polysaccharide (PSP) as the active agent. The effects of various PSP contents on the structure, physical properties and functionality of the composite films were investigated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy results revealed that hydrogen bonding within the films strengthened with increasing PSP content. X-ray diffraction results revealed that the addition of PSP improved the crystallinity of the composite films, and the tensile strength of the composite films reached the optimum when the PSP content is 0.2 %. Furthermore, at low contents (≤0.2 %), PSP was uniformly distributed in the composite films and exhibited good barrier, UV-shielding and antimicrobial properties. All composite films exhibited good antioxidant performance.The best sample (the composite film containing 0.2 % PSP) was successfully used for packaging strawberries; this film reduced the weight loss and extended the shelf life of strawberries. Thus, the fabricated films containing PSP have broad application prospects in food packaging.

The lignin derivatives generated during pulping might be responsible for the suboptimal performance of anaerobic reactors during the treatment of pulping wastewater. However, the exact mechanisms by which these derivatives exert influence remain unclear. This study investigated the influence of lignin derivatives, simulated using humic acids (HAs), in anaerobic granular sludge (AnGS). Compared to the enzymes present during floc-bonding and granule-bonding, the HAs impeded the conversion of unhydrolyzed substrates into methane and caused considerable inactivation of free enzymes. Simultaneously, the HAs suppressed agglomeration and weakened the strength of the AnGS. Furthermore, calcium ions helped maintain the integrity of the sludge structure. Therefore, the inhibition of extracellular enzymes using lignin derivatives delays the methanation of unhydrolyzed substrates, resulting in a reduced biomass within AnGS reactors owing to sludge disintegration and biomass loss. This study serves as a reference for investigating the persistent risks originating from lignin derivatives associated with using anaerobic granular-sludge bed reactors to treat pulping wastewater.

In this paper, the finite-time synchronization issue is addressed for discontinuous fuzzy neural networks with mixed time-varying delays and impulsive disturbances. The dynamic impulsive gain about the impulsive moment is proposed as an alternative to the previous static impulsive gain. The time-varying impulsive gain can combine the synchronizing and desynchronizing impulses to directly observe their effects on the system, avoiding the classification discussion. In order to study the finite-time synchronization of the drive–response system, we obtain an equivalent system from the original fuzzy neural networks based on the concepts of Filippov solutions and differential inclusion theory. Furthermore, by constructing new Lyapunov functions that combine the 1-norm and the comparative system method, some algebraic sufficient conditions for the synchronization of the drive system and the response system in finite time are established, which are based on two types of novel non-chattering controllers. In addition, the parameters of the system itself can simply demonstrate the sufficient conditions that have been obtained her e, avoiding the time-consuming calculation of matrix inequalities. Moreover, the settling time estimation scheme have been established. Eventually, numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the control scheme.

Additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, is an emerging technology that “adds” materials up and constructs products through a layer-by-layer procedure. Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a powder-bed-based AM technology that can fabricate a large variety of metallic materials with excellent quality and accuracy. However, various defects such as porosity, cracks, and incursions can be generated during the printing process. As the most universal and a near-inevitable defect, porosity plays a substantial role in determining the mechanical performance of as-printed products. This work presents a comprehensive review of literatures that focused on the porosity in LPBF printed metals. The formation mechanisms, evaluation methods, effects on mechanical performance with corresponding models, and controlling methods of porosity have been illustrated and discussed in-depth. Achievements in four representative metals, namely Ti−6Al−4V, 316L, Inconel 718, and AlSi10Mg, have been critically reviewed with a statistical analysis on the correlation between porosity fraction and tensile properties. Ductility has been determined as the most sensitive property to porosity among several key tensile properties. This review also provides potential directions and opportunities to address the current porosity-related challenges.

L-Arginine (L-Arg), the precursor of nitric oxide (NO), plays an important role in muscle function. Fast-twitch glycolytic fibres are more susceptible to age-related atrophy than slow-twitch oxidative fibres. The effect of L-Arg/NO on protein metabolism of fast- and slow-twitch muscle fibres was evaluated in chickens. In Exp. 1, 48 chicks at 1 day old were divided into 4 groups of 12 birds and subjected to 4 treatments: basal diet without supplementation or supplemented with 1% L-Arg, and water supplemented with or without L-nitro-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 18.5 mM). In Exp. 2, 48 chicks were divided into 4 groups of 12 birds fed with the basal diet and subjected to the following treatments: tap water (control), tap water supplemented with L-NAME (18.5 mM), or molsidomine (MS, 0.1 mM), or 18.5 mM L-NAME + 0.1 mM MS (NAMS). The regulatory effect of L-Arg/NO was further investigated in vitro with myoblasts obtained from chicken embryo pectoralis major (PM) and biceps femoris (BF). In vivo, dietary L-Arg supplementation increased breast (+14.94%, P

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to establish and validate a clinical prediction model for assessing the risk of metastasis and patient survival in Ewing's sarcoma (ES). Methods Patients diagnosed with ES from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database for the period 2010-2016 were extracted, and the data after exclusion of vacant terms was used as the training set (n=767). Prediction models predicting patients' overall survival (OS) at 1 and 3 years were created by cox regression analysis and visualized using Nomogram and web calculator. Multicenter data from four medical institutions were used as the validation set (n=51), and the model consistency was verified using calibration plots, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) verified the predictive ability of the model. Finally, a clinical decision curve was used to demonstrate the clinical utility of the model. Results The results of multivariate cox regression showed that age, , bone metastasis, tumor size, and chemotherapy were independent prognostic factors of ES patients. Internal and external validation results: calibration plots showed that the model had a good agreement for patient survival at 1 and 3 years; ROC showed that it possessed a good predictive ability and clinical decision curve proved that it possessed good clinical utility. Conclusions The tool built in this paper to predict 1- and 3-year survival in ES patients ( https://drwenleli0910.shinyapps.io/EwingApp/ ) has a good identification and predictive power.

Cancer vaccines stimulate the immune system within the body by introducing tumor antigens in various forms, such as tumor cells, tumor‐related proteins or peptides, and genes expressing tumor antigens, into the body. This activation of the immune response aims to prevent or treat tumors. Preventive cancer vaccines are primarily targeted at cancers caused by viral infections, and most cancer vaccines are currently designed as therapeutic vaccines for cancer treatment. In this review, the development of cancer vaccines, the mechanism of action, the types of antigens, and the progress of nanotechnology in therapeutic cancer vaccines are summarized. The development and application of cancer vaccines incorporating tumor‐specific antigens and nanomaterials are anticipated.

In the service process of gears, premature fatigue failure or fracture of gears is often caused by poor surface performance. 20CrNiMo steel is a commonly used material for gears. Laser-shock peening (LSP), carburizing treatment (CT), and hybrid modification of carburizing treatment and laser-shock peening (LSP + CT) were carried out to improve the performance of 20CrNiMo steel. The hardness, residual stress, microstructure, subgrain size, and toughness of the samples were analyzed following various modification methods. It was observed that the properties of the composite-modified gradient structure materials achieved through carburizing and laser-shock peening were superior to those modified using single methods. After the composite treatment of carburizing and laser shocking, the samples exhibited the most significant increase in hardness, up to 916HV0.1, with a surface layer experiencing residual compressive stress as low as −635 MPa. Simultaneously, a gradient microstructure was formed on the surface layer, with 80% of the crystallites being in the nanoscale range. Furthermore, the toughness was notably enhanced. Experimental results confirm the improvement in the properties of 20CrNiMo samples, resulting in the creation of a functionally graded material through the composite treatment of carburizing and laser shocking.

This paper considers the fixed-time synchronization of complex-valued coupled networks (CVCNs) with hybrid perturbations (nonlinear bounded external perturbations and stochastic perturbations). To accomplish the target of fixed-time synchronization, the CVCNs can be separated into their real and imaginary parts and establish real-valued subsystems, a novel quantized controller is designed to overcome the difficulties induced by complex parameters, variables, and disturbances. By means of the Lyapunov stability theorem and the properties of the Wiener process, some sufficient conditions are presented for the selection of control parameters to guarantee the fixed-time synchronization, and an upper bound of the setting time is also obtained, which is only related to parameters of both systems and the controller, not to the initial conditions of the systems. Finally, a numerical simulation is given to show the correctness of theoretical results and the effectiveness of the control strategy.

ERRATUM TO: USE OF A MAIT ACTIVATING LIGAND, 5-OP-RU, AS A MUCOSAL ADJUVANT IN A MURINE MODEL OF VIBRIO CHOLERAE O1 VACCINATION DOI: 10.20411/pai.v7i1.525 Reason: The authors sincerely regret the inadvertent omission of Jackson G. Cacioppo as coauthor of this work. He has no additional conflicts of interest. Corrected version: Owen Jensen1,2, Shubhanshi Trivedi1, Jackson G. Cacioppo3, Kelin Li3, Jeffrey Aubé3, J. Scott Hale2, Edward T. Ryan4,5,6, Daniel T. Leung1, 2*

Background: Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are innate-like T cells enriched in the mucosa with capacity for B-cell help. We hypothesize that targeting MAIT cells, using a MAIT-activating ligand as an adjuvant, could improve mucosal vaccine responses to bacterial pathogens such as Vibrio cholerae. Methods: We utilized murine models of V. cholerae vaccination to test the adjuvant potential of the MAIT-activating ligand, 5-(2-oxopropylideneamino)-6-D-ribitylaminouracil (5-OP-RU). We measured V. cholerae-specific antibody and antibody-secreting cell responses and used flow cytometry to examine MAIT-cell and B-cell phenotype, in blood, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and mucosal tissues, following intranasal vaccination with live V. cholerae O1 or a V. cholerae O1 polysaccharide conjugate vaccine. Results: We report significant expansion of MAIT cells in the lungs (P < 0.001) and BALF (P < 0.001) of 5-OP-RU treated mice, and higher mucosal (BALF, P = 0.045) but not systemic (serum, P = 0.21) V. cholerae O-specific-polysaccharide IgG responses in our conjugate vaccine model when adjuvanted with low-dose 5-OP-RU. In contrast, despite significant MAIT cell expansion, no significant differences in V. cholerae-specific humoral responses were found in our live V. cholerae vaccination model. Conclusions: Using a murine model, we demonstrate the potential, as well as the limitations, of targeting MAIT cells to improve antibody responses to mucosal cholera vaccines. Our study highlights the need for future research optimizing MAIT-cell targeting for improving mucosal vaccines.

In this paper, we formulate a new system, named the uncertain sandwich impulsive control system with impulsive time windows. The presented system shows that the linear entry matrix of the system is indeterminate. We first investigate the exponential stability of the considered system by linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) and inequalities techniques, then extend the considered system to a more general one and further study the stability of the general system. Finally, numerical simulations are delivered to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

With increasing aquatic heavy metal pollution and eutrophication, using algae to prepare novel adsorbent materials for remediating heavy metal pollution has recently attracted research attention worldwide. However, microalgae biochar exhibits poor adsorption capacity in certain conditions, and little is known regarding microalgae biochar modification using chitosan. Chitosan has been previously used to directly modify microalgae biochar; however, in this study, chitosan is used to modify algae powder used to prepare biochar. Therefore, in this study, chitosan was used as a microalgae biochar modifier to enhance its applicability and adsorption capacity. Accordingly, two new types of microalgae biochars, chitosan-biochar (CTS-BC) and biochar-chitosan (BC-CTS), were developed as an adsorbent material using Clostridium and adding chitosan as a modifier at different stages of its preparation. These developed microalgae biochars were characterized using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The adsorption processes of these biochars can be well described by a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Pb2+ was dominantly adsorbed by microalgal biochar through chemisorption. Following chitosan modification, several mino, cyano, and aromatic ring groups were attached onto the surface of the microalgal biochar. The Pb2+ adsorption capacity of the chitosan-modified biochar was better than that of the unmodified biochar. The maximum Pb2+ adsorption capacity of CTS-BC under acidic conditions (pH = 5) was 9.41 mg g−1, whereas that of BC-CTS under alkaline conditions (pH = 9) was 9.94 mg g−1, both were higher than that of unmodified microalgae biochar under similar conditions. CTS-BC and BC-CTS possessed excellent stability and reusability for Pb(II) adsorption, the adsorption efficiency still remained above 50% even after three cycles. This study demonstrated that adsorbent materials having a stronger heavy-metal adsorption capacity can be prepared by adding chitosan during different stages of the microalgae biochar preparation process.

As β-lactams are reconsidered for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB), their targets are assumed to be peptidoglycan transpeptidases, as verified by adduct formation and kinetic inhibition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) transpeptidases by carbapenems active against replicating Mtb. Here, we investigated the targets of recently described cephalosporins that are selectively active against non-replicating (NR) Mtb. NR-active cephalosporins failed to inhibit recombinant Mtb transpeptidases. Accordingly, we used alkyne analogs of NR-active cephalosporins to pull down potential targets through unbiased activity-based protein profiling and identified over 30 protein binders. None was a transpeptidase. Several of the target candidates are plausibly related to Mtb’s survival in an NR state. However, biochemical tests and studies of loss of function mutants did not identify a unique target that accounts for the bactericidal activity of these beta-lactams against NR Mtb. Instead, NR-active cephalosporins appear to kill Mtb by collective action on multiple targets. These results highlight the ability of these β-lactams to target diverse classes of proteins.

Objectives: To analyze if the association between obesity and neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) was moderated by gender and family income. Methods: Data from 19,448 individuals 18 and older from the 2001–2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were geo-matched with social and built environment characteristics from the 2000 Census and other data sources. Objective height and weight measures were used to create body mass index (BMI) and obese status (BMI≥30). Tracts were divided into four quartiles using a composite factor score capturing neighborhood SES. Individuals were divided into four income groups by the income-to-poverty ratio (I/P). Multilevel regression analyses were performed. Results: The association between neighborhood SES and obesity/BMI was more consistently significant among higher-income women than lower-income women. The same association was not found for men. Neighborhood built environment factors did not mediate the relationship between neighborhood SES and individual weight outcome. Conclusions: Neighborhood SES had stronger and more consistent associations with obesity and BMI for women than men, and for higher-income women than lower-income women.

In this paper, the quasi-projective synchronization of distributed-order recurrent neural networks is investigated. Firstly, based on the definition of the distributed-order derivative and metric space theory, two distributed-order differential inequalities are obtained. Then, by employing the Lyapunov method, Laplace transform, Laplace final value theorem, and some inequality techniques, the quasi-projective synchronization sufficient conditions for distributed-order recurrent neural networks are established in cases of feedback control and hybrid control schemes, respectively. Finally, two numerical examples are given to verify the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

ABSTRACT A defining characteristic of treating tuberculosis is the need for prolonged administration of multiple drugs. This may be due in part to subpopulations of slowly replicating or nonreplicating Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli exhibiting phenotypic tolerance to most antibiotics in the standard treatment regimen. Confounding this problem is the increasing incidence of heritable multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis. A search for new antimycobacterial chemical scaffolds that can kill phenotypically drug-tolerant mycobacteria uncovered tricyclic 4-hydroxyquinolines and a barbituric acid derivative with mycobactericidal activity against both replicating and nonreplicating M. tuberculosis. Both families of compounds depleted M. tuberculosis of intrabacterial magnesium. Complete or partial resistance to both chemotypes arose from mutations in the putative mycobacterial Mg2+/Co2+ ion channel, CorA. Excess extracellular Mg2+, but not other divalent cations, diminished the compounds’ cidality against replicating M. tuberculosis. These findings establish depletion of intrabacterial magnesium as an antimicrobial mechanism of action and show that M. tuberculosis magnesium homeostasis is vulnerable to disruption by structurally diverse, nonchelating, drug-like compounds. IMPORTANCE Antimycobacterial agents might shorten the course of treatment by reducing the number of phenotypically tolerant bacteria if they could kill M. tuberculosis in diverse metabolic states. Here we report two chemically disparate classes of agents that kill M. tuberculosis both when it is replicating and when it is not. Under replicating conditions, the tricyclic 4-hydroxyquinolines and a barbituric acid analogue deplete intrabacterial magnesium as a mechanism of action, and for both compounds, mutations in CorA, a putative Mg2+/Co2+ transporter, conferred resistance to the compounds when M. tuberculosis was under replicating conditions but not under nonreplicating conditions, illustrating that a given compound can kill M. tuberculosis in different metabolic states by disparate mechanisms. Targeting magnesium metallostasis represents a previously undescribed antimycobacterial mode of action that might cripple M. tuberculosis in a Mg2+-deficient intraphagosomal environment of macrophages.